What the Press Tour Means for the Monk Tank (pt. 1)

Hoo boy, did we ever get a wealth of new information Monday!  Here I sit in between business classes, making some sense of it all.  Our understanding of Blizzard's intentions for the Brewmaster has grown immensely.  There's still a long way to go, however.  Join me after the cut to see my thoughts, as I interpret some of the information we've been given.

If our prior understanding of the class was a pen sketch drawn on a napkin, I think we've been upgraded to at least crayon territory.

Artist's rendition.

There's a ton of raw information available to the masses over at the credible and trusted Wowhead.  That's where I'm citing pretty much everything I reference in this post.  Here, I'm going to take that intel and try to give it some perspective.  There's a lot to say, so let's dive right in.

Overview - The Monk As A Class
First things first, let's go as basic as we can. The monk has an autoattack now. Says Ghostcrawler, "So, we tried it without autoattack, and it sucked, and so we said we’re not going to keep it just for the sake of being different." There you have it. It just didn't work.

Additionally, I hope you like warrior stances, because we're getting them.  Some abilities require Ox, Serpent, or Tiger Stance, respective to the three specs.

Furthermore, the dual resource system I talked about before has been nixed.  That is, it's no longer a back-and-forth between Light and Dark resources.  There IS still a dual system, but the Brewmaster and Windwalker will use energy and Chi (generated by abilities like Jab), while the Mistweaver will use mana and Chi.  It also seems that when you're in the Mistweaver's stance, energy costs will be converted to mana, but there's no way to convert mana costs into energy.  Either this is a miscommunication, will be changed, or having healing stance requirements on mana-only abilities seems superfluous.  In any case, while it's nice to see a good class using energy for a change (as I further enforce the rivalry between monks and rogues/ferals), this basically seems like another iteration of Holy Power.  You know what, though?  I'm okay with that.  Holy Power has worked fairly well as a secondary resource, and I have faith in Blizzard to make Chi work, too.  There's a key difference to make note of, as well.  Unlike Holy Power, Chi is not intended to be saved and spent all at once.  Abilities may not scale with higher Chi expenditures - an ability may cost a FIXED one or two Chi, regardless of how much you have pooled.  The intention here is to offer a more free-flowing ability...well, FLOW...that feels fluid.  Y'know, like a martial artist.

Anybody know an onomatopoeia for karate sounds?  'Cause I sure as hell don't.

Baseline Monk Abilities
Since we're Brewmasters here, I'm going to focus on the abilities that have energy costs. Obviously, anything with a mana cost attached is intended for Mistweavers.

• Disable
  

  • 15 Energy
  • Melee Range
  • Instant
  • You attempt to disable the target's movement, reducing their movement speed by 25%. Stacks up to 2 times.
  • If you use Disable a third time on a target while they have 2 stacks, all stacks will be consumed and they will be rooted for 8 sec.

This sounds an awful lot like a Hamstring that requires two applications.  The ability to upgrade to a root is nice, though.  Still, I don't see it being of much more than situational use to a Brewmaster.

• Grapple Weapon
  

  • 40 yd range
  • Instant
  • 1 min cooldown
  • You fire off a rope spear, grappling the targets weapons and shield, returning them to you.
  • Depending on the quality of the weapon, your damage done, healing done, and damage reduction may be increased.

Allow me to be one of the first to say, GET OVER HERE!  Mechanically less similar than Death Grip, but aesthetically?  Spot.  On.  I'm interested in seeing how this actually pans out in gameplay, though.  Does it work on players?  Is it a disarm?  How are NPC weapons evaluated?  There are a lot of unanswered questions surrounding this one.

• Legacy of the Emperor
  

  • 40 yd range
  • Instant
  • You extol the words of the last emperor, increasing Strength, Agility, and Intellect by 5%.
  • If target is in your party or raid, all party and raid members will be affected.

Hey look, we get Blessing of Kings.  See what I said about unnecessary buffs last week. Boring, but necessary under the current regime.  NEXT.

