A breathless first half saw Vitaly Jalent divert narrowly over his own crossbar from Hee-Chan Hwang’s fizzed cross, as the visitors started on the front foot.
The opener came just moments later though, as after a shot had deflected out to Pablo Sarabia on the left wing, he whipped a vicious cross into the back post, from where Mario Lemina powerfully headed home.
As if that wasn’t bad enough for the Bees, they were 2-0 down within 12 seconds of the restart. A shocking backpass from Nathan Collins didn’t have enough pace to reach Mark Flekken, allowing Hwang to pounce as he nipped in to round the goalkeeper and tap into an empty net.
But far from collapsing, the hosts soon reduced the deficit, with Neal Maupay clipping a clever pass over the defence to Yoane Wissa, who converted into the far top corner.
That trio of goals came within three minutes and 12 seconds of each other, but the drama was far from finished, as Jose Sa prevented Janelt from equalising with a header.
That save proved crucial as Hwang grabbed his second when a long ball was cut out by Toti, who in turn found the Wolves top scorer, and he showed wonderful composure to flick past the defender with his first touch, before sliding into the back of the net with his second.
It could, and perhaps should, have been 3-2 by the break, but Wissa had a header saved and Maupay hooked wide from inside the box, while Keane Lewis-Potter failed to convert from close range minutes after the restart.
Indeed, Thomas Frank’s side, who have now gone seven games without a clean sheet, were much improved in the second half, but they couldn’t quite force a breakthrough against a resilient defence.
At the other end, Matheus Cunha nearly put the game to bed when striking against the post, before Wolves finally got their fourth 11 minutes from time. Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, on for the injured Hwang, completed the rout by sliding past Flekken with a first time finish from just inside the area.
The result leaves the Molineux outfit just five points off the top seven, as they ended a run of four successive away defeats in emphatic fashion, while Brentford have now lost four in a row for the first time in nearly two years, inching them further towards the relegation zone.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Mario Lemina (Wolves)