For now I have been fighting with only strikes and cleaves. But when I look at the different afflictions I can do, most of them require swings to pull off. So would I need to use slasing techniques as well, because I thought that strikes counted as jabs.

In using strikes and cleaves mostly your not taping into most of your serious afflicts which are most swings. Assault is a swing which will help but take a look at knighthood slashing and you will get a idea of which type of swing hits what.

Only cleave when your foe has a shield or aura up. It does the same damage as a regular hit but costs more balance.

Yeah...what type of attack is a cleave: swing or jab? I see that a few afflictions are jab only, so how would I go about doing the most damage?

EDIT: Sorry, I'll assume that when you said "assault" you meant cleave.

No, when he said assault he meant assault. It's a 4-power attack that bypasses defences and is a slash.