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Strategy Extended Hawkgirl Guide - "Time to bring the hammer down!"- Thanagarian Intelligence Vault

Espio

Kokomo
Lead Moderator
Thanagarian Intelligence Vault

Hawkgirl is an incredibly mobile hit and run character that relies on her strong chip specials and burst damage to bring down opponents. She lacks strong 50/50 mix ups midscreen, but due to her having an immense amount of safe or even plus chip it balances out. She shares similar character design concepts with Doomsday and Green Arrow.

In general, Hawkgirl usually loses match ups against characters who can contain her heavily via heavy zoning or movement restriction and shines against characters with minimal or weak answers to her very strong mobility. Not being able to fly does not equal a losing match up to be clear, there's more to every match up than that linear perspective.

I am of the opinion that wing evade is the future of this character's success as it allows her to get out of frame traps, avoid a huge plethora of projectile zoning tools (one of her weaknesses is heavy zoning and movement restriction), interrupt frame gaps in strings for full combos and even bypass special moves that are normally safe and making them full combo punishable.

Despite the popular misconception about this character, I feel that she is even stronger when played with a strong footsie game as the focus. It is essential for her just like it is for any other character.

Being able to make the seamless transition from strong rushdown to runaway zoning is a huge must for this character as well. but of course this is all situational and match up based. Hawkgirl has one of the best anti-airs in the game in down 2 that allows her to heavily discourage jump ins and force a more grounded approach.

As a character, I feel confident that Hawkgirl despite her flaws fulfills her hit and run, heavy chip and mobility design incredibly well and rounds out around the 16-18 location overall.

What follows below is over a year's worth of research via offline, online, and lab time I've put into Hawkgirl. I have played her as a main since release and have put a lot of time and effort into this project.

Disclaimer: You are free to disagree with any points I have made, but please keep discussions to relevant issues and facts. Do not throw in my face who you've played or make arguments that are not relevant to the tools of each character.

Despite how much time I spent on this, I have a very open mind. There is so much more to learn for myself and everyone else too, nobody is above growing in perspective no matter how good they may or may not be as players. We're all in different places on our own respective journeys through Injustice and fighting games as a whole.

Now without further adieu, let's go!




Aquaman: "I can do this all day!"


Hawkgirl has the benefit of bypassing from the deep and other forms of Aquaman's traditional zoning/lame game by virtue of her trait. Aquaman has really superb jump normals for stuffing mace charge, wing evade and knocking her out of the air alongside water shield to lame it out reasonably well with a life lead as a counterbalance.

Hawkgirl isn't a combo intensive character and is mostly about chip and burst damage so his trait isn't a big detriment to her game and most of her specials and strings leave her in plus frames or in a guessing game situation for each player. Aquaman's chip is stronger due to MB trident rush, but in some cases she can punish it with down 1 special at certain ranges.

They both can oki each other very well on all parts of the screen. The match up is incredibly lame and about whoever can get a lifelead first and maintain it. Hawkgirl generally sets the pace and due to her bypassing a great deal of his zoning tools, this allows her to get in relatively quickly and avoid chip with her mobility or turtle fairly well in trait. Jumping in on either character carries a huge risk since both characters have some of the best down 2's in the game.

Ares: "Gonna find out what that bell on your head sounds like...."


The crux of this match up is that flight allows her to hover above dark energy, sword, and axe zoning while being able to simultaneously zone and counter-zone Ares with relative ease. Flight normals, dive kick and well spaced mace charges can beat out teleport jump in normal attempts to blow up flight or her zoning him back so it's a guess for both parties.

Ares jump 1 is good for air to airs and has a commanding air presence at times, but since Hawkgirl can control the ground well with down 2 this isn't game changing.

Up close sometimes Ares has important mids whiff, interrupting down 1 sword cancels with your own down one 1 is pretty straight forward and Hawkgirl can pressure him well and unlike other zoners, he can't really keep her out and she is free to use trait in most cases really well and can transition to rushdown or a lame zoning game relatively easily. Couple this with her ability to disrespect his frame traps via wing evade and such and this makes it hard for Ares to get going. Her wake ups are solid for getting out of Godsmack set ups in many cases and like all the cast, MB back 3/forward 3 is an option if you're unsure if you can time your wake up well.

Even with teleports, Ares' mobility is lackluster in general so he has a hard time getting in and establishing pressure while simultaneously having a hard time dealing with pressure, which plays into Hawkgirl's hit and run style nicely.

Bane: "Hope your armor holds up."



The ultimate cat and mouse game, Hawkgirl's mobility and zoning allow her to chip Bane out reasonably well, but his venom cycles reducing the damage he takes alongside his strong dashes and mobility helps to equalize this match up quite a bit.

Wing evade 3 and MB mace toss are effective against Bane's venom attacks if spaced well. Wing evade 3 can go through charges and other armor moves while giving her the opportunity to punish the whiffs. MB mace toss is especially effective versus venom levels below level three as it armor breaks and grants a knockdown that stalls venom time.

Bane's oki game really blows her up on knockdown and makes her guess like any other character and his strong down 2, down 1 and back dash mobility allow him to easily keep her in check in the footsie and mobility game.

The perk for Hawkgirl on Bane's debuff is that because she does really good burst damage in such a short time, she gets multiple shots at doing great damage to Bane whereas other characters may only get to get off one combo since they take much longer to execute. An additonal notable point is that during debuff, Bane can't really counterpoke Hawkgirl's wing evade pressure because his down 1 is too slow so if she does happen to catch him up close she can go to town before needing to go back to playing a spacing, lame game.

Venom uppercut is a good option to blow up Hawkgirl in flight; however, if Hawkgirl scouts this she can fly backwards and actually make it whiff and punish thus making your air footsies and spacing game being on point a must.

Mace toss cancels are a big asset in this match up as they allow you to bait Bane's armor and movement. Bane has a floaty jump so despite body splash being good, it's still very doable to regulate his jump ins and keep him grounded, but Bane also has a superb down 2 for keeping Hawkgirl in check.

Another huge point is that Bane's comeback factor due to venom levels is better than Hawkgirl's to a degree and despite the benefits of catching him on debuff, he isn't easy to catch during this due to his mobility and footsies. MB mace toss (ground or air are good option to do so) especially grounded version since it's plus and if you're near the corner you can potentially get a guaranteed mix up into full 50% plus combo.

Hawkgirl can wing evade charge and venom upper and punish both options. Standing 3 is a decent armor breaking normal and down 2 wing evade 3 can be timed to use the invincibility frames to counter armor.

They both have really irritating and strong answers to each other's game plans. Hawkgirl wins from afar and Bane wins up close with his armor, super strong oki game and having a better comeback factor, but Hawkgirl's comeback factor is still good enough to keep up with him along with her other aforementioned strengths.

Batgirl: "I'm a real pain in the ass huh!?"




To keep it simple, Batgirl's strong comeback factor, meterless vortex, ability to marginally lame out Hawkgirl and her strong options to shut down flight push this into being favorable to her.

