After testing Gae Bulg in party and solo play over the past few days, I’ve managed to develop a few points of feedback for this ability:
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The “Weakness to Physical Damage” debuff is very potent, especially for classes that utilize many physical multi-hit abilities. Unfortunately, the debuff seems to be quite inconsistent in its application - it will sometimes not apply at all on targets hit by Gae Bulg’s damage component. The ability of the Dragoon and his/her party to fully utilize the debuff is also limited by Gae Bulg’s clunky execution mechanics (which will be detailed below).
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Gae Bulg is, to my knowledge, the only ranged ability in the entire Swordsman class tree (and possibly other class trees as well) that is not auto-targeted (Long Stride), does not have a targeting reticle (Spear Throw), and has a minimum range. All these factors combined make it very unintuitive to use in party play (running out of attack range to use it), and extremely frustrating to use in solo play since the Dragoon has no reliable way to keep a group of mobs in place long enough for him/her to retreat to Gae Bulg’s minimum range.
My suggestions to improve this skill are simple: remove its minimum range, and allow it to be aimed via a targeting reticle. This will greatly increase its utility in solo play, and allow the Dragoon to utilize it in party play without suffering a penalty to his/her ability to deal damage in melee range.