The above stated is an example of why it's so difficult to produce conclusive tier lists for DOA5LR, though player skill level and reads don't factor into the equation unless the character has a specific risk/reward based off of a correct read or potential punishment for an incorrect read. For instance a character like Ayane has a very versatile moveset with a lot of potent tools, however she can be punished hard for any mistakes made, essentially affecting her overall risk/reward in a given match. Compare this with someone like Mila, Rachel or Christie whom generally don't get punished as hard for any relative mistakes made.
Though for the instances of a physical tier list, the basis is generally tools vs. tools for any given character. Execution also doesn't come into play or else a character like Akira or Phase-4 would be low tier.