There is a lot of talk in the Genshin Impact community about which characters are the best and how each character ranks against the competition. DPS, or Damage Per Second, characters are often given the highest amount of esteem in this regard. Yet, also filling a widely needed niche, healers should be given even more thought than other positions on a team.
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If a DPS is to make a game easier to win, healers are the characters that make the game harder to lose; there are currently around 9 to 10 healers in Genshin Impact. In short, healers like the Acting Grand Master Jean, and the defensively-minded Noelle, are the characters that make the difference between a player's team dying and living. That said, especially in co-op mode where the player's teammates actively rely on a healer's support, learning to best use these characters is in the best interest of all Genshin Impact fans. However, many fans still have difficulty figuring out which character is the best healer in Genshin Impact.
Updated on July 6, 2022, by Scott Vengel: Once again, the Genshin Impact community is in a frenzy, as rumors are now arising about the release of Sumeru in a few months. Granted, they are only rumored additions, but quite a few leaks have come about various characters, like Kusanali, Cyno, and Collei. That said, players should not forget recent releases either, like Kuki Shinobu in version 2.7, especially when these last few updates have been riddled with excellent supports and healers. This article will be updated to include Genshin Impact's newest healer, Kuki Shinobu.
Healing In Genshin Impact
Like DPS and support skills, healing is an important skill set in Genshin Impact which requires players to use complex building techniques. There is a distinction between healers that use their elemental skills for healing and those that use their elemental burst. Most healers use a mix of the two for healing, with one being more effective than the other.
Burst healers, like Diona and Bennett, mostly specialize in healing zones (which heal in a specific geographic area) or one-time lump-sum healing. In order to maximize healing for Genshin Impact characters that heal with their elemental burst, players can use two building strategies: improving quantity healing by increasing energy recharge, or quality healing by increasing that character's scale sub-stat or healing effectiveness. Most healers use Max HP to scale their healing abilities, though a few like Jean and Noelle use attack and defense. On the other hand, skill healers cannot use quantity building to improve their healing capabilities; players will need to use either the character's scaling sub-stat or healing effectiveness.
In addition to building a character's healing talent, players should be aware that there are different types of healing in Genshin Impact. Global healing is the type of ability that heals all players and/or teammates in a world when used, regardless of their proximity or if they are present on the field. On the other hand, individual healing only heals the character that the player is using at a given moment. In order for a character to fully qualify as an effective healer, players should invest in global healing.
10/10 Xingqiu
D Tier
- Rating: 4-star sword-user
- Element: Hydro
- Healing Scaled To: Max HP
- Healing Source: Skill/Burst (Rain Blades)
To be frank, Xingqiu hardly qualifies as a healer. Yet, by technicality, the heir of the Feiyun Commerce Guild does have the small potential to heal his teammates. Still, he only qualifies for the role if players should build him just right.
Xingqiu's healing capabilities are tied to his Rain Blades, which players will not have unlocked until his 1st ascension. This in itself is a limitation, given that players can't use Xingqiu as a healer until they upgrade him. However, in addition, his healing is not high stat-wise compared to other healers and will only affect the active character; there is no global healing for Xingqiu. Ultimately, this also means that Xingqiu is a solo-mode-only healer that can easily be bested by Barbara.
Of course, for those solo players looking to use Xingqiu as a healer, it is not impossible. To increase Xingqiu's healing capabilities, a good mix of Max HP and Healing Efficiency artifacts will do the trick. Nonetheless, players should be aware that Xingqiu's healing will require smart transferring of his Rain Blades to other characters, making it a task that requires patience and practice to master.
Xingqiu works better as a support than a healer, so players should prepare a team with this in mind. Ideal DPS characters will have easily infused attacks that work against individual opponents so that players can start reactions with Xingqiu’s blades. Great teammates for Xingqiu include:
- Diluc
- Ayaka
- Xiangling
9/10 Kuki Shinobu
C Tier
- Rating: 4-star sword-user
- Element: Electro
- Healing Scaled To: Max HP
- Healing Source: Skill
Released back in version 2.7, Kuki Shinobu was the first Electro healer in the game. This alone may make the C tier a little bit low, as she fills an incredibly important niche in Genshin Impact: a healer for teams that require a constant supply of Electro attacks. This could come in the form of needing Electro-based reactions, or simply needing the energy boost from an Electro resonance — regardless of the reason, having Kuki Shinobu can make team building a lot more flexible.
That said, players should also be aware of the unusual nature of her healing. Kuki Shinobu is a skill-only healer, meaning that her healing abilities are tied to her elemental skill rather than her burst (which means that players cannot build her as a quantity healer by increasing energy recharge). This wouldn't mean a lot on its own (as there are plenty of excellent skill-only healers) but Shinobu also has a lot of drawbacks that Xingqiu suffers from — her healing is not global, so players will need to first activate her skill, then switch to the active characters that need healing. This can be detrimental if players need to wait for a skill cooldown, potentially allowing opponents to down their healer.