Batgirl struggles to deal with Hawkgirl's up close pressure game especially due to having a slower down 1 than average. The other problem is that Batgirl is not particularly meter reliant for much of anything so she almost always wins a clash and since Hawkgirl generally doesn't do damage equal to hers nor does she generally force a clash (due to a lot of unclashable damage), this almost plays into it being easier for her to have meter to beat your clash.

Hawkgirl anti-airing Batgirl is risky because she can jump bait into teleport and full combo punish you into a vortex. Hawkgirl can wing evade bolas and MB mace toss if used well can be great for getting in and starting your pressure on Batgirl.

Down 1 can stuff out wake up cartwheel, but since she also has her flying bat uppercut, teleport and other options you have to approach each wake up differently whereas Batgirl can stuff out wake ups from Hawkgirl with cartwheel or jump normals making her have to guess more than Batgirl does.

Batman: "Don't mess with me Bats"



Batman's zoning covers many parts of the screen, but it is generally fairly slow. Hawkgirl's trait can be used to avoid straight batarangs and also used to avoid trait bats. Hawkgirl's trait flight spacing and zoning/counter-zoning has a place in the match up as well, but Hawkgirl has to be much more mindful of her spacing since Batman's zoning covers more bases than hers. Well spaced wing evade 3 can go over straight batarang zoning. After a blocked back 2, 3, Hawkgirl can do reversal mace charge to chase down Batman, which cannot be jumped out of, back dashed, or armored by Batman.

Thankfully with proper spacing you can sneak in mace tosses while evading up grapple and up batarangs and counter-zone to get in with MB mace toss. Batman's back dash being very good also aids him in his zoning and runaway game. Patience and competent air and ground footsies are essential to keep up with Batman.

On knockdown, Hawkgirl gets a particularly simple oki option with wing evade 2 as it beats parry and slide goes under it so Hawkgirl can punish slide on whiff with mace charge. If he blocks wing evade 2, she's +4 with potential follow up pressure.

Batman has tons of interruptible gaps in his strings that Hawkgirl can blow up for full combo via her down 1. Trait bats can be used to cover gaps at times.

Batman's normally strong jump game gets blow up really well due to Hawkgirl's superb down 2 regulating air space and a major part of his gameplan.

Straight grapple can also be great for movement restriction as it leads to combos thus compliments Batman's zoning game nicely.

Batman's parry can make pressuring him a bit trickier, but Hawkgirl also has multiple parry counters in wing evade 3, sweep, wing evade 2, mace charge and so on so it's a risk for both characters during pressure, but Hawkgirl can get good damage on parry baits.

Black Adam: "Hate to bludgeon a man when he's down"

The core of Hawkgirl's design allows her to entirely bypass low lightning and black magic, which limits his chip, zoning and counterzoning game allowing her to zone, chip and lame him out better than Black Adam can do to her.

Black Adam's jump 1 and dive kick mobility can help him get in and catch her flying at certain heights, but whiffed dive kicks can be punished with her dive kick. Mace charge can trade with dive kicks and the trade is favorable to Hawkgirl. She can punish dive kick with wing evade (not on block, it literally makes dive kick whiff and avoids chip).

Hawkgirl's ability to disrespect Black Adam's frame traps with wing evade off of strings like Back 2,3 and in addition to this reality, she can wing evade out of Black Adam's down 1, lightning hands and punish for full combo thus limiting his frame traps, chip and guessing games even further.

Black Adam's lightning hands can stuff wake up mace charge and his jump normals are an additional option.

Hawkgirl's delayed wing evade 3 can be used to punish wake up cage and lightning hands. Trait dive kick is an additional viable option alongside well timed jump normals.

Black Adam's footsies can keep up with Hawkgirl's due to the range of back 2 and dive kick among other things. His damage and cross up dive kick set ups can help him come back and insures he's never totally out of the fight. Hawkgirl still has to deal with Adam's trait cancels frames as well.

Low lightning and black magic's hitboxes not hitting too high in the air means Shayera can hover lower in trait and chuck straight maces sometimes, but must look out for dive kicks and be mindful of spacing.

The match is very close and competitive, but in the end Hawkgirl does what Black Adam does better in terms of pressure and lame game, allowing her to set the pace of the match up.

Catwoman: " Claws and Talons"

An awkward match up for both animal ladies, both get to play their respective games of hit and run for Hawkgirl and Catwoman's solid knockdown game is strong in this match up. It is similar to the Flash match up in the sense that both have multiple evasive moves that allow them to avoid some mace toss zoning and a strong special or normal that can knock Hawkgirl out of the air at far out ranges.

The difference however lies in the fact that Catwoman's walk speed is really bad, her forward dash is not as good as the Flash's, Flash generally does more damage and on top of that, she struggles hard on knockdown just like Hawkgirl does.

Catwoman's long ranged jump 2 is good for catching Hawkgirl in flight, but due to Catwoman lacking a strong full screen presence and having mobility issues this does not negate flight and due to Hawkgirl's strong down 2 and Catwoman's meh walkspeed/movement, playing on the ground isn't really a huge issue for Hawkgirl as she can keep up with her just fine in footsies and force her to take risks to approach her. Walking back is a huge problem for her and walk back wing evade 3 can also check jump ins if spaced well.

In many cases, Hawkgirl can also wing evade out of Catwoman's jump ins and in some cases punish, making it even harder for Catwoman to contain Hawkgirl and potentially commit to riskier options to blow this up.

Evade can reduce the amount of chip Catwoman takes while getting in, but it in no way means that Catwoman cannot be zoned or chipped out by maces especially if the timings are varied by Hawkgirl and MB mace toss is a good check on evades as well.

On knockdown, Catwoman's evasive back 3 stuffs wake up mace charge and wing evade thus launching Hawkgirl for a full combo and if Hawkgirl respects this option it allows Catwoman to set up her 50/50 mix up game. Unlike most back 3's, hers is negative so Hawkgirl can get her pressure game started after a blocked back 3 or retreat back to turtling or zoning if she chooses.

MB mace toss is a good option for stuffing out MB cat dash attempts both on knockdown and standing. Catdash at most ranges is punishable by forward 1,1 into full 30%+ combos.

Hawkgirl can full combo punish down 1, catclaws with wing evade 2 and this makes her string stagger frame traps less potent versus her as she has the threat of this option and can also go over down 1 pokes with wing evade as well.

Hawkgirls standing 3 is good for stuffing pretty much every wake up Catwoman has although her trait can make it trickier to guess. Trait can be stuffed with neutral jump into an attack so it's a bigger guess when she has trait loaded, but Hawkgirl can still make her guess on knockdown and open up more mix up options if she can get her to respect her options.

Due to Hawkgirl's mobility and safeness in addition to Catwoman having to chase her, take more risks and the like to contain her while having much weaker mobility means that despite Catwoman's solid answers to Hawkgirl on knockdown, zoning and air game wise, it ends up more or less keeping her in the fight more so than anything.

