On this page, we list your Brewmaster Monk coreabilities and how they should be used together (rotation) in World of WarcraftMoP 5.4. We also explain whento use your various cooldowns. Then, we go deeper and present all the subtletiesthat you will need to know if you want to excel at playing a BrewmasterMonk.

The other pages of our Brewmaster Monk guide can be accessedfrom the table of contents on the right.

1. Single Target Rotation↑top

The single target rotation for Brewmaster Monks revolves around spendingyour Energy to generate Chi, and then spending your Chi to improve yoursurvival and threat generation. The priority list below does not take intoaccount the various survival cooldowns at your disposal, which we will coverat length in another section.

• Chi builders (by order of priority). Only use when you are not at maximumChi.
  1. Use Keg Smash (generates 2 Chi, so only use when you have 2 orfewer Chi).
  2. Use Expel Harm
     • Only when you are not at full health. This will provide a small amount ofself-healing.
  3. Use Jab. This is your default Chi builder, and your primarysource of dumping Energy.
• Chi finishers (by order of priority)
  1. Use Blackout Kick at least once every 6 seconds, to maintain highuptime on Shuffle, the self-buff that it applies.
  2. Maintain optimal uptime on the self-buffs applied by Tiger Palm.
     • Cast Tiger Palm at the start of the fight, in order to apply thedamage-increasing (rather, armor-ignoring) self-buff.
     • Cast Tiger Palm before casting Guard, in order to improve Guard.
  3. Use Tiger Palm as a filler when there is nothing else to cast (despitethe fact that we list it as a Chi finisher, it actually has no resource costor cooldown).

This priority is very basic, and it does not cover the use of your severalsurvival cooldowns. To get a full understanding, we recommend that you read our in-depth survival section, as well as our section on cooldowns.

2. Multiple Target Rotation↑top

In all cases, you should keep up your Shuffle buff by using Blackout Kick.

Against 2 enemies, you should simply use your normal rotation,switching between the two targets.

Against 3 or more enemies, perform the following actions, inaddition to your normal rotation.

1. Cast Keg Smash.
2. Use Rushing Jade Wind, if you have taken this talent.
3. Make sure that the Dizzying Haze debuff is up on all targets. It isapplied by Keg Smash, but in case it is not up on the targets for somereason, you can apply it manually through Dizzying Haze.
4. Keep the Breath of Fire DoT up on all targets, assuming that your Shuffle is not about to expire soon, and that you have spare Chi.
5. Use Rushing Jade Wind (this talent is the best for AoEsituations).
6. If you have not taken Rushing Jade Wind, use Spinning Crane Kick as afiller.

Against a large number of enemies, you can simply spam Keg Smash and Rushing Jade Wind/ Spinning Crane Kick.

3. Active Damage Mitigation↑top

As a Brewmaster Monk, you have several abilities at your disposal that allowyou to deal with the incoming damage that you receive. Their proper usage iscrucial to your survivability. We explore each of them in greater depth inits own dedicated section, but here is what you must know:

• Purifying Brew should be used often, whenever you have a largeamount of staggered damage (read more aboutStagger and Purifying Brew).
• Elusive Brew should be used whenever you believe you will receivedangerous melee attacks (read more). Make sure touse it when your stacks are high so as not to have them reach maximum capacityand have new ones go to waste.
• Guard should be used as many times as possible during theencounter. Make sure to always have Power Guard up beforeusing Guard (read more). Use this as a major cooldown,whenever your health drops unexpectedly or you know a very dangerous attackis coming.
• Blackout Kick applies a 6-second self-buff ( Shuffle) eachtime you use it. Make sure that this buff is active before periods of intensedamage (read more). Maintaining this buff is a toppriority.

4. Cooldown Usage↑top

In addition to the above-mentioned active defensive cooldowns, you also havetwo abilities with a long cooldown. One is important to your own survival,whereas the other is a raid cooldown.

• Fortifying Brew should be used whenever you are about to take alarge amount of damage. Alternatively, it can be used as an emergency cooldownwhen your health is low, although it is less effective in this way.
• Avert Harm is a raid cooldown that redirects 20% of all damagedone to raid members within 10 yards of you to you, for 6 seconds. The effectends prematurely if your maximum health goes below 10%.
• Zen Meditation allows you to greatly mitigate the damage of the firstmelee attack that hits you while channeling it.

Additionally, your talents have the potential to provide you with anadditional 3 active survival cooldowns. We discuss this, as well as the propertiming and usage of your default cooldowns in asubsequent section.

