Strider's most powerful ability (and probably the highest melee DPS in the game) is the Helm/Skull/Brain Splitter series which you can begin at rank 3. Once you get the eminence augment for jumping attacks (rank 5) you can jump before using it and rip through enemy weak points like a buzzsaw. Also, the Splitter attacks can be used to negate fall damage by running and using it to spin off the edge.
Other than that, get Ensnare/Implicate (starts at rank 3) to pull down foes with wires. Good for small enemies like wolves but can also work on larger enemies with the right timing.
Full/Mighty/Terrible Bend (starts at rank 3) for a high damage arrow that can stagger or knock things down.
Cloudburst/Downpour/Hailstorm Volley (starts at rank 1) rains a ton of arrows down, good for using with debilitating arrows/bows.
All of the dagger using classes can get double jump and dodge roll at rank 5, so that's where they really come into their own.
Strider has a hidden climbing bonus so they are by far the best climber early on. Later I think Magic Archer Flameshroud ability makes them the best.
Look out for Fracture Dart, Instant Reset, Master Thief, and Soaring Stone if you stick with Strider.
Some really good Strider tips there! I guess a lot is personal preference - for example I favour the dash strike thingy over ensnare, because I like the great speed it gives you around the battlefield, and it's great for quickly getting behind enemies - so don't be afraid to just test out some of the abilities yourself.
One tip about Master Thief: it's great when used against pawns who are wandering through the open world (don't use it in Gran Soren though, or you'll go to prison!), e.g. on the road just south of the mountain waycastle, on the road just north of Gran Soren, etc., you can get some good stuff.
How sad and fucked up some people could they be when they hire someone's Pawn just to give them 1 star at everything?
I mean this person obviously hired my Pawn just to downvote it (probably due to her wearing the silk lingerie) since she only had 200RC and got 1 star at everything.They even gave her 1 star at battle/helpfuness when they hardly even used her...
The cherry on top was that he/she gave me a comment "is not to my liking".
I wish this game had a system where you could only rate a pawn after you have used them for a certain amount of time.
I had the same happen yesterday, maybe it was the same guy lol. Doesn't bother me any though.
What are your pawn details? We can get them some good ratings
I don't hire lolipawns myself, but honestly I can't feel sympathy. If it's OK for people to give high ratings and gifts to scantily clad lolipawns, which people claim happens all the time, then surely this is a good counter-balance.
Surely the counter-balance would be people hiring pawns that they like, and giving them good ratings? Some people seem very militant about this, I had two GAFers give me lower appearance ratings specifically because my Mage pawn was wearing shorts under her robes, before I'd even gotten to Gran Soren and had much of a choice! Thankfully one of them gave me a bunch of clothes to cover all of her exposed skin lol (one of which she is still wearing because it had awesome stats, thank you!).
On my PS3 playthrough I played a Sorcerer main, so I had a huge male Fighter pawn (Fafhrd to my Gray Mouser, or Caramon to my Raistlin if you like), set up to look like your stereotypical barbarian warrior. Most of the game he was bare chested or with just chain mail bracers, and nobody ever sent him back with his chest fully covered! Haha.
Ultimately I just want to see pawns who look cool. I'm using the GAF pawn Brienne at the moment because she's just a cool looking character, and unique amongst most of the pawns I see. If somebody were to set up a good Red Sonja pawn, who would obviously look completely different, I'd give that one a go too. If you don't like how a pawn looks, don't hire it; surely that is how the system is supposed to work?