Ranger-Elementalists combine the best of the two ranged combat worlds, Bow
Attacks and Magic.  Rangers, however, lack the key attribute of Elementalists,
Energy Storage, and thus often run into energy problems when using Elementalist
skills.  Also, Expertise only applies to Ranger skills and Rangers lack decent
Energy management and regen.  When selecting Elementalist skills to complement
your Ranger abilities, select ones that do not cause Exhaustion, are not
duplicated by Ranger abilities, and ideally have a low Energy cost.

Conjure X
=========
Conjure Flame, Conjure Lightning, and Conjure Frost all can add damage to bow
attacks, similar to bow preparations.  They cost a reasonable 10 mana and last
for a whole minute.

One skill that Conjure spells synergize well with is Barrage. Barrage removes
bow preparations, but the Conjure spells aren’t preparations, so they still
take effect and cause additional damage.  Another skill that multiplies the
damage done by the Conjure spells is Dual Shot (by doubling the arrows). Also,
Conjure spells stack quite well with bow preparations… with a skillset of
Conjure X plus Ignite Arrows plus Poison Arrow, you can have arrows that do
area-effect fire damage, add poison, AND Conjure elemental damage.

Some important notes: To utilize an appropriate Conjure X spell, you MUST have
a bowstring of the corresponding type.  For example, Conjure Flame ONLY works
on a Fiery bow (a bow with a Fire bowstring).  This limits you to that single
element, which can be a disadvantage when facing enemies resistant to that
element.  Also, sometimes it’s hard to track down the appropriate bowstring to
match the Conjure spell you want to duplicate.

I’m not sure if Conjure Flame works on the splash damage of Ignite Arrows. That
is something that I’ll have to investigate.

Note that with the release of Factions, the Conjure Elements spells no longer
remove other Enchantments.  A nice little bonus for a nice little spell.

Sample Build:
This build takes advantage of two low Energy spells, Glimmering Mark and
Conjure Lightning. It requires the use of a Lightning damage bow. It is heavy
in the attributes of Air Magic and Wilderness Survival.  With the low cost of
most of the skills, you can skimp a few points out of Expertise.
1. Glimmering Mark (Elite) - Blinds when target is struck by lightning damage
2. Conjure Lightning - Added damage
3. Ignite Arrows - Added damage, splash damage
4. Dual Shot - For doubling the damage from Conjure/Bow Prep
5. Distracting Shot - For disruption and “buffering”
6. Dryder’s Defenses - Defensive Skill
7. Troll Unguent - Healing
8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture)

Factions: Glass/Conjure X Machine Gunner
========================================
With Factions, there are two new skills that create a strong variant of the
standard machine-gunner build.  Instead of Quick Shot (Elite), you can use
Needling Shot.  Instead of Kindle Arrows, you can use Glass Arrows (Elite).
Combined with an Elemental string and Conjure, you can churn out high damaging
arrows without splitting attributes heavily.  You can even use a Zealous bow,
if you tack on Conflagration.

Sample Build:
Marksmanship 11 + 2 Major Rune
Expertise 10 + 1 Mask + 2 Major Rune
Fire Magic 10
1. Dual Shot
2. Needling Shot
3. Distracting Shot
4. Conjure Flame
5. Glass Arrows (Elite)
6. Conflagration
7. Lightning Reflexes
8. Free Slot

Glyph of (Lesser) Energy and Energizing Wind
============================================
Most Elementalist skills are too prohibitively expensive for a Ranger to use.
However, there are three skills, two in the Elementalist Line, and one in the
Ranger line, that can help reduce the energy costs.  Glyph of Lesser Energy
reduces the cost of the next spell you cast by 15 Energy.  This puts some of
the most expensive spells in an easily castable range for a Ranger.  The main
downside to the Glyph is that it has a cooldown time of 30 seconds. Most of the
heavy damage Elementalist spells have a long casting time, anyway, so the
additional second to cast the Glyph isn’t too much compared to the benefit of
using it.

The Glyph of Lesser Energy also has an Elite cousin, called the Glyph of Energy.
It is Elite (and thus limits you to using only that Elite), saves up to 20
Energy, and has a cooldown time of only 15 seconds.  I’m not sure that the
increased Energy savings and better cooldown is worth using your Elite slot.
You can also run both Glyphs in your skillbar, but then you’d have two Glyphs
hogging up space on your skillbar.

Rangers have access to a Nature Ritual called Energizing Wind, which reduces
Energy costs for all spells by 15 (to a minimum of 10).  As with other rituals,
the casting time is prohibitive, but it provides the Ranger with a great way to
save Energy on the expensive Elementalist spells.  It also reduces the cost for
Concussion Shot and Dust Trap quite nicely.  The penalty is the 25% increase in
cooldown time for all skills, but this penalty is negligable if you are prone
to using lots of high Energy-cost spells.  Note that as a Nature Ritual, it
affects friends and foes… it might not be the best thing to use while hunting
Hydras, for instance (who will attack with a non-stop stream of spells while
this spirit is in effect), and some of your allies may complain about the
lengthened cooldown times if you don’t inform them of the spirit beforehand.
Then again, there may be some Elementalists who will appreciate having a great
reduction in their Energy costs.

Note that Glyphs no longer get the Ranger Expertise reduction in Energy, as of
October 27, 2006.

Glyph of Concentration
======================
Although the Glyph of Concentration text states that it prevents interruption
for spells, apparently it also prevents traps from being interrupted while
casting as well.  This may be a bug and may be removed in a future update, but
for now, the Glyph of Concentration is a great way to lay down a trap without
fear of being interrupted.

Note that Glyphs no longer get the Ranger Expertise reduction in Energy, as of
October 27, 2006.