That said, while it's fairly difficult to call Xingqiu a true healer (the same can be said for Shinobu), the new Electro healer also lacks a lot of Xingqiu's shortcomings. Her healing isn't tied to an ascension, and unlike Xingqiu, her healing is automatic should the player be on the active character (no need to attack opponents to access Kuki Shinobu's healing).
Kuki Shinobu can work well with most teams, however, for the most efficiency players will want to have her on a close-quarters team centered around tanks that can take a lot of hits even when on low health. Great teammates include:
- Eula
- Raiden Shogun
- Beidou
8/10 Diona
B Tier
- Rating: 4-star bow-user
- Element: Cryo
- Healing Scaled To: Max HP
- Healing Source: Burst
An archer with minor healing properties, Diona is perhaps not the best option for a healer. At least, there are better options for the party's main healer, given that other choices provide more effective heals. Sadly, Diona's healing ability's only benefit is that it can heal others over a duration of time. That said, the fan-favorite bartender from the Cat's Tail does make a sufficient substitute healer, or a support healer, with skills that make combat easier for everybody.
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Generally speaking, a substitute healer is an alternative for when the main healer falls in battle. Many might mistake this as a wasted position, but Diona will not find any waste as a substitute healer. Where she lacks in healing potential, she makes up for it with her versatility. Her charged attacks apply Cryo status, making Diona a good enabler for melt and superconduct reactions.
In addition to her healing, Diona offers shielding and application services. As such, players would do well to include characters that have high offensive capabilities, even at the expense of low defense. A few examples include:
- Kazuha
- Klee
- Xiangling
7/10 Bennett
B Tier
- Rating: 4-star
- Element: Pyro
- Healing Scaled To: Max HP
- Healing Source: Burst
Bennett, like Diona, isn't necessarily the best healer around. In fact, in terms of sheer healing ability, the community's favorite bad-luck-stricken adventurer is slightly worse than Diona. Nonetheless, in terms of overall team usability, Bennett does have some benefits when built correctly that cannot be found in Diona's move-set.
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While both characters have fairly similar healing potential, Bennett offers more support potential than Diona can. With a burst that also increases the attack of the players within a certain area, Bennett can heal and provide strong support at the same time. In other words, Bennett is simply more versatile and will find more passive use than Diona.
Bennett is a master of support, offering attack and healing, all in an AoE. As such, most characters work well with Bennett, so players may want to pair him with good crowd support characters. Some great choices include:
- Tartaglia
- Raiden Shogun
- Xiangling
6/10 Barbara
A Tier
- Rating: 4-star catalyst-user
- Element: Hydro
- Healing Scaled To: Max HP
- Healing Source: Skill, Burst
One of two free healers in the game, Barbara is often one of the first characters that players use for healing specifically. And despite her free status, her healing is the first on this list that can be used comfortably as a main healer. Both Barbara's elemental skill and burst offer a focus on healing, so unless someone goes out of their way to build her DPS (which some people do) then she is going to need to be built as a healer.
That said, Barbara is fairly mediocre in her healing properties compared to other characters, despite being a character entirely reliant on healing abilities. Her burst's heal is dwarfed stat-wise by most characters on this list and it doesn't heal continuously; meaning that once the heal ends, you have to wait for energy build-up to activate her burst again.
Of course, she makes up for this with her elemental skill, which heals a little bit of HP for the team with each hit. Barbara's healing improves by investing in Max HP artifacts, and increasing elemental mastery helps to make Barbara double as a Hydro enabler (applying wet status with her attacks).
Unlike the other healers in Genshin Impact, Barbara doesn’t tend to see a lot of field time. That said, players can increase her efficiency by pairing her with high-energy recharge characters, so that she can use her burst more often. These may include:
- Raiden Shogun
- Razor
- Kaeya
5/10 Sayu
A Tier
- Rating: 4-star claymore-user
- Element: Anemo
- Healing Scaled To: Attack
- Healing Source: Burst, Skill (passive talent)
The first healer added in Inazuma, Sayu makes for an interesting healing option. With her healing tied to her elemental burst, as well as her skill via her passive talents (when she initiates a swirl reaction), all of this makes for a fairly convenient healer, requiring only a little bit of practice to master.
As far as being compared to other healers, Sayu fits herself just above Barbara in terms of base stats. However, in more detail, it is a difference of healing per second versus activation healing. Compared to Barbara, Sayu has better per hit healing with her burst than Barbara has with her elemental skill. On the other hand, Barbara does just beat Sayu in terms of immediate healing with her elemental burst; this effectively puts the two on near equal footing as far as healing potential is concerned.
For those looking to utilize Sayu as their main healer, it would be best to use her on the field rather than off. Given that her damage and defensive potential aren't bad as an Anemo claymore user, players may lose out on a lot of healing if they skip out on using her skill. As for artifacts, healing efficiency and attack stats will help to increase the scale of her healing. Great teammates for Sayu include:
- Yoimiya
- Kaeya
- Xiangling
4/10 Kokomi
S Tier
- Rating: 5-star catalyst-user
- Element: Hydro
- Healing Scaled To: Max HP
- Healing Source: Skill, Burst
To be blunt, Sangonomiya Kokomi is essentially a better version of Barbara. There are a lot of similarities between the two: both have skills and bursts that heal, use a hydro catalyst, and aren't particularly good at much outside of healing. That said, Kokomi falls in the S-tier because she expands upon the areas that were missed in making Barbara.
