There are heaps of characters in Genshin Impact, each boasting their own unique skills and roles. Whether they’re setting up turrets and hanging back to watch their handiwork, throwing down banners to buff their allies, or charging in and smacking enemies with a giant sword (or a cow, in the case of Genshin Impact’s Itto), every one of them has their own place on the battlefield or in the world. But, of course, even the most skilled DPS can’t do much if their HP hits zero.
Luckily, there’s also a host of Genshin Impact healers that you can add to your ranks, each with their own personal ways of keeping their pals’ health topped up. In this guide, we take an in-depth look at all the characters that can fit the healer support role, what their skills do, how viable they are as primary or secondary healers, and the best way to unleash their full potential. Whether you’re looking for pure heals from a watery princess, or offensive heals from an anemo-wielding knight, you’ll know exactly who to slot into your team by the time we’re done.
If you’re wondering how these healers fit into the grand meta, and which DPS you should glue them to for the best results, be sure to check out our Genshin Impact tier list. We also have a guide to all the current Genshin Impact events, as well as a list of all the latest Genshin Impact codes to keep you busy.
All Genshin Impact Healers
Here’s our list of all the Genshin Impact healers, their pros and cons, and how to make the most of their skills and buffs. We’ve excluded characters with minor self-heal abilities like Genshin Impact’s Kaeya, as they’re not suited to this role.
Play for Free!
Diona
Genshin Impact’s Diona’s heal is tied to her elemental burst, Signature Mix, which creates a Drunken Mist field that deals consistent cryo damage and, at ascension four, decreases the attack of enemies, while also healing party members within its area of effect. She also offers some nice buffs to the attack speed and stamina consumption of characters shielded by her Icy Paws skill through her passive, Cat’s Tail Secret Menu.
The main issue with Diona’s healing is that, as it’s an elemental burst, it can take some time to build up enough energy to use it, meaning it’s not always ready when you need it. You also need to have the party member in the field and standing in the AoE in order to heal, making her a local healer, whereas other characters have global healing abilities, which allow them to heal party members who aren’t in the field.
Luckily, her elemental skill provides four elemental particles, meaning if you equip her with a sacrificial bow to reset her cooldown, you can charge her burst much quicker. Additionally, her first constellation offers 15 elemental particles when Signature Mix ends, which obviously offers a great boost to her burst recharge. Equipping Maiden’s Beloved and focusing on healing bonus and energy recharge can also make her a more viable healer, and her C6 gives some awesome bonuses to incoming healing or elemental mastery, depending on the active character’s HP.
In short, she definitely has the potential to be a good healer and is great for offering buffs, but doesn’t offer the same level of consistent heals or global healing that other characters can, meaning she’s more suited to act as a secondary or substitute healer.
Bennett
Like Diona, Genshin Impact’s Bennett’s healing capabilities are tied to his elemental burst, Fantastic Voyage, which creates an Inspiration Field that deals pyro damage to enemies, and heals party members stood in its AoE. Inspiration Field’s healing is capped to 70% of the character’s max HP, giving anyone with HP higher than 70% an attack bonus based on Bennett’s base attack instead. Raising him to C1 removes the HP cap on the attack bonus, meaning in addition to healing, it also provides a 20% base attack bonus to any party members within the AoE.
Due to him only offering local healing through his burst, not having any global healing capabilities, and the cap to 70% of max health (though sometimes his healing ticks over that), he’s not the best primary healer in most situations. However, at higher levels, the healing he provides is quick, and the attack bonus is very handy, and his ability to dish out high damage while also offering heals and buffs makes him a valuable team member.
Plus, as he’s a four-star that crops up in the store and is a part of the normal banner, it shouldn’t be too tough to get constellations for him – just be wary of his C6, as it converts the elemental damage of all party members within his Inspiration Field to pyro, which can have a negative impact on characters like Genshin Impact’s Ayaka and Genshin Impact’s Eula, as they depend on their element to deal damage.
Barbara
Genshin Impact’s Barbara has a skill set completely dedicated to healing, and is probably the first primary healer you get your hands on due to her status as a free character. She has a high healing output, and the option to heal over time with her elemental skill, or burst heal with her elemental burst.