5. Taunting↑top

Provoke is your single target taunt. When taunting your Black OxStatue (see below), all enemies within 8 yards ofthe statue are forced to attack you. This constitutes a sort of AoE taunt. Itis worth noting that taunting a target with Provoke increases its movementspeed by 50%, which is useful when quickly changing a boss's positioning.

Thanks to Glyph of Leer of the Ox, you gain a new ability called Leer of the Ox. Using this ability causes your Black Ox Statue to performa single-target taunt. This taunt does not work on raid bosses, so it is notvery useful.

It is also worth noting that the tiger spawned by Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger has the ability to taunt targets. You can controlthis (including turning off the auto-taunt feature) through the pet controlbar that you are provided with. Note that this taunt does not work againstraid bosses.

6. Stance↑top

It is of paramount importance to always be in Stance of the Sturdy Oxwhen tanking. This provides you with various benefits, which we present below.

7. Statue↑top

You should always have your Black Ox Statue active( Summon Black Ox Statue). This provides you with various benefits, whichwe present below.

8. Optional Read: Mastering Your Brewmaster Monk↑top

The information presented until now will allow you to tank successfully asa Brewmaster Monk, in the vast majority of situations. However, there areseveral aspects about your class and spec that you need to have a very deepunderstanding of, if you are to take full advantage of your character.

8.1. Vengeance

Vengeance is a passive ability which you receive forchoosing the Brewmaster specialisation. Essentially, it increases your attackpower for 1.5% of the unmitigated damage you receive. It takes the form of a20-second buff, and its power fluctuates during the encounter, based on yourdamage intake.

Vengeance also has diminishing returns, in that each additional targetattacking you generates less Vengeance than the previous one.

8.2. Energy and Chi

8.2.1. Energy

Energy is a resource that Monks share with Rogues and Feral Druids. Thereare several things you need to know about Energy:

• Energy is generated passively. The regeneration speed is affected by yourhaste. Additionally, some abilities grant you Energy.
• Energy is spent mainly on Chi-generating abilities, most notably Jab.
• You have a maximum capacity of 100 Energy.
• Energy never decays. A natural consequence of this is that your normalstate is to have a full Energy bar (such as before starting combat).
• Being at maximum capcaity causes any additional Energy you would generateto be wasted.

8.2.2. Chi

Chi is a Monk-only resource. There are several things you need to knowabout Chi:

• Chi is generated by several abilities, the most notable of them being Jab.
• Chi is spent on many crucial abilities, that are part of yourrotation.
• You have a maximum capacity of 4 Chi (5, if you have the Ascensiontalent).
• Chi decays quickly when outside of combat, but it does not decay whilein combat. A natural consequence of this is that, when starting a fight, youwill have no Chi.
• Generating Chi while you are at maximum capacity will cause the new Chito be wasted. The only exception to this is the Chi generated thanks to the Power Strikes talent, which spawns a Chi sphere each time your Chiwould be wasted. The sphere grants you 1 Chi when you walk over it.

8.3. Stance of the Sturdy Ox

Stance of the Sturdy Ox provides the following benefits:

• Grants you immunity against critical strikes.
• Increases your Stamina by 20%.
• Reduces all damage taken by 25%.
• Increases Energy regeneration by 10%.
• Grants you the Stagger mechanic (explainedbelow).

8.4. Black Ox Statue

Your Black Ox Statue provides you with the following benefits:

• Every time you deal a set amount of damage (based on your attack power),the statue will cast Guard on a low-health raid member within 40yards, absorbing a certain amount of damage. The effect does not interact inany way with your own Guard spell, and it also cannot be cast on yourself.
• The statue interacts in two ways with your ability to taunt targets,as described above.

8.5. Survival Mechanisms

In the following sections, we will cover all the various mechanics thathelp you survive.

8.5.1. Stagger

In addition to dodging and parrying attacks, Brewmaster Monks also gain anew means of avoiding damage, called Stagger. This is actually a keyelement in your survivability as a tank, so it is important to understand itcorrectly.

As mentioned above, you only benefit from Stagger when you are in the Stance of the Sturdy Ox.

Stagger causes physical attacks against you to have their damage splitin two portions:

• An instant portion, which, predictably, has its damage done to youinstantly, in the moment of the attack.
• An over-time portion, which has its damage done to you in the formof a 10-second DoT.

The division between the portions depends on your Mastery( Mastery: Elusive Brawler), as well as on the Shuffle self-buff,applied by Blackout Kick.

