Brewmaster Monk Tank Rotation & Cooldowns

Tank Rotation & Cooldowns

A general priority guide for Brewmaster Monk abilities and cooldowns. Helpful for understanding the spec's fundamentals and getting comfortable with core synergies. Updated for the latest patch in World of Warcraft: Midnight (12.0.1).

Single Target

Ensure Shuffle is active by using Keg Smash or Blackout Kick before engaging.

Use if minimal waste is possible.
Use when the target's health is below your max health.
To trigger Blackout Combo.
Use if at two charges or taking minimal damage.
Consume Blackout Combo buff.
Use first charge or Bring Me Another proc.
To gain or refresh Charred Passions buff.
Use with Rushing Jade Wind active if possible.
Use extra charge if taking minimal damage.

Maintain Shuffle with Keg Smash and Blackout Kick. Use Touch Of Death on low-health targets and prioritize Blackout Kick for Blackout Combo. Manage brews effectively and use cooldowns like Invoke Niuzao, The Black Ox and Exploding Keg for burst damage.

AoE

Ensure Shuffle is active by using Keg Smash or Blackout Kick before engaging.

Use if minimal waste is possible.
Use when the target's health is below your max health.
To trigger Blackout Combo.
To gain or refresh Charred Passions buff.
Consume Blackout Combo buff.
Use first charge or Bring Me Another proc.
Use with Rushing Jade Wind active if possible.
Use extra charge if taking minimal damage.
Use when no other abilities are available.

For AoE, maintain Shuffle and prioritize Blackout Kick for Blackout Combo. Use Breath Of Fire for Charred Passions and Exploding Keg for burst. Fill gaps with Spinning Crane Kick when no other abilities are available.

Cooldowns

Use on cooldown for burst damage and threat.
Use on cooldown for damage and Stagger transfer.
Use when the target's health is below your max health.
Use proactively for major damage reduction and health boost.

Use Exploding Keg and Invoke Niuzao, The Black Ox on cooldown for damage. Activate Touch Of Death on low-health targets and Fortifying Brew proactively for defense.

New to Class? Try Assisted Rotation

Patch 11.1.7 introduced new features that make it eaiser to pick and play new characters. These new settings can be enabled from settings » gameplay enhancements:

Single-Button Assistant
Assisted Highlight
Cooldown Manager

If you are new to World of Warcraft or a certain class, enabling Assisted Highlight and Cooldown Manager can help you learn which abilities to prioritize and use.

While the Single-Button Assistant can be a much easier and more accessible way to play the game, it does come with a slight performance hit due to a small GCD penalty, as you will have to wait 25% longer in between spells and abilities.

To see which specs are best with the Single-Button Assistant feature, you can check out our DPS Rankings which uses SimC to sim every class using this feature.