Her elemental skill, Let The Show Begin, creates a Melody Loop, which heals the active character passively every five seconds while it’s active. If you keep Barbara in the field while this skill is active, she also offers global healing, which restores HP to all other party members when she hits enemies with her normal and charged attacks.
The Melody Loop applies hydro to enemies, giving you the opportunity to exploit some nice elemental reactions. But it also makes the active character wet, which makes you vulnerable to elemental attacks from enemies, too. For example, going against a cryo regisvine or cryo abyss mage while using Barbara as a healer has you frozen every few seconds, which, as you probably know, is no fun at all.
Her elemental burst, Shining Miracle, offers substantial global healing to your entire party based on Barbara’s max HP. It’s a brilliant emergency heal when going against tough opponents, so it’s a great idea to have it ready when you know a fight’s going to be difficult.
The cooldown on Barbara’s elemental skill is pretty long at its base, but with increased constellations, the cooldown is reduced. Its duration is also increased by collecting elemental particles with her passive, Encore. Her constellations also boost her energy regeneration, speeding up how often you can use Shining Miracle.
Barbara’s C6 constellation is also extremely useful – if she’s off-field and a party member falls, she instantly revives them with full HP. While this effect can only happen once every 15 minutes, it’s definitely worthwhile – especially with the cooldown on revival food.
Overall, Barbara is a good primary healer who does her job well, especially when equipped with a set of Maiden’s Beloved, increasing her healing bonuses and HP. However, she suffers from low DPS, which makes using her Melody Loop for global healing a bit of a chore. Her kit also relies on you getting higher constellations for her to really shine, and her self-applied hydro means you have to be careful which enemies you go up against when using her.
Sayu
Genshin Impact’s Sayu is a pretty unique little healer, and we’re not just talking about her tanuki-style attire. Her elemental burst, Mujina Flurry, is the main source of her healing, dealing anemo damage and applying global heals based on her attack, then summoning Muji-Muji Daruma. At C0, if everyone is above 70% health, Muji-Muji Daruma deals anemo damage to a nearby opponent. If any nearby party members have less than 70% health, it heals whoever has the lowest HP. If there are no opponents nearby, it heals all active characters within range.
Okay, that’s a lot of conditions to get your head around. Luckily, at C1, the Muji-Muji Daruma ignores HP limits, simultaneously attacking nearby enemies and healing characters. And, to sweeten the deal even further, if you get her to C6, Muji-Muji Daruma’s healing and attack are increased by Sayu’s elemental mastery.
Additionally, her passive talents increase her healing potential. At ascension one, you get the Someone More Capable passive, which gives a global heal, providing all your characters and nearby allies 300 HP whenever she triggers a swirl reaction, and an additional 1.2 HP for every point of elemental mastery she has. At ascension level four, you also get the No Work Today! passive. With this passive, when Muji-Muji Daruma heals a character, it also heals everyone near that healed character for 20% of HP, and increases the AoE of its attack against opponents.
Building Sayu with plenty of elemental mastery, healing efficiency, and attack helps her healing scale dramatically, and makes her a viable main healer – though you’ll need to have her on the field a lot to make the most of her healing potential.
Kokomi
At a base level, Genshin Impact’s Kokomi is very similar to Barbara, but with some additional benefits. Like Barbara, she’s a hydro catalyst user, and both her elemental skill and elemental burst focus on healing. She offers several benefits in comparison with Barbara, but has some of her own drawbacks.
Her healing scales brilliantly, and is based on her max HP. Her elemental skill summons a Bake Kuragi, which is a jellyfish-like turret that deals hydro damage to enemies within its range, while also healing nearby active characters at fixed intervals. Note that, like Barbara, this ability also applies the wet status to Kokomi, making her vulnerable to elemental interactions. Bake Kurage stays on the field even if you switch Kokomi out.
Kokomi’s Element Burst, Nereid’s Ascension, deals hydro damage to nearby enemies, while also robing Kokomi in ceremonial garments. During Nereid’s Ascension, Kokomi’s normal attack, charged attack, and Bake-Kurage damage are increased based on her max HP. When her normal and charged attacks hit opponents, she heals allies. Her resistance to interruption is also reduced, and she is able to walk on water. The effects of Nereid’s Ascension are cleared if you switch her out before the burst is over.
