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Do you like badass nuns? So does Genshin Impact. There are a couple of notable warrior nuns in the said gacha game, and one of them is the dedicated healer, Barbara (ikuyo!). The game likes her so much that she’s the only 4-star character with a Burst animation. And you’re bound to like her too if you build her right with the help of our Barbara Genshin Impact guide.
It turns out Barbara was initially supposed to be a 5-star character like her sister. Which is sad for her. But with the right artifacts, weapons, and skill priorities, you can make her seem like a 5-star character.
Here’s our Barbara Genshin Impact guide to nudge you (and her) in that direction.
The Best Artifacts for Barbara
Babara’s build or artifact set is a pretty straightforward affair in Genshin Impact.
She has a couple of best-in-slot artifact sets though one is more ideal for beginners than the other. The more accessible one would be the Maiden Beloved set though you can still make do with the Ocean-Hued Clam (which was made with Kokomi in mind). Either artifact set will result in a good Barbara.
Maiden Beloved
You can obtain the Maiden Beloved set in the Valley of Remembrance Domain in Mondstadt. It’s a simple healing boost for Barbara, which is her primary role in the team (she doesn’t really have many).
These are the bonuses for the artifact set:
- 2-Piece Bonus – Character Healing Effectiveness +15%
- 4-Piece Bonus – Using an Elemental Skill or Burst increases healing received by all party members by 20% for 10s.
Nothing fancy here, just something to make Barbara scale better during high-level gameplay. Here’s an alternative for players who have unlocked Inazuma.
Ocean-Hued Clam
For the Ocean-Hued clam, you’re going to have to farm the Slumbering Court Domain on Seirai Island, Inazuma.
This artifact set also increases the healing capabilities of its wearer but also throws in an added damage trigger. Here are the bonuses:
- 2-Piece Bonus – Healing Bonus +15%.
- 4-Piece Bonus – When the character equipping this artifact set heals a character in the party, a Sea-Dyed Foam will appear for 3 seconds, accumulating the amount of HP recovered from healing (including overflow healing). At the end of the duration, the Sea-Dyed Foam will explode, dealing DMG to nearby opponents based on 90% of the accumulated healing. (This DMG is calculated similarly to Reactions such as Electro-Charged, and Superconduct, but it is not affected by Elemental Mastery, Character Levels, or Reaction DMG Bonuses). Only one Sea-Dyed Foam can be produced every 3.5 seconds. Each Sea-Dyed Foam can accumulate up to 30,000 HP (including overflow healing). There can be no more than one Sea-Dyed Foam active at any given time. This effect can still be triggered even when the character who is using this artifact set is not on the field.gesn
The 4-piece bonus is pretty decent as it will deal damage based on how much Barbara has healed but given how long her cooldowns are, Barbara might not trigger it too often, so you can mix and match this one with the other artifact set.
Artifact Stats to Prioritize
Since Barbara has a singular role in most teams, you don’t need a complicated stat spread for her.
The usual HP and Healing Bonus increase for healers is enough. Moreover, Barbara’s abilities scale off her Max HP so pumping up that stat is an ideal method for building her up. In any case, prioritize these stats in the order that they’re listed:
- HP% (Goblet)
- HP% (Circlet)
- Healing Bonus (Circlet, depends on what you get)
- HP% (Sands)
- Energy Recharge / HP (substats)
Energy Recharge is not as important as HP here for Barbara, but it’s still nice to have since more frequent healing means your teams will be functionally unkillable. Beyond that, you don’t have to worry much about getting the stats you want in your artifacts as Barbara has it easy.
Best Weapons for Barbara
Another easy choice for Barbara would be her weapons. She’s a 4-star support character who mostly excels in healing and not much else (perhaps applying Hydro as well, but there are better characters for that).
Hence, you don’t really need to make much of an effort in giving Barbara the best or most expensive weapons in Genshin Impact. A simple Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers will do and will more often than not outperform other options.
- Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers (HP) – When switching characters, the new character taking the field has their ATK increased by 24% for 10s. This effect can only occur once every 20s.
It gives Barbara more HP and also grants her the ability to buff her teammates’ attacks for quite a long duration which can then be reset easily.
There’s no need for anything fancy, really. Besides, you can refine this catalyst more readily compared to 4-star and 5-star weapons. You practically get them for free in high quantities.
Skill Priorities for Barbara
Barbara doesn’t exactly need to fit into any rotation, just swap to her whenever someone needs healing and then activate her abilities. With that said, her Elemental Skill is a lot more interactive and less resource intensive compared to her Elemental Burst so prioritize that one.
These are Barbara’s active talents in the order of which to prioritize:
- Let the Show Begin (Elemental Skill) – Summons water droplets resembling musical notes that form a Melody Loop, dealing Hydro DMG to surrounding enemies and afflicting them with the Wet status. Barbara’s Normal Attacks heal all party members and nearby allied characters for a certain amount of HP, which scales with Barbara’s Max HP. Regenerates a certain amount of the current character’s HP at regular intervals. Applies the Wet status to the character and enemies who come in contact with them.
- Shining Miracle (Elemental Burst) – Heals friendly forces and all parties for a large amount of HP that scales with Barbara’s Max HP.
- Whisper of Water (Normal Attack) – Perform up to 4 water splashes attacks that deal Hydro DMG.
She does apply the Hydro status and can set Pyro characters up for a Vaporize reaction or Cryo characters for Freeze, but it’s not consistent compared to someone like Xingqiu. It’s best to focus on healing.
Barbara Team Comp
Here we are again with a support character, meaning Barbara doesn’t really have teams built around her. It’s the other way around.
She can actually fit into any team that needs healing, just don’t slot her into a team that relies on a 100 percent shield uptime since she won’t be doing much in such a setup. Barbara needs to heal to be useful.
These characters do have synergy with her, healing or otherwise:
- Ayaka (for maintaining Freeze while also healing a bit)
- Nilou (for a Bloom setup)
- Nahida (again for a Bloom setup)
- Shenhe (for boosting Cryo or perma-Freeze teams)
- Fischl (off-field damage that pairs well with Barbara’s healing windows)
- Yae Miko (like Fischl but more expensive)
- Kaeya (for a budget Freeze team)
Regardless of who you pair with Barbara (or vice versa), following this Barbara Genshin Impact guide is almost mandatory to ensure that she’s in top shape as a warrior nun.
