On this page, we explain what the best statistics are for BrewmasterMonks in World of Warcraft MoP 5.4, how the class benefits fromeach of them, andwhat your reforging strategy should be. We also detail what the various capsare (if any) and why they should be attained.

The statistics priority is important as itinfluences reforging strategies as well as itemisation choices(gear, enchants, and gems).

Make sure to check our GearOptimisation Guide, which serves as a support guide for thisarticle.

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

1. Basics↑top

There are three viable stat priorities for Brewmaster Monks.

1.1. Damage Smoothing

This stat priority is best for less experience players, and those who aregoing up against very hard-hitting bosses. It minimises the effect of personalmistakes by passively reducing burst damage taken.

1. Expertise Rating (until 15%) and Hit Rating (until 7.5%);
2. Mastery Rating;
3. Agility;
4. Critical Strike Rating;
5. Haste Rating (between 4,000 and 11,000, depending on personalpreference).

1.2. Avoidance/DPS

This priority emphasises Critical Strike Rating, which increases your Elusive Brew uptime. Avoidance gearing will reduce your total damagetaken the most, but it is not very reliable, and it makes you vulnerable tounpredictable spikes of damage. This is best suited for 10-man raiding.

1. Expertise Rating (until 15%) and Hit Rating (until 7.5%);
2. Agility;
3. Critical Strike Rating;
4. Haste Rating (between 4,000 and 11,000, depending on personalpreference);
5. Mastery Rating.

1.3. Hybrid Survival/DPS

This stat priority combines both Critical Strike Rating and MasteryRating, and it is a good compromise between the two stat priorities listedabove.

1. Expertise Rating (until 15%) and Hit Rating (until 7.5%);
2. Agility;
3. Mastery Rating and Critical Strike Rating in equal amounts;
4. Haste Rating (between 4,000 and 11,000, depending on personalpreference).

2. Getting a Better Understanding↑top

Hit Rating and Expertise Rating improve your survivability andyour DPS/threat output. Firstly, missing with your attacks, or having themparried does not generate any Chi, costing you a global cooldown (and, in thecase of Keg Smash, triggering the ability's 8-second cooldown). Secondly,it increases the proc rate of the healing spheres generated by Gift of the Ox, since this ability requires you to land melee hits. Whileit may sometimes be viable to stop at 7.5% Expertise (and not go all the wayup to 15%), we do not generally advise this.

Agility is a very strong survival statistic. It increases yourchance to dodge, your attack power (which affects Guard and thestrength of your self-heals), and it also increases your Critical Strikechance (which benefits Elusive Brew).

Mastery Rating ( Mastery: Elusive Brawler) increases the amountof damage that you Stagger with each hit. During progression content, andespecially against hard-hitting bosses, this is the best survivalstatistic you can get (it is especially good at mitigating burst damage).

Critical Strike Rating increases the frequency at which you can use Brewing: Elusive Brew, allowing you to stack it much faster. It providesless survivability than Mastery Rating, but it provides more DPS, so if bossesare not hitting you very hard, then you may prefer this stat over MasteryRating.

Haste Rating increases your energy regeneration rate (and thus,indirectly, your Chi generation), as well as the rate at which you prochealing spheres from Gift of the Ox (since you attack more often). It alsoincreases your DPS. The greatest benefit of Haste Rating is that it allows youto use Purifying Brew more often. Haste Rating also allows you to cast Expel Harm more often when at low health (when Desperate Measuresprocs).

Most encounters have abilities that cannot bemitigated or avoided. Also, you need to have a decent amount of health, inorder to give yourself the chance to be healed before a subsequent attackkills you. As such, you need a minimum amount of Stamina. This amountwill, in most cases, simply come from the Stamina found innately on your gear.Therefore, you should never have to go out of your way to gem for Stamina.

2.1. Choosing Secondary Statistics

Once you feel like you have no trouble surviving with a Mastery-heavybuild, you can put more stats into Critical Strike Rating.

Regarding how much Haste Rating you should have, this is mostly up topersonal preference. We encourage you to experiment with your Haste Rating inorder to find the amount you like the most. You should not go above 11,000Haste Rating though, because at that point you begin gaining Energy faster thanyou can spend it.

2.2. Hit Cap

At level 90, most races require 2,550 Hit Rating to reach themelee hit cap. Draenei, thanks to Heroic Presence, only need2,210 Hit Rating.

2.3. Expertise Cap

At level 90, most races require 5,100 Expertise Rating to reachthe expertise cap. Some races, in some cases, only need 4,760 ExpertiseRating, thanks to passive racial skills:

• Gnomes when dual-wielding Swords (because of Shortblade Specialization);
• Dwarves when dual-wielding Maces or using a single Mace ( Mace Specialization);
• Humans when dual-wielding Maces/Swords or using a single Mace/Sword ( Mace Specialization and Sword Specialization);
• Orcs when dual-wielding Axes or using a single Axe ( Axe Specialization).

3. Changelog↑top

• 11 Sep. 2013: Patch 5.4 update.
  • Added three different gearing strategies.
  • Fixed a few typos and made a few tweaks to the paragraphs describing eachstat.
  • Added some advice to help players determine what stats to take.
  • Removed certain sections containing stat discussions, since they were nolonger relevant.
• 20 May 2013: Patch 5.3 update: nothing to change.
• 27 Apr. 2013: Added a mention of Critical Strike Rating beingbetter than Mastery Rating in 10-man.
• 25 Apr. 2013: Revisited the secondary stat discussion, giving moreemphasis to Critical Strike Rating (which had been neglected previously).
• 12 Apr. 2013: Clarified several stat descriptions, and added anexplanation of the debate between Mastery Rating and Haste Rating.
• 09 Apr. 2013: Updated statistic priority for Patch 5.2.

Buffs, Debuffs, and Useful Abilities

Gems, Enchants, and Professions