03 Jun 2008 at 10:35 - 2
Just keep trying. The trick is to make sure all heroes have Shadowform up before they meet anything. This means flagging and casting Shadowform quickly at the start.
If you're managing that, you should not have problems. Henchies can get stuck if you don't flag them right, this just takes practice. Occasionally one of your heroes will get body blocked by the first mob, but with the now un-nerfed Shadow form (and a weapon with +20% enchantment durations), even this is not usually fatal and they'll get away in time.
Top tips:
1) use texmod and the HFFF mod - it puts dots on your u-map where you need to flag.
2) Zoom your u-map one click to make it easier to place your flags quickly and accurately.
3) assign keys for bringing up your hero flags - this greatly cuts down the amount of mouse movement needed to flag your heroes, and makes it much faster at the start.
You should be able to get the hang of it.
Then, to speed things up take "Charge" on your own skill bar, and use it before you begin flagging - this gives your heroes and henchies a running start. Also, assign keys for at least some of your heroes' skills, or you might end up with RSI in your mouse hand.
The overall time for each run should be ONLY determined by the speed of the hero that runs the furthest (the one you have to flag twice). Prioritise this hero, and make sure that one has Dash or a +33% running skill up at all times. You can put Troll Unguent on this hero at first - they will only use it when they stop running ie. they reached the first flag. This helps you figure out the best time to set their second flag (you want to set it BEFORE they stop running ie. just before they use Troll Unguent)
By the way, I use all 3 Ranger heroes. Shadowform, Dash, Dodge, Zojun's haste, Troll Unguent. 12+1+1 expertise, 12 Shadow Arts. They all have +20% enchant weapons.
It goes like this at the start for me: Charge! flag-flag-flag-flag, SF-SF-SF... this must be done quickly so SF is up on the heroes before they meet anything. Then a new running skill each time one runs out. Dash as often as possible, but you'll need to let some of the other running skills reach their full duration or your heroes will spend time walking while skills are recharging.
, the mods did the trick, I knew i wasnt so bad 
