I don't get why you say 1v1 only. I actually fight 1 vs 10+/all in pure wis build. water book AOE is powerfully broken aside from the fact it sometimes miss everything with the glitchy hitbox but hitting everything for 40~60 damage per cast with only 3 stamina is so cost efficient and with bloodlust trait you'll never run out of stamina in a battle. against multiple bandits that can stun lock you badly you just plant one tornado per expose tile side in lona not for damage but to stagger them. sure they can still attack you once every few second but the tornado ensures you don't get rape hard and they last pretty long. if you're fighting multiple enemies inside your tornado safe box just use the water book AOE instead of staff since water AOE has this animation cast delay that usually cancels the bloodlust position switching when it procs as you don't want going into the tornado and get blown away into some random tile where they gang up on you.Yeah, pure WIS is OP, but what is the difference between killing an enemy in 5 second and killing an enemy in 10 seconds ? WIS build can only 1vs 1 anyways. It's pretty situational at best and require careful planning and use of environment.
Pure Combat Lona is Kratos reincarnated, hack and slash, rip and tear till nothing remains. Can fight anything and everything, can fight multiple targets at a time.
more reasons why pure WIS is broken.
-firewall DOT and firebomb for stamina damage if you don't want to kill.
-seawitch lona summons/abomination totem for physical stamina damage (although you will never need it as even high SUR enemies like indiana jones/big mama will take massive spell damage with very high wis lona)
-high sell value for easy money
-more dialogue option
-can talk to deter bandit/deep one/peasant encounter, observe for abomination spiders and bluff for guards if you have low morality.