• Meditation
  

  • Channeled
  • 3 min cooldown
  • Reduces all damage taken by 99% and redirects to you all harmful spells cast against your allies within 30 yards. Lasts 10 sec.
  • Being the victim of a melee attack will break your meditation, canceling the effect.

I'm calling it right now, THIS WILL GET NERFED.  People thought Divine Guardian was overpowered?  One could argue that this doesn't have any effect on melee damage, but most of the time Divine Guardian was used for those predictable bursts of magical raid damage.  This is like Divine Guardian mixed with Mirror of Broken Images.  If you're thinking, "Well, SOMEthing is usually meleeing the tank during those bursts," consider that this is also usable by Windwalker and Mistweaver monks.

• Paralysis
  

  • Melee Range
  • Instant
  • 15 sec cooldown
  • You cause the targets muscles to contract, incapacitating them for 30 sec. If done from behind the target, the duration is doubled. Only one target can be victim to Paralysis at any given time.
  • Any damage taken will cancel the effect.

A.) Like all else, this will have a reduced duration in PvP.  B.) This doesn't seem very useful as crowd control, in that it requires melee range.  That works for Sap, but we can't stealth, now can we? Spoiler alert for a later update, there's a talent that allows this to be used at range.  So we need to spend a talent point to make our CC useful for PvE?  Color me unimpressed.

• Provoke
  

  • 40 yd range
  • Instant
  • 8 sec cooldown
  • You mock the target, causing them to rush towards to attack you an increased 50% movement speed.
  • If targeting your Statue of the Black Ox, you Provoke all enemies within an 8 yard radius of your statue.

This is going to be a close friend to us Brewmasters.  Every tank has a taunt.  This is ours.  Curiously, it has an AoE effect when combined with a Statue of the Black Ox.  I am absolutely certain I read that Blizzard had shown interest in moving to one taunt per tank.  Hrmmm.  Apparently not so much.

• Resuscitate
  

  • 40 yd range
  • 9.74 sec cast
  • Returns the spirit to the body, restoring a dead target to life with 35% of maximum health and mana. Cannot be cast when in combat.
  • Cast time reduced by 50% if target is in melee range.

Hey cool we have a rez.  No mana cost, likely to let the other specs (you know, like OURS) use it.  For that matter, I hope the other classes lose their mana cost - it's kind of pointless out of combat.  Probably a 10-second cast, but I like the reduced cast time in melee range.  Makes sense, given the name.  Nothing else to say, really, so let's move on.

• Roll
  

  • 50 Energy
  • Roll a short distance.

This is the dark horse.  So little is said, but it seems to be very important.  I didn't get to test play a monk at Blizzcon (notably because I wasn't at Blizzcon), but the roll has been indicated to be a key, trademark ability of the class.  Or at least the two specs that use energy.  That's a steep energy cost, though.  For something so simple, you can expect it to have a utility level proportional to that 50 energy.

• Spear Hand
  

  • 30 Energy
  • Melee Range
  • Instant
  • 30 sec cooldown
  • Requires Ox Stance, Tiger Stance
  • You jab the target in the throat, interrupting their spell cast and preventing any spell in that school from being cast for 5 sec.
  • If the enemy is facing you when cast, they are also silenced out of all schools for 5 sec.

No surprises here.  Interrupts are to WoW classes as Landmasters are to Super Smash Bros. characters.  I only have one big problem with this ability.  The energy cost is too damn high!!

• Spinning Crane Kick: You spin while kicking in the air, dealing Physical damage every 1 sec, to all nearby enemies within 8 yards. Movement speed is reduced by 30%. Lasts 6 sec.

AoE melee attack.  Cough cough Bladestorm cough.  Still, while comparable, it's not identical.  We shouldn't be as vulnerable to disarms, and the attack ought to scale with our attack power in general, i.e. ALL OF OUR GEAR, not just the predominant force of our weapon.

