Hi there buddies
I am Asherdoom (Zangwa in game) Brew master monk in Frostwolf as monk (before and after wipe) and i really loved this class since i tested it in retail MOP.
Just to clarify: I AM NOT THE SUPERWORLD CHAMPION i just write here AS PER my experience what is better or not. AVOID FLAMING OR TROLLING i wanna help newcomers in monk tank to find their place in raid! :D
Things to keep in mind about tank monks:
-Most people may think you are useless
-Most people will ask you respec healer
-If you're not dedicated to the class/spec, then you're useless
-without minimal consumable & bis stuff i listed here, in raid you will be useless
-Once you get 505+ilvl , you will not be useless anymore
so let's start shall we? :)
SUMMARY
1. Why brewmaster monk?
1.1 Races
2. Talents
3. STATS
4. reforge
5. gemming/echanting
6. glyph
7. Passive and active abilities
8. how to tank
9. Gearing up
10. Bugs
11. Videos
12. conclusion
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1) Why Brewmaster monk?
Brewmaster monks are TOTALLY different from the classic ones: unlike paladin and warriors we have no shield and unlike dk we do not have any plate armor. We do not shift in bear like druids and even less, we do not benefit from any super cool down like shield wall.
So you can ask: what are the advantages?
simple!
First of all we got a unique mechanic: STAGGER (explained later)
second we have , thanks to skills and passives, A LOT of absorbs and avoidance /self halings
we do not need to have mana like paladins or afraid to be rage starved like warriors, we use energy! :D
Monk is super funny! you will have also good times in raid thanks to a vast repertory of AOE threat skills and single target skills (explained later)
Remember that you will have a lot of buttons to smash during raid so i will add a keybinding guide! :D
1.1) RACES
Horde:
Troll: passive regeneration and root/snare reduction. 20%atk speed on demand.
Tauren: Warstomp (aoe stun) and 5%increased basic healt. Nature resistance
Orcs: pet dmg increased (lol), Blood fury, increases attack and ranged power. stun resistance.
Blood elf: AOE silence and replenish energy. Arcane resistance. Enchating skill increased.
Goblin: Rocket jump (blink with 2 mins cd), rocket barrage (like WOTLK engineering rocket on gloves, 2 min cd), 1%haste, merchant skill (lel)
Undead: Shadow resistance. Touch of grave and will of the forsaken. Cannibalize.
For horde i play troll because like it. If you are interested in stats only, Tauren is best choice for tanking thanks to health and aoe stun.
Alliance:
Human : pvp trinket and increased spirit. Skill with maces and swords increased.
Dwarfs: stoneform (10%dmg reduction and remove bleeds/ poisons ) rest is garbage
Gnome: Free trinket vs snare /roots and increased intellect. Arcane resistance
Drenei: Heroic presence and Gift of naaru (heal). JC skill increased.
Worgen: 1% crit and racial sprint. Shadow resistance.
Night Elfs: increase dodge chance and shadow meld. Nature resistance.
For alliance i would go dwarf: stone form is very strong. Gnome is just meh!!!! :(
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2)Talents
http://freecode.hu/wowtal2/eng/#lXo
this is the way i like it: remember that unlike other expansions some talents are NOT mandatory over others! I explain why i had chosen this way
Celerity: More rolls allowing my monk to have a extra mobility. it does not cost any chi or energy and is totally passive.
Chi Wave: like previous talent this costs nothing and is like Chain Heal of shammy who damage opponents! when u get more gear it will heal a lot and do nice damage, helping raid wise. (i don't take sphere because heal is too low compared to chi wave and range very shrinker. Chi burst is not working at all in molten)
Chi Brew: free chi for all! ascension not worth for have only 1 chi more and power strikes is not op at all for tanking it gives you no hard bonus. Chi brew can be considered a OH **** button, allowing you to use Guard in case you have not enough chi or use a breath of fire or blackout kick to have shuffle buff more often. Priceless!
