A sacrificial shroud is disposed over a packing element of a downhole packer to provide isolation from incompatible wellbore fluids and to minimize a tendency for swabbing or packer preset due to fluid flow past the packing element during run-in, thereby allowing for faster run-in speeds. The shroud may be depletive or consumable, such as by dissolution into a wellbore fluid or by melting at a predetermined downhole thermodynamic condition. The shroud may take the form of a sleeve or an applied coating.