The best Sarongs with such a high int requirement are level 19/20 items. What you want is an initial Int boost so that you can get access to some basic spells.
After the Patch Weather the Storm is a only something that you are going to take when you are planning on taking MaA to level 4-5 anyway. Back when it was 50% and I didn't know about multicoating I found it to be OP as hell, but now I know that you can get your resi vs all significantly > 100 without all that trouble.
Like you said. Everybody would take a good AP granting talent. By the same logic, nobody is interested in a talent that effectively reduces their AP.
An ability that is as broken as Leech doesn't need a nerf it needs to be fixed entirely.
As for the Saving throws: Willpower/Body Building are one of the most important talents for LW chars. When a status effect can take out half of your team, you better make sure that you do your best to protect yourself from them.
My 2x LW archer from the last playthrough:
Final stats with gear:
STR 5+3
DEX 15+7
INT 8+3
CON 14+4
SPD 12+5
PER 12+9
DMG 366-730
50% crit
28 AP/Turn
Tenebrium 5+2+2
Armour Specialist 2+1
Body Building 5+1+1
Willpower 5+1+1+1
Marksman 5
Scoundrel 2
Geomancer 2
Witchcraft 2
Leadership 4+1+1
Blacksmithin 3 (+2 with non-combat gear)
Crafting 2+1 (+2 with non-combat gear)
Lorecraft 4+1+1 (could just as well be 0, but I like to know the stats of my enemies)
Glass Cannon
Lone Wolf
Quickdraw
Bully
Stand your Ground (allows my mage to use Earthquake without the drawback)
Put 15 points in willpower for rank 5, get the trait (6), leadership (7), and at least 1 equipment (8).