Cyborg: "Bout to get real up in here"


The gist of this match up is that Cyborg controls the air and can restrict your movement heavily with IAFB zoning to slow you down to walking, ducking and occasional dash or wing evade reads. However, Hawkgirl can wing evade ground fireballs and disrespect many of Cyborg's strings up close due to many having exploitable gaps. Her normals and pressure are better than his in terms of range. frames and damage for the most part so despite him winning the full screen zoning game, you are at least rewarded with this notable edge when you get past his zoning.

Due to most of Cyborg's plus frames being only marginally plus (+3 on his forward 2,2 string and around +1-2 on his down 1 and Sonic disruptor) she can bypass a lot of his frame traps with well timed wing evades and in some cases mace charges, making his already mediocre pressure a bigger gamble. Hawkgirl has to take more risks and grapple can be a big help for getting out of the corner with Cyborg, but due to MB mace toss she can use this to close the gap quickly if she scouts a grapple and potentially check him with this depending on range and plus frames. Sonic disruptor can also be evaded.


Hawkgirl can stuff all of Cyborg's wake ups easily with her 3, wing evade tech including power fist, sonic, disruptor, and techno tackle (this is an option select to where 3, wing evade 2 makes the tackle whiff and she can punish it with mace charge or wing evade 3).

Deathstroke: "Time to clip your wings"


Deathstroke essentially lames out Hawkgirl really well with his zoning, many of his gun shot tools are very fast so they're good for checking MB mace toss counter-zoning, really limiting trait and forcing Hawkgirl to walk, duck and make cautious reads on dashes and wing evades to get in on him. Deathstroke also happens to have strong jump normals that are good for stuffing her out of wing evade and mace charge such as jump 3.

Hawkgirl's up close pressure game works the same on Deathstroke as essentially any other character and she can check his jump ins well due to her strong down 2. Deathstroke's mix ups are generally better and forward 3 can stuff her wake ups without meter if timed well.

On the flipside, okizeme on Deathstroke can be a bit trickier for her than him since her 3 wing evade tech and other normal oki options don't work well due to sword flip and sword spin being reversed input wake ups, but it is still possible with the right conditioning. Hawkgirl can wing evade the last hit of MB rifle to avoid the chip and pushback.

Patience is an absolute must for this match up as Deathstroke sets the pace and zones her out really well and his ability to restrict her movement is a notable strength. Unlike other match ups of this type, he lacks a strong trait, strong chip damage or interactable hegemony that a character like Zod or Sinestro (with trait) posses so it ends up not being as bad as the others, but still boils down to a losing match up for her.



Doomsday: "Size doesn't matter dude."


Hawkgirl and Doomsday are similarly designed characters that rely on strong chip and burst damage makes this an incredibly balanced fight.

Doomsday's oki game is really strong versus Hawkgirl since body Splash and many of his other attacks and jump normals can stuff her out of her wake up options due to their big hitboxes. Hawkgirl however can keep Doomsday out of the air really well due to her strong down 2 blowing up body Splashes superbly.

Body splash can contain mace charge and wing evade 3 well in neutral too, but you can whiff punish body splashes well with a delayed wing evade 3.

The fact that Hawkgirl can wing evade out of many of Doomsday's special cancels including down 1 Earth shaker and 2,2 Earth shaker means that Doomsday has to either use slower options or raw ES more often than usual to check Hawkgirl and that opens him up even more to being stuffed by Hawkgirl's strong down 1 and faster normals.

After a successfully blocked raw ES in the corner due to the fact that Hawkgirl's down 1 is faster and rivals Doomsday's in terms of range, she can check him back. Doomsday's traditional oki and corner pressure is effective and can lock down Hawkgirl in the corner. Dash up raw ES, wake up reversal attempts or slower normals can be stuffed out by her strong down 1 to reverse pressure or get out of the corner. 2,2, up 3 after an on hit down 1 or wing evade 3 are good options for getting out of the corner.

Hawkgirl's corner damage outshines Doomsday's and she gets much more reward generally for opening him up in the corner than Doomsday does. Doomsday's goal is to lock her down in the corner and keep her there. Raw earth shaker stuffs all wake ups in the corner.

Both characters have good options for blowing up each other's traits as well. Down 1 and especially wing evade 3 allow Hawkgirl to annoy Doomsday, damage him and stall his trait due to the fact that wing evade 3 recovers quickly and sends her through his body to the other side fairly far away.

His trait on the flipside, makes mace charge unsafe as he can take the hit and punish so during trait it is usually best to stick to safe options that recover quickly. However, using MB mace charge around the time Doomsday's trait is about to expire can also be a good option to either get frame advantage or punish him.

Hawkgirl's trait can be used from time to time in this match up, but Doomsday has air snatch, upward venom and even supernova can be used to ground full screen Hawkgirl, but at the expense of meter in some cases.

The Post MB venom guessing game generally favors Hawkgirl since after post blocked venom she can wing evade over the down 1 and punish for 30% plus or she can wing evade over the down 1 thus encouraging him to do raw ES, another MB venom, or sweep, which can be poked out of and punished for full combo.

Doomsday is a character that cannot duck Hawkgirl's ground mace tosses thus he must deal with her plus on block mace tosses and MB ground mace toss can be great for stuffing out venom in attempts and especially on wake up and at worst if Doomsday blocks on wake up he's still eating chip damage and Hawkgirl remains plus on block.

First hit is huge in this match up too as they are both heavily momentum based characters that are hard to stop once they get going.

The fact Hawkgirl is less meter reliant in comparison to Doomsday for her safe mobility is a huge asset for her as well.

3 cancelled into wing evade 2 on knockdown covers up venom, regular venom and other common wake up options and can be converted into full combos. Both rival each other in damage, design concepts, oki ability, general damage and strong answers for each other's traits and shenanigans, making this an incredibly competitive, fun match up.

Flash: "Fastest man alive? That explains why you can't get a date."


This match up is similar to the Catwoman match up in the sense that both have a counter-zoning move (in this case shake for Flash) and a special (lightning uppercut) or jump normal to deal with zoning and flight pretty well. The difference is that Flash has a better walk speed, dash and deals with interactables better than Catwoman. On top of this, his oki on Hawkgirl is just as good if not better (he can use meterless forward 3 to stuff mace charge, which is similar to Catwoman's back 3). Flash also does more damage as a whole counting trait and with awesome corner carry.

Hawkgirl can still zone periodically with proper spacing and her footsies with down 1, down 2 and so on are a good check to Flash's forward 2 and other slower, ranged normals that can hinder him. She can make it hard to approach her on the ground as Flash and she regulates air space well to make an air approach very risky.

Since her long ranged pokes like wing evade and mace charge are safe or in some cases fairly plus he has a hard time checking her on block. Flash can interrupt down 1 special cancels with flying uppercut, but the risk reward is in Hawkgirl's favor as he gets minuscule damage, but Hawkgirl gets a full combo and can send him away.

He struggles to frame trap Hawkgirl due to her wing evade disrespecting his frame traps like back 2,2 into down 1 can be crushed by wing evade 2 into full combo. Flash can use down 2 to beat this option, but it boils down to a risk for him and makes it even harder to contain Hawkgirl up close. Mace charge spaced well beats his lightning charge in neutral as well.


