What I did is to put just as much points to str as to wear gear,
everything else to dex.
At lower lvls use +15 vit stones in armor,
at 150 use +20 ones.
As simple as that.
Later, when have hundreds of thousands of EC
to throw away, recast R8 for APS stats, but it
will be very risky and very expensive.
I tried but had very bad luck and quit.