6 - I want to have the option to ride the elephant once in three months.
More doesnt make sense, at least not for my playstyle.
My light lancer-elephant rider hybrid has power strike 8, over 100 wpf in polearms, at full speed I can kill most archers with 1 stab, what is kinda necessary.
My light lancer polearm Ninja hybrid had power strike 4 and wpf 170 in polearm, and everyone I didnt hit in the head at full speed perfectly survived. That means, the ranger, being wounded, just 1 shot the rider off the horse.
Its an arcade game. In rl a guy that got stabbed in the back would be dead, and even if he was still alive, he wouldnt be able to kill the horseman with 1 shot. Its silly, but thats the way it is in crpg.
So my advice is get as much power strike as you can.