Genshin Impact is still an open-world adventure RPG and in games like this where combat and combat skill play an important role, players much rather prefer tank characters than characters who can heal. It is the same in Genshin Impact.
Genshin Impact’s Survival Systems
Genshin Impact has two defense or survival-oriented support mechanics- Healing and Shielding. Even though they must technically have the same value and must be balanced units, players still value shielders more than healers. Characters who can do both are also high value but only if they are good at it. Characters whose only role and function are to heal are regarded as low value. On the other hand, characters who can only shield are regarded as medium-value units.
Why Shielders over Healers
One of the primary reasons why people prefer shielders to healers is because shields prevent interruption in your attack combos and team rotations. If you have a healer in your party but not a shielder then chances are even if you remain alive throughout the fight, your attack chains and combos will be interrupted by enemy attacks thus resulting in an overall loss in dps. Shielders ensure smooth attack chains and team rotations so the gameplay is optimal and the damage is consistent.
What Makes an S-Tier Shielder or Healer
Curiously for any of these above support characters to be an S-class unit, they only need to have damage support built into their kit. They can either boost the damage of your party members or act as a sub-dps to be regarded as great units- though in these cases, they are regarded more as damage support than a healer.
For example, characters like Bennett and Jean are great healers but they are more revered due to their damage buffs or their own personal damage scaling. Diona is the only character who’s a great shielder and a great healer at the same time. At her C6, Diona even buffs her teammates with EM which in turn boosts their reaction damage.
Dedicated healers like Barbara, Qiqi and Kokomi are looked down upon due to their primary function being that of healing. Kokomi is still not as hated as the other two since she has her own decent personal damage to contribute to the team. Qiqi when built well also serves as a functional dps and a great healer but since her damage numbers aren’t remotely high, she’s seen as a bad character- even though she makes your team almost unkillable.
Dedicated shielders on the other hand like Thoma are also looked down upon since that’s their only role. Noelle gets a bit of love when she’s at C6 because she contributes decent damage to the team while also serving as a healer and a shielder. Zhongli is the golden child of shields since having him on your team means your team won’t take any damage. He has the strongest shield in the game and even though he’s technically a dedicated shielder, his shield also shreds enemy resistances which further increases your teammates’ damage. Zhongli’s elemental burst is also a powerful source of damage so that’s a nice bonus for players to enjoy in his shield-based kit.
Of course, there are still casual players with weak teams to the point they need both a shielder and a healer and in those cases both of these roles are indispensable. Shielders and Healers are especially vital in the early game when you are still getting used to the combat mechanics and enemy attack patterns so it’s wise to have at least two characters built who fulfil both of these roles either together or individually.