Ranger - Bow - Ambush league

First my apologies for yet another beginner ranger question thread as all the ones I could find had no replies and were over a year old

As the title indicates, I want to run a bow ranger, in ambush league, and I really have no idea what I am doing yet.

In one of the other similarily styled action rpg games I found I quite prefered life and mana leaching effects second only to not taking damage at all. However unless stuff at higher level has immunities, I liked the ability to use cold to freeze and shatter certain enemy types so they can't be raised...

Edit: I also did occasionally like some of the auras in that other action rpg that I played, particularily...
End Edit

so all I really understand Is get a good bow, preferably with links between sockets but not what colors for the links, and get armor with evasion on it and with linked sockets if need be.

so the general questions:
should I be focusing only on green active skill gems or should I consider the other colors?

What are my options given the brief description of my preferences above?

should I consider farming the first couple of zones for white drops to convert to wisdom scrolls, and should I invest early on in portal scrolls?

that is all I can think of for now, Except to note that I am not looking for links to builds or anything like that, I am just looking for a little bit of solid beginner advice, possibly including what active skills are considered better for bow rangers in the current in game environment.

wow absolutely no replies? I was told in game that the forums where the best place to get build advice for a ranger... was I told wrong?

Hi there. What you're asking is extremely basic and covered in numerous newbie guides around the forums and internet, I would hazard a guess that is the reason no one has bothered to reply - because it indicates you have done no research before asking the questions.

Assuming you have, and you simply dont understand I'll give you as basic a reply as I can, in the corresponding order.

-You should be focusing on the skill gems you wish to use for your build. The color of the gem indicates only what major attribute it requires (blue requires higher INT at higher levels etc).

-You dont need to farm white items (unless its at endgame and you're farming for crafting gear), and portal scrolls are not a currency item.

Asking the question "what current skill gems are better for bow rangers in the current game environment" is very vague, there are heaps of skills out there to use. Are you focusing on elemental damage, physical damage? Are you wanting a cast on crit bow ranger? A damage over time bow ranger? There are so many builds out there, with so many skill combinations, you really have to be a bit more specific with your questions.

There is a Path of Exile wiki, and also countless newbie guides. I'd recommend reading those because it feels as though you haven't even stepped into the game yet.

Check out my LA Ranger Guide from Beginning to End Game

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/806626

It covers a lot of the basics.

You don't farm for scroll material. Collect blues and yellows. ID all yellows with scrolls, blues just vendor for Transmute pieces unless they look useful.

If you need more wisdom scrolls you can trade whetstones and armor scraps.

"

o2xygen02 wrote:

Hi there. What you're asking is extremely basic and covered in numerous newbie guides around the forums and internet, I would hazard a guess that is the reason no one has bothered to reply - because it indicates you have done no research before asking the questions.

Assuming you have, and you simply dont understand I'll give you as basic a reply as I can, in the corresponding order.

yes, I thought the way I worded the question would inform the readers that I was very new to the game at the time I was posting. you mention these newbie guides but I did try to search the ranger forum for some sort of beginners info but kept finding and got tired of reading un answered question after un answered question. there wasn't even a single one that I found with any kind of redirection to a beginner's guide at all.

"

o2xygen02 wrote:

-You should be focusing on the skill gems you wish to use for your build. The color of the gem indicates only what major attribute it requires (blue requires higher INT at higher levels etc).

yes I know the color of the gem matches the the attribute, but as for matching the skill gems that I want to use for my build, I have no clue what kind of bow ranger builds that one can build. that is why I made this post

"

o2xygen02 wrote:

-You dont need to farm white items (unless its at endgame and you're farming for crafting gear), and portal scrolls are not a currency item.

but what about using portal gems to get back to town to sell the loots that have dropped?

"

o2xygen02 wrote:

Asking the question "what current skill gems are better for bow rangers in the current game environment" is very vague, there are heaps of skills out there to use. Are you focusing on elemental damage, physical damage? Are you wanting a cast on crit bow ranger? A damage over time bow ranger? There are so many builds out there, with so many skill combinations, you really have to be a bit more specific with your questions.

There is a Path of Exile wiki, and also countless newbie guides. I'd recommend reading those because it feels as though you haven't even stepped into the game yet.

I have found the path of exile wiki, but none off these countless newbie guides, a link to 1 or 2 might be helpful. as for your question of what am I or what do I want to focus on? I simply don't know, because I can't find any guidance on what is available on which I can focus.

"

Skywalkerfx wrote:

Check out my LA Ranger Guide from Beginning to End Game

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/806626

It covers a lot of the basics.

You don't farm for scroll material. Collect blues and yellows. ID all yellows with scrolls, blues just vendor for Transmute pieces unless they look useful.

If you need more wisdom scrolls you can trade whetstones and armor scraps.

thank you for the link to your guide, it was EXTREMELY helpful.

so if I understand correctly, even at low levels, i should ignore white drops, grap blue, yellow, and the occasionaly currency item drops, and vendor it all for transmutation and alteration fragments if I don't keep something cause it's useful, and then if I need more portal scrolls, vender the occasional orb of transmutation or alteration?

also should I replace the basic left click attack with lightning arrow or keep it at default?

"

Aethelwulf1972 wrote:

"

Skywalkerfx wrote:

Check out my LA Ranger Guide from Beginning to End Game

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/806626

It covers a lot of the basics.

You don't farm for scroll material. Collect blues and yellows. ID all yellows with scrolls, blues just vendor for Transmute pieces unless they look useful.

If you need more wisdom scrolls you can trade whetstones and armor scraps.

thank you for the link to your guide, it was EXTREMELY helpful.

so if I understand correctly, even at low levels, i should ignore white drops, grap blue, yellow, and the occasionaly currency item drops, and vendor it all for transmutation and alteration fragments if I don't keep something cause it's useful, and then if I need more portal scrolls, vender the occasional orb of transmutation or alteration?

also should I replace the basic left click attack with lightning arrow or keep it at default?

Grab blues and yellows, ignore whites unless you want to Alt Orb them (turn them into magic items) or unless they are small like jewelry and belts (vendor these for Wisdom fragments). Then just trade blues straight to vendor for Transmute Fragments. Yellows you should always use a Wisdom scroll on (IDs them) and only ID blues if they appear useful like blue jewelry.

White and blue items that say superior in their titles should be collected in a superior armor tab and a superior weapons tab. When you have enough of either that total 40% quality you trade them to vendor for Armor Scraps (armor) or whetstones (weapons).

If you are desperate for Wisdom scrolls, I would trade the armor scraps (for 2 Wisdoms each) or the Whetstones (for 4 Wisdoms each). I wouldn't trade other currency items for wisdoms unless you absolutely have to becaause they are too valuable.

This is the basics. Next you need to learn the vendor recipes that make Alc Orbs and Chance Orbs. Just search for POE vendor recipes and you will find them.

And yes replace the left click attack and the right click one. No reason to have a default as that is what you get when you run out of mana.

any reason to consider barrage, or frenzy, or chain? and what should I do with gems that I find that I can't or don't want to use?

You can use Chain, lesser multiple projectiles, or fork - but use only one of them with LA.
Your other arrow skill should be an unsplit boss kill shot. Feel free to experiment. I have been experimenting with puncture and that seems to work well.