• Tiger Palm: Attack with the palm of your hand, dealing 23 physical damage. Deals 12 additional damage if the target is above 50% health.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that those damage numbers aren't scaled to level 90.  No word on if this generates Chi or not.  If not, expect this to be a resource dump to avoid energy-capping, a la Heroic Strike.  Unless it doesn't cost energy.  Maybe it costs Chi, hell if I know.  If it does then it's more of a Shield of the Righteous, converting our secondary resource to damage/threat.

• Touch of Death
  

  • 4 Chi
  • Melee Range
  • Instant
  • 1.5 min cooldown
  • Requires Ox Stance, Tiger Stance
  • You exploit the enemy target's weakest point, instantly killing the target.
  • Only usable on non-player targets who have equal or less health than you.

This might seem a bit over-the-top as an IWIN button.  Still, think of whenever you've fought a mob while questing.  If you've had time to build up four chi, and/or it has less health than you, it's going anyway.  This is just an Execute or Hammer of Wrath that works on nominal terms instead of percentage-based ones.  In other words, an Execute or Hammer of Wrath that you can't use on bosses.

- Summary -
That's not too bad overall.  We've borrowed some elements from other classes, none of which are terribly problematic, and we've got some original flavor of our own.  It's a little rough on some of the edges, but I have to say I'm satisfied with how the class is coming along.  Now let's look at some skills built for the Brewmaster itself.

Hwaaaahhhhh!  Aiee!  HUTTAH!  Nope.  That sounds stupid and dumb and lame.  I'll keep trying.

Brewmaster Monk Abilities
Here we go!  This is the business, right here.  This is what's going to make Brewmasters real tanks.  What've you got for us, Blizzard?

• Avert Harm
  

  • Available Level 48
  • 15 yd range
  • Instant
  • 1 min cooldown
  • Requires Ox Stance
  • You reduce the damage taken by all nearby friendly targets with in 10 yards by 20% and cause half of all remaining damage they take to be re-directed to you. Lasts for 15 sec.
  • Avert Harm is cancelled if you reach 10% or lower health.

Oh, hello Hand of Sacrifice.  Wasn't expecting to see you here.  Slightly different; shorter range, shorter cooldown, damage REDUCTION, greater damage transference.  Still not too exciting.  What else can you do for us, Blizz?

• Breath of Fire
  

  • Available Level 18
  • 2 Chi
  • 40 yd range
  • Instant
  • Requires Ox Stance
  • Breathes fire onto the target, causing 2.385 damage. Damage is multiplied by the number of Drunken Haze stacks of the target.

[We'll get to Drunken Haze in a moment]  Wow, that's quite a range.  Flavorful, too.  Well, flavorful if you can taste anything after BREATHING #%@&ING FIRE, THAT IS.  Creative, awesome Chi consumer.  You have my attention.

• Brewmaster Training
  

  • Availalbe Level 72
  • You become adept in the ways of the Brewmaster, amplifying two of your spells.
  • Tiger Palm: Increase the amount of your next Guard by 5%. Lasts 30 sec. Stacks up to 3 times.
  • Blackout Kick: When you Parry, your next Blackout Kick will cost no Force and can be used on targets regardless of their health percentage.

That gives us some additional use for Tiger Palm.  Also, notice how Blackout Kick references us parrying.  I so called that.  I think Force, the old secondary resource, is just a holdover name, and this will use Chi.  I also think we need to keep moving to make sense of the rest.

• Drunken Haze
  

  • Available Level 22
  • 40 Energy
  • 40 yd range
  • Instant
  • Requires Ox Stance
  • You hurl a keg of your finest brew, reducing the movement speed of all enemies within 8 yards by 15%.
  • Affected targets have a 3% chance to have their attacks misfire and strike themselves instead for 5141 damage. Stacks up to 3 times.

Blizzard seems to have drawn more influence from Pokemon while designing the Pet Battles, because this is straightup Confusion territory.  And if it's anything like Confusion, that 3% per stack is going to feel like 30% per stack.  This will also be a buildup for our Breath of Fire, seen above, probably because alcohol is flammable as all get-out.  Notably, Breath of Fire doesn't seem to consume these stacks, unlike a bear druid's Lacerate/Pulverize combo.

