I wanted to do another general right up of the DOA characters, this time focusing on the characters who are more focusing on zoning or spacing, a style that requires keeping characters at a set distance either to avoid up close pressure, easily punish whiffs and mistakes with their own hard hitting attacks, or in general due to them having strong ranged tools. This style fascinated me since I love characters who focus more on keeping their foe out of their face, or rather at a set distance they excel in and making virtually an iron wall the opponent must work hard to break through to even touch them, only to frustrate them by keeping them on lockout. A unique trait is like that is a major part of their make ups are their glaring or rather nuanced weaknesses that come with the territory of having superior range and ways to keep a foe from rushing in on you.
Keep in mind this is more a rough write up or dissection I did, so opinions may differ but this is ultimately my take away from the characters and their style, and as such my vision may be drastically different from how you view a certain character.
Without further ado, let's ease into the main characters of the series who focus on this style primarily:
~Tengu or Bankotsubo is in my opinion the OG zoner of the franchise. Being a boss character, its no surprise that he naturally uses this style, with him favoring a style that places emphasis on hard hitting strikes that'll send his opponent flying across the stage. Being well versed in attacks like this, he can constantly make it a risk to try to move in as at mid to far range, he has more than enough tools to punish just about anything, with his wind attack being a signature attack; using his fan, he summons a full screen wind attack that'll send his opponent blasted across the stage and screen, and he can continue to abuse this on players not wary of this tactics.His mix ups aren't too bad either, with him in earlier versions of the game making him have obnoxious strings that place the foe in nasty situations and stuns that can easily frustrate and keep them afraid to hold as his throws hit hard too, even as generally not being a grappler. He also has the shocking ability to fly towards his foe, being able to easily grab them for guarding and sending them slammed into the stage floor. Besides his wind attack, he also has a full screen 1P+K that can be charged to run through the foe with a harsh tackle like dash that covers full ground, and a full charge leaves you plus!
A weakness however is that despite being very strong and quite dangerous when he gets his stuns going, he is incredibly slow, with all of his attacks generally taking time to start up, and he lacks panic moves or attacks to get his opponent off him when he's pressured up close which he struggles at. To compensate, he does have attacks he can use to crush and evade foes who are much quicker than he is, but these attacks tend to be unsafe, or usually linear in some way. Although decent earlier on, as of DOA4 and even Dimensions, he's considered low tier and amongst the worst in the game to use, which is likely in part of nerfs to tone down his playable move set, as well as to make certain strings and moves less easy to abuse. Although not much a threat as of recent iterations, he can be a dangerous character when mastered, although using him can be a challenge against far better characters as his abilities can quickly get smothered by anyone quicker than he is. He is succeeded by Nyotengu in Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate.
~Ein is a character who uses karate, and as a result, whiff punishment, spacing, and being passive aggressive towards his foes is his focus. He's relatively above average in speed, having decent strings and attacks to challenge his foes as he hits quite hard, with his combos also being able to send foes flying into walls and hazards with ease. His kit also has ample moves that cover a decent mid range, meaning he can either space and punish to get his damage, or he can also engage in close quarters as his neutral is acceptable. He also has an OH to escape pressure, and he can also apply pressure to foes blocking with certain charge attacks to keep his pressure going. His safety is standard, being somewhat more risky on block but key moves like his 3P which is a lift stun in counter hit is safe on block.While initially strong in DOA2 due to the game's meta playing a tad different, he began to show some age and rather surprising lack of evolution as his effectiveness dwindled in DOA4 and onwards, with him being less useful; his string mix ups being somewhat shallow compared to everyone else who had expanded strings and tools holds him back, and since Hitomi who debuted in DOA3 as his successor 2.0 version had alot of improvements and changes to the main Karate style he used, there likely was a lack of real interest or even ideas into refining Ein himself, and as a result, he is essentially a primitive version of his former self as by DOA5, Hitomi generally can do what Ein does even better as she's quicker, safer, and has more tools to work with with just a somewhat weaker damage output to compensate.