At C2, Kokomi’s healing bonus during both her elemental skill and elemental burst is increased for allies with HP lower than 50%, and at C4, her attack speed and energy regeneration is increased during Nereid’s Ascension, which obviously boosts her healing abilities. However, as a five-star character only available on limited banners, it’s tough to gain constellations for her.
Her first ascension activates the Tamanooya’s Casket, which refreshes the duration of the Bake Kurage if it’s on the field when she uses Nereid’s Ascension. At ascension four, you get the Song of Pearls passive, which increases the normal and charged attack damage bonus you gain from Nereid’s Ascension by an additional 15% of her healing bonus.
All of this makes her a pretty powerful healer, but, like Barbara, she lacks much purpose outside of that role. Her passive, Flawless Strategy, sacrifices her ability to land crit hits in exchange for a 25% healing bonus, her elemental burst has a pretty high energy cost, and her AoE does lack damage. However, due to her high healing output and hydro application, using her alongside a pyro or electro DPS allows you to make the most of her utility.
Qiqi
On a personal note, Genshin Impact’s Qiqi is easily my favourite healer in the game, as I find her mechanics and utility very fun. Both her elemental skill and elemental burst offer passive global healing, while also dealing some pretty decent damage. She has very strong overall healing, and is great both in solo and co-op play for keeping your HP up even when she’s not in the field.
Qiqi’s elemental skill, Adeptus Art: Herald of Frost, summons the Herald of Frost, an orb that swings around your active character, dealing cryo damage to enemies and regenerating a set amount of health to your active character at regular intervals. While the Herald is active, hitting an enemy with Qiqi’s normal and charged attacks applies global heals to your entire party, as well as nearby allies. The Herald of Frost remains active even if Qiqi isn’t in the field.
When you ascend her the first time, you unlock the passive skill Life-Prolonging Methods. When you trigger an elemental reaction while under the effect of Adeptus Art: Herald of Frost, this passive activates, increasing your active character’s incoming healing by 20% for eight seconds.
Qiqi’s elemental burst, Adeptus Art: Preserver of Fortune, marks nearby enemies with a Fortune-Preserving Talisman that deals cryo damage. Any characters that deal damage to enemies marked with the talisman also regenerate HP.
At her fourth ascension, Qiqi gains the A Glimpse into Arcanum passive, which has a 50% chance to apply a Fortune-Preserving Talisman to any enemy she hits with her normal or charged attack for six seconds. Like her elemental burst, when a character deals damage to the enemies marked with a talisman, they regenerate HP.
At C6, when you use Adeptus Art: Preserver of Fortune, you revive all nearby fallen party members, and regenerate 50% of their health.
One of Qiqi’s main issues is her long cooldowns and slow energy regeneration. However, equipping her with the sacrificial sword helps a lot. With this weapon, popping her elemental skill, then hitting an enemy a couple of times, not only provides global heals, but also gives you a pretty good chance of resetting the cooldown of her skill. Then you just have to switch to another character, do some damage, and repeat when the Herald of Frost expires. This also helps with her inconsistent cryo application, as it allows you to keep the Herald active most of the time.
As her healing scales based on her attack, equipping her with a full set of Ocean Hued Clam artifacts with a focus on attack helps her pack more of a punch, taking advantage of both the Foam bubble and the healing bonus. Due to her ability to dish out decent damage and heal simultaneously, she’s a very fun healer and an asset to most teams.
Jean
While Qiqi outdoes Genshin Impact’s Jean in raw healing, Jean offers a great level of versatility. Thanks to her elemental skill, she can immobilise enemies, and she dishes out a great level of DPS in all aspects, meaning she can fill multiple roles – she can simultaneously be your main healer, as well as your DPS or support.
Her elemental burst, Dandelion Breeze, creates a swirling Dandelion Field, which launches enemies into the air, while regenerating a substantial amount of HP for all party members, scaling off her attack. The Dandelion Field also continuously regenerates the HP of characters within its AoE, imbuing them with anemo, while dealing anemo damage to all opponents entering or exiting it.
