Windwalkers, and many specs operate on a priority system, rather than a strict rotation. However, setting up a priority isn’t often a simple matter. There are many kind of priorities depending on what you’re prioritizing.  Many specs follow these priorities, without understanding what they are prioritizing or why. There are several kinds of priorities that are common, so I’ll try to explain them using the priorities based on my own character.

Although the exact order may change over time and class changes, the theory behind this article remains true.

Damage Per Second (DPS)

This is the way that most people think about abilities and the damage they do. This is largely because that’s how we look at comparing classes and specs and our performance on a fight. This is found by taking the damage that the ability does and dividing it by how often you can use it.

What it looks like:
  1. Blackout Kick
  2. Rising Sun Kick
  3. Fists of Fury
  4. Strike of the Windlord
  5. Spinning Crane Kick
  6. Touch of Death
  7. Chi Wave
When you use it:

This priority is used when you’re not pressed for time and trying to fit as much damage into a time frame. This is generally an overall priority list when you don’t need to worry about resources, such as if two abilities are up at the same time and you have the resources for both. However, since Windwalker has abilities without a cooldown (Blackout Kick and Spinning Crane Kick), and super hard hitting abilities with super long cooldowns (Touch of Death), this priority doesn’t really make a ton of sense without some critical thinking or modification.

Damage

This is another popular way that people think abilities are prioritized. Its simply taking the damage that an ability does without any other conditions

What it looks like:
  1. Touch of Death
  2. Strike of the Windlord
  3. Fists of Fury
  4. Rising Sun Kick
  5. Blackout Kick
  6. Spinning Crane Kick
  7. Chi Wave
When you use it:

This is a way of ranking abilities that is typically used when resources aren’t an issue, but you’re not limited by a time frame like trying to fit the most damage into a single second, proc, or buff.

Damage Per Resources (DPChi)

For Windwalkers, this is the way we’ve been prioritizing our abilities for most of the expansion and the history of Windwalkers so for us, its Damage Per Chi. This is easy to find, just take the damage the ability does and divide it by the Chi it costs. If it costs nothing, then you simply take the damage it does.

What it look like:
  1. Touch of Death
  2. Strike of the Windlord
  3. Fists of Fury (With Katsuos)
  4. Rising Sun Kick
  5. Fists of Fury (Without Katsuos)
  6. Blackout Kick
  7. Chi Wave
  8. Spinning Crane Kick
When you use it:

This priority is used when a spec can’t generate enough resources to fill every single GCD of a fight. This has been the case for Windwalkers for the entirety of Legion so far.

Damage Per Execution Time (DPET)

This is a very popular way of prioritizing abilities as it looks at how to best get the most out of every second of the fight.

What it looks like:
  1. Strike of the Windlord
  2. Touch of Death
  3. Rising Sun Kick
  4. Fists of Fury
  5. Spinning Crane Kick
  6. Blackout Kick
  7. Chi Wave
When you use it:

This is the preferred priority type for times when you’re not worried about resources and are trying to get the most damage into a single second or buff duration. This would be times like during Serenity, or a trinket buff when you have pooled enough resources.

As Windwalkers move closer to being GCD capped with the combination of the t19 2pc and t20 2/4pc, when using Serenity, this way of prioritizing abilities will become more frequently used.

What this means?

Do you have enough resources for the abilities available? Follow DPS priority (With some critical thinking/modification)

Do you want to fit as much damage into every second in a short time frame AND have the resources to do so? Follow DPET priority

Do you not have enough resources for all the abilities present? Follow DPChi priority


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