Chargin Ox wave: I use that because i cal aoe pull trash and then stun em all all together. unlike Leg sweep it has 15 sec less cd and is ranged. Leg sweep is good if you have all mobs on 5 yards from you (quite hard thug)
Healing elixirs: why not pick this? Free heal passive every 18 seconds means less stress on your healer and if using an elixir at full health it will not consume charge. With this talent the healers will LOVE you. (less mana spent to heal more durability
Rushing Jade wind: Best aoe threat skill (apart taunt). With this you will NEVER worry about mobs running from you. It will also generate CHI (vital for aoe threat) making you do Rushing then jab then breath of fire (explained later)
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3) STATS
The stats priority is as follows: (Thanks to ZodiotheHuman for updating on stats and fixes)
-For DPS tanking, your stat priority will be Agility>Hit/Exp cap>Haste>Crit>Mastery>Dodge=Parry.
-For heavy mitigation tanking, Agility>Hit/Exp cap>Mastery>Crit>Haste>Dodge=Parry.
Agility: our main stats, adds Attack power and small dodge increase per point (0.15%).
Hit cap: on molten wow is enough have 4.5% (you will never miss) instead of 7.5% [tested a lot in raid]
Expertise: same as above.
Dodge/parry: In case is better you go for parry instead of dodge, because dodge has diminishing returns higher than parry. You must reforge all excess stats in PARRY then if gear allow (hardly) go for dodge.
Mastery: i put as last because our mastery is not a crit block. stagger is nice but with previous stats capped hardly you will sustain tons of dmg. Still a nice stats to enchant.
WHY NO CRIT???
Simple. Only stacking agility in full 496 tea u got roughly 30%crit. Elusive brews is bugged atm and is proccing from auto attack and skill crit AND some spell usage like rushing jade wind and tiger palm (even if they don't crit). In this situation is not a considered stats because u prefer going haste instead (attack faster=more tps). Once some fix will hit us the stat priority will become the following:
AGILITY>HIT CAP/EXPERTISECAP>Crit>DODGE/PARRY>MASTERY>HASTE
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4. REFORGE
HIT /EXP capped
HASTE avoid it. not scaling yet. When will get fixed up to 4000 points.
mastery
Dodge=parry
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5.GEMMING/ENCHANTING
Shoulder
Greater Tiger Claw Inscription(Scribe's variant)
Cloak
Accuracy
Greater Protection
Superior Critical Strike
Chest
Glorious Stats
Superior Stamina
Bracers
Greater Agility
Major Dodge
Fur Lining - Agility (Leatherworkers Only)
Fur Lining - Stamina (Leatherworkers Only)
Gloves
Superior Expertise
Greater Haste
Superior Mastery
Legs
Shadowleather Leg Armor(Leatherworker's Variant)
Boots
Blurred Speed
Greater Haste
Greater Precision
Weapon
Dancing Steel
Windsong
#3.3: Gemming
Red Socket
Deft Vermilion Onyx
Deadly Vermilion Onyx
Wicked Vermilion Onyx
Crafty Vermilion Onyx
Yellow Socket
Quick Sun's Radiance
Smooth Sun's Radiance
Blue Socket
Forceful Wild Jade
Jagged Wild Jade
Lightning Wild Jade
Piercing Wild Jade
Yellow sockets
ignore bonus and put a red one.
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6. GLYPHS
Leer of the Ox (Avoid is bugged)
Clash (50 yards range are nice instead of 40)
Breath of fire (helps on trash mobs)
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7. PASSIVE AND ACTIVE ABILITIES
Active abilities
Blackout Kick (give shuffle passive buff increasing stagger amount by 20%)
Breath of Fire (aoe dmg fire based leave a dot if before keg smash used on mobs)
Dizzying Haze (ranged slow aoe)
Expel Harm (self heal)
Jab (main CHI generator)
Keg Smash (read above ^_^)
Spinning Crane Kick (replaced by rushing jade wind. Aoe dmg)
Tiger Palm (costs NOTHING. is our filler. gives 30% armor pierce. SPAM IT!)
