Thinking of:

Halo freedom
Mavic 521
Or similar

All mountain duty wheel set that can be pedal’d uphill and can roll down an Alp.

Any recommendations?

My DT swiss E 530s have rolled down many an alp and peddled up many a hill
Still look new
Also bargains can be found on these

Mavic EN321’s, not much different to the 521’s, super tough. Have one on the front for 8 years now (was called ex321 then), all kinds of abuse and looks great and only 1 trueing needed. Weight is fine really.

Don’t you realise 26″ is dead? 😉

Mavics not the Halo. My experience of Halo is they are made of soft cheese.

721s are my default rim of choice. Had my front one since 2010 now, still going well!

EX721’s as tom said bombproof and very easy to run tubeless.

Got my set on impulse from a hope display set clearance for less than the cost of the hubs 🙂 Over 3 years now a mega and plenty of other fun on them

Always had mavics in that past and they lasted excellently. Just got a set of Flow EX though and they are very tough. Dead easy to set up tubeless too.

New Superstar offerings may be worth a butcher’s?

Just got a set of Flow EX

Me too, so far I’m very pleased with them.