Winning is important, no doubt about it. But what is most important of all is to make sure that you cannot die. For so long as you live, you can turn any defeat into an eventual victory. Strages has done much to preserve his life and has sworn to avoid death at whatever the cost.

When Strages does things, he makes sure everything is done correctly, no matter how long it takes. This means there are frequent delays in Strages's work, but it's usually done right, at least.

Strages doesn't like to work in groups or teams and feels most comfortable on his own. Strages sticks to himself, sets his own pace, and doesn't share feelings or emotions with others. While the Lone Wolf can get things done quietly and efficiently, he tends to be emotionally cut off and has problems relating to his comrades.

Strages vastly prefers ranged combat, taking every opportunity to use skills and Force Powers to disengage from melee and instead fight at range, so much so that he has become competent at staying out of melee in the first place.

Strages prefers to avoid lightsaber combat, instead using his considerable abilities with the Force to defeat his opponents, but even then his preference is to not fight at all. Don't think that means he won't kill you, it just means he'll wait until you can't kill him.