Green Arrow: "Bring it, Arrow boy."


Hawkgirl and Green Arrow both have a commonality in the sense that they both have hit and run attributes.

Green Arrow's zoning and chip damage is fairly weak, it's mostly just annoying if anything. Regular arrows do next to no damage on hit or block and thus even a blocked mace toss equals around two on hit arrows. Mace tosses on hit make the disparity wider. Even trading and getting knocked down with regular arrows, the trade is still heavily in her favor.

Fire Arrows can rival mace toss zoning damage, but due to Green Arrow having to load trait, he many times opens himself up to eating additional chip or even full combo damage thus causing a life disparity to increase. He doesn't stop flight, he just makes her play a more competent and strategic air footsie game and getting in with MB mace toss and mace charge alongside your other mobility options isn't particularly daunting.

Green Arrow can use ice arrow on knockdown to blow up wake ups for full combo, but this means you can simply get up and block correctly if you see him in position to do this. Hawkgirl's mace charge can stuff wake up savage blast and other wake ups on knockdown into 21% damage if MB'd, which rivals Green Arrow's combo damage and damage off of making a read on an ice arrow that is more situational in oki than MB mace charge and this is also a reality when they open each other up outside of oki.

Green Arrow has good mobility as well with dashes so he can get around zoning as well and while his jump normals are decent, they get blown up hard by Hawkgirl's really strong down 2 air control.

The up close game is relatively equal as both have generally average speed normals with comparable range save for Hawkgirl's superior down 1 and down 2. Damage wise they generally do roughly similar damage. Hawkgirl can use wing evade and her strong down 1 to deal with down 1, arrow pressure thus making the down 1 meta game trickier for both parties.

Green Arrow often wins clashes due to the fact that he is not meter reliant; however, since Green Arrow in general does low damage, clashing isn't commonly notable deal.

Hawkgirl also does the hit and run game better than Green Arrow due to superior chip on her zoning, mace charge and more sustainable pressure with wing evade.
 
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Espio

Kokomo
Lead Moderator
Green Lantern: "Nice ring, I have a mace"


This match up involves a lot of footsies, zoning and counter-zoning from both sides. Straight air mace tosses beat turbine, turbine can beat downward diagonal mace/flight. Flight bypasses mini-gun and rockets and allows Hawkgirl to punish them on whiff with mace toss or MB mace toss for solid damage.

Lift's incredible range can be used to catch Hawkgirl out of wing evade, mace charge and flight at fairly far out distances. Lift doesn't reach max height flight however.

While back 1 has more range than most of Hawkgirl's options, it has a huge flaw that Hawkgirl can exploit: Wing evade 2 can be used to full combo punish back 1,3. Green Lantern cannot do back 1 lift to beat this because wing evade punishes this option as well. Back 1,2 can be interrupted with down 1 into full combo punish thus while this string is strong, Hawkgirl can limit it heavily, which balances things out nicely.

Both have superb air control, but Green Lantern's mobility isn't so hot in comparison to Hawkgirl's.

Both get strong oki on each other and Green Lantern's knockdown set ups work well for stuffing Hawkgirl's wake ups. Green Lantern's forward 3 low crushes, which can allow it to go over down 1 and some other mids.


Harley: "Face Rearranged"


Ideally, Hawkgirl should either be playing this at relatively full screen or close ranged in her face, pressuring her hard.

MB cupcakes can be good for knocking Hawkgirl out of the air, but only if Hawkgirl doesn't keep to a relatively full screen location where they will otherwise whiff. When coming in, it's important to space your trait well so that you can avoid being full combo punished by her up gunshot.

Harley's down 1 is 7 frames, notably slower than your average down 1, making it harder for her than most to counterpoke or escape Hawkgirl's pressure, which can be obnoxious. Harley's lack of noteworthy overhead/low mix ups makes her less overwhelming up close. Silly slide is full combo punished by forward 1,1 and if Hawkgirl chooses to play an up close ground game, she can regulate airspace well, while Harley struggles to do so.

Harley's zoning is annoying, but since it does no damage if you happen to trade a mace toss with her, even if you get knocked down out of the trade one mace toss is equal to two gunshots from Harley so trades favor Hawkgirl.

Another saving grace for Harley is her pistols and general zoning tend to build her a lot of meter for MB cupcakes and the like, which really helps her to keep up with Hawkgirl, but in the end, Hawkgirl's zoning does more damage on hit and Shayera has more ways to get around and avoid Harley's chip damage zoning than the reverse. Harley does decent with a lifelead, but can struggle a lot without one and it's not exactly easy for her to keep one on Hawkgirl.


Joker: "Lovely girl, if you can get past the feathers...."

The problem for Joker is that not only does Hawkgirl avoid essentially all of his zoning options, she also exploits his lack of mobility due to how strong her mobility is in the match up. Hawkgirl can chip him out fairly well, while Joker struggles to do so against her due to flight.


While Joker's jump normals are strong, the fact that he is forced to jump to get started due to a general lack of footsie tools plays into Hawkgirl's game and since her anti-air is strong she can really hinder one of his strongest traits. On top of that, several of Joker's mids whiff on Hawkgirl and she can wing evade out of a lot of his jump ins thus making it hard for Joker to contain her and get going at all. Many cancels into low laughing gas are interruptible for full combo.


The saving grace for Joker is in the corner or after a bgb he can get his strong oki game going, which is a huge asset for him. Joker's jump normals are strong so they can be helpful for catching flight if he happens to outspace the Hawkgirl player. Down 2 is also a good option for him to check wing evade 3's due to its incredibly long reach. His parries are also an option, but in general not as great of an option as other parries that grant full combos for correct reads so the guessing game is no worse than equal for Hawkgirl.


Hawkgirl lames him out well, makes it hard for Joker to get started with his zoning, pressure, and jump game while being able to compete with him easily up close with her strong down 1, down 2, wing evade 3 and so on. The only part on the screen Joker can regulate Hawkgirl really well is if he corners her or after bgb set ups.

Killer Frost: "Bye Felicia"


Killer Frost in general has a huge problem with characters that have strong mobility and air control and Hawkgirl is the queen of mobility and air control especially in this match up. Daggers, iceberg, and slide all fail to reach an airborne Hawkgirl who can lame Killer Frost out really well and zone her out.


Killer Frost's parry discourages pressuring her, but all that really does is encourage Hawkgirl to play a keep away game more. On top of that, Hawkgirl has multiple options including sweep, throw, mace charge, wing evade 2, wing evade 3 and dive kick to beat parries.


Mace charge almost always beats slide because Hawkgirl flips backwards before making contact. Hawkgirl's post slide guessing game is actually really solid too although she doesn't even really have to play it versus Frost. Wing evade 3 goes over down 1, beats parry, and goes through MB back 3/forward 3 armor, goes over slide etc. One option covers most of her options plus Hawkgirl still can choose to just trait, fly away and zone, guess on a down 1 to start pressure, throw, sweep etc.


