Naw it should have stayed as 22 lol.
But yeah, a lot of the time when Ayane is receiving changes, she's actually just being balanced out and not changed to be incredibly dumb or really bad. The buffs she's received are there to keep influencing that her tools are going to be what they are. The damage buff to her 3H+K from 23 to 26, for example, was rightly deserved. She had problems before that dealing with the roster when characters have ranged strikes that were 24-25 damage on average.
Ayane is that kind of character designed to have her range work towards her advantage, which is also why her 236K and 4P~K variants all have a farther knock back. The damage from 22 to 18 on her 6P also makes sense (as Tenryuga already explained so need to repeat it) because it already does quite a lot.
The nerfs she's received also do not actually make her any worse, they're literally there to compensate for the buffs she's received in the right places. There's probably one nerf I don't agree with (less blockstun on her BTPP6KK4), but when I think about it, it's basically to ensure she never gets brain dead just from doing it alone.
Ayane is probably one of the most balanced characters in this game right now. She's strong, solid, has very good tools, has a very good damage output. She's got good mobility and block pressure that gets the job done.
She has everything and does everything a DOA character is supposed to. Interact with stage environments, has a good balance of risk/reward, able to punish just fine, has a solid neutral game. Her CQC and range are intact and she has a very good match up board. She doesn't necessarily have a lot of problems, but she also doesn't overly exceed the boundaries either (no broken tech, no infinites, no Genfu silliness, etc).
TN has done really well with this character's play and balance design. There are a few things I'd like to see for her, but really, the character is a fair one.
