@Esker, I'm interested in your observations for this character at level 6. I get an extra use of the channel divinity. I get spirit guardians and spiritual weapon (traditional cleric damage spells). I have an ASI choice.
What would you choose and what would be your basic damage combat progression for single target.
I'm thinking level 3 inflict wounds, level 2 inflict wounds, attack bonus attack
For all out damage you could use all high level inflict wounds. Something like 77 damage over 3 turns.
Let's compare that to taking GWM, which lets you take full advantage of Guided Strike (unlike inflict wounds where a +10 is overkill most of the time).
Option 1: Using War Priest bonus action attack with GWM (assuming base to-hit is down to 55% since we didn't boost strength):
Avg damage per hit: 2 * 3.5 + 13 = 20
Round 1:
Chance we have 2 guided strikes left: 1.00
0.80 chance to hit with guided strike
Damage per attack: 0.80 * 20 = 16
Expected damage Round 1 (using War Priest): 32
Round 2:
Chance that we have 0 guided strike left: 0.50 * 0.50 = 0.25
Chance that we have 1 guided strike left: 2 * 0.50 * 0.50 = 0.50
Chance that we have 2 guided strike left: 0.50 * 0.50 = 0.25
Main attack to-hit: (0.30 + 0.75 * 0.50) = 0.675
Chance that we have 0 guided strike left now: 0.25 + 0.50*0.50 = 0.50
Chance that we have 1 guided strike left now: 0.50 * 0.50 + 0.25 * 0.50 = 0.375
Chance that we have 2 guided strikes left: 0.25 * 0.50 = 0.125
Bonus attack to-hit: (0.30 +(0.375 + 0.125) * 0.50) = 0.55
Expected Damage for the Round: (0.675 + 0.55) * 20 = 24.5
Round 3:
Chance that we have 0 guided strike left: 0.50 + 0.375 * 0.50 = 0.6875
Chance that we have 1 guided strike left: 0.375 * 0.50 + 0.125 * 0.50 = 0.25
Chance that we have 2 guided strike left: 0.125 * 0.50 = 0.0625
Main attack to-hit: (0.30 + 0.25 * 0.50) = 0.425
Chance that we have 0 guided strike left now: 0.6875 + 0.25 * 0.50 = 0.8125
Chance that we have 1 guided strike left now: 0.25 * 0.50 + 0.0625 * 0.50 = 0.15625
Chance that we have 2 guided strike left: 0.0625 * 0.50 = 0.03125
Bonus attack to-hit: (0.30 + (0.15625 + 0.03125) * 0.50) = 0.39375
Expected Damage for the Round: (0.425 + 0.39375) * 20 = 16.4
Cumulative Damage (1st 3 rounds): 32, 56.5, 72.9
Chance that we have 0 guided strike left now: 0.8125 + 0.15625 * 0.50 = 0.89
Chance that we have 1 guided strike left now: 0.15625 * 0.50 + 0.03125 * 0.50 = 0.094
Chance that we have 2 guided strike left: 0.03125 * 0.50 = 0.016
Expected Guided Strike Remaining: 0 * 0.89 + 1 * 0.094 + 2 * 0.016 = 0.126
War Priest Remaining: 0
3rd level Spell Slots Remaining: 3
Option 2: Inflict Wounds, Boosting Wisdom
Avg damage per hit (3rd level): 5 * 5.5 = 27.5 (assume 60% base-to-hit)
Round 1
Chance we have 2 guided strikes left: 1.00
0.95 chance to hit with guided strike
Expected damage Round 1: (0.60 + 0.35) * 27.5 = 26.1
Round 2
Chance we have 1 guided strike left: 0.35
Chance we have 2 guided strikes left: 0.65
Expected damage Round 2: (0.60 + 0.35) * 27.5 = 26.1
Round 3
Chance we have 0 guided strike left: 0.35 * 0.35 = 0.1225
Chance we have 1 guided strike left: 0.35 * 0.65 + 0.65 * 0.35 = 0.455
Chance we have 2 guided strike left: 0.65 * 0.65 = 0.4225
Expected damage Round 3: (0.60 + (0.455 + 0.4225) * 0.35) * 27.5 = 24.9
Cumulative Damage (1st 3 rounds): 26.1, 52.2, 77.1
Chance that we have 0 guided strike left now: 0.1225 + 0.455 * 0.35 = 0.282
Chance that we have 1 guided strike left now: 0.455 * 0.65 + 0.4225 * 0.35 = 0.444
Chance that we have 2 guided strike left: 0.4225 * 0.65 = 0.275
Expected Guided Strike Remaining: 0 * 0.282 + 1 * 0.444 + 2 * 0.275 = 0.994
War Priest Remaining: 4
3rd level Spell Slots Remaining: 0
I didn't factor in crits, which would favor inflict wounds a little. So damage-wise, blowing 3rd level slots lags a little behind using war priest in rounds 1 and 2 if we take GWM, but we tend to use only one Guided Strike, vs usually using both with GWM and War Priest, and if we need more than two rounds, we have more left in the tank. Plus we didn't spend a feat dedicated to nova tactics.
In the narrow scope of the theorycrafting exercise, it's a tough call; blowing all three 3rd level slots in one fight is a lot, but then so is blowing all three of our bonus action attacks and likely both of our channel divinities. In reality I prefer inflict wounds, mainly because I don't want to take GWM on a character that never gets a real second attack just to do a little better damage over two rounds.