Killer Frost with a lifelead cannot do much to keep her out and maintain it due to her zoning being negated by flight and air dashing and backdashing to avoid mace tosses just push her to the corner where Hawkgirl can take half life even easier and reclaim the life lead anyway.


Essentially what this boils down to as most guessing games favor Hawkgirl or she has multiple or even one option that covers almost every base Killer Frost has. Thankfully for Killer Frost, she has a decent comeback factor with her vortex game and parry to make Hawkgirl guess, but in the end it's hard for her to lock Hawkgirl down. Her air dash isn't the greatest and it's hard to jump in on Hawkgirl due to her strong regulation of air space with down 2. Her air dashes and grounded dashes as well as her jump normals are not so hot either thus her design heavily works against her in this match up while Hawkgirl's design shines.

Lex Luthor: "You're no warrior!"


This match up is heavily momentum based for both characters. Like any character, if Lex gets his set ups started versus Hawkgirl it can be a problem for her. Jump 3 is good for catching mace charge and wing evade 3.


Lex Luthor is a big body character with some dashing and other issues that cannot duck ground mace tosses, which are plus on block. Low to the ground straight mace tosses can make it hard for Lex to pop trait. He also has an issue getting his toys out because of this. Even if Lex blocks a straight mace (air or ground) and tries to corps charge, it loses to another mace toss or mace charge. Corps charge and mace charge trades are in Hawkgirl's favor.


Lex's full screen zoning is slow and his set ups take a notable amount of time to come out, so he cannot keep her out particularly well.


Ground mines can blow up mace charge for full combo if she attempts to come in after those so sticking to mace toss zoning when these are put down is a safe option that can disrupt potential set ups and trait activation.


Lex can punish mace charge with trait, but wing evade 3 can be used to go through trait and isn't punishable. MB mace toss can also blow up trait if you catch Lex attempting to move in on you.


If Lex corners you with trait, it can be really hard to get out with your stuffable wake ups.


Hawkgirl's up close pressure and footsies are strong against Lex and he can in some cases interrupt pressure with corps charge, but it's a huge risk. Hawkgirl's down 2 can also deal with Lex's slow jump ins well.


Vacuum's range can be good for catching Hawkgirl's approaching movement from extremely far out.


Even with probes out, well timed wing evade or mace charge can go past the probe shot. If Hawkgirl sees Lex put a probe out full screen, she can chuck a straight mace and the chip trade for mace tosses is great (2% versus 1.3% for a probe) or if he tries to do something he'll get hit by the mace so it is in her favor too.


This match essentially boils down to whoever gets their game started first will almost always win as they both have really strong dirt on each other.

Lobo: "Enjoy this lowlife"

Hawkgirl basically gets to play her entire game versus Lobo with her zoning, flight, mobility and strong up close pressure, he doesn't really limit these in huge or notable ways that aren't universal. Lobo can contain her on knockdown, but that's easier said than done against a mobile character like Hawkgirl.


Flight allows Hawkgirl to bypass shot guns bullets (trait or otherwise) easily so he doesn't stop her from zoning or counter-zone her with these. She can also blow up trait loads from far away with diagonal or straight mace tosses and at closer ranges mace charge.


Hook charge and pump shot can make Hawkgirl respect his pressure and guess more on knockdown. Lobo's damage and comeback factor are huge for him as a heavily momentum based character


Tick throw guessing game is about equal for both characters since Hawkgirl can wing evade punish the whiffed command grab for full combo if she scouts it. Lobo's forward roll is good for getting around zoning, but can sometimes cause him to get hit easier by dive kicks or mace tosses easier than others characters.


Hawkgirl can stuff wake up hook charges with mace toss, mace charge or MB mace toss. Neutral jumps can be effective too.

She can evade trait shots and punish.


Standing 3 is a solid footsie tool for Lobo, but in general his normals are not too great outside of that and Hawkgirl's pokes are strong as well thus equaling the footsie game out in a lot of ways.


The only real edge Lobo has on Hawkgirl is if he can knock her down and oki her. Aside from his strong knockdown game, he doesn't stop Hawkgirl from playing her zoning, counter-zoning, flight or pressure game at all. She comes in and escapes at will generally and with no full screen answer that hits her in trait or really limits her mobility outside of knockdown, she sets the pace of the match up extremely well.

Martian Manhunter: "Stop Shayera"


The core reasons why this match up is favorable to Martian lies in his excellent space control by virtue of MB orbs, trait and MB pillars to name a few. Because of MB pillars reaching to the top of the screen and teleports, this generally keeps Hawkgirl out of the air for the most part.


Martian Manhunter can slow down her mobility and make her approach in a more calculated, precise way, but thankfully Hawkgirl has a decent forward walk speed and can wing evade pillars, telekinetic strikes and orbs to avoid some of the chip damage she would normally get while getting in and wing evade 3 can also be used after blocked pillars to assist her in getting in on him more quickly.


While in trait, he can restrict her wing evade 3, mace charge attempts to get in with standing 3 and other trait normals thus during this time it's best to wait outside trait range and attempt to check Martian on whiff. Regular phase assault is good for full combo punishing whiffed mace charge as well.


Wing evade can be used to bypass Back 2,3,3,3, MB orb and 2,2 MB orb pressure (commonly used orb pressure cancels), which is great as it causes him to waste a bar of meter, take chip damage, and a reversal of pressure in favor of Hawkgirl. 2,2, Back 3 is interruptible with forward 1,1 into a full 30%+ combo as well.


1,1, 2 (the last hit) can be wing evaded out of with (WE 2) for full combo. This is also something she can do to Martian's down 1 special cancels. Down 1, push and down 1. Martian grab are full combo punished by wing evade 2 thus discouraging a Martian player from using his down one special cancels mixed into his mix up and pressure game.


Without Martian's trait up, Hawkgirl's footsies in general are better as her long ranged down 2, wing evade 3, down 1 etc easily keep up or in many cases regulate Martian's up close options and her pressure works as well on him as most anyone else.


Martian Manhunter's oki is really good on Hawkgirl particularly with trait normals like Back 2( combos into back 2,3,3, teleport, back 1,3 for a little over 20%), Standing 3 (in the corner), push and awesome jump normals can blow up mace charge and wing evade well. Air dash jump ins can make wake ups like mace charge whiff and be punished by phase assault or jump normals canceled into phase assault. Well placed pillars can also knock her out of wake ups too.


Hawkgirl's oki can keep up with Martian's however in different ways. 3, wing evade 2 beats out wake up push and grab for full combo. Back 2,2, wing evade 2/3/mace charge covers the bases for wake up teleport and wake up push as well. Wing evade alongside mace toss cancels and MB mace tosses can be used to stuff out wake ups and keep the pressure on with plus frames and guessing games after knockdown while the evade and mace toss cancels can bait out wake ups you can punish on whiff for solid damage. In the corner Hawkgirl can get 50% + combos for stuffing Martian's wake ups in the corner via back 2,2, wing evade 2 tech that gets buffed in the corner.


Well timed wing evades can make both overhead and ground phase assault whiff and be punished for full combos while bypassing the chip damage of both options.


