WoW Brewmaster Heroic Hellfire Citadel Guide

WoW Brewmaster Heroic Hellfire Citadel Guide by misum

Hellfire Assault/Siegemaster Mar’tak: Run with Chi Burst, Leg Sweep, Healing Elixirs/Dampen Harm and Rushing Jade Wind. Other talents don’t matter too much here.

This fight honestly doesn’t have much to talk about, which makes a great start to this guide. The fight itself feels a lot like an extended trash pull, and as a Brewmaster on Normal/Heroic your job is simply to group everything up in the centre and AOE like mad. Siegemaster isn’t around long enough to make Dampen Harm worth taking in my opinion; the only instance you would want to take it is when tanking a Hulking Berserker with high Slam stacks.

Slam is the tanking debuff applied by the Hulking Berserker, that increases Physical damage you take by 30% for the next 12 seconds. Since there are multiple Berserkers out at any one time, it’s often not possible to avoid having a high uptime on this debuff; just save a Guard or Elusive Brew stacks to deal with this if it becomes too dangerous. Finally, I would recommend using Touch of Death on Gorebound Fellcasters when they use Metamorphosis. All in all, pretty dull fight for Brewmaster. Think Galakras but with no Phase 2.

Iron Reaver: Take Momentum, Zen Sphere, either Diffuse Magic or Dampen Harm, and Xuen. I would also recommend picking up Glyph of Rapid Rolling for this fight.

The main thing to deal with in this fight is the Artillery debuff. It requires moving out of range of your raid quickly, then ensuring you get back in to tank the boss for your cotank to move out with their debuff. The debuffs overlap, meaning whoever tanks second has around 5 seconds to get out of range.

Because of this, I recommend having your cotank pick up the boss first. When they receive the Artillery debuff, take the boss and place your Transcendence. Then, as soon as they are back in melee range and tanking again, simply double roll out of range. Glyph of Rapid Rolling will easily carry you the required distance, and Momentum + Transcendence: Transfer makes getting back to the boss a breeze. I would personally recommend Dampen Harm for this fight, as it allows you to easily mitigate the damage from Artillery landing.

The only other important thing to know as a Monk is that you can easily Touch of Death the bombs that drop in P2. Very nice, very easy, very annoying boss.

Kormrok: Run with Chi Burst, Diffuse Magic and Xuen.

We’re exceptionally well suited for positioning Kormrok, due to our mobility and speed-increase from Provoke. Make sure you pool 4+ Chi for the Grasping Hands if you’re running Chi Explosion; if not, just pop Chi Burst through the majority of the hands.

The main thing we bring to this encounter is essentially negating Explosive Burst. Place your Transcendence away from the raid, and ensure that you’re in range of your Spirit while actively tanking the boss. Kormrok will cast Explosive Burst on you, and you’ll be rooted in place. If the cast goes off, you will be unable to Transcendence away. Because of this you must ensure that you Transcendence away either just before or during the cast. Your offtank takes the boss, and you will detonate safely out of range of the raid. Because you gain a stacking Magic damage increase debuff from this, ensure that you use Diffuse Magic or Zen Meditation for subsequent Explosive Bursts.

Hellfire Council: For tanking Dia, run Chi Burst, Diffuse Magic and Xuen. For tanking Gurtogg, run Zen Sphere, Chi Brew, Healing Elixirs and Xuen.

Dia revolves around keeping yourself up through selfheals and interrupts, while Gurtogg is a more generic tank and spank. The two must be kept away from each other throughout the encounter, and thus there are two different ways to deal with them.

For Dia, you want to interrupt Void Bolt on CD, and pool Elusive Brew stacks for when she uses Nightmare Visage. This is a flurry attack that EB and Guard should protect you easily for. Make sure you utilise Gift of the Ox procs when needed too. The main reason I recommend Chi Burst over Zen Sphere when tanking Dia is because 1. it’s rare that you will have another melee dps in range, due to the fact that the bosses need to be separated, and 2. it helps cleave down Jubei’thos’ clones.

Gurtogg is relatively simple to tank. Ensure that you are consuming Elusive Brew stacks before he performs his fixate, and make sure that you’re far enough away from him that your Acidic Wound stacks drop before he makes it back to you.

Kilrogg Deadeye: Run with Zen Sphere, Chi Brew, Healing Elixirs and Xuen.

Ensure that you have available stacks of Elusive Brew available when Kilrogg uses Shred Armor. Place your Transcendence away from where the Bloods spawn, and pop it into a Provoke to pull the boss away if one gets too close. Guard during Death Throes, and try to Touch of Death any adds that stray too close to the Fel Pool. The Hulking Terrors hit much harder than the boss, so don’t be afraid to pop CDs to survive them. Chi Brew should give you ample on demand EB stacks, so Shred Armor will not be an issue. You should also ensure you interrupt the Hulking Terror if you are actively tanking.

Gorefiend: Run with Zen Sphere or Chi Wave, Diffuse Magic and Xuen. Take Glyph of Zen Meditation if you haven’t already.