Touch of Death (FINISH HIM!)
Clash (charge)
Detox (dispel poison/diseases)
Healing Sphere (huge heal for little energy self or raid sustain)
Legacy of the Emperor (passive buff)
Paralysis (incapacitate ranged)
Provoke (our only taunt, actually is AOE)
Roll (our main mobility skill)
Spear Hand Strike (kick)
Summon Black Ox Statue (raid buff shields aoe!)
Transcendence (teleport like warlock one. you must replace it after use)
Transcendence: Transfer
Avert harm (raid dmg reduction)
Elusive Brew (our evasion)
Fortifying Brew (last stand with 20%dmg reduction)
Grapple Weapon (disarm)
Guard (our nice self shield. use whenever off cd)
Nimble Brew (remove cc)
Purifying Brew (our other nice ability. remove staggered dmg)
Zen Meditation (90%dmg reducion. later explained)
PASSIVE:
Brewmaster Training (gives passive to skills mentioned above)
Brewing: Elusive Brew (increses charge of elusive brews each time we attack dmg)
Desperate Measures (expel harm have no cd if under 35% health)
Gift of the Ox (spawn heal sphere when we deal dmg)
Mastery: Elusive Brawler (increase stagger dmg)
Stance of the Sturdy Ox (defensive stance for monks)
Swift Reflexes (increse 5% parry and each parry we counter attack for extra dmg)
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7. HOW TO TANK
Multi target:
use clash or dizzying haze. run to enemy. SUMMON OX STATUE
keg smash>breath of fire>rushing jade wind>chi wave>expel harm(use both in cd)>Guard if available chi.
To help ya:
Apply Guard when available BUT AFTER USING TIGER PALM (increase guard amount by 20%) and then in case of need use Ox wave to stun adds and give your healers a break from dmg.
LEAVE ONE CHI FOR PURIFYING BREW: removes staggered dmg!
Single Target:
Clash it. SUMMON OX STATUE
Keg smash>jab>tiger palm>jab>blackout kick>Jab>filler(chi wave or expel harm)>guard>second filler (expel harm or chi wave)>repeat
To help you identify the spells:
LEAVE ONE CHI FOR PURIFYING BREW: removes staggered dmg!
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A BRIEF NOTE ON STAGGER :D
Stagger: Whenever you take damage, 80% of damage happen instantly and the remaining will be applied over 10 seconds. MASTERY INCREASE THE DAMAGE STAGGERED
so how it works?
Assume you receive a hit of 100k dmg. 80k is done instantly. 20k are done OVER 10 seconds, like a DOT
IF you use purifying brew, you will NEGATE (not get) the staggered damage.
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CONSUMABLES
Flask: Flask of Spring Blossoms
Elixirs: Elixir of the Rapids, Mad Hozen Elixir, Elixir of Weaponry, or Elixir of Perfection and Mantid Elixir, Monk's Elixir, or Elixir of Mirrors
Cooking
Great Pandaren Banquet, Pandaren Banquet, Chun Tian Spring Rolls, Spicy Vegetable Chips, Spicy Salmon or Sea Mist Rice Noodles.
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9. GEARING UP
FIRST as soon as you get to 90 get Contender set from AH or guild mate.
After that the item list is as follows (PRE RAID BIS):
HEAD: RedSmoke Bandana http://www.wowhead.com/item=89300/red-smoke-bandana
NECK:Amulet of the Hidden Kings http://www.wowhead.com/item=86047/am...e-hidden-kings
SHOULDERS: Imperion Spaulders http://www.wowhead.com/item=89341/imperion-spaulders
BACK: Arrow Breaking Windcloak http://www.wowhead.com/item=86082/ar...king-windcloak
CHEST: Softfoot Silentwrap http://www.wowhead.com/item=89431/softfoot-silentwrap
WRIST: Quillapw family Bracers http://www.wowhead.com/item=88884/qu...family-bracers
HAND: Finger of the Loneliest Monk http://www.wowhead.com/item=88744/fi...loneliest-monk
WAIST: Klaxxi Lash of the Borrower http://www.wowhead.com/item=89060/kl...f-the-borrower
LEGS: Stoneflesh Leggings http://www.wowhead.com/item=85926/stoneflesh-leggings
FEET: Tukka-Tuk's hairy Boots http://www.wowhead.com/item=88868/tu...ks-hairy-boots
RINGS: Anji's Keepsake http://www.wowhead.com/item=89070/anjis-keepsake /// Tyrannical Gladiator's Ring of Accuracy OR cruelty one.
