Consumable

Consumables or cons are items that can be activated for a special effect, generally destroying or "consuming" that item in the process. Many of these items are useful for SCs. Before you start a run, make sure you have plenty of any cons that may be required.

Con set

A con set consists of an Essence of Celerity (also known as a "BU"), a Grail of Might, and an Armor of Salvation. These are exceptionally powerful items that benefit the entire party. Most SC teams use all 3 of these, and will pop another set if the first one runs out. Unlike most cons, these last for 30 minutes, and do not expire when you die.

BU

"BU" stands for "back-up", because it was once common practice to only use one if the con set expired near the end of a run, rather than wasting a whole set. It is not unusual for some teams to only pop a BU for easier content, such as dungeons.

The BU increases movement and attack speed by 20%, and reduces skill activation and recharge time by 20%. As well as simply speeding up the pace of a run, this makes it possible to maintain certain skills (most notably Shadow Form) without additional requirements like Deadly Paradox.

Grail

The Grail adds +100 max health, +10 max energy, and +1 to all attributes. This simply makes the party more powerful. The attribute boost (together with Candy Corn, Golden Eggs, and Lunar Fortunes, can make some important breakpoints possible.

Armor

The Armor gives a 50% chance for incoming critical hits to be normal attacks, +10 armor, +1 health regen, and -5 incoming damage. Mostly this just means the party can soak up a lot more damage. This is especially important for tanks, although it also allows you to survive dangerous situations (e.g. running past mobs) with no defensive skills at all. The +1 health regen (together with War Supplies and Skalefin Soup) can completely counteract some sources of degen, allowing natural regen to kick in.

Personal cons

Most cons only affect the user. These are called personal cons or pcons for short. With a few exceptions, pcons have a short duration and expire when you die, so it's important to make sure you have plenty of them before starting a run.

energy boost

Candy Apple and Birthday Cupcake each give +100 max health and +10 max energy. Cupcakes also give +25% movement speed; together with a BU, this hits the +34% cap. Both effects last for 10 minutes.

For some roles, it may be necessary to not use these pcons, in order to keep your health low (so you act as an aggro magnet or take less damage with Protective Bond) or to allow you to run forwards without breaking aggro of certain mobs.

attribute boost

Candy Corn, Golden Egg, and Lunar Blessing each give +1 to all attributes. Corn lasts for 10 minutes, eggs last for 5, and lunars last indefinitely (they also do not expire when you die), but there is only a 10% chance to get the blessing when using a Lunar Fortune, so you may need to pop a lot of lunars.

survival

Several pcons with various survival benefits are available from Nightfall and War in Kryta. Drake Kabob gives +5 armor vs attacks, Bowl of Skalefin Soup gives +1 health regen, and Pahnai Salad gives +20 maximum health. All of these effects last for 10 minutes. War Supplies give +5 armor and +1 health regen for 10 minutes. None of these effects end when you die.

cast speed

Slice of Pumpkin Pie increases attack speed by 25% and reduces skill activation time by 15%; together with a BU, this hits the cap on both of those effects.

Red Rock Candy, Blue Rock Candy, and Green Rock Candy, collectively known as "rainbow rocks" or just "rainbows" or "rocks", each increase movement and attack speed, and reduce skill activation time. Since it is already possible to reach the cap on those effects just by using cheaper cons, the only real use for rainbows is to counter slowing effects like Cripple and Nature's Renewal. A full set of rainbows (together with a BU, Birthday Cupcake, and Pumpkin Pie) allows you to hit the cap again.

The only source of rainbows is Gifts of the Traveler, making them the most expensive pcon in the game, resulting in them only rarely being used.

alcohol

Dwarven Stability makes the user immune to knockdown if they were drunk when casting it. This effect is achieved by using any alcoholic item. Some such items last for 5 minutes, and are usually preferred if you are popping pcons manually. However, the 5 minute drinks cause the character to occasionally and unpredictably do a random emote, cancelling their current action - depending on when this occurs, this can be a major problem. Therefore, Toolbox users, and those who don't mind clicking their alcohol more frequently, generally prefer to use 1 minute drinks.

Other useful items

• summoning stones are often required for role-specific tasks, but are also worth carrying in case you need to supplement your damage or use as a meat shield.
• Scrolls of Resurrection provide a powerful res with no energy cost, cast time, cooldown, or need to waste a skill slot. Being unable to res someone because you ran out of scrolls is extremely frustrating, so always bring more than you think you need.
• Seals of the Dragon Empire and Powerstones of Courage, usually shortened to "seals" and "pstones", give the entire party a 10% morale boost, recharging all skills. This is particularly useful when getting rupted on a crucial skill like Shadow Form.
• Ghost-in-the-Boxes trigger Soul Reaping and Edge of Extinction (for ghosts) when they die.
• Everlasting Mobstoppers instantly defeat a Skeleton of Dhuum that is below 25% health and is in the area. Its description incorrectly states that it is targeted, but it can take any valid skele, even one that is already dead.
• Pumpkin Cookies allow you to increase your own morale level without interfering with the rest of the team. Since seals and pstones don't work on party members with 10% morale, it's important to not use any party-wide death penalty removal. It's acceptable to use a single Honeycomb or Rainbow Candy Cane at the start of a run, but make sure nobody else is doing the same.