I've been playing a lot of Kabal since release, and I've come to the conclusion that his best move is Extended Hook from the Clean Cut variation.
I've basically been ending every combo with Extended Hook for the Restand at +2, and you only lose roughly 10% dmg compared to hook slam. Most of the time the re-stand puts them at a far enough range that any 9 or lower frame button that they mash will whiff, giving you an easy F2,2 combo starter. Once they start respecting you, mix up with throw or shimmy into b1,2. If they get pulled close and you think they will mash you get an easy free d1 to keep advantage.
I was really digging NDC for the plus frames on his strings for some serious mix-up pressure, but I don't think its worth giving up the guaranteed re-stand on every combo and also the downward air Buzzsaw.
Just my 2 cents: Kabal is a pure footsies character that basically gets a guaranteed 200-220 meterless damage on all combos (but not much more even with mb); so you get great footsies with easy guaranteed damage into +2 restands.