While still viable to a degree, Hitomi and Hayate, his ninja self definitely take the torch from Ein unfortunately, making him vulnerable to characters who now can do what he does even better than Ein himself. He's generally regarded as a lower mid tier character as he has good damage and is simple to use, but with a rather flawed kit and gameplan that can make using him tougher than it should be at high level.
~Hayate(Ein when he had amnesia) is essentially the successor hybrid style of Ein, but now with a larger focus on Mugen Tenshin ninjutsu. His strings are quite similar to his karate kit, but he is somewhat quicker and has more mix ups and lows to utilize, and he makes use of wind teleports to either feint or launch or floor foes who aren't carefully trying to defend. Once he gets a stun going and starts his teleport mix ups, it can generally be a very daunting task to get a good Hayate off of you as his teleport stance has both a punch or kick follow up, and even a throw for opponents quick to guard.Compared to most other characters, Hayate has a very solid spacing game, with ample attacks for mid to far range that can easily stun or floor foes for even the most miniscule mistake such as whiffs. He utilizes charge attacks much like his Ein kit, but his are more dangerous due to his more varied options when given advantage. His throw game is also stronger as well, having formidable ones such as painful punish throws and even one that allows him to get behind his opponent for a guaranteed set up, and his holds are roughly similar to his Ein kit, if not roughly better as far as utility. Kasumi seems to have been a bit of an influence for his ninjutsu style as he shares a general speedy approach to attacking, as well as having additional defensive options superior to Ein such as better crushes, and even a special sidestep with a follow up for more evasion. He also is not at all bad at close range, being a 10i striker with a good neutral and rather swift frames to work with.
Hayate honestly I can say has no real weakness as he's generally safer than most, and has speed, and reach allowing him to play at any position, but perhaps a drawback is his lack of delay in his attacks, meaning he often can't delay specific strings or can only do it to a degree, making throwing off opponents somewhat more tricky. Overall, Hayate is what I regard as the definitive version of Ein if he had refinements excluding the ninjutsu. He is also generally deemed a strong character throughout all of his appearances, as his damage, speed, pressure, and range makes any distance from his opponent a threatening matter. He sits comfortably among the stronger characters in tiers.
~Hitomi debuted in DOA3, as essentially a replacement for Ein since by then, he became Hayate and his Ein persona was relegated to being an unlockable character. Hitomi I deem a far better 2.0 version of Ein; She generally is more speedy, has range that can out do him due to having more moves in her kit, and her mix ups are better as she has lows from a good deal of her strings, and she is generally a safer pick as her moves tend to be safer on block, and she has a similar charge attack game that can give her advantage on block.Like Ein, she focuses more on a mid range game generally which she is more suitable for, but she generally can play up close more easily since her kit isn't as limited as Hayate. Whiff punishment, and counter hits are a forte of hers, and she has a similar juggle game to him, but alot more refined and less primitive. Her holds are similar to his in terms of utility, and she also does have generally more varied throws such a reset throw and and even a grapple throw for punishment.
While better, she lacks Eins's offensive holds which gives her somewhat less defensive options, although she does have compensation with expert holds for more damaging counter attacks, and she even has a 9H that can be used to counter punches, and she also has follow ups from it as well. Her lows while annoying, are actually more vulnerable as she has a plethora of standing lows for frame advantage, but they mostly lack crushes. Overall, Hitomi is a more aggressive Ein 2.0 who relies on good spacing to ensure her opponent is at her mercy when both are trying to move in. While not a higher tier character like a Hayate, she still is a solid mid as of DOA6, with many other characters unfortunately being able to do what does even better than her, including non spacing focused characters who aren't like that by design.
