User:XT-8147/R/Mo Running Build

Armor
Full 15k Druid's Armor, with a Major Vigor rune.

Weapon
I have Illyana's Staff, any of its clones (Milius' Pillar and Wenslauss' Faith, just to name a few) work just as well

Usage
Once outside town, turn on Mending, and in areas with enchantment removal or hexes, turn on Holy Veil. Open local map window even though you've memorized the Ascalon->Sanctum Cay route. Start running, activate Escape. When it starts flashing, wait for it to flash quicker and then activate Storm Chaser. When that starts flashing (10 Wilderness Survival) or when it starts flashing quickly (12 Wilderness Survival), activate Escape. Taking 3 speed stances isn't really needed, but can help in some cases. If you'd like to try it, experiment with Dodge/Zojun's Haste. The one huge argument against this skill (they're exactly the same skill, but you can have both in your skill bar (if you want) if your account has both a Prophecies key and a Factions key) that I have is that it only gives evasion chance for arrows, not all attacks like Escape. However, one could argue that the 33% speed boost makes up for it.

Use Heal Area when you're clear of enemies to recover a chunk of lost health. Healing Breeze will add 7 regen to Mending's 3 for the full 10, so use it as needed to counter degen or for further out-of-aggro healing.

The main use of Holy Veil is as a cover enchantment. However, don't forget that you can double-click its icon in your upkeep monitor to end it and remove a hex while doing so. In some places (typically mobs containing multiple monsters with Shatter Enchantment) you'll want to further cover Mending with Healing Breeze before charging through. Enemies that use Chilblains are annoying but luckily Chilblains can be avoided entirely through careful planning and on the fly adjustments of route.

Holy Veil also doubles the casting time of hexes cast by enemies, which is a great effect in general. You'll generally be past a mob before their hexes hit. What makes it even more fun is that sometimes enemies will cast a hex and then strip Holy Veil. Holy Veil takes a hex down with it when it ends, regardless of how it ends, so you just get to smile at their stupidity in these situations.

I chose Purge Conditions over Mend Ailment because it gets everything off of you in &frac14; second, as opposed to removing one thing in one second. The selling point of Purge Conditions is its &frac14; second activation time, it's meant to be used while under fire, i.e. things are attacking you like crazy and one of the enemies uses Pin Down on you. Whack Purge Conditions and go on with life.

This build works pretty much everywhere pre-ascention. I don't know exactly what my problem was before, but with no changes to the build I can now make the Temple of the Ages -> Druid's Overlook run. Of course, with the change to the end of Sanctum Cay, it's no longer possible to stand in one spot and not have the White Mantle ever show up. This build is extremely not suited for the Sanctum Cay run anymore.

The reason for the "10 Wilderness Survival or 12 Wilderness Survival" is simple. You only really need 10, but in most zones you can get away with 12. There are a select few zones that have a lot of degen where you'd want to have more life, and thus less Wilderness Survival. Having 10 Wilderness Survival, oddly enough, results in the build being a bit more survivable, especially when you have to carry a bundle that slows you down, like the crystals in Elona Reach.

No build is without its weaknesses, and this build is no exception. This build's weaknesses are as follows:
 * Excessive hexes. The skills in this build can remove two hexes before having to wait through recharge times.  I've been thinking of ways this could be improved, but there isn't any good non-elite hex removal in the game.
 * Knockdown. This build is unable to make an infusion run without a running partner due to the Azure Shadows and their Signet of Judgment.  I've gotten ever-so-close to the cutscene, but haven't managed to make it yet, and even then it would be attributed to luck.
 * Enemies that employ energy denial. I tried running past a group of Mursaat that happened to include a few mesmers, suddenly my energy is at 0 and spectral agony is eating away at my health while I can't heal.  This was before the addition of the +15 energy from Illyana's Staff, though.

"Why don't you..."
 * ...include Troll Unguent? 3 second casting time = murder.
 * ...use Smite Hex instead of Remove Hex? I chose Remove Hex originally because it had a faster recharge time, well aware that Smite Hex activates faster.
 * ...only use 5 energy spells? Because quite frankly, there's hardly a way I can heal myself without including at least one 10 energy spell.  And it's not like I'm casting constantly, 99% of the run is just that, running.  The one energy regen left over after activating Mending and Holy Veil is enough to regenerate the cost of Escape and Storm Chaser while they're still active.  Escape takes 2 energy and Storm Chaser takes 4 with 16 Expertise.  Manageable indeed.
 * ...not use Mending?/...realize that Mending is a noob spell? Get a life.  It has its uses, and this is one of them.  Because of Mending, I hardly need to stop to heal unless I have to run through a really large group that I can't somehow avoid aggroing altogether.  When I do need healing, I whack Heal Area, chuck on Healing Breeze if necessary, and continue on.  There are (of course) areas of the game where having my enchants active is next to impossible.  I compensate for those when I run across them.

Overall, this build is a very general build with skills for all situations other than anything mentioned in the list of weaknesses. You won't necessarily need every single one of the skills in every zone. Some zones have few to no hexes that you really need to worry about. Usually you can avoid getting hit with conditions simply by staying out of aggro range of enemies. The best thing to do is to run through each zone and learn which zones need what. I have found that even with the recent boost to Chilblains (making it remove more than one enchantment), it's still fairly easy to avoid being hit by it.