Hawkgirl's evasiveness and mobility can often make overhead teleport whiff and leave him open to punishment which can discourage overhead teleport and encourage him to use more of the unsafe ground phase assault to deal with this.


The post blocked overhead teleport game is also interesting for a couple reasons. Mace charge catches backdashes, but usually loses to MB back 3 (sometimes MB mace charge will go through it, but it is risky). MB Mace toss beat MB back 3, but loses to jumps. Wing evade 3 can be used as well to get in with enough time to block the back 3 or even get out a down 1 to knock him out of armor and start your pressure game up. Martian can choose to jump some of these options to avoid them, but if he jumps in her down 2 is really strong for blowing this up. Hawkgirl wins air to airs since her jump 1 is five frames and Martian's fastest jump normal is seven frames. Nothing guaranteed, but options exist to make educated reads.


Martian Manhunter follows a recurring theme amongst her losing match ups in that he more or less beats her because he restricts her movement and mobility well. Martian Manhunter sets the pace of this match up with MB orbs and trait, but if Hawkgirl can get in she can do major work. This match requires a great deal of patience and superb match up knowledge alongside a strong footsie game to hang with Martian.
 
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Espio

Kokomo
Lead Moderator
Nightwing: "A bird that can't fly"


Hawkgirl's flight mobility in and of itself allows her to avoid all his staff and escrima zoning while building meter and doing chip. Nightwing's mobility is very meh while Hawkgirl is one of the more mobile characters in the game thus giving her the edge in simple terms.


Nightwing has good jump normals in both stances to catch her out of the air. Wing dings can be good for knocking Hawkgirl out of mace charge and wing evade. Air mace charge can be used to punish whiffed wing dings.


Flying Grayson can stuff Hawkgirl out of her wake ups and if Nightwing corners Hawkgirl, he can bully her hard with his safe pressure and pokes. Staff stance can keep up and in some cases outrange quite a few of Hawkgirl's options up close. Hawkgirl can blow up wake up flying grayson with mace charge or mace toss/MB mace toss.


Both stances have their uses in this match up and Nightwing can keep up in the fight, but due to Hawkgirl's natural mobility and ability to bypass Nightwing's zoning by virtue of trait give her a minor edge in the match up as a whole.

Raven: "Bird chicks do it better"


The interesting thing about this match up is that each character's trait goes down when the others goes up. Raven's trait allows her to zone out Hawkgirl really well and keep her out of the air, allowing her to rack up meter and amazing chip damage. When Raven runs out of trait, Hawkgirl can use her trait and zone her back in the air while at the same time bypassing soul crush, lift, and shadow raven projectiles. Raven has reflect, but due to MB mace toss and flying to the left or right after a MB reflect makes the reflected purple orb whiff and wastes a bar of meter; however, it still can avoid some chip damage, which is a plus.


Raven's walk speed is really strong thus giving her a strong way to space Hawkgirl out, but this is offset by the fact that Raven's backdash is not particularly good, her down 1's range is meh and aside from back 2,3 and forward 2 her normals aren't that great or lack range so Hawkgirl can bully her really well up close with safe pressure. MB mace toss is a good option while in trait to get in quickly for Hawkgirl to get her game started up as well. Hawkgirl can also wing evade pillars if she scouts them, but this carries a risk so while it can be used to avoid chip it can also be punished hard full combo.


Hawkgirl can wing evade out of 2,2, 3 and punish for a full 30%+ combo. Raven can do lift or a fake out, but it creates a notable guessing game and risk for Raven, one that is about equal risk for both characters. If Raven guesses right she gets a lift combo, if Hawkgirl guesses right she gets a full combo on blocked lift and 2,2, 3 being wing evaded out of. Hawkgirl can also wing evade out of down 1 lift and punish for a full combo thus making Raven second guess using her down 1 special cancels in mix ups.


Hawkgirl's down 2 checks a great deal of jumps, while Raven's anti-air isn't so hot and she struggles on wake up. Hawkgirl's wake ups while stuffable are much better options thus making it more of a guess on oki for Raven than Hawkgirl.

Scorpion: "That all you got?"


Hawkgirl essentially blows up Scorpion's jumping and shenanigans really well with her down 2 being so strong thus making every jump a huge risk. Hawkgirl can rival his damage easily without as much investment or risk as Scorpion has to take to get his damage on her. MB mace charge alone rivals many of Scorpion's combos.


Flight allows her to hover above teleports, hellfire, spear and since his jump normals are pretty meh it makes it very difficult for him to swat her out of the air or contain her. While in trait she can use divekick to punish a whiffed teleport. Basically, Hawkgirl has strong answers for his teleport, zoning and jump game thus allowing her to control the flow of the match up fairly well.


She also has the added benefit of getting in easily so even if she is down on life, she can get it back quickly and without much difficulty whereas if Scorpion is down on a notable life deficit he will struggle a good deal to catch up versus her. Her ability to turtle him out and react to his options while doing this is an incredibly daunting obstacle for Scorpion.


Shazam: "Thought we were friends"


A truly awkward match up for both characters. Shazam's Back 2 string allows him to reach high enough into the air to knock her out of trait while covering immense distance. Hawkgirl in general can zone Shazam out, but must be careful because Shazam's teleport can also go through mace tosses. It is preferred that Hawkgirl play a mixture of a grounded footsie, spacing and rushdown game combined with periodic trait usage to control the flow of the match up.


Shazam's oki is good on Hawkgirl, but her wake up options like mace charge and wing evade 2 can blow up command grab attempts on both his wake up and on your knockdown guessing game. However, Shazam's legit jump normals and torpedo are good for stuffing wake ups if timed right. She makes Shazam approach on the ground due to her anti-air options. Mace charge almost always beats torpedo clean in neutral. Shazam and Hawkgirl's momentum is huge and this is especially true for Shazam as it can be hard to stop him once he gets going with his grab and oki set ups. Hawkgirl can punish his back 2, 3 string for full combo as well as torpedo.


Grounded MB mace toss is a good option for blowing up teleport in or wake up teleport in as well. Hawkgirl can wing evade out of some strings cancelled into command grab such as: 2,2 high or low command grab and 1, forward 2 high/low command grab both for full combos thus creating an interesting meta of guessing.


If either gets the lifelead they can turtle each other out really well. Hawkgirl with trait and her evasive mobility and Shazam with his away teleports. MB mace toss can be a good help for getting in on this too however.


Shazam and Hawkgirl have strong answers for each other's game and tools. Shazam can counterzone mace tosses with teleport well, while Hawkgirl can space her mace well to hit him as his teleport is ending thus creating a spacing/guessing game. Shazam's oki is strong and he can make comebacks in the blink of an eye much like Hawkgirl can. They both annoy each other with their strange designs, a tricky 5-5 for both sides.


Sinestro: "Have the courtesy to expire!"