As can be easily noticed, Stagger does not provide any form ofdamage reduction, mitigation, or avoidance. This is where Purifying Brew, an ability with a 1-second cooldown that you have bydefault, comes into play. Purifying Brew costs 1 Chi, and instantly removesall of your staggered damage.

A simple example, assuming a Stagger amount of 40%, is as follows:

1. An attack of 100,000 damage is performed against you.
2. 60,000 damage is dealt to you instantly.
3. A DoT is applied to you, which deals 40,000 damage over 10 seconds.
4. You cast Purifying Brew after 2 seconds, removing the DoT.
5. You have sustained 60,000 in instant damage, and 8,000 in Staggered damage.The remaining 32,000 damage has been removed by Purifying Brew.

It is hard to say how often Purifying Brew must be used, as this depends ona lot of factors. We touch on the subject again below.

8.5.2. Shuffle

Shuffle is a self-buff which increases your chance to parry by 20%,and also increases the amount of staggered damage by 20%. Shuffle is applied by Blackout Kick.

It is important to note that successive applications of Shuffle willextend the duration of the self-buff. The duration of the self-buff has nomaximum length of time (you can have it go as high as 2 minutes, though thisis uncommon).

Due to the importance of the buff for your survival, and the relative easeof maintaining a high uptime, you should aim to always have Shuffle up duringperiods of even moderately intense damage. In fact, you should be able tomaintain 100% uptime on the buff in most circumstances.

8.5.3. Purifying Brew Versus Blackout Kick

Purifying Brew and Blackout Kick are the two abilities onwhich you will spend the vast majority of your Chi. Because of this, you willhave to strike a balance between the two. Deciding when to use which abilitydepends on many factors, but in principle, you should try to keep 100% uptimeon Shuffle and use Purifying Brew the rest of the time.

While, of course, using Purifying Brew each time you are the victim of anattack will result in the highest damage reduction from it, it is best to checkhow much Staggered damage you currently have, and only use Purifying Brewwhen this damage is high (particularly after big hits).

8.5.4. Elusive Brew

Elusive Brew is an ability that increases your chance to dodge by30%. Its usage is conditioned by Brewing: Elusive Brew, a stackingself-buff that you gain each time you perform critical strikes with yourautoattacks. For each stack of the buff (which has a maximum capacity of 15stacks), Elusive Brew lasts 1 second.

Elusive Brew itself has a 6-second cooldown. Generally speaking, maintaining100% uptime on this buff is impossible, since you would need to generate onestack per second. Therefore, this should be viewed more as an active defensivecooldown, rather than a buff to maintain.

Since dodge chance only works against physical attacks, it is ideal to useElusive Brew before a series of powerful attacks is made against you.

Elusive Brew provides the same amount of dodge, regardless of the numberof stacks you use it with. This, coupled with the fact that it is off the theglobal cooldown, means that you do not have to wait until you have 15 stacks tocast it. You should not use it with too few stacks, however, since the chancesof being the victim of a boss attack while it is active are diminished in thisway. Ideally, you will wait until you have a reasonable number of stacks, atleast 6.

Finally, it is essential to not forget to use Elusive Brew, because thestacks of Brewing: Elusive Brew are capped at 15, as we have mentioned. Do keepin mind, however, that it is perfectly acceptable to "waste" a few stacks bydelaying Elusive Brew in order to time with a particularly important momentin the fight.

8.5.5. Tiger Palm, Tiger Power, and Power Guard

Tiger Palm has three uses to you as a Brewmaster Monk.

• It applies a self-buff, Tiger Power, which causes your attacks toignore 30% of the target's armor. It is important to your threatgeneration and DPS.
• It applies a self-buff, Power Guard, which increases the potency ofyour next Guard by 15%. You should always make sure to have this buff upbefore casting Guard (as it will give you more benefit out of the Chi youspend on Guard).
• It acts as a filler, allowing you to deal damage, generate threat, andrefresh the above buffs. It does this very well because it has no cooldown orresource cost, meaning that you can literally spam this ability at will.

8.5.6. Dizzying Haze

Dizzying Haze is a debuff applied by Keg Smash. It lasts15 seconds (whereas Keg Smash's cooldown is only 8-seconds), and you shouldhave 100% uptime on it. Dizzying Haze provides two benefits:

• The target has a 3% chance of their attacks misfiring. This meansthat the attack will fail, and instead of striking you, it will strike thetarget.
• The target's movement speed is reduced by 50%.

