I noticed that DEX brings up dmg and dps for Pallies where as the STR. Brings up hp & armor only a little bit. INT boosts mana pool nicely though. However, I use up a loooot of mana pots.

I tried out a few different builds as I was leveling up & found that a DEX/INT spec with some STR works well (only enough points to use the STR equipments). I focused a little more on INT so that I don't use up so many pots and raised dmg via DEX. Oddly enough, STR isn't a stat that should be focused on.