Akriel's Rune Hunter (PVE)

A build I use to unlock runes for PVP.

For PVE, I found the rune traders to be a reasonably priced source of the runes I needed. However, as I became interested in PVP, I became interested in unlocking runes at a much faster rate than was possible through normal game play. This enables trying out new builds you dream up, read about, or have fought against. My main PVE character is a water based Elementalist/Monk, and, after reading a bit about smiter builds, I was able to put together a build which can be easily converted between normal PVE and rune hunting modes.

Normal PVE
Water 13(11+1+1)
Energy 11 (10+1)
Healing 10

Rune Hunting
Water 12(10+1+1)
Energy 11 (10+1)
Smiting 11

Aura of Restoration- Heals as skills are used
Ether Renewal - Provides healing and energy boost, scales with number of enchantments
Armor of Frost - Armor boost to survive initial portion of encounter
Armor of Mist - Speed boost to avoid undesirable groups
Balthazar's Aura - PB AOE damage
Balthazar's Spirit - Energy recovery upon being hit
Zealot's Fire - PB AOE damage when triggered
Divine Boon - Trigger for Zealot's plus healing

When I zone into a new area, I cast Balthazar's spirit and Aura of Restoration, and maintain the Aura as required. The main goal is to fight against melee based monsters to the maximum extent possible, so Armor of Mist is used to run past things I would rather skip. When I approach the group I would like to fight I cast Armor of Frost to reduce the damage I will receive intially. I aggro the group, and then cast Balthazar's Aura, Zealot's Fire, Ether Renewal, and start to spam Divine Boon to apply the damage from Zealot's and heal. The character is pretty invulnerable while the renewal lasts, and is often able to kill the group with one cycle, finishing with full health and energy. When fighting against tougher monsters, I re-cast Balthazar's Aura just when the Ether renewal starts flashing, then space out the Boon casts to tide me until Ether Renewal is ready to recast. It is critical to reserve 15 energy for Ether renewal + 1 Boon to restart the cyle.

Some Places to go -
Tengu: North from Riverside, run through first group of bog scales etc... There are normally four groups of Caromi Elite space around the first lake. They frequently drop armor.
Nebo Undead: North from Bergen Hot Springs there is a dense collection of undead that drop a lot of armor. For the groups with ranged attackers, wait until you see them cluster closely together before getting agrro to ensure they will all fall inside your AOE.
Dunes of Despair: There are 3-4 groups of Losaru at the beginning of this mission that are pure melee. This is a great place to practice as the mobs are predictable and in small groups. There are lots of armor drops here as well.

Results: You can expect to spend a few runs getting the timing down, then it can become quite routine. You accumulate runes to unlock very quickly (suggest that you use a checklist to keep track of what you still need). Since only 11 refund points were required to convert from between modes, it was always easy to switch. Also, because no exotic equipment or runes are required, I could run with my normal gear, and not have to invest a huge amount to run this.