Monk Hero Talents — The War Within (Season 1)

This page is specifically about Hero Talents in The War Within. If you want to learn more about the best regular talents for Brewmaster Monk, check out our Talents page:

The Shado-Pan talents may not be as consistently useful in a raid environment for defense, but they more than make up for it by being the more potent choice for damage. Consider using them when you need to maximize your output.

Master of Harmony's talents gain a defensive edge in raids due to the naturally higher damage intake present, which results in more damage-purified from the stronger Purifying Brew offered by Mantra of Purity. In addition, having access to two charges of Celestial Brew with Endless Draught creates a lot more defensive power you have direct control over. While the maximum potential damage of this tree is lower than its alternative, Master of Harmony represents a more reliable choice for progression in encounters where you are worried about your survival.

In Mythic+, the choice in a Brewmaster's Hero Talents unfortunately becomes much less competitive. Shado-Pan's buff to Vivify with Protect and Serve can be combined with Vivacious Vivification for a useful source of additional self-healing, in addition to the many AoE pulls of a dungeon, giving ample opportunity to maintain Predictive Training. Plus, the numerous buffs to Keg Smash found in this tree greatly help out with on-pull threat.

However, there is a downside to note with being a Shado-Pan player in Mythic+, and that is tied to how its AoE effects are triggered. Due to High Impact having a strict time limit of enemies needing to die within 10 seconds of being struck by a Flurry Strike, along with the random nature of obtaining and triggering Flurry Strikes with the correct Wisdom of the Wall buff, it can be very frustrating trying to maximize your performance. You may find this random nature annoying to play around, even if your defenses remain consistent.

Master of Harmony Brewmasters face no real weaknesses in Mythic+. Although the damage output of Aspect of Harmony is generally going to be much lower, it is also more controllable while still providing the stellar defensive effects that give an edge in raids. If you desire a weaker but more consistent experience, then there is nothing wrong with making use of Master of Harmony's talents here.

2.

Best Hero Talent Builds for Brewmaster Monk

Shado-Pan Pure Single-Target Build Shado-Pan AoE Build Master of Harmony General Build

3.

Best Shado-Pan Single-Target Build for Brewmaster Monk

When playing as a Shado-Pan Brewmaster, you will need to remember to switch one node based on whether or not you are in single-target combat or AoE. When in single-target, you should select Pride of Pandaria in the top-left slot due to being unable to trigger High Impact. Otherwise, your choice nodes remain more or less consistent across all types of content, though you will prefer Lead from the Front over Protect and Serve if not talenting into Vivacious Vivification.

3.

Best Shado-Pan AoE/Mythic+ Build for Brewmaster Monk

If you are doing any AoE content as a Shado-Pan Brewmaster, you will want to remember to switch into High Impact in the top-left slot. Pride of Pandaria is not unusable in AoE, but its effects are far less useful compared to the additional AoE explosions triggered by enemies who have recently suffered damage from Flurry Strikes. As with the single-target build, make sure to also select Lead from the Front rather than Protect and Serve if you are not taking Vivacious Vivification.

3.

Best Master of Harmony Build for Brewmaster Monk

Master of Harmony Brewmasters only have one major choice node to decide between for any given piece of content: Roar from the Heavens and Tiger's Vigor. This is a relatively simple choice, based on whether you are playing solo or with others, and they could benefit from receiving smaller speed boosts every time you cast Tiger's Lust. The choice nodes featuring Purified Spirit, Mantra of Purity should not be switched out under any circumstances. Though the choice between Path of Resurgence and Way of a Thousand Strikes remains relatively competitive, the latter will remain ahead at all target counts with proper play.

When playing as a Shado-Pan Brewmaster, you will not experience any real changes to your rotation. Flurry Strikes will passively occur as you deal damage and spend Energy, with no real amount of effort being necessary to reach the cap of 10 Flurry Charges before reaching the Energy threshold to trigger them. Instead, you will likely be watching a different effect: the timer on Vivacious Vivification. Due to Protect and Serve's additional buff to Vivify and recent improvements to Vivacious Vivification it is now a reasonable talent to select whenever you are in need of additional self-healing. It is generally unnecessary to use in raids, still, but this extra healing should not be underestimated for world content, Delves, or Mythic+ dungeons.

Master of Harmony Brewmasters have comparably much more to worry about with their talents. When playing with this tree, you must be sure not to fully cap out on your vitality, which is equal to your maximum health. To this end, remember that there are three buffs to represent how close you are to doing so:

• Aspect of Harmony — 0-30% of maximum health stored in vitality
• Aspect of Harmony — 31-60% of maximum health stored in vitality
• Aspect of Harmony — 61-100% of maximum health stored in vitality

Beyond this, it is important to also remember that vitality cannot be generated while Aspect of Harmony is active from casting your Celestial Brew. With this in mind, you must be careful not to activate your Aspect of Harmony when enemies are debuffed with four stacks of Weapons of Order, if possible, in addition to not using Exploding Keg during these windows.

Finally, Master of Harmony players may also optionally track the Balanced Stratagem passive. Though, due to only resulting in up to a 15% increase in damage to certain abilities; this is by no means required. However, for the Brewmasters willing to put in the effort to cast Exploding Keg or Chi Burst while at five stacks of the buff, the extra damage will certainly add up over time, particularly in AoE.