TRINKETS: Darkmoon card (Tiger set or Oxenset are nice) , Lao Chin's Liquid Courage http://www.wowhead.com/item=89079/la...liquid-courage
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10. BUG SECTION
The tanking monk bugs are as follows (will be updated regularly!!!). This list DO NOT cover other specs other than brewmaster monk.
-Monk Brews and Tea - Double Gain Chance here
-Invoke Xuen The White Tiger here
-Healing Elixirs here
Chi Brew - Talent here
Chi Wave - Talent here
Way of the Monk here
Chi - General here
Touch of Death here
T15 Brewmaster 2P Bonus here
Provoke here
Provoke and Leer of the OX here
Breath of Fire here
Nimble Brew here
Gift of the Ox Passive here
Charging Ox Wave here
Glyph of the Leer Ox here
Brewmaster Debuff here
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11. VIDEOS
Spoiler:Show
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CONCLUSION
I hope someone will find this guide helpful. I will keep it updated as soon as molten release content and stuff. Feel free to contact me in game (Zangwa, horde troll) if any doubt. Hope to see ya in game fellow Brewmasters!
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Member
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Member
Good guide!
Shout out to the other Brewmasters though: first step to knowing the Brewmaster is knowing that you aren't going to be sitting around and waiting for rage and CDs, without doing anything. Your downtime during abilities is your highest work because you see what comes next for you not to die, due to our small Health Pool. So, don't sit and wait staring at your energy bar. The BrM is a mad active spec! That's why so many tankers love it, and so many tankers hate it. Many think that it is too much of a DPS style, not enough focus on the raid for tactics, causing easier wipes. I disagree, but I'm in love.
@ Asherdoom: Maybe if you could included a bit more about our defensive strategy and abilities, those who complain about us being squishy would know that it is a L2P issue instead of class issues? Here's some ideas, feel free to use them or not, no need for crediting:
Info on Stagger - our mastery: Stagger doesn't reduce the damage you take, but it allows you to reduce it yourself through Purifying Brew. This is only Physical Damage, which includes some boss abilities and actual punching of the face. You will take 2 forms of damage, as the guide said: Some straight up on front, some from the behind over 10 seconds! For my gear (521 ilvl), I only take 44.2% of actual damage [actual damage for tanks means after Stance/Spec bonus to Damage reduction, and Avoidance], if I were to Purifying Brew instantly. This is the maths behind the Damage Taken, without including the (awesome) BrM avoidance stats:
You will start with 20% Stagger, that is the "Stagger" passive. When you use Black Out Kick, you will get an extra 20% to Stagger (and 20% parry, but that's not related to this part). So even a naked BrM, when he BoKs will have a 60% straight up damage taken, and 40% DoT that he can get rid of. With reforging to mastery, you could reach around 15% mastery relatively easily with Mastery Trinkets. So now you have a 45% straight up, and a 55% DoT Damage Take formula. Remember, you can drop that 55% with one push of a button! (Keep in mind that while 55% mitigation is huge, it is not actual result, in practice you will only purify after 3 or 4 seconds to maximise your Chi efficiency). It has been too long since i played to remember how much damage i avoided usign stagger, but it certainly felt like over 40%, compared to my co-tanks.
