Zoning characters in Pokkén Tournament get an additional reward if they do their job right in its 3D roaming field phase. As YouTuber Mitchel explains:

In short, there’s a set distance that you can be from the opponent in duel phase. However, as some zoning attacks will win field phase shifts at further ranges, this gives zoner characters one time access to an even larger battlefield in duel phase.

Since this extra spacing “shrinks” as the players move closer together, this also makes walking and blocking at further ranges a safer way to get in versus these same zoners. This is really important to understand versus characters that can tag you for heavy damage for an errant jump, such as Chandelure and Braixen.

Source: Mitchel