R/E build augmentation...

I've been reading up on various people's posts on R/E snipers.

A majority of which I've noticed don't use any ele skill outside Conjure Element.

On that note, I was wondering if it's viable to actually use Conjure and one more elementalist skill to give the build more strength.

If not, then I suppose it really doesn't matter what elementalist magic the R/E picks because all Conjure Elemental R/E behave the same. Save for different armor weaknesses.

I was thinking of using Ice or Air skills: Ice Spikes [for snare at a distance] or Lightning Orb [for a massive strike on an enemy that's busy attacking].

Marksman's Wager will keep my energy high so I don't care about energy concerns.

Are R/E varied or are they all Conjure X but do the same thing? [which I find rather unacceptable...]

Ice spikes takes longer to cast, snares for a shorter amount of time, and costs more than pin down.

Lightning orb will probably do less damage per energy spent than a penetrating shot with conjure, unless you've got 12 in air (which is silly).

I'd say look for ele spells that do things you can't do with ranger skills, or else you're missing the whole point of expertise.

well when i went R/E for a bit. i didnt even use conjure

i went along the lines of a trapper/earth ele

click here

it was quite fun getting into melee range and being completely ignore until i started to hurt alot of people :3

not to mention i was using a collector's earth staff

Long ago(it seems) Rex and I had a talk about various Ranger builds using Conjure.

Eventually it led to the short-lived series ofAlpha Roundtable discussions.

This one in particular goes into detail about the various R/E builds and what's available to them.

Rex and I were fans of Water for the additional snares- Pin down is nice, but we found that too many teams had abundant condition removal, but were often lacking in hex removal. Additionally, it worked well to keep a group of targets clumped together for barrage, and water can provide some nice cover hexes as well.

After Water, I like Air for Gale. Gale is wonderful for when you *need* an interrupt or a snare, and you can't afford to have it dodged, blocked, or evaded. If it's just one skill you're looking for to compliment your skillbar, it's hard to argue against Gale.

Of course, this was all before Nature's Renewal became a predominant strategy in Tombs. NR really hoses Conjure because of the long recharge, and it hoses Water Magic very hard as well. Stacking buffs has also been toned down a bit, so Rangers aren't as fearsome as they were during say, the January BWE.

I don't think R/E is very playable in PvP right now, but hopefully it will be again in the near future.

*Edit*
It's worth noting that at the time that article was written, Greater Conflagration was not Elite (Winter was, for some puzzling reason, there's a good fix that's been made), and Superior Runes were called Legendary, and they cost -100 HP, not -75, so it made more sense to look for majors rather than superiors at the time.

Enjoy.

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