~Ayane is probably the most notable zoner/ space control character, having been a staple as far as DOA1. She's above average in speed being a kunoichi, meaning she naturally is quicker than most of the cast as she's a 10i striker with a 13i mid and a dreaded 12i low.. She's notable for her spin stance where she's spins in a crouching state to disorient and confuse her foes as she can easily use this to feint and reaction or use her follow ups if conditioned right; she also incorporates this method of attack in various moves such as her P+K. Another trait is that she has an equally solid moveset when backturned, which opens a whole new door for Ayane with added mix ups and strings, as long as the player is also aware of when to go backturned on the fly or after specific moves.Ayane benefits greatly from space control as she can easily spin towards, or away from her opponent, as well as having a 7P she can use to jump and retreat into a backturned state. Her reach is also amongst the best and she has a ranged tool for virtually any situation. Her mix ups are also amazing and she has very solid damage to boot, often being able to take chunks off her foe's life bar from situations as miniscule as whiffs and counters and even juggles as she can easily tear the foe up with stage combos that can very well go from pillar to post.
Her holds are good, have expert holds for easy guaranteed situations and she also has varied throws such as a grapple type one, a jumping one, a launcher, and even nasty back facing ones that easily will decimate foes who aren't familiar with her frames. Close quarters is also not at all a struggle for her, having solid quick tools up close and even crushes for annoying and pestering foes who are not up to her speed. She possesses some guard breaks as well that help with pressure or opening up the foe for guaranteed follow ups, especially near walls. Tracking is also forte of Ayane as she has more than enough ways to silence a foe's attempt to step her.
Finally, throughout the years she's had quite a couple of strong attacks and strings that were removed in latter games like DOA5; such ones are her old pre DOA5 214P which is a mid range 20i crouching low mid punch strike that also avoids lows during the jump that results in a CH launch, and her 236P is equally obnoxious as it covers mid range and crouches for a CH launch, with their trade offs being their unsafety. She also used to have her CH bounce launch 4K exist as her string ender from 2KK which was an obnoxious strings that required quick reaction to either a free cancel stun set up or the launch. These moves were removed in later games however to tone down her already varied crushes and mix ups. The universal offensive holds that pretty much all characters had including the fastest ones was removed from Ayane.
While solid, Ayane does tend to be on the unsafer side and can be punished harshly if you over exert her kit, and her stronger attacks tend to be telegraphed. She also is quite tricky to master since you'll basically have to learn two move sets: her standard one, and her back facing one that is actually more in depth than most characters in the game, and as such fully learning her kit can be overwhelming. Despite her difficulty to fully master, she stands as a solid choice in all games she makes an appearance in, sitting in the top tiers comfortably with her bandana secured tightly.
~Genra is probably the epitome of a solid zoner in DOA, debuting as a boss in DOA3, and as a playable fighter in Dimensions. In DOA3, he was a frustrating boss as you fought him at an obscure angle, and he specializes in keeping the foe locked out at full-screen with his fire projectile, his beam sword with devastating follow ups, and even a beam like projectile that makes it difficult to approach as he sends his foes often flying back. He even has a ground shockwave type move for instantly flooring his foe. He would also be immune to throws as attempts would result in damage but no actual throw. Knocking him down would also cause the same shockwave as his standard one.In Dimensions he plays the same way, just now balanced out as a playable fighter. Like DOA3, he hits hard, and boasts perhaps the best range in the game as his tools taken from 3 are obnoxiously long reaching, making it very difficult for characters with poor reach to touch him once he keeps you locked out at mid far to long range. His sword beam stance was also expanded into a stance for him, having a nasty kit such as a sweep, kick, throw, multiple sword spinning attack that instantly causes a faint stun on hit for hold baits, and even a telegraphed but hard hitting dash like move that sends his foe flying back; he can also cancel for a feint reaction and can enter the Tyrant stance from certain moves. His throws are standard but damaging, boasting even a reset throw up close to get his offense going in close quarters for throw loops or his guaranteed 6P, and his throws and holds tend to help create distance so he can go back to his preferred range. His stuns are also quite lengthy and dramatic, making it easy to pick apart foes scared to hold or quick to panic hold.
