Need help - BM Monk

[Shinela]

Hi!

I am a resto shaman who recently decided to re-roll, and monk spoke to me the most. Enjoying it a lot!
I used the trial to see how it played, then boosted one to 110 and started leveling through timewalking.

Here's my issue:

How do I know if I'm a good or a bad tank? Sometimes I take so much damage I can understand the healer can't keep up. Other times I am soloing trash mobs with zero effort.

Now over the hours I have gotten significantly better at using my stagger and thus not taking -as- much damage; I always aim for the 100% uptime on Ironskin brew but keep a charge (or more depending on the fight) ready to half it all down. If the fight gets hectic, I stop using Blackout Strike and spam Keg Smash and Tiger Palm to get more Elusive Brews ready. Using the AoE stun every now and then to let my stagger settle down.
But still I feel ineffective sometimes, even though on other fights I feel like I could fall asleep.

Is there a way for me to test it at all? To know that I'm good enough to start doing mythics once I am 120 and have the gear?

And I'm not talking the class roll trials, we all do gold quite easily on that xD

Edit: Should note I'm currently level 114, if that matters at all

[Caprix]

You should not stop using blackout strike. It has defensive value as it adds one stack of elusive brawler, and it doesn't cost energy, so you won't miss tiger palms or keg smash because of it.

[Sim]

BRM Monks aren't immortal. I know a lot of people may come with that idea but they're just really great at not taking spike damage and making it more consistent overall.

If you're tanking a lot of mobs giving you a lot of dmg over time you will die if the healer cannot keep up. That is no fault of your own if you are keeping ISB up all the time. You shouldn't cut Blackout because it is mitigation as well since it improves your dodge chance.

[Shinela]

You should not stop using blackout strike. It has defensive value as it adds one stack of elusive brawler, and it doesn't cost energy, so you won't miss tiger palms or keg smash because of it.

I assumed losing the global was kind of bad for one stack, considering if there's many mobs on me, I gain so many stacks anyway by default, that that one blackout strike stack won't make a difference. Wrong assumption?

[Caprix]

I assumed losing the global was kind of bad for one stack, considering if there's many mobs on me, I gain so many stacks anyway by default, that that one blackout strike stack won't make a difference. Wrong assumption?

It's true that one stack every 3s has a big defensive value against a single mob but very marginal the more mobs you are tanking. But anyway keg smash and tiger palms are energy capped, so there should be global available for BoS. You really only want to press keg smash on cd and not cap energy, then it doesn't matter i you delay a tiger palm, in the end you will cast the same number of them, dictated by energy available.
You didn't mention it but don't forget BoF pretty much on cd (when targets are affected by keg smah but that should always be the case) for that sweet 5% damage reduction.

[Deleted]

Is there a way for me to test it at all? To know that I'm good enough to start doing mythics once I am 120 and have the gear?

once you are 120 and have the gear you should just do it. there is little to learn when doing content that isn't stressful and most mechanics cannot even be noticed at normal/heroic dungeon levels.
You know that you are good enough when you know each pull in every dungeon aka "ok this mob should be focused by my group, this one needs to be interrupted, this one casts something that i should dodge". This cannot be obtained in any other way than doing it over and over again. If you are really serious about mythic+ tanking, pick 1-3 dungeons and run only them repeaditly until you figured them out entirely. Once you memorized them, add in one at a time.

Tanking is not much about your rotation (or stagger controll for that matter, each is quite basic for a reason). It is about complete knowledge of mechanics and valuating group performances to adapt to with your tanking style.
Don't be afraid to do content that may seem to hard. Don't be afraid to kite stuff just for training reasons. Watch your healers position and constantly think about your own (was it really a good idea to run around the corner mid-fight? did the healer seem to have LoS issues because of the stairs that i was tanking on?)

[Shinela]

It's true that one stack every 3s has a big defensive value against a single mob but very marginal the more mobs you are tanking. But anyway keg smash and tiger palms are energy capped, so there should be global available for BoS. You really only want to press keg smash on cd and not cap energy, then it doesn't matter i you delay a tiger palm, in the end you will cast the same number of them, dictated by energy available.
You didn't mention it but don't forget BoF pretty much on cd (when targets are affected by keg smah but that should always be the case) for that sweet 5% damage reduction.

Good point. Sometimes I do have keg smash up without the energy ready. It's barely a second of delay, but that's still a delay. I'll work on that!
As for BoF, obviously that goes on CD. Sometimes I wait if new mobs come in so I can keg smash them first, but that's about it

You know that you are good enough when you know each pull in every dungeon aka "ok this mob should be focused by my group, this one needs to be interrupted, this one casts something that i should dodge". This cannot be obtained in any other way than doing it over and over again. If you are really serious about mythic+ tanking, pick 1-3 dungeons and run only them repeaditly until you figured them out entirely. Once you memorized them, add in one at a time.

Well, I've done every dungeon on m+6 at least on my shaman, a couple on m+10. I'm pretty sure I know the tactics That's why I levelled through Timewalking: Those enemies did a lot of damage so I was forced to learn how to deal with every pack individually whilst learning my class. This pack needs preparation from me, this mob needs a skull, this enemy I need to explain people to jump at on the right time, stuff like that. When I did a normal, I was virtually pulling the whole dungeon xD Couldn't do that in TW.

I have actually learned how to manage my stagger and rotation quite well like this. Kiting... Whenever I try to, people AoE them and I lose aggro. So I guess I need to learn that some other way xD

Tanking is not much about your rotation (or stagger controll for that matter, each is quite basic for a reason). It is about complete knowledge of mechanics and valuating group performances to adapt to with your tanking style.
Don't be afraid to do content that may seem to hard. Don't be afraid to kite stuff just for training reasons. Watch your healers position and constantly think about your own (was it really a good idea to run around the corner mid-fight? did the healer seem to have LoS issues because of the stairs that i was tanking on?)

I always figured it was about making it easy for the healer. But that's because I was a healer before.

I am level 120 now, ilvl 328. When's safe for a tank to start doing mythics? On my shaman I started healing them at 330-ish.

[Pronbear]

U should be tanky enough for MM 0 or 2, at least in the easiest ones. And then, u'll see how well u tank and if u can try higher key.
Anyway, there are so few monks that u'll find desperate ppl that will accept u with that ilvl !

[Shinela]

U should be tanky enough for MM 0 or 2, at least in the easiest ones. And then, u'll see how well u tank and if u can try higher key.
Anyway, there are so few monks that u'll find desperate ppl that will accept u with that ilvl !

Just tanked every boss in uldir on normal in a pug whilst telling the other tank how to deal with the bosses (Knew the tactics from my runs on my R shaman and reading dungeon journal to know when to taunt :P)

Thanks for giving the confidence Ended up at ilvl 348 now!