I’m still developing an opinion on these changes, so this post will be absent any theorizing. Today I’ll cover and clarify the objective changes to Brewmaster monks as of Tuesday, April 14th, and the subjective reactions will come later. (Feel free to post your own opinions in the comments, though.)
Also, it’s very likely the set bonuses and legendary ring will change, among other things (hopefully many things).
Patch Notes
Blackout Kick no longer increases the Stagger amount for Brewmaster Monks.
In other words, Shuffle, generated by Blackout Kick, will only increase parry by 10% in 6.2. Currently, it increases parry by 10% and Stagger by 10%. Blackout Kick will still generate Shuffle, but Shuffle itself is less cool.
Stance of the Sturdy Ox now increases armor by 125% (up from 75%) and provides a 10% base Stagger percentage (down from 30%). Additionally, the Stagger effect no longer works against attacks which ignore armor.
The armor change is roughly a 4% or 5% increase in physical damage reduction. The Stagger reduction drops from 30% passive stagger to 10%.
That final line about stagger no longer working against attacks which ignore armor refers to our uncanny ability to significantly reduce the damage of things that are supposed to hit very hard without actively doing anything. A necessary fix to make us match other tanks.
- Blackout Kick now deals 30% less damage.
- Provoke now has a 30 yard range (down from 40 yards).
- Tiger Palm now deals 30% less damage.
- Tiger Strikes no longer triggers from multistrikes, but now provides a 40% increase to Multistrike chance while active.
- Tiger Strikes will be a simple proc, not a weirdly recursive proc that increases itself.
- Serenity now lasts 5 seconds for Brewmaster Monks (down from 10 seconds).
Net Changes
Summarizing the above:
- (-) 30% stagger (-20% lost from Ox Stance, -10% lost from Blackout Kick / Shuffle)
- Where in 6.1 we might have about 55% stagger, in 6.2 it would be about 25%.
- (-) about 15% dps (napkin math, assuming our rotation doesn’t change from what it is today, and with Serenity talented)
- (+) 50% armor increase (roughly a 5% physical damage reduction)
Trinkets
Tier Bonus
One of these is clearly not final.
- Monk T18 Brewmaster 2P Bonus: Desperate Measures now occurs at 50% health or below.
- Monk T18 Brewmaster 4P Bonus: Desperate Measures now occurs at 5000% health or below.
Legendary Tanking Ring