While intimidating, Genra however is incredibly slow up close, having virtually little tools to help him escape pressure himself, with even his 2P being slow, and he has little crushes, and the ones he does have are slow, allowing foes to easily beat him out with mids or strings with quick high to mids or similar; he does not possess any moves that are quicker than 10i as well. He fortunate enough to possess a 13i mid punch, giving him somewhat of a quick tool up close. Because of this and his already slow walking and retreating speed, he's a sitting duck when in stages that lack a wide area to make room for his zoning tools, and even more risk is added when he is back to a wall. In these stages against quicker characters, he's almost helpless, but a good Genra who can defend well can fair well if knowledgeable of the other characters and their habits.
Genra unfortunately is somewhat tricky to place in terms of tiers since in large stages with ample room, he can quickly seem like an overpowered oaf due to his obnoxious reach, but in smaller stages against faster characters, especially those like Kasumi, Kasumi Alpha, and Alpha 152 who have teleport holds, this can quickly make him near bottom tier since their teleports put them behind Genra, allowing them to instantly get up close and punish him from behind. Genra overall is considered a lower mid tier fighter, but with a style that can very well work in his favor in the right conditions.
~Momiji debuts in 5U, being the prodigy of Ryu Hayabusa, her master with whom her style is based from, but to add more spacing to it, she uses Aiki-ju-jutsu as well. Her style is pretty balanced, having speed being a 10i/12i/12i striker, being generally safe, having balanced throws and holds for flexible usage, and her reach is rather blessed, being able to carefully pace and keep her foe from within her close quarters when you don't want them in your face, having plenty of ranged moves and pokes for keep out. She brings with her her jump and double jump in DOA5U, being able to use it for prolonged combo extensions, mix ups, and even for ranged approaches, and she can also jump back to retreat. Some unique things she brings to the table are that she also has a power blow from her Amakake double jump stance, adding a scary risk to foes quick to hold in stuns, and her defense is rather fair, having strong high crushes that can lead to good reward on counter hit, and her low crushes are ok too. Her ease of use due to simplicit(and rather repetitive)combo game make her easy to pick up and play, not needing much true depth to get down as her most optimal juggles are not at all a problem to get down. She has decent tracking too, and has one of the quickest and best tracking moves in the game with her 12i H+K, with it being semi safe and covering decent ground.However, she does have her flaws, being pretty linear as her kit is mostly 50/50 mix ups, static strings, and relatively simple strings that don't really create a reason to crouch her in neutral, and it can be easy to learn a Momiji's habits if they play it too predictable with constant jumps and mashing. She also lacks lows, and her high crushes suffer against grapplers or defensive powerhouses who possess offensive which can shut them down due to them not being “true” high crushes as they don't have crouching status, merely just a low hit box. Her style can also get repetitive, and has a tendency to not have much variation, and as such feasible holds or turtling can be a way to challenge her.
In 6, she's mostly the same, but with reworks to certain moves; her Amakake power blow is now a strike throw sequence on hit that can deal higher damage with good P button mash timing, but its harder to use since its super telegraphed, but its guaranteed from her low hold. She has more string enders to work with such as PP4P and 4P having a new mid punch ender that leaves her backturned, and a 2-in-1 tracking high kick ender that gives a safe guard break. Her pressure was also improved on block, with her 214P+K losing it's close hit property but being better for a + guard break that tracks, and her 6H+K was turned into a + guard break as well, useful for helping Momiji maintain the offensive when foes are quick to get up recklessly or guard. Besides that, not much has changed since she's mostly the same as before, just with a bit more to work with so she won't feel as stuck or trapped anymore when using strings that previously didn't have much options. She also is unique as she is one of the handful of fighters who has fatal stuns littered in her kit; 214P for example will cause a fatal sit down against foes using a crouching attack on counter hit guaranteeing either of her
While not one of the best characters in 5 or 6, she generally stands as a roughly mid tier character, having a solid kit with the tools she can use for keeping a poor ranged foe in check and even besting slower fighters, but her linearity and rather gated style can be harder to make work at high level. However, her popularity makes her a general common presence.
