Lion's Arch to Sanctum Cay

From GuildWiki

Expanded Hazard Key
Conditions: Burning(Immolate), Crippled(Pin Down and Crippling Attack), Poison(Apply Poison and Swamp Water)
Hexes: Incendiary Bonds, Life Siphon, Soul Barbs, Conjure Phantasm, Fragility^*
Enchantment stripping: Chilblains, Shatter Enchantment Desecrate Enchantments^**
* — Causes health loss Per condition received, ** —Punishes multiple Enchants

[edit] Running to the Hot Springs

Hazards: →

→

,

→

The difficulty of this run is very mild but may still be challenging to anyone not familiar with running through the heavy attack damage put out by Tengus. But fortunately, there are two different paths to take. The less direct paths are much more friendly to lower armor caster characters; however, the second detour includes the only Crippling danger along this run, should you happen to get too close to any of the Grasping Ghouls near the bottom of Nebo Terrace. A really versatile running build can avoid stopping in at the Hot Springs altogether, but it is highly recommended that you switch builds here as the sheer volume of conditions you will face in the next two zones often justifies a separate build.

The more direct paths (marked in Green) will typically only shave a minute or two off the run.
Beetletun can also be visited along this route, but adds several minutes to your run-time.
Any builds that rely on Enchantments should avoid these direct routes unless they can prevent "shattering" and Phantasm degeneration.

[edit] Running to Temple of the Ages

Hazards: →

→

In addition to an overabundance of Poison and Crippling (from Ghouls, Rangers, and Bowmasters) in the Cursed Lands, there may also be lots of Blinding being applied. Blind won't affect your running, but will however trigger Fragility damage in high frequency.

Right out of the gate, you'll be confronted by these condition spammers and a Necrid Horseman who can easily double the damage you receive from arrows if he hexes you with Barbs.

Before you even reach the entrance to the Cursed Lands, you will also encounter three fairly strong undead groups almost simultaneously. Raw speed and fast crippled-removal spells/shouts are your best allies against these groups. Once inside, the Cursed Lands offers two different paths to take. The first lower path (marked in Green) has no Ghouls, making it optimal for builds with sub-par solutions to Crippling, while the first upper path features a Horseman and several Ghouls, which presents a fairly deadly road-block given the fact that their Crippling Attack has no down-time.
After the two trails merge, those runners lacking proper Crippling removal should then follow the upper path (marked in Red) as there will be even more Ghouls near the end of the second lower path.

The foes in The Black Curtain will be much more spread-out but will also be higher in level. There is also a constant hazard from Poison being applied simply by stepping in the water there, which is not to be underestimated as it's a gradual but automatic removal of roughly 1/4 of your Health. The Barbs from the patrolling Horsemen can easily be ignored as there are no ranged foes that deal physical damage along that route, but their Desecrate Enchantments can still hit some builds very hard.

Tip: Most Blocking skills are very effective at preventing Crippling from Ghouls and Bowmasters.
The final upper-path isn't much faster, and also has Bone Dragons along it that can deal lots of damage and interrupts.

[edit] Running to Sanctum Cay

The way to Sanctum Cay

Hazards: →

→

,

This is one of the easiest runs in the game, as long as you don't tempt the Bog Scales to spam Chilblains by loading yourself up with needless Enchantments before running through them. Likewise, if you rush or try to get there too quickly, and don't stop where you can to regenerate health or cleanse hexes, you'll find the run to be much more difficult. There are also Forest Minotaurs patrolling the second area that can prove problematic unless you lure them out of the tight bottlenecking areas they typically guard before running through them. But the only real dangers in this run are the hexes. You only suffer -3 health degen and some occasional burning from Fire Imps, but the overall damage you'll receive may increase exponentially if you don't remove all their hexes before running through the next group.

While some builds always have condition removal in them, you shouldn't need it for this run as the only condition you're likely to encounter other than brief Burning is the Barbed Trap of a single Oakheart in Stingray Strand which is also easily avoided.