Archer 3 I believe had 226 STR, however I'm not 100% on that #.

As for Strength being useful, well it doesn't raise attack on the character sheet so it is hard to say what the formula is for STR>Attack Power.

It is probably worth testing especially since all the tests I have seen promoting DEX/PIE were either done on regular mobs (which as I have said I believe to be pointless) or if done on the Moogle/Ifrit fight were wracked with inconsistencies which could as easily be explained by the wide damage window (something my limited test tries to address even without statistical analysis by at least openly showing a variety of data, and people can look at that and clearly see how that data can skew the results), however right now I believe Heaven's Fist materia to be the meld of choice on hands.

As far as gear goes, hands seem to be the battleground. Materia melding on Hands is where people differ most, and where the most significant changes to attributes affecting damage can be made by their choice.