It is important to note that Keg Smash damages all targets within 8yards of the main target, and applies Dizzying Haze to all targets it hits.

8.5.7. Desperate Measures

Thanks to Desperate Measures, a passive ability, whenever you are ator below 35% of your maximum health, Expel Harm has no cooldown, and itscooldown is reset. In this case, it should take precedence over Jab.

8.6. Detailed Cooldown Usage

8.6.1. Guard

Guard is a defensive ability with a 30-second cooldown. It hastwo benefits:

• It absorbs a certain amount of damage (based on your attack power).
• While Guard is active (that is to say, before the damage absorption shieldis broken), all self-healing is increased by 30%.

The amount of damage that Guard absorbs is influenced by your attackpower, so with high amounts of Vengeance, Guard can absorb massiveamounts of damage, making it very useful.

While delaying it too much is not recommended, it is perfectly acceptable(and recommended) to time it with particularly problematic moments in thefight. Keep in mind also, as stated above, that youcan boost the efficiency of your Guard thanks to Tiger Palm.

An interesting thing you can do is use Glyph of Guard in fights withlittle or no magic damage. This glyph causes Guard to only absorb (and beconsumed) by magic damage. If you use it when there is no magic damage comingyour way, then you can retain Guard on you for its full 30-second duration,benefiting from the 30% increased self-healing. Note that the usefulness ofthis technique is limited, because your self-healing is lackluster ingeneral. As such, you should only do this when the physical damage you aretaking is not problematic at all (because if it is, you are in fact better offabsorbing it through an unglyphed Guard).

8.6.2. Avert Harm

Avert Harm is a raid cooldown. It will redirect 20% of all damagetaken by nearby raid members to you, for 6 seconds. If your health reaches 10%of your maximum health, the effect is canceled. It is important to note thatthe damage taken through Avert Harm, even if not Physical in nature, can stillbe Staggered.

This is a useful method of helping raid members (especially melee players)take less damage, but you must be very careful not to take excessive damagebecause of it. Even though the effect is canceled when you reach 10% of yourhealth, if the boss is currently striking you for high amounts of damage, 10%may be much too low for you to stay alive.

You can couple Avert Harm with Fortifying Brew, and you shouldalways have Chi in reserve for Purifying Brew, each time you useAvert Harm.

We want to emphasize that Avert Harm has a very small range, only working onraid members within 10 yards of your location, so keep that in mind!

It is also interesting to note that if Hand of Protection is cast onyou while Avert Harm is active, you take no damage at all from it. Naturally,you cannot tank bosses while Hand of Protection is active, and it requirescoordination with a Paladin, but it is certainly worth exploring.

8.6.3. Fortifying Brew

Fortifying Brew increases your health by 20%, reduces all damagetaken by 20%, and increases your Stagger amount by 20%, for 20seconds. It is a major defensive cooldown (your only one).

Fortifying Brew is best used preemptively. One thing to note about it isthat, because of the Stagger increase it offers, it is imperative to use Purifying Brew to take full advantage of it.

8.6.4. Zen Meditation

Zen Meditation is a very powerful defensive cooldown. It reduces damagetaken by 90% for 8 seconds, but the effect is canceled prematurely if you arethe victim of a melee attack.

The spell is most useful for reducing magic damage during times when youare not being actively attacked by any targets, but it can also be used tomitigate a powerful melee attack or other boss mechanic.

8.6.5. Gift of the Ox

Thanks to Gift of the Ox, a passive ability, you have a chance to summona healing sphere each time you deal damage with a melee attack. These healingspheres persist on the ground around you, and moving over them causes them tobe consumed, healing you.

You should make it a habit to pick up these spheres whenever you need extrahealing.

8.6.6. Touch of Death

Touch of Death is only usable against enemies who have equal or lesscurrent health than you. This means that, in most cases (at level 90), it willonly be usable on enemies who have around 500,000 health or less. The spelldoes a huge amount of damage, killing the target. Essentially this means itdeals damage equal to their remaining health.

Using Touch of Death against raid bosses is very difficult. This is becausethe health of raid bosses decreases very rapidly, especially when they are in"execute range" (below 20-25% health). You will, at best, have a 1-2 secondwindow of opportunity to use this spell.

Even so, however, you should do your best to use it whenever possible. Youshould look out for low health adds that you can use it against.

