Brewmaster Monk Tank Battle of Dazar'alor Raid Guide — Dragonflight 10.2.5

This page will be a rough outline of the bosses and mechanics in the Battle of Dazar'alor raid from a Brewmaster monk and general tank point of view. Initially this page will focus on heroic mode and lower, however, as more bosses are being killed on Mythic, the guide will also include optimizations for Mythic bosses.

This raid includes 3 fights that have some superficial differences- the names of bosses, spells, and some graphics. When referring to these, we attempt to use generic names (eg, simply Grong instead of the Horde's King Grong or Alliance's Grong the Revenant) whenever possible. When spells are linked, both will be linked the first time, but thereafter for readability only the Horde version of the spell is linked.

Champion of the Light is a 2-tank encounter, with one tank on adds and one on the boss, though you may do both roles throughout the encounter.

The boss begins with two Disciples and one Crusader add, who should be taken by one tank and kept away from the boss — her Seal of Retribution increases the damage they deal, and her Seal of Reckoning makes cleaving her dangerous.

The boss applies a stacking debuff on some melee swings (regardless of whether they hit or not) called Sacred Blade. This does little damage until reaching higher stacks. You should switch when the adds are dead, but if this is not manageable, it is possible to switch with adds up without too much difficulty, as they cast often. You may also be able to reset by kiting for a short time during some boss casts.

When tanking the adds, you should move away from the bosses Wave of Light cast. Ideally you will move the adds out of it too, as it heals them, but the heal is dispellable so do not worry too much. You should also move the adds out of the Crusader's Consecration — Ring of Peace helps out with this, and you should use it when you are DPSing the adds. Just be careful not to knock them in many different directions.

Both tanks should turn away from the Crusader's Blinding Faith, but the boss tank can simply always have their back to the adds. If you are standing close enough to the boss, the Wave of Light will not hit you.

On Mythic difficulty, the Champion will use Prayer for the Fallen, causing Crusaders to cast the easily avoidable Divine Mallet and Disciples to cast Angelic Renewal. Angelic Renewal must be interrupted, as it heals the boss to full health. The second Prayer for the Fallen will require four interrupts, as dead enemies will cast Angelic Renewal as well. You should try to have the Disciples die in range of interrupts.

There are no other changes, and the fight is quite simple.

Grong is a two tank fight. Tanks are primarily concerned with Grong's Bestial Combo/ Necrotic Combo. He will perform 3 attacks, randomly choosing between 2 available moves each time, so to navigate this you must look at what he is casting. Bestial Smash leaves a debuff on its target ( Crushed) causing them to take more damage from another Bestial Smash, and Rending Bite causes the target to bleed.

Dealing with this is not too hard — if your co-tank has already been hit by an ability once and it is cast again, taunt. This way, no tank will have two stacks of the bleed or be oneshot by Bestial Smash because of their Crushed debuff. If you taunt during a cast, the ability will hit you, so do not worry about predicting his moves.

It is possible that Grong will cast Rending Bite 3 times. If this happens one tank will have to take two bleeds, and one will have to tank the boss with a bleed. As a Brewmaster, you should probably be tanking the boss while bleeding, but this is not a hard rule. He is also capable of Smashing 3 times, but the debuff duration is short enough that the first player will not have it on the third cast.

On Heroic mode, Grong will follow up his Combo with Bestial Throw, grabbing his target, putting a short heavy DoT on them and throwing them at another player. Cooldowns can and should be used during this. Use your Transcendence: Transfer to quickly get back into melee. Raids with a Paladin can use Blessing of Protection to stop the tank from being thrown when they are picked up.

Grong will also cast Ferocious Roar, fearing players who do not have anyone near them. This is simple for you to deal with, as you should be near your co-tank. Make sure to get back in fast after a Throw, though.

On Mythic difficulty, Grong will hit exceptionally hard, and you should co-ordinate with your co-tank on who should take the Bestial Throw. He will cast his Ferocious Roar soon after a Throw, which means the Thrown tank must be escorted back to the boss (or Transcendence: Transfer back in!), and the boss tank must have someone protecting them - ideally this is just a Holy Paladin or other healer.

Bestial Combos can also be interrupted by triggering Tantrum, and whoever is triggering these should pay attention to timers to do this, if convenient.

Jadefire Masters is a two enemy boss, with a Monk and a Mage boss who both must be tanked. Both tanks will have to swap bosses throughout the encounter.

The Monk casts Multi-Sided Strike fairly often, causing you to be lifted into the air and be attacked by three (four on Heroic) spirits. They will first appear one after another in the order they attack, then pulse and charge at you. Your objective is to turn your character to face the spirits as they hit you. If you succeed you will gain a damage and healing buff. Each spirit that hits you deals some damage. After all spirits have charged, you gain the Tested debuff, and the other tank should take the Monk.

