I see your point, just need to tweak the attack damage then
I don't think dragonhawks were in the original wc3, only in the tft expansion
Lord Aiden said the damage will get changed to balance the thing, but hey if you have any better ideas let's hear them, also remember that the aerial shackle spell does 1200 total damage to any aerial unit if carried to completion, this will destroy any regular flying unit except the frost wyrm, and even if it doesn't destroy the frost wyrm a dragonhawk rider will easily take care of it itself if it has around 200 hp left.
So the request was a balanced, 3 food cost, air unit, plus a creative flair. I have some questions and comments first.
1. I think you guys are known for testing the balance of units. And i trust your research.
The thing is that in a game, balance is more complex, and throwing a bunch of sea serpents against a bunch of bearded dwarfs will surely won't have enough authority in balance. I think balance is something the map maker will achieve by constant feedback of the testers, but some research is surely not bad.
2. Does the unit has to be themed? I say this because if i would play an RTS game or any game at all, if i pick a race that is called Humans or Orcs and i can actually train a purple flying mantarraya from outer space (Couotl) i will be a bit confused. But that's just me, so i'm asking the question first. I think Rem could give some clues about what kind of race or even specific unit model would suit better her request.
3. Is it desired for the unit to have active abilities? or only passives? What about triggers? triggered abilities are so much fun.
I always loved the flying machin model, so a quick idea:
1. Name: Dwarven Air Support.
2. Stats: 15-23 pierce damage, 2.0 attack cooldown, 4 light armor, fast movement, 3 food cost, 500 health.
3. Skills: Paint Target (reduces armor of the target by 5, gives vision, optional: gives nearby allies +20% attack speed), Supply Drop (leaves a create in the target point, after 5 seconds the crate will heal allied units by small amount).
4. Concept: a support unit, can help taking down units (air or ground) faster, but also provides some marginal defensive heal (supply drop should give at best 50 HP).
5. Triggers:
4.1. Paint target is just faerie fire, if you like the addition you will need some timers, but the concept is basically giving the target unit a endurance aura that affects enemies (you still need timers tho).
4.2. Supply Drop, i actually tested this right now, but i have to go, here is the map with a very hastily made ability (i followed the "less triggers" possible approach). Tweak the dummy fan of knives to modify the effects (aoe and hp gain).