If we were to divide them up into different playstyles, at the classic 3D fighter end of the spectrum you have Kokoro, Rig, Akira and Ayane. These characters pretty much tap you once or twice and its 50% of your bar gone. They play the most similar to other 3D fighters and should be invested into heavily if you are looking to get around the hold system completely. Heavy spacing and banking around that one good hit ending the match.
For characters that punish the use of the hold system while still living inside of it you have Tina, Bass (though he ignores the stun game mostly) and Mila as the front runners. This playstyle caters to people to who want to feed off of a traditional DOA players RPS tendencies as part of their main strategy.
Characters that can abuse the hold system fall under Leifang and Bayman, primarily. They have their own strengths built in that make them a nightmare to fight on top of this though. Leifang has her constant sabaki's and deep-stunning lows while Bayman has his guard break/environmental game.
Then you have everyone else, who is either well a rounded DOA character that falls under the RPS system with no particular strengths or weaknesses (Hayabusa) or just crappy in general (Hayate/Helena).