~Nyotengu debuts in 5U as the second DLC fighter, and as it sounds, shes the female 2.0 version Bankotsubo, just female and more human in appearance. On paper Nyo is essentially an expanded but more balanced version of him: She has pretty much his original kit, but alot of his obnoxious strings that went on for long were toned down to fewer hit, and she had a few strings changed such as her 3KK that originally was different in earlier patches. She hits quite hard, and her combo damage output is rather impressive, as the 9P flight stance now has a P+K cancel into a floating stance, where she can use a thrice hitting punch combo or a mid kick mix up, a flipping KP that is similar to her 7KP move, and she also has a spinning H+K ender that causes a guard break, and is a generally a staple combo ender in DOA5U and LR when using Hiten stance combos.Her crush game is no pushover either as she has quick rewarding crushes such as her long reaching 6K which is a long ranged high kick that hits hard, and knocks back an awesome distance all while being able to evade highs; her 6P+K(later 3P+K) is another similar strike that hits with a hard mid punch that sends the foe sliding and also can transition into her flight stance, all while avoiding highs in its wake. Her remaining kit similar as well, and she has easy ways to guard break foes afraid to open up with attacks like 4H+K which can lead to a guarantee when fully charged, her 6K and it's KK string variant, and certain strings like her dramatic 4P spin cause a relatively safe guard break that makes way for her follow ups to be more dire rather than feasible to guard which adds to her unique pressure. Her 4P+K is also a chargeable full screen wind attack she can use at long range to intimidate foes to guard or step, but it can be cancelled at any time to feint a panic guard(or parry from characters like Kasumi who can teleport parry to get behind her during the long recovery), or you can follow through and cause a devastating knock back to keeo your opponent out of your face.
Another unique trait is that she is able use air throws and even ground throws from her Hiten stance, allowing her to aggressively keep up the slams and punishment against characters who like to play dead. Her throw game is actually pretty good, having a reset throw, launch throw for easy heavy damage, good punish throws, and she also has her throws from her Hiten stance as well; she also has the standard 66T and 3T offensive holds she can use for escaping pressure when being safely pressured, and the danger of her 66T increases when near a wall as she can cause a sitdown fall that takes away her foe's opportunity to wake up kick on wake up, giving you alot to work with since that option goes out the window, and she can also cause a Hiten P+K wallsplat from it as well. Her holds are standard as well, but are especially lethal in stages with ground hazards, and pack a mean punch in themselves.
Despite all of the improvements, Nyotengu is still potentially the slowest character in the game, with her lacking very little quick attacks or panic moves to stop speedy characters from bullying her in close quarters, besides her crushes that are still slow in themselves. Her quickest striker is her P+K which is a thrusting fan jab that's 10i and causes a nasty blind stun on hit, but it suffers from unsafety and being an easy to crush highs. She also lacks true crouching lows besides her 2PP that's rather below average in speed itself and not advantageous on hit, but its static ender causes a minor pushback stun on hit and can be used to condition foes to hold a crouch in fear of eating that extra pesky low.
In 6, Nyotengu gained some improvements that quickly brought her up from being mid tier or lower to higher tier, as she now plays more like a grappler this time; her Hiten stance throws that could be performed on foes on the ground are now possible outside the stance via just 2T for example when the foe is on the ground, improving both additional combo utility and her ground options to compensate her slow light and heavy ground attacks. Her 6P was given a mid kick mix up as 6PK which crumples to help avoid the linearity of 6PPP, and her flight stance was given a new K dive kick for knocking foes down who expect either her Hiten stance P+K or a throw. Furthermore, she can now sidestep in her Hiten stance by using 2P+K/8P+K after 9P to avoid any quick jab attempts to floor her. Her 6T reset now has a 6T•T for easy guaranteed throw damage without having to risk a slower throw for a knockdown and her combo game is even more powerful with the addition of the DOA6 bound system. She can now be best as a more grappler oriented space managing mighty glacier.