This match up is similar to Zod in the sense that both characters have a trait that can heavily restrict her movement and on top of that they don't have a particularly hard time building their traits against her. Shackles and boulder can restrict dashing, air mobility and jumping, Sinestro's back 1 outfootsies her and is one of the few moves in the game that can check a blocked mace charge due to its incredible range. On the bright side, his string mix ups cancelled into shackles can be wing evaded out of and full combo punished making it a less attractive up close mix up for Sinestro. She can also wing evade out of down 1 shackles and down 1 arachnid for full combo.


Fear blasts are incredibly quick and stuff Hawkgirl out of many of her mobility options and make movement a pain alongside Sinestro's solid walk back speed. Fortunately for Hawkgirl at certain ranges she can duck portions of MB fear blast.


She can pressure him well when she gets going up close and while his wake up options do their job and make you guess at least you can get oki on him reasonable well off of good read and all of his wake ups are at least unsafe on block, this keeps her in the fight. Locking him down and preventing him from getting trait is the key to winning this match up. All things considered, this is still an uphill battle and more risks have to be taken by Hawkgirl than Sinestro.


Solomon Grundy: "Birdgirl make Grundy mad....big surprise!"


Hawkgirl is notorious for being a heavily evasive, mobile character and this shows more so than ever against Grundy. Wing evade 3 allows her to go through pretty much every armor move Grundy has with relative ease and since it leaves her far away and whiff recovery is almost immediate, he struggles to do much about it. Wing evade 2, mace charge, wing evade 3, back 2, 3 among many of her other options are throw immune and two of these options lead to full combos so even if Grundy does catch Hawkgirl he has to make a risky read to attempt to get damage on her.


She can zone him out really well and lame him out quit effectively too and unlike many others who zone Grundy, she does so from the safety of trait thus removing the guessing game of MB swamp hands from the equation making getting in an even more challenging endeavor. Grundy can punish non-MB mace charge with WCC into down 2, which is one of the few times he can take advantage of her whiff recovery.


Grundy's best bet is if he does get a grab on her is to apply chip trait and get a lifelead, otherwise she can pummel Grundy to death with safe chip while he can do very little to stop her. Chip trait takes away one of Hawkgirl's best assets, which is strong chip damage. Even then unfortunately, Grundy has few ways to really keep her out if he does have a lifelead so as a mobile character she can impose her will on him making it very hard to maintain a lifelead.


Superman: "This ends now....or naw"


A generally lame match up where both characters generally have a hard time hitting each other with their zoning tools. Hawkgirl's trait causes heat zap and ground laser zoning to whiff entirely, while Superman's air dash and mobility allows him to evade mace toss zoning really well.


The fact that Hawkgirl must refresh her trait means that Superman will win the meter war if he zones competently. To avoid taking unneeded chip damage, Hawkgirl should wait for his zoning tool to whiff and then drop down from trait.


If Superman opts to air dash back or back dash too much he can wind up cornering himself while zoning and this is where Hawkgirl shines.


Both have incredible mobility: Hawkgirl's wing evade, flight, mace charge versus Superman's good ground dashes, air dash and walk speed. Both can get in reasonable well and Superman's jump normals are very good for blowing up flight


Hawkgirl's jump 1 can rival Superman's jump normals as well since it is five frames. Superman's comeback factor is incredibly strong in the corner as well via trait, dive bomb set ups and so forth.


In the footsie game, it's Superman's forward 2, 3 versus Hawkgirl's down 1, down 2 and mace charge generally.


After a knockdown, Hawkgirl can do lower to the ground straight mace tosses, which stuff out Superman's laser even after they've left his eyes provided the mace hits before the lasers reach you, which can put the zoning advantage in your favor and frustrate Superman. Air mace charge can be used to punish whiffed air lasers as well.


Wonder Woman: "Through playing princess!"

This match up is primarily a footsie based one that emphasizes a competent ground and spacing game for both characters. Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman both have incredible mobility that rivals each other quite well. Flight, mace charge, wing evade 3 versus air dashes, demigoddess, solid ground dashes and a good walk speed.


Both have superb anti-air options via their down 2's that can keep each other out of the air. Hawkgirl is one of the few characters that can deal well with a more spaced out jump 3.


Wonder Woman's long ranged, crescent jump 3 and demigoddess are great for checking flight. Hawkgirl can check air demigoddess with air straight maces to punish .


Since Wonder Woman lacks a full screen presence and has to apply herself more to hit Hawkgirl, this allows Hawkgirl to set the overall flow of the match up.


Back 2 can stuff all of Hawkgirl's wake ups, but since Wonder Woman's 3,3 doesn't beat her wake ups, that makes the guessing game more complex for both characters.


Hawkgirl can stuff lasso spin and Amazonian uppercut with back 2,2, wing evade 3/2/ mace charge, three wing evade or whiff punished with MB mace toss/charge or wing evade 3. Standing 3 cancelled into specials stuffs Amazonian uppercut before it comes out. They both can oki each other reasonably well.


Hawkgirl can disrespect 3,3 and Back 2, lasso grab and punish for either a full combo for decent damage using wing evade two or three depending on option and screen position (for the wing evade 2 punish on back 2 lasso grab requires the corner or wing evade 3 works midscreen). This reduces chip and forces Wonder Woman to mix up her frame trap game a lot more. Even on block, Hawkgirl can still disrespect her frame trap options.


Wonder Woman can bully Hawkgirl really hard on knockdown in the corner and make comebacks very quickly with her strong mix up game. Both really shine in the corner as Hawkgirl's cross up wing evade 2 works on Wonder Woman as well as huge damage pay offs for both characters.


Wonder Woman rarely using bar for anything, usually means she wins clashes, but due to how fast Hawkgirl builds meter, especially in this match up makes it so Hawkgirl can generally keep up.


Hawkgirl can punish demigoddess with wing evade, causing it to whiff and avoiding chip damage. Hawkgirl's post blocked demigoddess game is really good as well since Hawkgirl can in a lot of cases punish with down 1 special or if she's late, down 1, mace charge beats MB back 3 armor since both Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman lean back with their attacks, it causes it to whiff thus punishing her and making her waste a bar.


Mace toss cancels and periodic zoning have a strong place in the spacing, meter build and footsie game. Wonder Woman can parry mace tosses to build meter and reduce chip, but this can be baited and punished with mace toss cancel into mace charge or MB mace toss can check her bracelet parry as well.


Tiaras can be good for checking movement and to annoy at mid range. Frame traps for Wonder Woman are a bigger guess because of wing evade and mace charge whiff punishing back 1 and back 1,1 staggers. Both can rival each other up close in terms of pressure.


This match is extremely momentum based and whoever gets their game started first usually wins and in some cases runs away with the match.


Zatanna: "Nth metal disrupts magic"


Zatanna as a character seems to have a universal problem with characters who have really good mobility and can get around her zoning relatively well and Hawkgirl does this while also excelling up close against her.


Similar to the Ares match up, Hawkgirl's trait allows her to bypass several of Zatanna's zoning options including: rings, fireball, puppet master and most forms of Zat's trait zoning. This requires a sweet spot range to do so, but is not incredibly hard to maintain since if Zatanna teleports backwards you can mace charge forward to maintain it. While in this sweet spot, Hawkgirl can zone and counterzone Zatanna as well.