• Elusive Ale
  

  • Available Level 34
  • 1 Chi
  • Instnat
  • 45 sec cooldown
  • Requires Ox Stance
  • Increases your chance to dodge melee and ranged attacks by 50% for 45 sec.

What.  WHAT.  I mean, don't get me wrong.  I think this is pretty awesome.  But it only consumes one Chi, we can already dodge and parry, AND this gives a flat 50% increase, not subject to diminishing returns?  With 100% uptime??  NO WAY THIS MAKES IT TO LIVE LIKE THIS, SORRY.  That's some crazy avoidance.  And it gets crazier a bit further down when we hit Recoil, trust me.

• Guard
  

  • Available Level 26
  • 3 Chi
  • Instant
  • Requires Ox Stance
  • You Guard against future attacks, absorbing 38478 damage for 8 sec.
  • Any heals you apply to yourself while Guarding are increased by 30%.

An absorb is pretty cool, of course.  I'm not sure if it's 50%-dodge-for-one-third-the-Chi-cost cool, but we'll only have to use Elusive Ale once every 45 seconds.  Might as well absorb in the meantime, eh?  But no, there do not seem to be ways to take advantage of the self-healing while in the Brewmaster specialization and Ox Stance.  None of the information we have shows us with healing that would function while tanking...consider this yet another sign that there is a lot we DON'T know.

• Leer of the Ox
  

  • Available Level 24
  • Instant 20 sec cooldown
  • Requires Ox Stance
  • Your Ox Statue stirs hatred in the target, reducing their movement speed by 50% and causing them to attack the statue for 8 sec. The statue must be within 40 yards of the target.
  • Requires Statue of the Ox to be active.

Apparently, the Target Dummy family has cousins!  I don't think we need to worry about the Statue of the Ox being killed, though.  With that 40 yard range, I expect the enemy will just run towards it at half-speed for eight seconds, not make it all the way, and turn back around.  In other words, by making an enemy no longer attack you, it's kind of a roundabout, positional stun. 

• Recoil
  

  • Available Level 56
  • Whenever you Dodge, you gain 5 Chi.

Wait, what?  There's no way.  There's just no way.

...Blizzard, I have a lot of faith in you.  I've trusted you through some serious naysaying.  But this makes me wonder if somebody read someone else's handwriting the wrong way.  Did you forget about Elusive Ale? We just talked about it. It raises your dodge by 50% with constant uptime.  If we're dodging, say, 70% of the time, and this ability is in place, we will be hemorrhaging Chi as fast as we can possibly manage.  Something seems a bit off about that, doesn't it?  Either this one really needs to be seen to be believed, or a ball got dropped somewhere.

• Summon Black Ox Statue
  

  • Available Level 70
  • 40 yd range
  • 5.85 sec cast
    [li]3 min cooldown
  • Requires Ox Stance
  • Summons a Black Ox Statue at the target location. Lasts for 10 min. Only one Black Ox Statue can be summoned at any one time.
  • The Black Ox Statue interacts with your Provoke and Leer of the Ox abilities.
  • Guard (On-Click Effect)
  • Allies can right-click the Statue to gain the Guard effect, absorbing 128256 damage. Any healing done by the Monk is increased by 30% while Guard is active. Guard has 10 charges.

Here we have our so-called "totem."  We've already looked at the abilities it interacts with.  I'd like to draw attention to two things.  First, it functions as an absorption Lightwell.  That's pretty nifty.  I'm curious to see if it works on us, though.  Why does this need a cast time, though?  If we're tanking, we can't cast in combat.  A Protection paladin trying to pull off an Exorcism while an enemy is smashing his or her face in has been a "noob tag" for ages for a reason.  A Brewmaster won't be able to dodge or parry while trying to summon their Black Ox Statue if a fight lasts more than 10 minutes.  Perhaps a footnote comparable to that found on a Blood DK's Army of the Dead is in order.