Nyotengu is obviously far better than Bankotsubo whom she took the reign of their style from, and since her kit is just so good in the more recent games, she stands at a mid tier placement, only being risky to use against characters who can either out play her at range or who can pressure her in close quarters, but a good defensive Nyo player can still thrive with good reads if wary. In 6, she stands as a higher tier character above even some of the quicker fighters as her kit is quite exquisite when used to full effect, having ample ways to mix up, pressure, and hit hard all the while treating her opponent like nothing more than a sensual play thing.
~Naotora is a guest fighter from Samurai Warriors who debuted in LR; she plays like her native series, being a very kick heavy, very range oriented combatant. She's an 11i striker with an obnoxious KKKKKKKK and 6KKKKKKK kick string that covers pretty much the entire stage, and she also has perhaps the best reaching move in the game: her 236K that covers the entire field that forces her opponent into a stun and having to guess between her follow up ender kick or her setting them up for a throw. Her kit in general is blessed with solid reaching tools, particularly her mid kicks that can help her score stuns and counters from mid range to mid far range. She is also very mash friendly, and easily achieve good damage from alot of her quick launchers and kicks themselves when not held.A unique stance she has is Ii Family Creed, which is essential a kit in itself for dealing with different situations; her P option is a safe tracking jumping wind mid launcher that covers ample ground, 2K is a quick 14i sweeping tracking low that knocks down and crushes high and is a + guard break, her H+K is a safe tracking mid kick launch that avoids lows, her K is a very damaging but unsafe tracking high that leads to nasty damage on hit, and she also has her 66T throw as her throw option and a quick 15i butt fling attack that has close hit properties but is unsafe as a trade off. Virtually every option is a mid range killer and quite effective when used with a lot of advantage, such as on wake up or when dealing with foes who like to stagger escape deeper stuns.
She also has one of the best throws in the game: 66T. It not only sends the foe almost full screen away from Naotora to reset the gap, but it does monstrous damage on hi counter, just slighlty below alpha's own 236236T B.U.R.S.T. throw that takes nearly half your health for one reckless hold spam.
Naotora however suffers one huge weakness: her linearity. Her kit is 95% composed of linear mid kicks, high kicks, and she has a very shallow mix up game, being rather easy to hold as her mix ups are lackluster and can be held easily or guarded, as it's not often you'll need to duck her. Her punches themselves are quite mediocre as well too, with her 8P only causing a stun on CH although safe, her 6P leads into a semi static follow up she can't mix up, her 3P is a lift stun but unsafe and counter only, and her 66P launches on counter hit and stun, but it's unsafe and rather more gated than her kick launchers. She also lacks any real way to avoid being pressured up close as she's an 11i/14i/14i punch striker and has only really her 11i high kick and her 12i 4K mid kick to safe her up close, and even that becomes easy to predict.
Her guard break pressure is acceptable but again rather linear, and she has the substandard 14i 2P to leave her +0 on hit. Despite this, she does have a few saving graces, being able to transition into IFC from a power launcher at 50% health, resulting in potentially one of the most damaging comeback moves in the game, especially in stages like the Danger Zone. Her oki is also decent since once she does actually get a knock down, it can be somewhat scary to gauge her now almost plentiful advantage in that situation. Her stun game is generally one of the worst however, as she must take huge risks at high level to keep the foe in stun as long as possible for a critical burst. And she doesn't have good ways to do so without getting held easily, making her more suited to a quick launch, throw punish based, or touch and going her opponent to force them to slow down on the offense, and then you can proceed to speed it up and mash them when they least expect it or you may be a bully and keep them standing and utilize more lows and free cancels to throw them off.
Overall, Naotora is deemed one of the worst characters in LR, with little saving graces besides her damage, hi counter throw punishes, whiff punishment, and being able to cover the stage in very little time at the cost of taking massive risks of being held or countered.
