I main with T.Hawk and for some reason I can’t seem to find a consistently effective way to counter E.Honda’s moveset.
I’ve done everything I can think of. Heavy Body Presses to Light Jab/light jab/medium punch combo
Heavy Body Press to Mexican Typhoon
Condor Dive to low kick
Just walking up to him and being heavily defensive or aggressive.
The closest thing to consistently beating him is waiting him out to attack, but since E.Honda is all about the counter attacks, players or the CPU rarely ever make the first move.
Any tips?
This isn’t a bad match for Hawk per se. This how I view the matchup:
Honda’s side:
Ultra selection: U1. Punishes Bad Condor Dives and Hawk’s floaty ass jump in general.
What Honda wants to do: Headbutt, turtle. NOT GET KNOCKED DOWN (not so much a problem with DWU). Hit Hawk when he does Condor Spire. Punish bad Condor Dives, pressure him on his wakeup. Neutral jump fierce to discourage jumping. Poke with JabxHands, s.mp, s.hk and s.hp.
T.Hawk’s Side:
Ultra Selection: U2 imo. Not enough opportunities to land U1. U2 will punish Honda for doing buttslam too much or trying to jump out of Hawk Pressure in general.
What Hawk wants to do: Poke with c.mk, c.mp, s.hk and c.hk . Build meter with Condor Spire. Knock Honda down. Make really good reads on Honda’s defensive options. Not get hit by a billion headbutts (that you can’t punish!) Whiff Condor Dive for mixup.
Generally this matchup is played much like the Gief vs Honda matchup: mid-range, just outside of jump-in range. You definitely don’t want to be trying to jump at Honda, especially when he’s charged. What makes this matchup annoying for Hawk is that he can’t punish Headbutt unless he makes a remarkable read. A good Honda isn’t gonna let you try to muscle your way in either in the footsie game. Since a lot of Hawk’s like to walk forward a lot, be prepared to walk and crouch block a lot, because otherwise you’re gonna eat a lot of s.hk. Also, learn the spacing to make Condor Spire whiff, but outside of being able to be punished by Honda. Condor dive is risky, because if Hawk gets it blocked, he eats a HB at LEAST. Be patient and punish Honda’s habits. Honda definitely doesn’t want to be knocked down against you or in the corner.
As far as combos go, this matchup isn’t too combo heavy. it’s definitely a footsies grind, as with most matches that are Grappler vs Honda. But Hawk did get a fun new tool with his Condor Spire being more amazing and he can get a meter lead on Honda very quickly. If you get a life lead, try to force Honda to come to you. Honda’s approach when he’s down in life can be very telegraphed and he’ll have to take many unsafe risks to regain a life lead once he’s lost it.
If T.Hawk is fullscreen building meter with Condor Spire spam, there’s not a lot Honda can do.
This alone might annoy Honda players, so expect the following to happen;
- Honda will build meter himself with oicho
- Honda HP Headbutts (will most likely trade with your condor spire. Dmg is almost equal, but it’s a tiny bit in Honda’s favor)
- Honda walks forward.
If you block a HP headbutt that you can’t punish, just remember that Honda’s still quite negative after it, so you can walk up/dash up and do a low or spd against a hesitating Honda.
In midscreen, You want to poke Honda out, as a bonus Condor Spire shits on almost all of Honda’s normals.
For ultra choice, no need to pick U1, since you can already punish all buttslams with your mexican typhoon. Go with U2 for reads and AAing.
you can punish close EX Headbutt with HP Mexican Typhoon or cr.MK condor spire. Far EX Headbutt can also be punished with cr.MK.
Ofcourse, you can still cancel into condor spire, but this will whiff (u can use this to get closer and throw out an spd or a dp 50/50).
Once you have a decent lifelead, then there’s no need to take many more risks. Just let Honda come to you. If he’s not coming, win with time-over.
On the other hand, if you don’t have the lifelead, then you’re pretty much fucked. As soon as you consult the skies by jumping, then Honda will most likely EX buttslam you. The reason why EX Buttslam comes into play now, is because Hondas with a lifelead will try to avoid being put in a situation where they need to guess and time their AA headbutts between condor dive or a normal jumpin. Honda can also nj.HP pre-emptively, but if it’s done on reaction, it will get blown up by T.Hawk’s j.HK. So you’re going to need to walk him to the corner and approach him from the ground while trying to out-footsie him.
you HAVE to play it super lame, and so does honda. there is only 1 t hawk who can beat me and he just plays pure footsies almost never jumps. hes called Blueblazer. he played a really strong cross up game once he got in which honda cant defend against.