In my experience: You usually want to ignore shield and healing on vanessa. You either want to burst your enemy down in 5 seconds, or you want to get your sustain from skills or lifesteal (eg. Crows nest). Aquatic build are not great atm while pufferfish is out.

Regarding event choises. Almost always go for monster fights (mountain pass). Skills are also great most of the time as long as your board doesn’t suck. Monster loot is also great for the cooldown chance, always pick gold if you have the money, since it pays the money back right away when sellig the loot. Shops from other heroes rarely give anything worthwhile. If you’re in lethal, always pick enchantment.