Hello all, I’m playing my monk as an alt in SL, but since I enjoy all 3 specs, maybe in the future I’d like to make it my main. I play WoW since open beta in 2004 and monk has been a favourite since it was released in MoP, with both MoP and WoD the best periods for BrM tanking in my my opinion.
I’m a serious casual player: I don’t do mythic raiding, maybe we’ll top at heroic (maybe!), but I like to play at the best of my ability.
Brewmaster is a great tank spec, but having lost Ironskin Brew puts it at a LARGE disadvantage when you have to mitigate a massive damage ability, for example Iron Spikes from Grand Proctor Berillya in Sanguine Depths: you know when it’s coming and you can’t do much about it: if unmitigated it kills me on a +4 (I’m at 196 item level and have 40k hit points give or tanke a few hundreds), so I have to rotate long CDs including trinkets, because you can’t purify staggered damage if it kills you first.
On an average lenght fight you are looking at 3 or 4 casts: first is Celestial Brew, second maybe Hakkar Trinket (which sadly I can’t get above 171 despite multiple tries) and third… Fortifying Brew? It has a 6m CD and I often use it on the following packs on the bridge (worst trash pack ever).
I mean, I can do it, I survive and get the kill, but am I missing something?
How do you handle telegraphed large attacks in such situations?
Purifying helps only if I survive first and I can’t imagine doing it on high keys if I’m already jumping through hoops to get it done on a +4.
About gear: I play with what I can find or what guildmates give me when they don’t need. I have to get more soul ash to upgrade the legendary to T4 (already have the base item), but it’s going to take until next week.
…what? The whole point of stagger is that it doesn’t deal the damage to you outright.
Why not…? Time your purify to be before it happens then use Celestial Brew, at maximum effectiveness it can more than double your health. And if an ability deals THAT much damage, then it’s the healer’s job to put more damage reduction on you.
Alternatively, use Zen Meditation right before it hits you for 60% extra dmg reduction.
Its hard to say where you are going wrong (if you actually are) without seeing how you play. One of the main issues I’ve seen with people in low dungeons are running Bob and Weave, it really does not get enough value and I personally prefer healing elixirs ( this personal preference I think dampen harm is technically the better choice). I also find they undervalue Niuazo, he is easily the best cooldown brewmaster has and running the Walk with the Ox conduit allows you to have really good uptime on him through the dungeon.
An additional factor is Monk scaling with agility for example a flask is almost 2% stagger without factoring in shuffle.
Another thing is don’t always try to get max value on celestial brew, If I know its a scary pack (again another factor is knowing the dungeons what to interrupt and what hurts) I open with a very early celestial brew with a single purify. If you are keg smashing on CD you will have it back very quickly and allow more shields over bigger shields.
As for bosses in dungeons I think one of the best things is keeping the damage smooth outside of the tank buster this allows the healer to keep everyone else topped up and then focus on you during the tank buster.
Are you aware that Ironskin Brew has been baked into our rotation? It’s called shuffle
So purify after 1-2 hits and pop Celestial Brew which will absorb the rest of the cast.
Between Purifying Brew, Celestial Brew, Ox Brew, Dampen Harm, Zen, Dave, Fort Brew, trinkets, and triggering the orb heal through Expel Harm; you have more than enough to tackle incoming dmg. Oh yea, almost forgot, healer can save you with a CD or two should you find yourself without your own CDs.
Start the fight with celestial brew ready and you have it ready for every Iron spikes. BM monk is INSANE for physical mitigation when played right. I easily was managing Iron spikes without even taking dmg on m+15 even on tyranical weeks. Sure after the effect was over I had like 60-70k of stagger but you can purify that in half take almost no dmg.