Shields can be very valuable in Genshin Impact. They block incoming damage and make your character immune from being staggered. Who are the best shielders that you can use? Read on to find out!
10. Xinyan (4 star)
Xinyan is a 4 star Pyro claymore, and is overall the weakest shielder currently in the game. If you really like her though, you can make her work. Here’s what you need to know:
- Her shields scale on her defense stat. If you want to build her for maximum shield strength, you’ll want to stack her defense.
- Her ascension 4 passive gives any character protected by her shield a 15% Physical damage boost, which is a somewhat unique albeit very niche support ability.
- Her damage scales off on her attack while her shields scale off on her defense, so if she’s built for her shields then her damage output will be very low.
9. Yanfei (4 star)
Yanfei is by default an on-field DPS, she can be used as a shield support if you have her C4 activated. This Constellation adds a shield to her Burst that scales on her max HP, opening up this new playstyle for her. Here’s what you need to know:
- Yanfei’s shield scales on her HP. As a catalyst user, her support capabilities can be further enhanced by giving her the Prototype Amber weapon. This weapon has an HP substat to increase her shield and provides a little teamwide healing, as well.
- Yanfei will need to build a lot of ER to reliably get her Burst back when played as an off-field support. Keep this in mind when choosing artifacts!
- Because her damage scales on attack and her shield scales on HP, keep in mind that her damage output will be very low.
8. Beidou (4 star)
Beidou is an off-field DPS with defensive utility built into her kit. Her Burst deals Electro damage that bounces between enemies. It also decreases the damage that your team takes and increases your team’s resistance to interruption. If you have her C1 activated, it adds a small shield to her Burst. Her key strengths are:
- Most of Beidou’s damage comes from her Burst, which has the potential to deal a lot of damage in multitarget scenarios. This also enables your on-field character to trigger reactions while she is providing Electro application to enemies from off-field. Her damage output is a lot higher than that of most other defensive supports.
- Even though Beidou’s shields are weak, she can be a very strong defensive option combined with the damage reduction that she provides. Beidou is a DPS at her core, so her damage output will be higher than shielders like Zhongli while still providing the interruption resistance that comes with a shield.
7. Noelle (4 star)
Noelle is a 4 star Geo claymore, and she can be built as a pure shielder/healer support or as an extremely tanky on-field DPS if you have her C6 activated. With the right investment, she can be a very strong character. Here are the highlights of her kit:
- Her support abilities are in her Skill. It provides a shield based on her defense and gives her Normal attacks a chance to heal the entire party. Her healing is also based on her defense. If you build her purely as a support, keep in mind that she’ll need to be on-field performing Normal attacks to heal.
- Her C6 increases her damage output by a lot. It allows her Burst to increase her attack based on a portion of her defense. This means that stacking defense will increase her shielding, healing, and damage all at the same time.
- Noelle’s strength has increased since the release of Furina. As an on-fielder, she has great synergy with Furina as her teamwide healing can help to quickly max Fanfare stacks.
6. Layla (4 star)
Layla is a 4 star Cryo sword who provides shields with her Skill. She can be a very strong defensive option, especially in teams that can utilize Cryo reactions. Keep these points in mind if you want to use her:
- Her shields are among the strongest in the game, only behind Zhongli and Kirara’s stacked shield.
- Her Skill can also deal Cryo damage while her shield is active. Additionally, her Burst also allows her to deal off-field Cryo damage. Her shields and Burst damage both scale on her max HP. Options for off-field Cryo application are relatively limited, so if you need this for your team then Layla can be a solid choice.
5. Diona (4 star)
Diona is a 4 star Cryo bow. She is a hybrid of a healer and shielder, and can be a very comfortable support option. Both her healing and shielding scale on her max HP. You should consider Diona if you want:
- Diona’s shields are weaker than those of dedicated shielders like Zhongli and Kirara, but they are a great addition to her support capabilities combined with her healing. The shields provide resistance to interruption, which is an uncommon buff for healers to bring to the table. The extra layer of protection also helps to mitigate the fact that she has no access to teamwide healing. Her healing output is exclusively single target on your active character.
- Diona’s Burst not only provides healing to your active character, but it also deals Cryo damage to enemies within its radius. This helps to facilitate reactions like Melt or Freeze for your other team members.