The Monk will also jump to a random area and cast Whirling Jade Storm until a player engages him in melee combat. Chi Torpedo makes it easy to stop this quickly.

The Mage casts Fireball frequently, which deals high damage and leaves the Rising Flames DoT. When this debuff expires, Burnout is triggered, damaging the raid with increasing damage based on the amount of Rising Flames stacks. To ensure you do not harm the raid too much, you should swap on 5-6 stacks, though even on Heroic, most raids will be capable of dealing with 10 without trouble.

The fight has little difference on Mythic difficulty, and nothing that should directly affect the tanks.

The only gem available to tanks is the Diamond of the Unshakeable Protector. You should switch tanks once the active tank's gem shield is broken.

It does not matter which path you choose, as the unique mechanics do not benefit a certain tank.

While the Spirits of Gold are stunnable, you can use Ring of Peace to control them rather than taking Tiger Tail Sweep.

There are no changes affecting tanks in Mythic difficulty-.

This is a two tank encounter, with both tanks taking one Aspect each. The bosses must be kept over 7 yards from each other, or they will gain Loa's Pact, causing them to take almost no damage. When Pa'ku's Wrath is cast, you and your co-tank should ensure you already know which side of the circle you will go to, to minimise damage loss. You may also choose to swap bosses while running to the circle, as DPS will be naturally lower at this time anyway.

Pa'ku's Aspect gains Hastening Winds with each melee, which can be reset by swapping. You can probably take around 25-30 stacks, and should not switch too frequently.

Kimbul's Aspect stacks a fairly heavy DoT, Lacerating Claws, on his target. You should swap him at 2 stacks. Make sure not to face this cleaving attack to other players, and warn people once it is coming up if you can. This is especially important during Pa'Ku's Wrath.

Gonk's Aspect will occasionally transform into a raptor and cast Wild Maul on a tank. This cleaves, so ensure you are facing the boss away from any players (especially during Pa'Ku's Wrath). If you have any bleed stacks, you may wish to use a cooldown.

Use Ring of Peace to help control raptor adds.

On Mythic difficulty, Bwonsamdi will curse players and cause them to receive no healing. Tanks should be dispelled immediately. Otherwise, there are no differences on Mythic difficulty.

King Rastakhan is an excellent fight for Brewmaster Monk due to its need for high mobility.

In Phase One, Rastakhan has two (three on Heroic) bodyguards. Siegebreaker Roka will cast Meteor Leap on a random player, then Crushing Leap on the tank. This deals some physical damage and leaves the Crushed debuff behind, causing further Crushing Leaps to be dangerous. Ideally, you should kill Roka before his second leap, but if not, then Fortifying Brew should be enough to survive it.

Rastakhan himself will cast Scorching Detonation on his target often. This applies a DoT, and at the end of its duration explodes dealing damage to the raid. This damage is reduced based on distance, so the tank must get far away from the raid. As a Monk, you should use a charge of Chi Torpedo to get out, then use Transcendence: Transfer or another charge to get back in range of the boss, to ensure as little movement as possible. If your other tank is low mobility you may prefer to take all Scorching Detonations.

After the bodyguards are defeated, Bwonsamdi will spawn. A tank must pick him up and move him far away from the raid to ensure his Aura of Death does not hit any raid members. Since the stacking debuff from the aura, Deathly Withering will kill the tank eventually, you must swap bosses. The best way to do this is during Scorching Detonation- the Rastakhan tank runs to Bwonsamdi and taunts him, and the Bwonsamdi tank does the opposite.

Bwonsamdi will also cast Caress of Death on his target, causing you to take no healing for 5 seconds. This is quite dangerous — you will want to purify before and probably during this if you are hit by more than one melee.

At the end of Phase Two, the Bwonsamdi tank should run away from him, as being close will make you liable to be taken into the Death Realm. Tanks are only needed in the Living Realm.

Rastakhan continues to cast Scorching Detonation during this phase. He will also spawn two tankable adds — a Phantom of Rage and a Phantom of Retribution. The Phantom of Rage casts Necrotic Smash on the tank, applying a healing debuff and dealing damage in an AOE. The tanks should swap the Phantom after this. The Phantom of Retribution only melees and casts Grave Bolt, which should be interrupted as frequently as possible.

On Heroic mode, a third Phantom of Slaughter spawns. It is almost identical to the Phantom of Retribution.