8.6.7. Tier 2 Talents

Zen Sphere should be refreshed each time it expires. Chi Waveshould be used on cooldown, but it can be delayed slightly until you takedamage. Chi Burst is only really useful when the raid is stacked together,and that is when it should be used.

8.6.8. Tier 3 Talents

Power Strikes provides its benefit passively, by causing your Jab, Expel Harm, and Spinning Crane Kick to generate 2 Chiinstead of 1, with a 20-second internal cooldown. This is a benefit you shouldsimply enjoy, which will not affect your rotation in any way.

Chi Brew is ideally suited for picking up new targets, especiallywhen you were not previously tanking anything (and your Elusive Brewstacks are low, and when you have no Chi to put up your Shufflebuff).

Ascension, should you choose this talent, will also provide itsbenefit passively, by giving you a larger Chi pool, and increasing your Energyregeneration rate.

8.6.9. Tier 5 Talents

Healing Elixirs provides its benefit passively. It heals you for15% of your maximum health, every time you use one of the followingabilities.

• Purifying Brew;
• Elusive Brew;
• Chi Brew;
• Nimble Brew;
• Fortifying Brew.

Unfortunately, the effect is restricted by a 15-second internal cooldown.If you have taken this talent, then you will want to make sure that you areusing Elusive Brew and/or Purifying Brew when you are in need ofself-healing. Sadly, it is very likely that the effect will be on cooldownwhen you need it most, since Purifying Brew is part of your very regularrotation. That said, since the talent does not proc when you are at fullhealth, you may see quite a nice benefit from it after all, since it willmost likely be ready to proc as soon as your health drops.

Dampen Harm is a survival cooldown that you can use to mitigatethe damage from powerful boss attacks. It is most useful if usedpreemptively.

Diffuse Magic is your only reliable means of protection againstmagic damage. Again, it must be used preemptively.

8.6.10. Tier 6 Talents

Rushing Jade Wind should be used whenever there are 3 or more enemiesaround you. Since it does not need to be channeled, you can simply continuecasting your other abilities (your defenses and Keg Smash) as soon asyou cast it.

Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger can be commanded to attack and tauntspecific targets through the pet control bar. We advise you to remove theauto-taunt feature. Note that bosses are generally not susceptible to Xuen'staunt.

8.7. Roll

Roll is an ability that allows you to quickly move 15 yards infront of you. It is a useful mobility ability, which you should useextensively for quickly traversing short distances. Here are a few facts aboutRoll:

• Roll has no resource cost and no cooldown. It is based on a chargesystem.
  • It has a maximum of 2 charges, and each charge has a 20-second rechargetime.
  • The Celerity talent increases the number of charges to 3, andreduces recharge time to 15 seconds.
• Roll is off the global cooldown, but while you are rolling, you are unableto use any other ability.
• Roll will always send you in the direction that your character iscurrently moving (including backwards). If your character is stationary, Rollwill send you in the direction your character is facing.
• You cannot roll through objects or obstacles. If you encounter anobstacle, your Roll is ended prematurely.

Finally, Chi Torpedo, a tier 6 talent, replaces Roll with ChiTorpedo. Chi Torpedo is identical to Roll in every way, except that it rolls5 yards further, and it damages enemies and heals allies in your rollingpath.

9. Changelog↑top

• 18 Sep. 2013: Updated the guide to remove an outdated mention of Rushing Jade Wind applying/refreshing Shuffle.
• 11 Sep. 2013: Patch 5.4 update.
  • Made several updates to account for the fact that Rushing Jade Windnow replaces Spinning Crane Kick.
  • Improved the multiple-target rotation section.
  • Made small tweaks to the Active Mitigation and Cooldown Usagesections.
  • Added Zen Meditation to the cooldowns section.
  • Added that Provoke increases the target's movement speed.
  • Added mentions that you can control the taunt from Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger.
  • Added a tip for using Avert Harm together with a Paladin's Hand of Protection.
  • Added a mention of the fact that Chi Torpedo rolls 5 yards furtherthan Roll.
• 20 May 2013: Patch 5.3 update: nothing to change.
• 12 Apr. 2013: Made several updates.
  • Improved the multiple target rotation.
  • Added sections for Gift of the Ox, Zen Meditation, and Tier 2talents.
  • Improved the explanations of several mechanics, including Tauntingmechanics, and Guard.
  • Added a section about Vengeance.
• 11 Mar. 2013: Patch 5.2 update.
  • Updated Elusive Brew section to mention that it now has a 6-secondcooldown, down from 9 seconds.