Genshin Impact is an expansive open-world RPG with a gacha system, developed by miHoYo. Since its release, it has captivated players with its stunning visuals, engaging storyline, and diverse cast of characters. A crucial element of success in Genshin Impact lies in team composition. While DPS (Damage Per Second) characters are essential for dealing damage, support characters provide the buffs, healing, and utility needed to keep your team alive and thriving. In this guide, we’ll explore some of the best support characters in Genshin Impact, helping you create powerful and well-rounded teams.

Understanding the Role of Support Characters

Before diving into specific characters, it’s important to understand what makes a good support character in Genshin Impact. Support characters aren't just healers; they encompass a range of roles that enhance the team's overall performance. Here are some key attributes of effective support characters:

• Healing: Characters who can restore the HP of their teammates are invaluable, especially in challenging content like the Spiral Abyss.
• Buffing: Buffs can significantly increase the damage output, defense, or speed of your DPS characters.
• Energy Generation: Some supports excel at generating elemental energy, allowing your team to use their Elemental Bursts more frequently.
• Crowd Control: Abilities that can group enemies together or immobilize them make combat much easier.
• Elemental Reactions: Applying elemental effects to enemies to set up powerful elemental reactions is a cornerstone of Genshin Impact's combat system.

A well-rounded team often includes a combination of these support roles, ensuring that you can handle a variety of combat situations. Now, let's take a look at some of the top-tier support characters that stand out in Genshin Impact.

Top-Tier Support Characters

Bennett: The Adventure Team's Unlucky Yet Fortunate Leader

Bennett, often regarded as one of the best support characters in Genshin Impact, brings a unique blend of healing and attack buffs. His Elemental Burst, Fantastic Voyage, creates a field that heals characters below 70% HP and provides a significant ATK buff to characters within the field. This makes Bennett an incredible asset for boosting your team's damage while keeping them alive. Bennett's versatility and effectiveness make him a staple in many team compositions. Whether you're tackling the Spiral Abyss or exploring the open world, Bennett’s support can significantly enhance your team's performance. Additionally, Bennett's constellations further amplify his support capabilities. For example, his Constellation 1 removes the HP restriction on his healing, making him even more reliable. While his Constellation 6 can be controversial due to its Pyro infusion, it can still be beneficial in certain Pyro-centric team compositions. However, it's important to consider how it might affect your team's elemental reactions before unlocking it. Despite his reputation for being unlucky in the game's lore, Bennett consistently brings good fortune to players who add him to their teams, solidifying his status as a top-tier support character. He synergizes well with a variety of DPS characters, including Pyro DPS like Diluc and Hu Tao, as well as non-Pyro DPS who can benefit from the ATK buff, such as Razor or Eula. His ability to provide both healing and damage amplification in a single package makes him incredibly efficient, freeing up other team slots for additional support or sub-DPS characters. In summary, Bennett's combination of healing, attack buff, and energy generation makes him a must-have for any serious Genshin Impact player, and his inclusion in your team will undoubtedly lead to improved performance and more consistent clear times.

Xingqiu: The Rain Swordsman of the Guhua Clan

Xingqiu is a Hydro support character known for his consistent Hydro application and damage reduction. His Elemental Skill, Guhua Sword: Fatal Rainscreen, creates Rain Swords that orbit the active character, providing damage reduction and applying Hydro to nearby enemies. His Elemental Burst, Guhua Sword: Raincutter, summons even more Rain Swords that attack alongside the active character, making him an excellent enabler for Vaporize and Electro-Charged reactions. Xingqiu's consistent Hydro application makes him a perfect partner for Pyro DPS characters like Hu Tao and Diluc, allowing them to trigger Vaporize reactions for massive damage. His damage reduction also adds a layer of survivability to the team, making him valuable in challenging content. Furthermore, Xingqiu's energy regeneration capabilities are noteworthy. With the right build and weapon, he can consistently generate energy for his Elemental Burst, ensuring that it is always ready when needed. This makes him a reliable and consistent support character who can significantly boost your team's damage output. When building Xingqiu, it's important to focus on Energy Recharge to maximize his Burst uptime. The Emblem of Severed Fate artifact set is an excellent choice for this purpose, as it provides both Energy Recharge and increased Burst damage. In addition to his Hydro application and damage reduction, Xingqiu also provides a small amount of healing through his Rain Swords, further enhancing his team's survivability. His multifaceted support capabilities make him a versatile and valuable addition to any team, and his synergy with a wide range of DPS characters ensures that he will always have a place in your roster. Whether you're facing tough bosses or clearing domains, Xingqiu's consistent Hydro application and damage reduction will undoubtedly contribute to your team's success.

Zhongli: The Geo Archon of Contracts

Zhongli, the Geo Archon, is renowned for his unparalleled defensive capabilities. His Elemental Skill, Dominus Lapidis, creates a Stone Stele that resonates with other Geo constructs and provides a powerful shield. Zhongli's shield not only absorbs a significant amount of damage but also reduces the elemental and physical resistance of nearby enemies, making them more vulnerable to attack. This combination of shielding and resistance reduction makes Zhongli an invaluable asset for any team. Zhongli's shield is particularly effective against bosses and enemies with high damage output, allowing your team to withstand devastating attacks and maintain their offensive pressure. Furthermore, his resistance reduction effect benefits all types of damage, making him a versatile support character who can enhance the damage output of any DPS. In addition to his defensive capabilities, Zhongli also provides crowd control with his Elemental Burst, Planet Befall, which petrifies enemies, rendering them unable to move or attack for a short period. This can be incredibly useful for interrupting enemy attacks or creating opportunities for your DPS to deal damage safely. When building Zhongli, it's important to prioritize HP to maximize the strength of his shield. The Tenacity of the Millelith artifact set is an excellent choice for this purpose, as it provides both HP and an attack buff for the team when his Elemental Skill hits an enemy. Zhongli's ability to provide unparalleled defense, resistance reduction, and crowd control makes him a top-tier support character who can significantly enhance your team's survivability and damage output. Whether you're tackling the Spiral Abyss or exploring the open world, Zhongli's presence on your team will undoubtedly make your adventures much easier and more enjoyable.

