I spent some decent time playing with USFIV at NWM. I tend to use spire way more than I should, which means I have some serious muscle memory with back-dp punch instead of forward-dp kick. This meant I had a terrible time adjusting. I also noticed that while the shortcut df-df kick works, it seems pretty finicky (has to be exactly df-df?). I almost found it easier to do the full dp motion. Probably need more time with it to judge the utility.
Double ultra was quite nice, I didn’t notice a huge reduction in damage. I think at least 60% or more on both. Also handy that I don’t get accidental 360s for the anti-air ultra now.
I didn’t play with cancelling mk much, related to my lack of consistent spires.
Overall, it didn’t feel like there were any particular nerfs, except that adjusting to the new inputs will take some time. New faster spires is very nice, but not completely invincible or anything. People that anticipate spires have less time to punish, but you can’t just spam them, especially in live matches. If people are complaining about spires, I would guess it’s more just unfamiliarity with the matchup than an actual issue with the move. Hopefully they won’t make any reactionary nerfs.
Video of Kindevu playing Hawk (5 wins, but again I feel there was a lot of missing matchup knowledge from his opponents):
Downloaded it and played 1 round before heading out today, got my ass handed to me when I couldn’t do any condor spire. Tried to figure out the input by trying just about every combination of movements but did not think to use the kick buttons! ARGH
Should be fun trying to retrain my muscle memory. Let’s get to work fellow T Hawks!
Something odd I’m noticing is Hawk’s cancelling his cr.forward is really inconsistent. Sometimes spire comes out sometimes it doesnt…can’t figure it out. Inputs are fine.
you can’t really combo ex tomahawk fadc ultra 2, unless I’m doing it too slow. I can’t find anything to combo into red focus, so… yeah he still has the big problem of missing tools the rest of the cast has.
For red focus combo, you can do st.lp, st.lp, c.mk -> red focus
any cl.st.mp can combo into red focus too.
The movement speed is barely noticeable, but I felt that the c.mk cancel buff is freak’n awesome. Combine with the spd range buff, it is pretty much a mix up on every cancel. You can just block and watch them jump back and corner themselves faster, or you can mix up with SPD. It is really hard to tell whether they need to block it depends on the range and whether you cancel into mk or lk spire. It force them to react when all you need to do is block and let them make mistake. Really awesome so far.
DP FADC seem a bit wasteful though. Why waste all the EX bar when you can just block? People rarely try throw you when you have W ultra stocked cause DWU is fairly strong with Ultra one. You can just delay your wake up, make them whiff their normal throw and ultra them on reaction if you buffer it right. Mix it up with a lot of quick wake up and they will have no clue how to pressure you safely. They will just learn to back the hell away and poke you instead. Then you can just block.
You still have to earn your win but he has never been an easy character to play, why complain about that now. I like this so far.
i really love the new hawk. He feels so much more mobile than before, with the walk speed buff, the condor spire buffs, the new condor spire motion, cancelable mk. I feel like i’m zooming around the screen now, compared to older versions.
I’m just happy that lp spire finally allows hawk to try and build meter at range against fireball characters. So much easier to get that crucial meter needed to blow through a bad fireball and get in now.
Is it my imagination, or does the safe EX Dive much harder to land now? I even tried it in training mode, and it feels like it needs more precision.
Also, does anyone have any tips against Rolento? I know its too early for matchup stuff, but that EX forward roll seems to be as safe as Honda Heatbutt
Love the changes to hawk, ultra 2 goes right through akumas air fireball so akuma loses all his overhead pressure unless he gets a hard knockdown on you and even then you get dp fadc back dash and spire or ex dp to catch akumas sweep if you’ve got the meter to burn, i rarely do it as its just better to block high and risk the low damage throw than it is to lose all that ex goodness.
I thought i would love the new spire input but im having a horrible time converting, do a move 10,000 times one way and the input is just stuck in your head, this only seems to affect me on combos.
LK spire is just perfect for building meter and with the usual range people give t hawk im getting a free spire every few seconds with as far as ive seen absolutely no way to punish a whiff.
Poison is free on standard condor dive if it hits mid to low as she has no attack to punish it on block so you can be a real dick and just grind her health down while quickly building meter.
Blanka and Gouken still suck, but i think there is extra range on ex spire, as ive landed quite a few ex spire whiff on blocking a BB and straight to ultra 1, i don’t recall it working so easily before.
st mp, st mp, ex dp, ex dive hits very reliably now
Does Hugo have an answer to far st hk? his st hp trades once in a while but hugo is the most reliable perfect ive ever imagined.
I still want to test who ultra 2 catches on a back dash now so far the only ones ive caught are the same as ae 2012.
Bad match ups for Ultra: Blanka (tad better), rolento, elena maybe once people figure her out, dudley because of his improved normals and moves,bison, guile, VEGA, juri
IMO Rolento is an even to favourable match up. Spire wrecks him for 120, even if he trades a normal you’re winning. Havn’t played against Elena yet, Dudley was a slight advantage match up in AE2012 so it’ll need exploring. The rest are definitely harder or exactly the same (still hard).
All these newbies jumping on the Hawk bandwagon kind of annoy me to be honest. Okay, it really annoys me lol. All of a sudden they think he’s this great character now so they wanna play him but where were they when he was ass?
Yea I’ve seen ALOT of new Hawk players and I pretty much body all of them. It’s nice to come across the occasional good Hawk and slug it out.
I was pissed when AE came out and reset my progress with Hawk when I was so close to ranking up to B+ so I stopped playing ranked, but he is just too much fucking fun to play now.
Thanks to the decreased start up of light spire, I can’t even count how many times I’ve backed ppl into a corner and whiffed a spire for U1 to end the match.
Hawk got ppl shittin they pants; the pressure he can put on can be suffocating.
One of my issues with Ultra Hawk is getting used to playing more than just a patient game. Having more speed and spd opportunities can become intoxicating as I begin to over do it and end up at a life deficit. Otherwise Hawk is a far cry from his Super days
