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The main advantage of the WoST is the cunning longsword use as an implement (weapon focus is gravy). The build works as an eladrin, but you do give up some nice things.

Human:
Extra At-will
+1 to all Saves
+3 to hit when action point spent

Eladrin:
Fey step
+2 Dex (+1 init)
Extra skill(Probably perception)
2 feats not spent on racials

That would be +1 fortitude, +1 reflex. Eladrins get a racial +1 to will. And as you point out, the feat spent on action surge could be spent on something else. Extra at will and action surge are definitely nice, but so are Eladrin Education, +1 init, Fey Step and +2 to your primary skill.

No I meant +1 to all saves(Human Perseverance) ...

Why Wizards of the Spiral Tower?
Isn't MC'ing into Cleric and taking Divine Oracle more powerful?
You get a much higher chance of hitting, the (cheesy) combo of Divine Regeneration and Seal of Binding, other powers can be swapped too for life-saving cleric powers (and there's some nice control powers too for clerics, all targetting will).
DO gives a higher chance to win initiative (required for a controller imo) and its powers are pretty nice too. Granted, not so controller-like, but neither are the WotST's powers. But still, a certain crit for the party striker and a +5 to hit for the whole party are pretty nice to land those dailies, not to mention the lvl20 power which makes sure it's never a wasted action.

Aye, the Earthroot Staff is powerful, but it's only an additional -2 over the Cunning Weapon overall, and it doesn't work on a lot of the powers I have chosen; it works on the first part of Sleep, but not the second, and it doesn't work on any of the stun powers, either. Also, since I haven't taken Second Implement, I can't use the Staff of Defense class feature, making it even less appealing. I don't think it's that great for this build, though you can conjure up a build to make it worthwhile without too much trouble.

I don't go for the multiple Veteran's Armor gig; I think that's a bit too cheesy to be allowed by any DM, and what's the point of building something if it's never going to see play? Though I probably should use it over Repulsion Armor, but the effect for Repulsion Armor is pure win with a Wizard that will actually be in Melee from time to time.

Against your attacks that impose immobilized, petrified, restrained, or slowed conditions, enemies take a saving throw penalty equal to this staff ’s enhancement bonus.

It's because of the cheese factor; that sort of thing is not something that I'd allow, so I'm not even gonna mention it.

The consequences for a Cunning Weapon used as an Implement really aren't so bad by themselves;

Maybe so, but the combination of Cunning, Phrentic Helm, Spell Focus, and even Fate Spurned Foe are lethal.

People talk about orb-locking 1 foe being broken. With this setup, you can almost orb lock every foe you hit with every save-ends you cast. It combines with the orb mastery to orb-lock a foe MUCH faster than the optimized level 30 numbers that were thrown around before AV came out.

Think of it like this:

Normally, foes save 55% of the time. Spell Focus knocks it down to 45%. Phrentic Helm might bring it down to 40%.
Your orb effect brings it to 20%

Enter the cunning weapon: All foes go from 40% to 30% and the orb mastery drops from 20% save to 10%.
This is really good and is a big jump in effectiveness.

Here's a question: if the Wizard uses his Orb of Imposition power with the Sleep spell, does the saving throw penalty apply to both the Slow and Sleep effects, or does the Wizard have to choose one of these two effects to apply the penalty?

Wizard of the Spiral Tower was chosen because of its ability to wield a Longsword for Implement powers. This opens up Cunning weapons, which offer a save penalty as a property. And I believe this penalty, combined with the strong powers for Wizards of the Spiral Tower (A spammable daze attack? Sold!), is more powerful than anything the orb-wielding Divine Oracle has to offer. Additionally, the build's power selection is geared toward battlefield control, not abusing attacks vs. Will defense.

In short, the Divine Oracle is another build. Similar, perhaps, but it's a different build. This build locks out any Solo with a 100% success rate. A Divine Oracle would only be able to muster a -12 save penalty (-13 if he went Demigod over Archmage). That means the Solo has a 20% (or 15%) chance of escape.

Here's a question: if the Wizard uses his Orb of Imposition power with the Sleep spell, does the saving throw penalty apply to both the Slow and Sleep effects, or does the Wizard have to choose one of these two effects to apply the penalty?

Sleep
Hit: The target is slowed (save ends). If the target fails its first saving throw against this power, the target becomes unconscious (save ends).

I treat this as the same effect. If unconscious was a second effect, then the spell would say (save ends both), as with Lightning Serpent.

GH

The reason I ask is that "slowed" and "unconscious" are listed as separate effects in the rulebooks, and the Orb of Imposition says "an effect", not "a power". I can see how you can defend either reading, but I think it's important to know because it affects an orb wizard for the first 24 levels of his career (not 28, thanks lordduskblade!).

The reason I ask is that "slowed" and "unconscious" are listed as separate effects in the rulebooks, and the Orb of Imposition says "an effect", not "a power". I can see how you can defend either reading, but I think it's important to know because it affects an orb wizard for the first 24 levels of his career (not 28, thanks lordduskblade!).