Raiden Shogun: The Electro Archon of Eternity

Raiden Shogun is an Electro Archon excels in energy regeneration and boosting Elemental Burst damage. Her Elemental Skill, Transcendence: Baleful Omen, provides coordinated attacks and increases the Elemental Burst damage of party members. Her Elemental Burst, Secret Art: Musou Shinsetsu, allows her to deal significant Electro damage and regenerate energy for the entire team. Raiden Shogun’s ability to regenerate energy makes her an invaluable asset for teams that rely on Elemental Bursts. She can significantly reduce the energy requirements of her teammates, allowing them to use their Bursts more frequently and deal more damage. Furthermore, her Elemental Skill provides a consistent source of off-field damage and enhances the damage output of the team’s Bursts. Raiden Shogun synergizes well with a variety of characters, including those with high energy costs and powerful Elemental Bursts. Characters like Xiangling, Eula, and Sara Kujou benefit greatly from her energy regeneration and Burst damage buff. In addition to her support capabilities, Raiden Shogun is also a capable DPS character in her own right. During her Elemental Burst, she deals significant Electro damage and can serve as the main damage dealer for the team. When building Raiden Shogun, it's important to focus on Energy Recharge and Critical Rate/Damage to maximize her Burst damage and energy regeneration. The Emblem of Severed Fate artifact set is an excellent choice for this purpose, as it provides both Energy Recharge and increased Burst damage. Raiden Shogun's combination of energy regeneration, Burst damage buff, and DPS potential makes her a versatile and valuable addition to any team. Whether you're tackling the Spiral Abyss or exploring the open world, Raiden Shogun's presence on your team will undoubtedly enhance your team's performance and make your adventures more efficient.

Kazuha: The Wandering Samurai of Inazuma

Kazuha is an Anemo support character known for his crowd control, elemental damage bonus, and overall versatility. His Elemental Skill, Chihayaburu, pulls enemies towards him and launches him into the air, allowing him to perform a Plunging Attack that deals Anemo damage and absorbs any infused element. His Elemental Burst, Kazuha Slash, creates a field that deals continuous Anemo damage and also absorbs any infused element, dealing additional damage of that element. Kazuha’s crowd control abilities make him invaluable for grouping enemies together, allowing your DPS characters to deal damage to multiple targets simultaneously. Furthermore, his elemental damage bonus, granted through his passive talent, significantly increases the damage output of the team, particularly for characters who deal elemental damage. Kazuha synergizes well with a variety of DPS characters, including those who deal Pyro, Hydro, Electro, or Cryo damage. His ability to absorb and amplify elemental damage makes him a versatile support character who can fit into a wide range of team compositions. When building Kazuha, it's important to focus on Elemental Mastery to maximize his elemental damage bonus. The Viridescent Venerer artifact set is an excellent choice for this purpose, as it reduces the elemental resistance of enemies affected by Swirl. In addition to his crowd control and elemental damage bonus, Kazuha also provides a small amount of mobility and exploration utility. His Elemental Skill allows him to easily traverse the environment and reach high places, making him a valuable asset for exploring the open world. Kazuha's combination of crowd control, elemental damage bonus, mobility, and exploration utility makes him a top-tier support character who can significantly enhance your team's performance and make your adventures more enjoyable.

Building Your Support Characters

Once you’ve chosen your support characters, it’s essential to build them correctly to maximize their effectiveness. Here are some general tips for building support characters in Genshin Impact:

• Artifacts: Focus on artifact sets that enhance their specific support capabilities. For example, the Noblesse Oblige set is great for characters who provide ATK buffs, while the Tenacity of the Millelith set is excellent for characters who provide shields.
• Weapons: Choose weapons that complement their support roles. Energy Recharge weapons are ideal for characters who need to use their Elemental Bursts frequently, while weapons with supportive passive abilities can further enhance their utility.
• Stats: Prioritize stats that are relevant to their support roles. For healers, focus on HP or Healing Bonus. For buffers, focus on ATK or Elemental Mastery. For characters who rely on their Elemental Burst, focus on Energy Recharge.
• Talents: Level up their talents, particularly those that enhance their support abilities. For example, if a character’s Elemental Burst provides a significant buff, prioritize leveling up that talent.

Team Compositions

Creating effective team compositions is crucial for success in Genshin Impact. Here are some examples of team compositions that utilize the support characters mentioned above:

• Hu Tao Vaporize Team: Hu Tao, Xingqiu, Zhongli, Albedo
• Raiden National Team: Raiden Shogun, Xiangling, Xingqiu, Bennett
• Eula Superconduct Team: Eula, Raiden Shogun, Zhongli, Rosaria
• Mono Pyro Team: Diluc, Bennett, Kazuha, Xiangling

These are just a few examples, and there are many other viable team compositions that you can create based on your own preferences and character availability. The key is to experiment and find what works best for you.

Conclusion

Support characters are the backbone of any successful team in Genshin Impact. They provide the healing, buffs, and utility needed to keep your team alive and thriving. By understanding the roles of support characters and building them correctly, you can create powerful and well-rounded teams that can tackle any challenge. Whether you’re exploring the open world, tackling domains, or conquering the Spiral Abyss, having a strong lineup of support characters will undoubtedly enhance your Genshin Impact experience. So, take the time to invest in your support characters, and you’ll be well on your way to becoming a true master of Teyvat!