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For starters, Kokomi has amazing scaling when it comes to healing, competing with Qiqi in this regard: it won't take Genshin Impact players a long time to heal a lot of health. Even more so, both of her elemental skill has passive healing abilities. Rather than needing to hit opponents herself to heal teammates, Kokomi's elemental skill summons a "bake-kurage" that automatically attacks opponents. On the other hand, her elemental burst works in the same way as Barbara's elemental skill (healing upon hitting an opponent), but this burst also increases the damage of both her attacks and the "bake-kurage."
That said, Kokomi does have a few downsides as well. Outside of healing, Sangonomiya Kokomi doesn't excel in any other skills aside from enabling. Players looking to use Kokomi as a DPS, sub-DPS, or defensive/offensive support, will sadly be disappointed in this regard given that Kokomi cannot utilize critical attacks or boosts as well as other characters. When using Sangonomiya Kokomi in a team, players will find using her as a main healer paired with a Pyro, or Electro DPS to be the best route forward. Kokomi specializes in healing skills that work in an AoE. So, players will want characters that attack crowds well, like:
- Yoimiya
- Kazuha
- Lisa
3/10 Qiqi
S Tier
- Rating: 5-star sword-user
- Element: Cryo
- Healing Scaled To: Attack
- Healing Source: Skill, Burst
The zombie from Bubu Pharmacy, Qiqi is considered by many to be the best of the two 5-star healers. Generally speaking, Qiqi and Jean are two sides of a coin: where one specializes in one area and the other specializes in the opposite. Qiqi is the best character in sheer healing capabilities in the cast so far, and this is her main asset as a character.
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Both her elemental burst and skill provide passive healing, meaning that it is easy to activate her skill and switch to a different character. That said, her biggest downside is found in the fact that her skill cooldown is slow compared to other healers. When investing in Qiqi, players will find that utilizing attack and energy recharge boosts in artifacts will counteract her long cooldowns with more bursts.
A good portion of Qiqi’s healing comes after hitting a specifically marked opponent. As such, players will want teammates that can easily target individual opponents at a quick pace, such as:
- Keqing
- Diluc
- Razor
2/10 Jean
S Tier
- Rating: 5-star sword-user
- Element: Anemo
- Healing Scaled To: Attack
- Healing Source: Burst, Normal Attack (passive talent)
Again, comparing Jean and Qiqi is very difficult. In sheer healing alone, Qiqi is a more accomplished healer when compared to Jean (who heals only with her burst and normal attacks). However, if the player is looking for a more versatile healer, then Jean trumps Qiqi by a landslide with an elemental skill that helps to immobilize the opponent and higher DPS in all areas. In other words, Jean is a character that can work as either a DPS or support while also acting as the main healer in the party; this may in face make her the best 5-star healer in Genshin Impact.
When using Jean, investing in attack stats and energy recharge boosts will make for a very good strategy. This will not only increase the strength of normal attacks and their healing properties but will make for more frequent healing from her elemental burst. In addition, it is a general rule that pairing Jean with a Cryo, Pyro, Hydro, or Electro user will yield the best results, as her burst causes swirl reactions.
Jean is a great healer due to her AoE burst, and her crowd-controlling skill. Players will want characters that can apply their element to crowds, as Jean will not be able to do so as an Anemo healer. Great choices include:
- Keqing
- Diluc
- Xiangling
1/10 Noelle
S Tier
- Rating: 4-star claymore-user
- Element: Geo
- Healing Scaled To: Defense
- Healing Source: Skill
In the end, Noelle may be the best healer in Genshin Impact. Yes, it may indeed seem strange for a 4-star to place higher on the list than 5-star healers, but there is more than enough reason for Noelle's placement. For starters, this was a very close call; both Qiqi and Jean rank very close to Noelle in overall usefulness. However, Noelle reigns supreme in efficiency: her constellations are more easily accessible, her versatility is very high for a healer, and her healing itself is very comparable to the 5-star characters.
Noelle is also a defensive healer, which is very unique for the small sample of healers in Genshin Impact. Jean may reign supreme in offensive prowess, and Qiqi in pure healing ability, but Noelle is the hardest to bring down. Coupling this with a healing ability tied to an elemental skill rather than a burst, the result is a healer that heals more often than other members on this list.
Noelle coupled with a group of two strong DPS characters, like Diluc with his fiery attacks, and an enabler to enhance attacks through elemental statuses makes for the best team composition. Strategy-wise, these DPS characters can be used for long periods of time, switched between each other until their health is low, after which Noelle can appear for long periods of time healing in the process. Some of the best teammates for Noelle include:
- Bennett
- Gorou
- Xingqiu
Genshin Impact is available on mobile, PC, PS4, and PS5. A Switch version is currently in development.
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