The Brewmaster Begins to Take Shape

It's amazing how much can change in a Beta - especially with an entirely new class. When Monks were first announced, and that Brewmaster would be the tanking spec, I got very excited. While Monks in general have a recognizable East Asian Martial Arts theme, and indeed the Pandaren are unapologetically the Warcraft equivalent of the Chinese, I always preferred it when there was a bit of uniqueness to the tone and feel of any of Warcarft's Fantasy Counterpart Cultures. The Pandaren love of all brewed beverages - whether it's tea or alcohol - is one of the defining characteristics that make them more than just  China: Warcraft Style. (At least in my experience, I've never heard of alcohol being considered a big part of Chinese culture - at least not any more than any other culture.)

Anyway, Warcraft's relationship with alcohol has always played it for laughs. Dwarves, for instance, are so enamored of the stuff that they name their families after it. So when I heard about Brewmasters, I figured we'd have a pretty fun way to play.

Betas are tough, though, because they have to go from what is essentially a very broken, bare-bones build and - in full view of players like me - try to turn it into something that will be fun to play. Brewmasters in particular have a big burden, because unlike the other four tanks, they're being built from the ground up with "Active Mitigation" in mind.

So let's talk about how Brewmasters are tanking in the current build:

The biggest, most important change is that Stagger now applies to every melee attack you take. This, I think, is a fantastic solution to the whole problem of having a leather-armored tank that doesn't have Bear Form. Baseline, Stagger will cause you to take 70% of your damage immediately, but spreads the other 30% out in a dynamic debuff (called Stagger.) The debuff shifts as you take more damage, and there's a clever display mechanic that I assume was built with the prediction that an addon would have been made to do this anyway: if your Stagger debuff is relatively small, the icon is green. As it gets more intense, with more Staggered attacks piling up, it goes to yellow and then finally red.

That's where Purifying Brew comes in. Now, Stagger already smooths out your damage, so even before you get PB(r?) at the probably-too-high level of 64, it'll be useful for your healers. But Purifying Brew only costs one Chi and has no cooldown. You'll be using it frequently, but probably not spamming it, because you will also want your Chi for other things.

First off, I just want to say that this sounds like the best Active Mitigation ability I've heard of so far (though Death Strike's also great.) The lack of a cooldown means you can use it whenever you need to - only needing a quick Jab to get the Chi you need. But it also feels like it will make a big difference - especially as your mastery puts more of your incoming damage into the Stagger debuff. Also, because it's a reactive ability rather than a proactive one, you won't be punished for missing the boss' swing - but you will be punished if you aren't paying attention to what has already happened.

Guard remains at a 30 second cooldown. Clearly it's still something you'll want to use, but I believe it's better saved for the boss' "Super Punch." If you're in a fight without such a thing, you're out of luck, but you can then save it for emergencies.

Another nice thing about the recent changes is that you're rewarded for using your dps abilities (except Breath of Fire, but I see that much more as a kind of "round up the adds" ability.) Tiger Palm now gives you a stacking buff (in addition to the armor penetration buff they just added) that increases your next Guard. Given Guard's cooldown, I expect you'll want to keep that 3-stack up at all times. Blackout Kick now triggers Shuffle (the ability with that name is gone) which gives you a boost to parry and your Stagger percentage - effectively, BOK now buffs your mastery for a couple seconds.

What I like is that there's actually a nice set of tools to deal with bosses that are spiky in their damage (the old Ulduar Splat) or regular (circling the Icecrown Citadel drain.) Tiger Palm and Guard are great for those bosses who like to hit you with big blasts, while Purifying Brew and Blackout Kick are great for dealing with regular damage. Your ability to mix and match them effectively will determine how good a tank you are.