Yeah, I'm a little confused at that since that was a big part of the narrative and his arc.
His scenes arguing with Mordo, especially the one in the Sanctum Santorum, explicitly had Strange say how when he became a doctor he took an oath not to take a person's life. Mordo sees fighting an killing to protect others as something he must do but Strange approaches issues by trying to think outside the box (as demonstrated in his approach for learning). The Ancient One highlights this as Strange's strength in being flexible while Mordo is rigid in his thinking. It's that flexibility that allowed Strange to figure out a way to stop Dormamu when he knew he wasn't powerful enough to beat him with violence even if he tried.
I could see Strange trying to take an intellectual approach to threats before he is forced to resort to violence and that makes him a very interesting character in a universe where all the heroes solve their problems with violence. I guess Vision is the closest comparison since he's someone who is massively powerful but often uses his power to subdue or prevent a fight rather than fight.