In the final phase, Rastakhan will keep casting Scorching Detonation. You should swap during this as his melee damage is high. Be ready to move him away from Death Gates when too many are dropped nearby.

There are no significant differences in Mythic difficulty.

Mekkatorque's melee booster is Electroshock Strikes. Each of his melee swings do extra nature damage, and apply Electroshock Amplification, increasing nature damage taken. While tanks are capable of surviving around 10 stacks, the boss casts so much that taunting around 4 is fine. In the last phase, make sure to pay attention to stacks, as his attack speed is increased and they will accumulate faster.

You will occasionally be debuffed with Gigavolt Charge, which explodes after 15 seconds. You must be out of line-of-sight of the raid behind a pillar in a corner of the room when it explodes. You have a very long time to position yourself, so do not worry if you have to tank a little longer or stay still. On the third set of Gigavolts, you will be teleported to the boss with around 7 seconds left on the debuff, so do not leave too early.

As a tank, you will often be Shrunk, meaning you must enter a robot and deal with the fight's major mechanic. 3 people are shrunk at once in Phases One and Three, and each player must input a series of 3 colors. You can see another player's code above their head, but cannot see your own. Your guild will decide how to do it, but often the tank will call out the colors of the other two players, and one of them will call out yours. Do not leave the robot until all players have input their code, and take your time, as you will have around 45 seconds to complete this. False inputs will cause you to be ejected and will often cause a wipe.

Otherwise, dodge any errant AoE and do not stand on Shrunken players.

On Mythic difficulty, players affected by Gigavolt Charge leave a puddle of radiation on the floor that gives a high damage DoT to anyone standing in it. You should endeavour to use space well, and leave the best line of sight spots to players who get the bomb during the intermission phase.

You must be faster when inputting the code. There exists a bug where the final input takes a long time to show up - if this happens, the input is the same as the first one. If you remember it, you can call it out, but be careful.

Rarely, in the intermission, you will become very large - stay still as much as possible during this, as any players you stand on will take damage, and any Shrunken players will be immediately killed.

In the last phase, use cooldowns if your co-tank is inside a robot - you will likely have to tank for a prolonged period of time.

In Phase One, you will be facing either Sister Katherine or Brother Joseph (on Heroic mode, the bosses will switch at 50%, so you must know both).

Sister Katherine will cast Crackling Lightning on a player, including tanks. If you get this, roll quickly to an assigned position away from other raid members, then back to the boss. She also casts Voltaic Flash. This causes beams of lightning to dance across the ship. You should start in the middle of the ship and simply move into a beam after it has struck, as the lightning will not hit the same place twice... in a row.

Brother Joseph will use Sea's Temptation, spawning a Siren to mind control a raid member. You should move the boss next to the Siren so that both the boss and it can be cleaved.

In Phase Two, the bosses melee attacks apply Kelp-Wrapped, dealing some damage and slowing the tank. When this expires, it increases the damage taken by all enemies and allies within 10 yards. You should use this to debuff the Energized Storm adds- simply have the inactive tank taunt the boss, and the Kelp-Wrapped tank run to the add and call for a dispel. Be careful not to get dispelled on allies.

On Mythic difficulty, Sea Swell will be cast during both phases. In order to not run out of room on boats, you must move into a Sea Swell during the cast, stacking the pools as much as possible. More pools will not increase the ticking damage. You should also do this in Phase Two whenever you are not stacked with melee.

The Ire of the Deep is changed on Mythic. Along with splitting damage to anyone inside it, it knocks anyone inside back significantly (reduced by the amount of players soaking). Most guilds at this point use a tank to soak each one of these. If you are doing this, have your Transcendence in a central position, as Ires can spawn very far from each other. You will take a large amount of damage - use externals and Dampen Harm, and stack avoidance if you can. The trait Exit Strategy will also be useful, but you should be careful, as it will reduce your mobility ( Momentum will be useful if you decide to go this route).

The other tank will tank the boss permanently. You should call for dispels when you get to 5 stacks occasionally, as the DoT does a large amount of damage. You must not get dispelled on players, as they will take 5 stacks of the damage debuff.

Throughout the fight, Jaina will cast Ice Shard. This deals physical damage (not frost!) and applies a debuff increasing the damage of further Ice Shards. It also (like most of Jaina's abilities) applies Chilling Touch, which will freeze any player that reaches 20 stacks.

In Phases One and Two, you should clear your Chilling Touch stacks occasionally by stepping in Searing Pitch or standing next to exploded ordnance barrels.

In Phase Three, you cannot clear Chilling Touch stacks. Instead, each tank will get frozen at 20 stacks, and the other tank should taunt and assist in breaking out their frozen ally.