Simply put:
Brewmaster works a lot harder for survivability and DPS but is worse at both compared to any other tank.
The only exception I can think of is tanking enormous hits with stagger, but at the moment it feels like you’ll just likely be one shot anyway.
Let’s rise up fellow followers of the Keg, let me know your thoughts!
There are multiple trinkets this season that significantly increase survivability in high tier mythics. With the right talents, you can trade a portion of your DPS for increased durability if you feel that you do not understand how to manage stagger yet. Ie: At Ilvl 635 - you should be able to pull 4 packs in Cinderbrew, if you fail and die instantly to this - there’s a problem with your stagger control and would need more work. Practice makes perfect.
For instance, running a brew-heavy build that maximizes Shuffle uptime and cooldown reduction on your brews might cost you 200-300k DPS, this can be run with Shado-Pan.
Master of Harmony is great aswell as you can stack Celestial x2 times and then reset your brews if you not running Bob and Weave. But that’s an investment in actually surviving - and if used correctly, you have more aoe damage with that hero talent.
It’s worth to mention that Touch of Death resets stagger, so it is important how you use it.
Instead of using it to “last hit” some trash mob, actually save it instead - if you run out of brews for some reason - that could be your last chance of surviving a pull. aIt can be used strategically to extend pull potential far beyond what most tanks can handle.
Last season I started using Ring of Peace more to actually manage stagger aswell (By pushing most physical dmg trash away from me). So if one can make it a habit to use it - it is also useful, although some see it as a trash spell - i do not agree. Using it appropriately can save yourself in a dangerous situation.
During Season 2 Dragonflight - when the changes to Expel Harm came, it felt like Brewmaster became weaker in terms of sustain. The real issue isn’t that Brewmaster is weaker, it’s just that if you make a mistake - you will be punished harder than other tanks specs. So in one way or another, you are right about that Brewmaster works harder for survivability, in terms that you really need to manage your brews - and if you don’t, and it is a huge pull - you are dead; this makes it harder to maintain Brewmaster than any other tanks, because they do not have to think about these things - the only tank which kind of have the same problem - but still not; is Blood DK, in terms of using Death Strike. As BM You have to actually think about your mitigation windows, stagger maintenance, and cooldown rotation in a way that you dont do as other tanks. The best solution is to always plan ahead of every pull, know the dungeon in terms of damage and from that standpoint - act. Ie: In TOT I may pull a whole room. Here I will use my trinket that gives me 9000+ armor. I wait 4 seconds at 100% stagger, then I purify - and with blackout combo - I get a 4m Shield. Now, I get high Stagger again, a high prio mob is low on hp - should I stagger or touch of death? I decide to TOD it. The pack is still not dead, I got one extra brew, I clear the damage… and the brews resets from Keg Smash / Tiger Palm - and I still have all my defensives up if something happens. This is an example of how it should look; do not panic and press defensives instantly, no need for that as you stagger damage anyways.