This fight is relatively dull for tanks. Ensure that you are in melee range and taunt when your co-tank is hit with Shadow of Death. Place your Transcendence close to the exit of the Shadow Realm, to make for a swift escape after the Gorebound Spirit exits Gorefiend’s Stomach.

I also recommend placing your Statue in melee range. At the very least, this will ensure that the Gorebound Spirit is picked up efficiently, and in worst case scenario will prevent a raid wipe in the event that both tanks are sent down. Use Diffuse Magic either when afflicted with high stacks of Fel Fury from the Gorebound Spirit, or to safely soak Unstable Souls during Feast Of Souls. You can also use Glyphed Zen Med to safely soak a larger number.

Shadow-Lord Iskar: Run with Tiger’s Lust, Chi Burst, Diffuse Magic and Xuen.

Place your Transcendence before the pull to ensure that you can easily port out when targeted with Fel Chakram. In our raid, we had the tanks always moving to the rear of the room. Discuss with your raid where your designated place will be. Ensure that you pop Tiger’s Lust if affected by Phantasmal Winds. You can also use Roll and Transcendence to buy yourself some time before you receive the Eye of Anzu.

Place your Statue for the add phase, and ensure that you Chi Burst after taunting off your Statue to pick up the adds. You may be designated to interrupt Fel Conduit, so be sure to throw to a healer immediately after. Aside from that, there’s nothing huge we can do in Phase 2 aside from normally tank.

Socrethar the Eternal: Run with Zen Sphere, Dampen Harm and Xuen.

Log onto a different tank class because he’s probably still immune to Provoke.

Tyrant Velhari: Run with Zen Sphere, Diffuse Magic and Xuen.

Swap on 2 or 3 stacks of Seal of Decay. Ensure that you Guard or Diffuse Magic to negate the damage from Infernal Tempest. Aura of Oppression will harm your ability to heal via Gift of the Ox, so be away of this before you start side strafing as normal. Save the Ancient Enforcer away from the raid, and ensure that you interrupt the Ancient Harbinger. Easy boss, easy money.

Fel Lord Zakuun: Run with Zen Sphere, either Dampen Harm and Xuen. There’s a pattern here.

Soul Cleave should be Guarded; save your Zen Meditation and Diffuse Magic for negating damage from Ring of Destruction. Place your Transcendence at the boss for an easy return journey, and make sure you move the boss away from Fel Crystals that spawn. Heavy Handed splits the damage between the active tank and the closest target (hello Butcher/Faultline/Kromog); ensure that you bank Elusive Brew charges and Guard for this if needed. You may need to call for externals because we’re not immortal to this kind of damage anymore.

Xhul’horac Run with Zen Sphere or Chi Burst, Leg Sweep, Diffuse Magic and Xuen.

Screams into the sky MAGIC DAMAGE.

You can use Diffuse Magic and Zen Meditation to negate the damage from Felblaze Flurry and Withering Gaze. If you pop Zen Meditation at the beginning, it will not cancel it, similar to Malkorok Blood Rage phase. I recommend Guarding for Fel Strike/Void Strike. It can be avoided, so ensure that you have stacks of Elusive Brew available. You should also be stunning the Wild Pyromaniacs as often as possible with Leg Sweep.

Mannoroth: Run with Zen Sphere, Leg Sweep, Dampen Harm and Xuen.

There’s literally nothing to tank during Phase 1, aside from the Doom Lord. We can negate the difficulty tanking this add by simply holding it the entire time, and popping Zen Meditation when your stacks drop after it dies.

When Phase 2 begins, ensure that you pull Mannoroth towards the green Fel Spire and face your back to it to ensure that you’re not jettisoned off the platform.

When I was testing this boss, it was unclear with regards to the oder of Glaive Combo. However, from what I understand this is now fixed as Glaive Thrust > Massive Blast > Glaive Thrust, with the offtank taunting after Massive Blast. You need to ensure that Elusive Brew is active during the combo, and use Dampen Harm as often as possible.

In Phase 4, you can place your Transcendence behind Mannoroth and face him towards the edge of the platform. Any other tank would be hurled into the unknown after taking the Empowered Massive Blast, but you can Transcendence back behind him afterwards, removing any worry of Wave Damage for the raid.

Archimonde: Run with Zen Sphere, Diffuse Magic and Xuen.

Death Brand is easily negated by Guard or Diffuse Magic. If you have your Tier 18 4 Piece bonus, you can literally just constant spam Expel Harm and Guard while effected by this debuff and you’ll be effectively invincible. Yay balancing! During testing, I held the add for the entire time but depending on your tank comp, you may need to taunt off you cotank at around 3 stacks. You should also recruit a Blood DK.

Ensure that your Statue is down to pick up the Felborne Overfiends that spawn in Phase 2. During testing my Statue tanked the adds for the majority of this phase with no real issue.

In Phase 3, ensure that you taunt the boss when your cotank is affected by Nether Banish. You should also roll and Provoke to pull Archimonde away from the Nether Portals, giving the Living Shadows a longer journey time. If you are sent to the Nether, taunt the Shadowed Netherwalker and interrupt Touch of Shadows whenever possible. GG, easy end boss. Easy raid.