Hawkgirl can also evade rings when on the ground thus reducing chip and meter build for Zatanna.

Zatanna's footsies are very weak in general outside of standing 3 and because of this reason, Hawkgirl's pressure is even stronger versus her than many other characters and this allows Hawkgirl to bully her really hard up close and pester her to death with wing evades, down 1's, mace charge and her mix up game.


Zatanna's trait can be really annoying if Hawkgirl gets cornered with it and Zatanna's mix up game keeps her in the fight and able to regain momentum. Absorb in trait works, but MB mace toss is also an option that causes it to lose and Hawkgirl gets in on her and can start her game up essentially. Hawkgirl also has the added benefit of being able to evade Zatanna's trait shots at most ranges with relative ease.


Teleports (Both MB and non-MB) alongside jump normals are an option to catch Hawkgirl out of the air, but divekick, trait normals and well spaced mace charges beat these options so it's a guess/gamble.

Zod: "Welcome to a world of pain"


Because of Zod's variable iazbs, he can lock you down in ways other iafb zoners like Cyborg cannot. On top of this, Zod has a trait that even further restricts your movement and options while granting him complete and total hegemony over interactables. Zod charge starts up so fast that he can in many instances grab her out of mace charge or wing evade 3 almost on reaction.


If Hawkgirl does happen to get past Zod's zoning he has a parry that forces her to limit her pressure and use more sweep, throws, wing evade 3/2, mace charge and other unparryable options to condition him to not parry, which normally isn't a big deal but the fact that he limits her everywhere on the screen just puts this as the icing on the cake for Zod to be a huge problem for her.


Thankfully Zod's wake ups are not that good so you can get an oki game going on him.3, wing evade 2 can be used to full combo punish Zod's palm strike for example on wake up. Your best bet is to get Zod in the corner and keep him there, otherwise he will keep getting trait and zoning you to death. Hawkgirl lacks a really strong way to stop him from getting trait so that plays into his hands perfectly. Very likely to be her worst match up.

Section Two: Video Guide
Part 1: Normals and Strings

Part 2: Trait & Specials
Part 3: Midscreen Combos

Part 4: Corner Combos

Part 5: Pressure/Offense

Part 6: Okizeme/Post Knockdown


Part 7: Wing Evade

Part 8: Ground & Air Defense

Part 9: Basics on Countering Shayera

Part 10: Putting It All Together


Section three: Tech & Misc. Videos
Anti-Martian Manhunter

Combo Link Inconsistency

Gimmicky Hawkgirl Set Up


 
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Espio

Kokomo
Lead Moderator
holy crap amazing work @Espio i can't imagine how long this must've taken u to write
Been working on this for over a month. It feels satisfying to have it done. Maybe in time this will become a thing for my Martian :).

I also want this to be the standard going forward for whatever character I choose to use. Also, I think actual analysis is of actual relevant use beyond just numbers that don't really tell much of the story.

Seeing an awful lot of "She can just Wing Evade out of that".-.-
Huehuehue.
 

Akromaniac27

Ready to lose your head?
God damn, I was also working on quotes for each character for WW. Felt it was time to finish up the guide for her and I see yours, which is awesomely done btw. Almost makes me fall back in love with her....

ALMOST

that aside, she really can just wing evade out of so much that that in and of itself creates a mixup for the opponent even when she's negative or just approaching them. Post wing evade 3, while -1, she can wing evade again to avoid and punish a 6f check, and so on. Her corner damage is no joke at all...its insane how fast +40% literally disappears. Kinda makes Superman's 4 hit 50% combos look miniscule lol
 

Espio

Kokomo
Lead Moderator
God damn, I was also working on quotes for each character for WW. Felt it was time to finish up the guide for her and I see yours, which is awesomely done btw. Almost makes me fall back in love with her....

ALMOST

that aside, she really can just wing evade out of so much that that in and of itself creates a mixup for the opponent even when she's negative or just approaching them. Post wing evade 3, while -1, she can wing evade again to avoid and punish a 6f check, and so on. Her corner damage is no joke at all...its insane how fast +40% literally disappears. Kinda makes Superman's 4 hit 50% combos look miniscule lol
Wing evade 3's frame data is variable and depends on spacing and how deep it hits. It can be plus and cause Hawkgirl's down 1 and other normals to beat out other six frame pokes and specials. I've done this offline at tournaments and offline casuals multiple times. It's the same thing with dive kick, deep dive kicks are minus 1 to 2 and in some cases neutral unlike high ones that are minus 9 ish and in punishable territory.

But yeah, even when she is minus she can use mace charge and wing evade to blow up counterpokes in some cases for full combos.

Her corner damage is superb and a huge reward since her consistent midscreen damage is mostly burst damage of low to upper 20%.

Thanks for checking it and the nice feedback.
 

TopTierHarley

Kytinn King
I've never heard Hawkgirl say "Bye Felicia" :DOGE Besides that, a really good right up, I might go to the lab with her just so I can mirror match other Hawkgirl players
 

Akromaniac27

Ready to lose your head?
I've never heard Hawkgirl say "Bye Felicia" :DOGE Besides that, a really good right up, I might go to the lab with her just so I can mirror match other Hawkgirl players
That was literally my favorite part along with the pic lmao. I just can't stand Frosts design...I use her to the best of my ability to be stylish, but try as I might, still stale as fuck
 

Akromaniac27

Ready to lose your head?
Wing evade 3's frame data is variable and depends on spacing and how deep it hits. It can be plus and cause Hawkgirl's down 1 and other normals to beat out other six frame pokes and specials. I've done this offline at tournaments and offline casuals multiple times. It's the same thing with dive kick, deep dive kicks are minus 1 to 2 and in some cases neutral unlike high ones that are minus 9 ish and in punishable territory.

But yeah, even when she is minus she can use mace charge and wing evade to blow up counterpokes in some cases for full combos.

Her corner damage is superb and a huge reward since her consistent midscreen damage is mostly burst damage of low to upper 20%.

Thanks for checking it and the nice feedback.
Yeah I noticed that in a set a while back with another HG player about altering her block disadvantage
 

HeroesNZ

Baconlord's Billionaire Sugar Daddy
Oh. My. Nightwing. Now this is a character guide. This almost makes me wanna pick up Hawkgirl because she'd be so easy to learn after having everything laid out like this. ∞/10 would read again.
...Almost.
 
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Yoaks

A spaceman
1,000,000,000/10! Would read again.

Real Fucking Talk!!!!

Why does Ra Helios's mu chart thread have more attention than this?
This has actual information reason's behind why she wins/loses a match up along with the numbers at the end. Along with awesome quotes, pictures and guides on how to play and fight Hawkgirl.

Espio. Everyone should aspire to make a write-up like this! I myself really want to but I don't have all info I need to do so yet.

Kudo's friend!
 

ChatterBox

Searching for an alt.
This is absolutely fantastic! I particularly love the way you have matchups described with helpful information instead of numbers that rarely actually man anything.

This thread should be publicly lauded and absolutely set as the gold standard for character guides going forward!