Add in the Focus of Mystery and the Standard of Discipline and that is my usual build. Why the booing?
He is a very useful slann. In a game I played against vampire counts, he led a small unit of 20 TG to victory against a horde of 40 crypt ghouls led by a vampire lord and 35 skeletons led by a wight king. (I had lore of life; earth-blood, throne, regrowth and stone skin. I was having very successful magic phases getting stone skin and regrowth bolstered by throne 3 or 4 turns in a row and raising 5-7 temple guard every time)