Now on to actual avoidance! Remember that you lose dodge, parry and block (for warr and pally tanks) against higher level enemies, such as Elites and Bosses. The following numbers are NOT taking that in to account. Onwards! Standing still, out of combat, I have 14% chance to dodge (from Agility), and 8% chance to parry(from Swift Reflexes [5%] and something else - it's been a while since I did any tank homework). So pre combat, I have a 20.88% [1*0.86*0.92 = 79.12% chance to be hit] chance to avoid (avoidance) the remaining 45% of damage that Stagger (mitigation) doesn't deal with. With a Crit/Haste reforge and gem set, I can probably (big probably, haven't tried, might need correction) get a 70% uptime on what we love, that little bit of liquid magic called "Elusive Brew"! The effect EB has on you while it is active is pretty simple: 35% chance to dodge attacks. With minimal effort, you can maintain Shuffle (six second duration, duration increases every time you use it before it expires. eg, you have 4 seconds remaining, you BoK, you get 10 [4 original + 6 new] seconds shuffle total). Shuffle, aside from giving use 20% extra Stagger, gives us 20% extra parry! With EB and Shuffle together, I will have 46% Dodge, and 28% parry. That means that during ideal combat and proc strings, our actual avoidance (not just mitigation), will be at around 57.88% [1*0.54*0.78 = 42.12% chance to be hit]! Given the lower uptime of EB for my gear, I experience that it is closer to 45% actual avoidance on equal level mobs.
Hope this rambling helps those looking for info on BrMs!
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Member
Hello guys, nice guide, i say thank you to both, now i have a question: How much dps u do in a single target boss? i mean my monk tank seems to do pretty low dps in particular my tiger palm do so low damage, i do like 30k dps that seems pretty low in confront to others tanks.
Here i link my armory, hope you respond me fast, ty for help http://armory.warmane.com/character/...stwolf/summary
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Member
@JollyRe:
This was done on a dummy, so it doesn't include Vengeance, and is only single target, so I don't use Breath of Fire. Damage priority list is really bad for your survival. It sacrifices Chi for RJW uptime. That means less BoKs and less Purifying Brews.
Using my "maximum Chi plus Purifying Brew" priority list, which is this order to cast your stuff: Keg Smash on CD, BoK when I have more than 2 Chi, Jab when I have more than 65 energy, Expel Harm on CD, Chi Brew when it is off CD ANDI have less than 3 Chi, then TP as filler, I get 44k DPS over 5 Million damage done.
Using my damage priority list, which is this order to cast the stuff: Keg Smash on CD, Rushing Jade Wind every time the buff falls off, BoK when I have 2 Chi, Jab if I ever get to 75 energy while RJW still has more than 3 seconds left on it, Chi Wave on CD and Tiger Palm as filler, i get 56k DPS over 6 million damage.
Neither of these use Guard, but that is a once every 30s/emergency button. It isn't part of my "rotation".
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Member
trying to git gud at brewmaster and i wanna know . shud i focus more on crit or mastery?O.o idont realy care about dmg output but rather survivability
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Discussion:
We come with 3 PvE builds, taken from Ask Mister Robot, patch 5.4:
"PVE: DEFAULT - A popular build focused on active mitigation and DPS. This build shoots for a reaonably high amount of haste to give more Chi and this more room for error when spending your Chi."
Agi>Hit/Exp(hard cap)>Haste (8000)>Crit>Mastery>Parry>Dodge>Armor>Stam
*This gives you a hella lot of BOKs and Purifying Brews. You will be relying on your Chi to live. I felt too squishy, but I've seen others have good results. Not much more to comment on from my side, ask someone else. Basically, I don't like it, but recommend you at least try it for a week, too.
"PVE: CRIT BUILD - A high crit build, popular for 10-man raiding where tank damage output is more important."