~Mai is a unique and massively popular choice in DOA5LR as a fan favorite from KOF. She's the epitome of a speedy zoner who can do it all: She has speed being a 9i/11i/13i punch striker, and her kicks are very swift too with her neutral there being 12i, a 13i mid, and a 14i low kick. She has one of the best ranges in LR, having great tools from close range, mid range, and far range as her jump from KOF is in as a stance that can be used to move in, retreat, or score hit from mid range. She also is the only character in LR besides Raidou to have a projectile, which is her 18i high fan that's full screen and must be ducked or stepped, but this in turn wastes the opponent's time giving her a rather passive way to constantly keep her foe out in matches where the time is running low. Because of kit has tools that can easily stuff foes at mid range who are trying to move in, she can be rather difficult to enter, and even if you do get up close. Her neutral is rather solid to challenge up close.She's generally fairly safe to use, and has the ability to use cancels from her specials in DOA, giving her a further edge to keep foes scared to panic hold in stun, and it doesn't help that Mai's combo game hits pretty hard, and she has an easy time wall carrying her victims from point A to point B. Defensively, she's not shabby as she has a couple of crouching mids, a plethora of moves that jump to crush lows, and generally solid high crushes to prevent her foes from getting antsy if they're about her speed or faster. Holds and throws for her are the standard balanced ones with varied environmental interactions, and her best punish throw can deal scary damage. Her power blow is also amongst the best in the game since it's a jumping mid kick fling that covers good range, and its rather hard to punish due to the pushback, and since it knocks back on hit, it can act as a deceptive keep out tool. Her 66K is also a good crush as it can even beat out poor ranged mids and other attacks as well as having a cancel opportunity if static follow up is performed as well.
Her stun game is good too, having numerous crumples, deep stuns, and her style is well suited for either quick launches or prolonged critical burst set ups, and she also has her neutral T throw turn into an air throw when the foe is launched high enough, giving her a solid way to abuse stages with ground hazards.
While a strong fighter, she does lack in tracking moves, and the ones she does have can be rather limited at times if playing too safe. She reappears in 6 as a guest again, but she's taken a bit of a hit as her damage is now more balanced, she's far unsafer and had several attack properties revised, and a few things were removed such as a godly power blow, her 66K crush(initially, but it returned in later patches as 46K), and her PPK quick launch was replaced with an unsafe tracking mid kick. She's gotten solid buffs however, now being able to cancel into her 9P jump from 3P+K, her 66T was buffed into a quick launch throw, and her 9PP+K and 9PKP+K were buffed by turning them into on hit strike attack sequences when used from juggles or knockback slide bounds. Her stuns are still generally good, but certain ones that were rather annoying in LR such as 6PKK and it's variants had their crumples removed, and her 8P and it's string variants don't stun on normal hit anymore. She overall must now be played in a more combo focused juggle manner to get most of her damage, but she's still rounded well enough to play however you want. Her fatal rush in 6 is amongst the more unique as she can cancel into her specials after the third hit which can lead to some devastating damage.
One unique nerf I noticed that hurts her somewhat is now her lack of conventional access to her good backturned kit; in LR, she had a buttfling from sidestep she could use to easily go back facing, and it was safe as well and stuns, giving her a safe move she can use to enter this stance and make use of her options such a launcher, a mid and high she can use to cancel into a special, and her 6P string as 4P. Unfortunately in 6 this was taken out as pretty much everyone's sidestep options were removed in favor of a more generic knock back sidestep attack that costs meter. While not major, this makes accessing her backturned kit much harder, but if in situations where you are left facing away, she can still make use of them to blow up her foes although you'll have to think fast as this might not occur too often in matches that are in your favor.
Mai was dropped somewhat close to the end of DOA5LR’s lifespan, and as such she isn't currently able to be purchased in LR due to expired license, but she's still up in DOA6 for the time being. She's considered a high tier character who's definitely up comfortably with the DOA ninjas who usually occupy the upper echelons, and she surpasses the other general fighters with ease. While weakened a tad in DOA6, she's still no doubt a strong choice and still comfortably seated in the higher tiers. Her ease of use and effectiveness make her very popular as both a main and sub.
