Consolidating my/Hungbee's ideas for THawk here.
--Rundown: USF4 will have 3-4 pure grapplers: Zangief, Hugo, Hawk, and maybe Hakan. I want them to have significant gameplay differences, and I think that's possible if each of them is designed with a different take on the grappler archetype. Imo Zangief is the Ryu of grapplers, the jack of all trades. Hugo is slow with corner control and big damage. Hakan has weird powerup and dash canceling mechanics. And Hawk can be the mobility type; after all, in ST he was the faster, more air-mobile version of Gief. These ideas try to bring that out. They also try to help Hawk deal with the fact that delayed getup will hurt his major source of mixups and damage, the ambiguous crossup after lp spd, without giving him totally new stuff like low hit confirms. Instead, they give him the ability to be at better ranges for footsies and to get up close more easily to make up for his loss of up close expected damage.
--Walk speed: faster like current USF4 build
-----Obvious mobility buff.
--Cr mk: cancelable like in current USF4 build
-----Not about comboing but about canceling into spire to follow the opponent more safely from farther. But the benefit of this is limited without a corresponding buff in mobility to condor spire.
--Spire
-----Regular spire: 3 fewer frames of startup (17), all have 9 active frames, 3 fewer recovery frames (all 4+4)
----------This is to make spire a more useful mobility tool that isn't so unsafe. Regular spire still won't be comboable and still won't be safe on block, but it'll be -4 point blank instead of its current -7. Again, though, the reason for this is for mobility and pursuit so that he has options to make up for worse post lp spd mixups.
-----EX spire: 3 fewer recovery frames
----------Again, just about being more mobile.
--Condor dive
-----Regular version: available on jump back, height restriction lessened, startup changed from 11f to 6f
---------------Allowing regular condor dive to be used jumping back lets him play better mobility games in the mid range or even be a threat while running away, which would be an interesting take on a grappler I think. Allowing regular dive to be used lower to the ground and shortening its startup could give him the ability to move around fireballs and normals better and allow him to set up counterhits or pursuit better. At the same time, keeping it just as punishable means that playing a counterhit or pursuit game is just as risky as it is now, just a bit more effective when it works.
-----Ex version: startup changed from 11f to 6f, made hit & throw invincible on first 5 frames
---------------This is about giving him an actual threat in the air. Jump down+mp beats some air to airs but not as many as it might have been intended to. It would beat opponents' on-reaction jump fierces and early dragon punches, making his giant floaty jump less of a hindrance. And not changing the height requirement for ex dive means that he wouldn't have instant ground to air invincibility.
----Spinning Pile Driver
-----LP: gets HP SPD's range
-----MP: same
-----HP: gets LP SPD's range
----------This should make Hawk actually use all his spd strengths while differentiating him from other grapplers which all have farthest range and least damage on LP. All of his SPDs already do less damage than Gief's by version, we're only talking the difference between (in AE2012) spd ranges of 1.50 and 1.40, and he'll need to make up damage from not being able to count on post-lp spd mixups as much, so I don't think this will be too good or weird. MP may be the go-to spd in Ultra because it does good damage and, with better mobility, lets him at least walk back up after. LP will be used if you're close and really need a mixup, and HP will be if you're at max range or need damage or don't mind having to walk farther in after. But again, better mobility means he should still get chances to land LP spd and he won't be hurt as much positionally for using HP.