Agi>Hit/Exp(hard cap)>Haste(4500)>Crit>Mastery>Parry>Dodge>Armor>St am
*This was interesting. Stupidly high DPS (seriously, don't underestimate this in 10s) with decent survivability for trash fights and any multi-target combat. Less survivability than I desired on single-boss fights, but was great on Primordius(regarded as single target). I think I only had 3 stacks of his debuff with this build before co-tank was bored and taunted anyways! Also, with this build I pulled 110k DPS on fights like Jin'Rokh, while surviving well enough, but healers complained a little. Horridon was almost silly. So easy with our DK tank stacking mastery, solotanking him, pally healer clearing his stacks and me on trash. If i remember, that was the lowest total HPS fight I have ever seen in MOP raids, including when we were 489 geared in Terrace of Endless Springs!
"PVE: EFFECTIVE HEALTH - A high mastery and stamina build, popular for tanking hard-hitting fights (25-mans and heroic raiding)."
Agi>Hit/Exp(hard cap)>Haste(4500)>Stam>Mastery>Crit>Parry>Dodge>Arm or
*Love the feeling in this build. I don't do too much damage at the moment, I mean, I am close to the bottom... However, I am immortal if I stick to the tactics. Low health pool of BrMs is never an issue for any boss. Soloing heroic dungeons is simple with it. You won't die if you know your class with this build. Wiggle to the left, wiggle to the right and you are back at full health with Gift of the Ox orbs.
- Mastery will allow you to survive hard hits [PHYSICAL] a lot easier than any class (yeah, I said it! Immune doesn't count as tanking, pally. Mage ice cube isn't tanking, is it?) through Stagger.
- Crit will allow you to avoid some stacking debuffs [MAGIC & PHYSICAL] through Elusive Brew.
- I remember a few stories off the web from retail about BrM tanks literally dropping all stacks of a few SoO boss' debuffs due to the massive avoidance Crit builds gave.
- I also remember stories about mastery-stacking BrMs fighting in HC raids, being OP (OP in pve - kek) and nearly unkillable (as spike damage is what kills tanks, not constant throughput. Remember, BrMs specialise in having consistent damage.
- Warmane has a bug at the moment with RJW proccing EB stacks, which is amazingly fun for tanking trash! So that influences your decision... But not for too long, as fixes are always incoming.
This isn't including any haste interaction, of course. With (too much) haste, Crit will be significantly better. I say too much because we are talking about the 8k energy regen break point, at which point you should reroll Windwalker, or only stick to the RDF tool. Don't do raids with that, you wont be popular with anyone that isn't 100% fixed on Recount damage numbers.
Personal Answer: FOR NOW go mastery. Currently, we're low geared and are more worried about being punched too hard for our healers to cope. We aren't trying to cheese the aforementioned stacking debuff mechanics with EB, because we don't have HC raids in which that is useful. With later fixes and personal experience, I recommend you choose your own spec. Doing 25s and HCs? Go for the 25 and HC build. Doing 10s? Crit build. Messing around with the RDF? Haste. Annoying your DDs by doing more than half the group's damage is terrible as a tank practice, and I highly recommend it!
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Member
alright :> thanks a lot for the reply :) i think with the SoO set bonus mastery will definately be my stat to go but i think for now sticking with crit seems more valuable for me since i need a lot more mastery to reach a satisfying number than i need crit :) by the way : chi brew vs ascension D: is any of the 2 strictly better?
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Member
Asher-bro says: "Chi Brew: free chi for all! ascension not worth for have only 1 chi more and power strikes is not op at all for tanking it gives you no hard bonus. Chi brew can be considered a OH **** button, allowing you to use Guard in case you have not enough chi or use a breath of fire or blackout kick to have shuffle buff more often. Priceless!"
I agree with it. I think Power Strikes could good for some, if you keep good trackers (like WeakAuras2) of it and your Chi close to each other. If you dont, you will waste the Chi at some point. It is far less useful than Chi Brew's demandable Chi, which also comes with EB stacks! So, EB is what I like.
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Member
switched to chi brew and stackin crit . for 10man raids im doing pretty good on most fights and damn that dps O_O
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are BM monks still a viable tanking class? or should i stick with leveling my druid? also, what would be the best profession for a BM monk?
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