At her first ascension, Jean also gains the Wind Companion passive, which gives every normal attack she lands a 50% chance to regenerate HP equal to 15% of Jean’s attack for all party members.
Her main flaws are the long cooldown on her elemental burst, her low base damage, and the fact that she pushes enemies away with her combos (when you obviously want all enemies within range if you plan on making the most of the Wind Companion passive). However, prioritising energy recharge and attack to increase her healing output can combat this, and both her great capacity for global heals and combat utility makes her a very valuable unit.
Noelle
Genshin Impact’s Noelle is a bit of a powerhouse as a support, and her high defence and healing capabilities make her super useful, especially as a four-star. While she lacks some damage before C6, her constellations really make her shine in all areas, and she’s not too tough to rank up considering she appears in the store, is part of the beginner’s banner, and can be pulled on the normal banner.
Her healing is tied to her elemental skill, Breastplate, which both summons a shield with damage absorption based on her defence. While protected by the Breastplate, Noelle’s normal and charged attacks have a chance to apply a global heal on hit, once again based on defence. While she doesn’t have the big bang heals that some other healers have, the fact that it’s tied to her elemental skill means you can pop it quite frequently, especially as you level her up.
To help with this, her C1 enables I Got Your Back, which increases the chance of the healing effects activating to 100% when both Breastplate and her elemental burst, Sweeping Time, are active. Additionally, at ascension four, you unlock Noelle’s passive Nice and Clean, which reduces the cooldown of Breastplate by one second for every four normal or charged attacks she lands on enemies. Therefore, when built and levelled well, you can keep your characters shielded pretty much constantly, and heal most of the time that Noelle is in the field.
Adding onto her utility as a defensive support, at her first ascension, you unlock her passive, Devotion. When Noelle isn’t on the field, and the active character’s HP falls below 30%, this ability triggers, giving them a shield that lasts for 20 seconds and absorbs damage equal to 400% of Noelle’s defence. This effect can activate a maximum of once every 40 seconds, but provides you with a brilliant last line of defence in a sticky situation.
Gorou
So, Genshin Impact’s Gorou is a weird one when it comes to healing. He’s primarily a buffer who benefits from having a geo-heavy team, as the AoE banners he generates through his elemental skill and elemental burst have parameters based on how many geo wielders are in his party. In the ‘Standing Firm’ phase, which requires one geo character in the party at the time of casting, he gives everyone in his team a defence boost. In the ‘Impregnable’ phase, which requires two geo characters, he gives the defence boost plus increased resistance to interruption. Finally, in the ‘Crunch’ phase, which requires three geo characters, he gives the previous benefits plus a geo damage bonus.
But where does the healing come in, you ask? Well, we hear you barking, big dog. If you manage to get Gorou to C4 and unlock Lapping Hound: Warm as Water, when in the Impregnable or Crunch phases, the General’s Glory field created by his elemental burst, Juuga: Forward Unto Victory, heals active characters within its AoE by 50% of Gorou’s defence every 1.5 seconds.
As he scales on defence, a well-built Gorou has the potential to provide some pretty substantial healing with this ability, and the fact that the General’s Glory field is mobile, moving around with the active character, gives it a bit more versatility than Bennett or Diona’s AoE heals. However, it’s highly situational – you need at least one other geo character in the team alongside him, and, of course, to have gotten lucky with pulls during his banner in order to get him up to the right constellation. But if you put a C4 Gorou in the right geo team along with other characters like Genshin Impact’s Zhongli and Noelle to provide shields and supplement heals, he has the potential to be a very handy support unit with decent healing capabilities.
Xingqiu
Okay, so we hate to disappoint – Genshin Impact’s Xingqiu isn’t going to be your main healer at any point. However, when you get him past his first stage of ascension, you get access to his passive, Hydropathic. When you use his Guhua Sword: Fatal Rainscreen skill, he summons rain swords around himself. When one of the rain swords shatters or expires, Hydropathic activates, restoring your current on-field character’s HP by 6% of his max health. While this doesn’t make him a reliable healer in any way, it’s a handy little skill that can save you in a pinch.
And that’s it for our Genshin Impact healers guide. If you’re looking for a fresh, open-world experience, check out our list of the best games like Genshin Impact to find something new to play.