~Kula is the 2nd KOF guest of the series and the most recent zoner of DOA6, unlike the fiery Mai, Kula is more an icy zoner in comparison. She shares a similar style to Mai: Speedy 9i/11i/13i striker, special cancels, jump stance, and her style is also very well versed in reach, but Kula leans more into rushdown meets keep out territory. She has attacks for generally all ranges, including her obnoxious 236P ice breath that can be hard to punish at max range and grants her a guaranteed combo on hit, which can hit quite hard as Kula hits like a truck when it comes to wall carry combos and juggles in general. She also has good ranged moves like her 3H+K low, 214K, and she has a decent 3K for mid range, and her 6P is alot better than most quick 11i mids as it covers better reach than normal, and her other strikes are quite similar in that regard.She's rather safe as well, and has her special cancels to help mask disadvantage, as well as one of the best high crushes in the game with 214P that has close hit properties to highlight its already solid damage. Her stuns are deceptive as she has a plethora of different lift stun and few blind stuns, and can easily throw off opponents unwary of her options. Guard pressure is also decent for her, having +0 neutral ones that can generally help open up far slower characters, and being a decent way to get other quick characters into a tough situation where they'll either have to sit back and defend or risk a counter for their trouble if they don't want to take throw.
While a strong fighter, she suffers from a rather basic hold game, with rather limited standard holds that hardly interact with environmental hazards, and her throws are the same too, being your standard throws with limited hazard utility, and even her best punish throw leaves alot to be desired despite its acceptable damage. She also is lacking in raw defensive tools; while she has some unique strikes like 1K that is a mid kick high crush, it's mainly a panic move as it grants minor advantage on hit and is unsafe, and her 2K while useful since its actually a crouching low kick that most characters don't have, it has little going for it besides that.
Her true stun starters are also rather unsafe and limited like her P+K, 8P, and 4K and 8K, but she does have her jump stance options to assist although these are slower. She overall is able to play a nasty stun game needs a counter hit to get going, but she can gain one from playing offensive, and her stun game is also rather more honest as she doesn't really have any crumples or faint stuns to utilize for guess or falls, but this is merely since she has her share of quick launches and ways to to easily immobilize and knock down hold happy foes. Her kit besides her main neutral strikes is also generally average in speed to slightly below average in speed, making use of most of her moves without advantage or careful distance from her foe rather risky. Her kit is also smaller, and while her mix ups and special cancels add up to her unpredictability, her strings and best attacks can be easy to read and shut down if you make them a constant habit to use with no true variations, making bad habits with her a thing to avoid.
One final weakness she has is that besides her generic fatal rush strike, she has no unique fatal sit down stun or fatal stun in her kit, although arguably her 236P could be considered a sort of variant since it does guarantee a follow up on hit much like fatal sit down stuns that can lead to a full combo, but unlike them, Kula has no risk of being held since while fatal stuns can be escaped with a break hold, 236P doesn't have that luxury, making it more or so like a launcher. Overall, Kula can be considered a high tier character since her ease of use and her kit are very easy to pick up and easily dominate other fighters, and as such she's a pretty popular pick due to the lack of real difficulty using her and her lack of drawbacks on paper. Her popularity in itself makes her a general sub pocket character since i think most of the appeal and her later addition makes her more appealing to sub rather than main although she has a good number of devoted players who choose to focus on her as their primary character.
~Food for thought, out of the characters noted, who do you think is peak zoning/spacing design executed perfectly in the series, and who do you think is the worst?I personally think playable Genra is the best designed zoner since his style is very well designed with his strong zoning capabilities coupled with weaknesses up close. Naotora is a close second since I love her style, but her linearity imo breaks my heart since she has little ways to really get her offense going or to help her up close.
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