- Diona has additional support abilities in addition to her shielding and healing. Her Ascension 4 passive decreases the attack of enemies within her Burst, further amplifying your team’s survivability. If you have her C6 unlocked, she has even more to offer. Within her Burst, your active character will gain a 30% bonus to incoming healing if their HP is below 50%, or a 200 Elemental Mastery bonus if they are above 50% HP. This EM buff is huge for teams like Melt that rely on reactions for damage output.
4. Thoma (4 star)
Thoma is a Pyro shielder. In addition to providing a shield that scales on his max HP, he also provides off-field Pyro application and damage through his Burst. When his Burst is active, your active character’s Normal attacks will trigger a Fiery Collapse that deals Pyro damage to enemies and refresh the Blazing Barrier shield on them. The shields that Thoma creates are weaker than those created by characters like Layla, Kirara, or Zhongli, however they can be refreshed every 1 second so the uptime on the resistance to interruption that shields provide is very good. Thoma’s strengths are the following:
- Thoma can be built purely as a shielder by stacking HP to increase the strength of his shields if you want to run him in a purely supportive role. However, he can also use an Elemental Mastery build to work as an off-field Burgeon trigger.
- If you have Thoma’s C6 activated, he also provides a 15% damage buff to all character’s Normal, Charged, and Plunging attacks whenever his Blazing Barrier is refreshed. His Burst is triggered by Normal attacks, so this makes him a particularly good support for on-field DPS characters that rely on Normal attacks for a large part of their damage.
3. Kirara (4 star)
Kirara is a Dendro shielder. Her Skill provides a shield that scales on her max HP. If the Skill is used again, this shield can stack creating a shield that can absorb twice the amount of damage as the original shield. Kirara’s key strengths are:
- Kirara is the strongest 4 star shielder, and her stacked shield is the second strongest in the game after Zhongli. This can help to make your teams feel a lot more comfortable to play because strong shields make dodging less important and increase your resistance to interruption.
- If you have her C6, Kirara additionally provides a 12% damage bonus to all elemental damage after using either her Skill or Burst. Not an insane buff, but it’s a nice bonus that has great uptime.
- Kirara’s Dendro application will generally not be enough for her to be the only Dendro character on the team, so you’ll often want to pair her with another Dendro teammate like Nahida, Dendro Traveler, Alhaitham, or Tighnari.
2. Baizhu (5 star)
Baizhu is a 5 star Dendro catalyst. He isn’t a traditional shielder, but he has powerful teamwide and single target healing, shields in his Burst, and some buffs for Dendro reactions. Go with Baizhu if you need:
- Baizhu has strong teamwide healing on his Skill, so his healing can be used very consistently. Baizhu is one of the best options for Furina teams because his high healing output offsets the HP drain that she inflicts on your team and helps to maximize her Fanfare stacks quickly.
- Baizhu’s Burst creates weak shields around your active character. These shields increase your resistance to interruption and heal your active character when they break or expire. The shield is refreshed every 2.5 seconds, so they greatly improve your active character’s survivability through stagger immunity and constant healing. While his Burst is active, he’ll also apply Dendro to enemies. This is great for characters like Cyno who need Dendro application but need to stay on-field for long periods of time without switching out.
- Characters protected by Baizhu’s shield gain a damage bonus to all Dendro reactions based on Baizhu’s max HP. Baizhu’s healing also scales on HP, so stacking HP not only increases his healing output but also provides a damage bonus for your Dendro reactions. Keep in mind that this buff will only apply to your active character, so any teammates that deal damage while off-field won’t receive this buff.
1. Zhongli (5 star)
Zhongli, the Geo Archon himself, focuses on providing extremely strong shields for your team. He’s an extremely flexible character who can easily be slotted into most teams as a defensive option and boasts the strongest shields in the game. Zhongli is great for these reasons:
- Zhongli is the strongest shielder in the game and his shields make gameplay very comfortable. His shields can usually take several hits before breaking, giving your team very strong survivability and resistance to interruption. The pillar created by his Skill also pulses to deal Geo damage to nearby enemies, making the Tenacity of the Millelith a very viable artifact set to further increase shield strength.
- Aside from his shields, Zhongli has two other notable support abilities built into his kit. First, when your characters are protected by his shield, nearby enemies have all Elemental Res and Physical Res decreased, allowing your DPS characters to deal more damage. Second, his Burst petrifies enemies for a few seconds, allowing him a form of crowd control.
