Hello everybody!
First things first, if you haven’t read the novella, go and do it! Otherwise, you are going to see spoilers around.
For the rest of us, now we know Eagle it’s alive, he is not part of one particular Fulgore, as many of us belived. This opens up the possibility of seeing him as a playable character. IMO, it would be weird not seeing him as playable character after this.
So what do you think his moveset could be? There are many ideas in my mind, for example:
Bionic-Spiritual brawler
Arquetype: Aerial Grappler-Ground brawler
Eagle was an exceptional warrior prior being held captive by Ultratech. He excells both in wrestling and boxing. Since he was captured and Ultratech experimented with him in order to learn how to create “Arianna”, a human vessel for Aria, they implanted mechanical augmentations and experimented with Glacius DNA on him. As a “perfect human specimen”, unlike Cinder or Arianna’s project clones, his body doesn’t rejects Glacius’ DNA, so he doesn’t mutate into abominations. Using his warrior skills, his spirital connection to his weyekin(the Eagle), bionic augmentations, and DNA modification, Eagle is the definitive warrior.
Appareance: Eagle has bionic augmentations for some parts of his body, like his feets and hands. These are not fully replaced limbs, he has metallic parts in his knuckles for example. His stance it’s similar to Nash, from SFV. His long hair covers part of his face, similar to Hisako. He has holes in his skin, and sometimes they pour steam smoke from them. A pair of wires are hanging from his back.
Ground movement: Average-low walkspeed, good backdash(not as good, but similar to Cinder’s), long reaching but somewat slow forward dash(good for getting close against knocked down opponents, but unsafe against an already standing character), can be cancelled into jump(similar to Maya).
Jumping: He has a jumping arc similar to Jago.
Normals to watch:
Eagle punch normals have great range and are pretty safe, being his forward HP a “grab”. It works as a normal hit, it’s blockable, but if it connects, Eagle deals a second hit, staggering the opponent. Only does this against grounded characters. His kicks are better suited for anti airing, being HK a very angled up kick which launches, potentially leading to an air combo. His low attacks doesn’t have much range.
His jumping attacks have all great hitbox and have a lot active frames, but have better hitbox for air to air situations than air to ground. Mk its his cross up attack of choice.
Regular throw: Eagle performs a spinebuster
Back throw: Performs a lariat similar to Hugo’s, then he does an elbow drop over the knocked opponent
Specials:
Imperial Drop: Command grab. Differents effects with different buttons.
-LP is his normal command grab. Similar to Thunder’ M call of the earth in terms of range and speed. Performs a power drop.
-M version its a ground to air grab, similar to Mira’s. Jumps a bit, grabs the opponent, and performs a piledriver.
-H version its also a ground to air grab, but Eagle stays grounded, grabs the opponent, slams him in the ground, and launches him again to the air. Eagle can jump for an air combo, similar to Sadira after her regular throw. Deals minor damage.
-Shadow version: enhanced L version. More range and damage, causes hard knockdown, 3 frame throw, can work as reversal, invulnerable until recovery, similar to Omen’s Demonic despair in terms of invulnerability. It’s his better wake up option, but loses to airborne or throw invulnerable opponents, and needs meter.
Air imperial drop: Air version of the previous grab. Varies depending of the button pressed:
L-Performs a piledriver and causes knockdown. If performed following a breakable hit, cashes potential damage.
M-Recapture. Gets the opponent to the ground and can be continued with a combo.
H-Grabs the opponent and takes it to the ground. Eagle then sits over him. He can then use all his punch buttons to hit the opponent, similar to Gargos devil divide. Doesn’t cash out potential damage, but each aditional hit deals good damage. If 3 are landed, causes hard knockdown, otherwise soft knockdown.
-shadow: enhanced L version. Omega ender: its his most damaging attack. Has really good range and its very hard to hit him out of it. Deals a lot of damage in a combo, but its damage its insane out of it. Similar to Kim’s dragon kick second hit without the first.
Eagle’s talon: long range special, wind kick style. Combo starter and carry linker. Wall splat ender. Hits overhead. M and H are unsafe. Jumps a long but low jump hitting with his arms.
Air Eagle’s talon: air only. L angles down-forward, m travells straight forward, H up-forward. Can be canceled into Spiritual Flight on hit or block.
Thousand needles: Eagle unleash a flurry of fast punches, similar to Dudley’s machinegun blow. Eagle doesn’t move from where he is. Very similar to Omen’s flurry kicks, but with his fists. Shadow version hits 10 times, but if one button it’s held, Eagle will delay the hit, similar to Hisako’s combo trait. Useful to fish lockouts. Damage linker, launcher ender.
Call of the ancestors(3P): Similar to Thunder’s CoTS, Eagle infuses hiself with the power of his weyekin. This allows him to do a single 8 direction dash in the air called “Spiritual flight”. The dash can be done after an air attack(on hit or block), and after the dash, he can do another attack/special. This allows him to do “air combos”. He can store 2 of these, represented as wind around his body. With 2, the wind it’s bigger.
Example of a combo with 2 charges against an airborne opponent:
J.HK->Spiritual flight->J.Mp xx H Eagle’s talon->Spiritual flight->J.Mk xx Imperial Drop
Instinct: Eagle has two instincts instead of one! But he only can use one at time, depending of when he uses it.
-If he activates instinct while airborne, he is infused by his weyekin. He can perform up to 3 Spiritual flights in a row, recovering all of them once he lands. This can lead to scary and long air combos, and great mobility. This instinct it’s clearly suited for offensive approach
-If he activates instinct while grounded, his bionic augmentations gets an overcharge, and his DNA modifications with Glacius DNA appears. Glacius could control ice and water, Cinder fire, and Eagle electricity. He speeds up his walkspeed, and he gets a new attack:
Overcharge(3k): Eagle begins to generate electric waves from his body, similar to Blanka from SF series. It works as reversal, antiair, and wins against almost any normal attack. Safe on block, can be held to generate a bigger electric pulse, otherwise has poor range.
If he activates instinct while airborne, he has better offensive tools, and if he activates it grounded, he get’s better defensive tools.
Gameplan:
Eagle has great control of the air in front of him, with two command grabs leading to damage or a combo oportunity, and great air to air tools. He can deal great amounts of damage easily in these situations, and has great preassure in close quarters thanks to a fast multi hitting special, a command grab, and an overhead. In his optimal spot, staying grounded it’s a fast way to get grabbed, and jumping it’s very risky. A good use of Call of the ancestors can lead to hard to break air combos, and having two different instincts gives him more tools to face each situation.
Still, Eagle has weakness. Albeit he can control very well the space in front of him, he struggles when the rival it’s over his head. His anti airs doesn’t cover that position, and his wake up options are not great. He needs meter or grounded instinct to defend himself properly, and he is somewat weak to zoning. Characters like Glacius or Kan-Ra are really hard to get in.
Well, what do you think about it? Do you have any theory of how Eagle could be?