Shielders are an important class of characters in Genshin Impact thanks to the valuable benefits they provide during combat. These shielders provide dedicated shields, which are significantly more durable than the Crystallize shields produced by Geo elemental reactions. The shields provide a source of proactive mitigation, opposite of healing which is a form of reactive mitigation. They also provide massive resistance from interruptions, which is useful when dealing combos and performing calculated attacks. While there aren’t a lot of shield-producing characters in the game, it’s still important for us to rank them based on their utility. So, here's our Genshin Impact Tier List for Shielders.
SS Tier
Zhongli – The Liyue Archon is the gold standard when it comes to providing shields. In fact, Zhongli started the shield meta, and nearly every team that can fit Zhongli in has made dedicated healers almost obsolete. His shield is the most durable in the game, thanks to its great scaling based off his HP, and can further fortify itself as the shield takes hits. Not only that, but the shield shreds enemy resistances, which is an amazing damage boost for nearly all characters. In most situations, his shield has permanent uptime, which makes it ubiquitous in the game’s current meta teams and top of Genshin Impact tier lists.
S Tier
Diona – Shields, healing, energy, Cryo application–Diona can almost do anything…maybe except dealing damage. Diona’s usefulness has been integral to one of the strongest teams in Genshin Impact, namely, the Morgana/Permafreeze teams. But even outside of that, she’s a jack-of-all-trades character that can do so many things well. Diona’s shield scales off of HP, which is an easy stat to invest in. It’s no doubt that Diona is the best 4-star shielder in the game, and it takes a lot to dethrone her from this spot.
A Tier
Noelle – For some people, it’s unusual to see Noelle not placed at the bottom of the list. Sure, Noelle isn’t useful at all at the highest level of gameplay, but she’s quite underrated especially for newer players. Noelle can provide a shield and some healing, which is very useful in the early and midgame, especially when she’s a free unit from the starter banner. In the late game, she can be a Zhongli substitute on pure Geo teams, especially when the team needs a good shield. Thanks to the new Artifact set, the Husk of Opulent Dreams, Noelle can be a potent DPS character who can deal significant amounts of damage on a budget.
Thoma – Thoma is a character that could have been great but held back by miHoYo’s balance team. He has a decent shield that can stack thanks to his Elemental Burst, but has the issue of lacking Energy to sustain it. As such, Thoma’s range of applicability has shrunken down to only within Pyro teams. However, he still provides valuable utility for the likes of Hu Tao and Xiangling, who are powerful characters in the current meta.
B Tier
Xinyan – Our favorite but neglected rockstar shows up at the bottom of the list, not because her shield is bad, but rather because she’s a very awkward character who fails to fit in almost any team in the game. Her split scaling between Pyro and Physical has caused many problems when it comes to building her. As a support, she unfortunately cannot provide anything else outside of a decent shield–her Pyro application is quite poor, and the shield uptime is far from good. However, there are certain builds that make her quite viable, like the Charged Attack DPS build, though requiring considerable investment to accomplish.
Beidou – Okay, she’s not really a dedicated shielder, to be exact. However, having a shield that can resist Electro damage is actually quite useful in certain situations. Beidou’s shield only appears once you get her first Constellation, which is expected for a lot of players who’ve played a decent amount of Genshin Impact. Having a Beidou on your team simply means you have a shield to work with, which is totally better than having none at all.
That's it for this Genshin Impact Tier List. We now have an entire section for this, so check out the Genshin Impact Tier Lists tag here if you're looking for more.
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