- Summary -
Before you panic, I've pushed Mastery and it's related abilities to the next section. They're worthy of their own discussion.  For the Brewmaster abilities...it seems less tidy than the overall class lineup.  Of course, that's to be expected.  The Brewmaster ability list needs to be derived from and interact with that of the monk class as a whole.  If they're going to polish something first, it'd be the shared abilities, so if anything, the uncertainties here can at least tell us that they're putting this together in a logical, sequential manner.  I expect we'll see lots of moderate changes to the Brewmaster, and perhaps some big ones, before this is all over.  And that's absolutely okay.

Cowabunga!  Wait, that's ninja turtles, not kung-fu pandas.  I'LL FIGURE THIS OUT IF IT KILLS ME.

Stagger and Mastery
This is going to be THE characteristic of Brewmasters, let me tell you.  Stagger is our block.  Guard is our Blood Shield.  Appropriately, Stagger and Guard are directly influenced by our Mastery.  First, let's take a look at our stance, and see what Stagger does.

• Stance of the Drunken Ox
  

  • Available Level 10
  • Reduces damage taken by 20%, and increases your chance to Stagger damage by 25%.

• Stagger
  

  • Instant
  • You shrug off attacks, causing 50% of the damage to happen instantly and the remaining 50% to happen 3 sec later.
  • Brewmaster Mastery reduces the after-effect Stagger damage taken.

I know it says instant, but think of this as a passive ability.  The wording of our stance implies that we have a chance to Stagger when we're hit with an attack.  While Stance of the Drunken Ox raises this Stagger chance, I'm honestly not sure what else will.  Perhaps it will remain fixed at 25%, perhaps we'll have some base Stagger...who knows?  If there's more information on that, I'll admit that I've missed it.  At first, this also may seem not terribly useful.  Postponing damage still leads to damage taken, right?  That's where our Mastery comes into play.

• Mastery: Drunken Brawler
  

  • Available Level 80
  • Reduces the damage taken by Stagger by 11.4% and increase the effect of your Guard by 11.4%.
  • Each point of Mastery reduces the Stagger damage taken by an additional 1.1%, and increases the amount you Guard by an additional 1.1%.

This is kind of unique.  Not in a euphemism way, like "special," either.  As stated above, it will affect the SECOND 50% of damage taken when you Stagger.  This should make damage taken much less spikey.  It should also get better with the more mastery rating you get, if it doesn't suffer from diminishing returns.  Theoretically, if you got enough mastery to hit 100% reduction, all damage you take when you Stagger would be cut in half.  I see this being a little problematic.  If you CAN indeed increase how often you Stagger through other means, this mastery will become exceptionally powerful with gear scaling as Mists of Pandaria tiers advance.  If it happens to stay fixed at 25%...this may prove underwhelming.  We'll have to get our hands on some monks to see for sure, but dodge or parry may be more compelling than mastery if Stagger never goes above a one-in-four chance to proc.
 
This is a lot to absorb even WITH Guard and Stagger
There is a TON of new information available since the lifting of this nondisclosure agreement.  There's no way I can fit everything I want to in this update...it's already pretty huge.  This is my Tuesday update, but with this much information, I'd like to update again sometime later this week, preferably by Friday.

I'd like to talk about the abilities in the other two specializations that apply to Brewmasters, such as Flying Serpent Kick (Heroic Leap if it had 25% more badassery) and Sparring, which includes Ox Stance in its tooltip and could see our parry raised by 20% while taking advantage of it.


I would also like to talk about the outlook for our talents at this time.  They are obviously unfinished, as is everything I've discussed today.  Actually, they're not even available on the official World of Warcraft site, but they're still worth taking a look at.


Head on over to Wowhead for yourself if you'd like to take a look at the new information, and read a bunch of interviews that I've only referenced (at most).  Here's a link specifically to the monk information, as well.  I'll be updating with my thoughts on the subject soon.


Oh, and I SO CALLED a capital city raid.  Hope to see you later this week!


Later, folks!

- Stonepalm -

Kapow!  Falcon Punch!  Great Scott!  I give up.