Editing Mnemon Explains Solar Combat (section)

===Initiative===

Inititiative's importance is largely dictated by your defences. For you horrible Anathema, that means it's often almost entirely safe to ignore, because you can manage your defences Reflexively. If you're planning on using actions rather than just charms to defend, however, having a high initiative can be quite important, since the only way you can use your dice action to both attack and defend is if you haven't been forced to abort to a Full Dodge or parry before your initiative.

Initiative is always useful, though, for two reasons. One is that a good initiative will allow you to get those crucial scene-length charms up that little bit earlier, which is helpful on those occasions where you can't put them up before the fight (when you're ambushed, for instance). The second is that it gives the option to attack foes before their initiative, which against most enemies will result in them aborting to a defence, and losing their attack.

You might note that forcing opponents to abort to a defence is actually an argument for attacking as many foes as possible, forcing as many aborts as you can and preventing their attacks. This is actually a viable strategy, ESPECIALLY if your defences are poor, but it is time consuming and a bit tedious. Solars with their excellent defences are often better served by allowing their enemies to expend their resources in useless attacks, and then counterattacking ferociously. With good initiative, however, you can simply delay your action if you wish, and thus choose whichever of these tactics best suits your fancy.

To get a decent initiative, you're best off having a good Dexterity and Wits, and then go for a weapon with a high speed. If you're particularly keen, go for Jade equipment and pay the full attunement cost (not recommended in terms of value-for-essence, but it's extremely difficult to compete in initiative with Dragon Blooded otherwise). Brawl's Thunderclap Rush Attack and Snake Style's Striking Cobra Technique are both useable with other abilities, in or out of combo, and are thus useful for all characters.

In summary, Initiative is useful, but not crucial for any Solar with good reflexive defences. Unless you're particularly fond of forcing opponents to abort, or you plan to use actions to defend, you'll probably find your resources better spent elsewhere. Many of your opponents (such as Dragon-Blooded) find Initiative to be crucial, and will likely have invested in it - let them have the victory there and invest where they are weaker.