Zafina is a stance character with very strong movement and big moves. Having a relatively short move list and just 3 very distinct stances, Zafina allows players to dip into stance characters without enourmous knowledge commitment that normally comes with them.
Zafina keeps good pressure with her great movement, range and stance transitions, but for that she pays with long and telling recovery on whiffs, with generally slow start-ups (her d/f+2 is 16f, u/f+4 is 18f), and with her overall damage output.
She has great evasion tools, and mix ups that do not do damage, yet leave Zafina in an acceptable situation most of the time both on hit and block
Zafina has a lot of space for stylish play with some truly horrendous moves while still being a solid character from fundamentals stand point