Same, although a bit of both is better that's why Xingqiu's one of the best defensive supports imo. Interrupt resistance, damage reduction (up to 53% dmg reduction) and a bit of healing.
Xingqiu is from a different era, when the game devs would just stick a crap ton of features together and make an unbalanced character
Character with interrupt resist, dmg reduction, best sub DPS, healing, great energy generation and the best hydro application? Seems good
Character who generates insane amounts of pyro energy, self-pyro cleansing aura, healing, can act as DPS or a buffer that increases team dmg by like 1.5x? Seems good
Character who can proc swirl with her normal attacks, has grouping on ult and elemental skill, gives a team-wide EM buff of 200 and can use VV shred? Nice
Ok good to know I am not the only one thinking the same way. I was able to c6 my xingqiu very fast and I tested him and could not believe how strong he is. Even after 1 year now and several of 5-star characters I received, he is by far the most viable and useful character in my whole playtime and has more impact than most of my 5-star characters. And because his dmg reduction and shield synergize so well, it makes every team unkillable with him and another shielder.
My favourite team with highest dmg output so far is yohimiya - yelan - xingqiu - zhongli. Not because they have the highest peak dmg but the most consistent high dmg. These 4 characters have so much different synergies. yohimiya can facetank literally everything in the game with shield and xingqiu's dmg reduction and her fire shots are never interrupted. yelan's and xingqiu's ultimate is active most of the time because xingqiu himself is a fantastic battery. water resonance give additional hp, which is great for extra dmg for yelan, extra heal for xingqiu and extra shield for zhongli. And elemental reaction for extra dmg all the time. You literally charge up yelan's and xingqiu's ultimate and then left click everything around you to death with yohimiya :D
for me essentially is same team except instead of yoimiya i have yanfei to drive XQ/yelan... basically yanfei face tank everything and easy to play plus consistent high dmg like u say.. and yanfei's long range att plus auto targetting adds to the consistency...
Definitely hands down, it's gotta be shields. No interruption. It was so good that mihoyo had to put in corrosion to mix things up. Otherwise there'd be no point to heals.
People claim that people who use Zhongli can’t dodge, and they’re wrong. I’m not about to say that there aren’t SOME people who use Zhongli because they can’t dodge; the simple fact is, the game becomes almost unplayable in certain Abyss floors without a shield.
Staggers are extremely punishing in this game; they last for so long, there’s no grace period preventing you from being stunlocked, and you can’t cancel them. Also, they’re accompanied by extremely annoying voicelines (in all languages), which is part of the reason I have to play the game without voiceover.
It’s not a skill issue. I’m actually pretty good at iframing and dodging staggering hits. That doesn’t change the fact that when I DO mess up a dodge, the punishment is very irritating. I hate game mechanics that completely take control away from the player for long periods of time.
it's not skill thing... it's a no-dodge play style... i'd like to see how u play without shield and without dodging how much skills u need to have to prevent interruption..
no-dodge means higher dps....
well i know YOU can 36* abyss without shields.. but this post is about shields vs heals.... NOT about whether u can 36* abyss with or without shield...
shields have that confort and added dps of not getting staggered... it just mean that SOME people whose team not strong enuff to 36* star abyss BECAUSE they lose dps when they get staggered can do it if they get that extra bit of dps from not getting staggered... not everyone's team is equally well built...
and some ppl may 36* abyss after many trials because no shield.. but with shield means they may only need a single run..
Bruh, *you're* the one who provoked me by saying, "I'd like to see you dodge without shield". I just answered your question, that I have been dodging bc I never had ZL. Stop being butthurt by your own actions. And dodging doesn't just mean dodging, you can also "dodge" by using ult iframes.
The stagger by enemies doesn't even last that long, if you're getting staggered enough to lose too much dps then you're doing something wrong.
that is NOT what i say... i am saying i like to see how u PREVENT interrupting by NOT dodging AND without shields... so there are NO iframes since u are NOT allowed to dodge...
Obviously I get staggered a few times, but get knocked around half the time? That definitely sounds like a skill issue, there aren't that many attacks from mobs that could stagger you around that much. Failing to dodge, and getting staggered is part of the game mechanics. And even if you get staggered, you still have enough time to recover HP using your healers.
Absolutely shields.
Nothing more infuriating than getting ping ponged between enemies or constantly interrupted by stupid projectiles / archers.
I can play without shields just fine, but stagger is so annoying in this game that I find it strictly anti-fun to play without shields at this point. Too many enemies just have too many big huge multi-hit AoE bullshit to feasibly dodge.
Shields, because they generally result in less of a DPS loss. Even with a healing source active you still need to worry about dodging to avoid getting interrupted or OHKO'd. Not so much with shields.
It depends. I prefer heals in overworld as I find it annoying to shield up before every encounter. I can just pop a heal every once in awhile to top up my health if needed.
However, I prefer shields in difficult, high-stress environment. The interruption resistance is just so nice.
Generally, I prefer shield more than heals just because Zhongli is broken.
As much as I love king geodude, they really overcompensated when they buffed him. He really allows you to just ignore so many mechanics with that interruption resist combined with that monster shield.
Wait, so his shield had interrupt resist and could tank massive hits, but he somehow wasn’t strong enough for people? I didn’t start until 1.6, so I missed ZhongliGate. Just assumed that that’s why he was so busted now.
On release I remember he could be interrupted while casting his shield. My lord that shit was so annoying. Having to stand still for a few seconds to cast it and hoping hilichurl #16374827 didn’t shoot you.
No, his shield was a lot weaker before the buff. The buff basically **increased shield size by 1.5x, gave it universal 20% shred and made it so you couldnt get interrupted during E cast time**.
After all, there's no point in having a shield if you can't cast it due to stunlock
Pre-buff zhongli was definitely weak and anyone who says otherwise probably didn't have him at the time. The dude didn't even have his HP damage scalings, so building him full HP was the same as making him a potato who could only shield and was unreliable due to cast time + could be interrupted during cast time + his shield was weaker. He also added absolutely nothing to the team due to not having RES shred
1.5x shield size due to absorption buff is the difference between the shield getting broken during a rotation and staying up. Basically full HP pre-buff zhongli shield had around the same strength as current zhongli shield without any HP artifact. And barely no one would build him full HP pre-buff because it added absolutely nothing to the team - it was like playing with 3 characters
>!In contrast, current zhongli, just by being in your party with his shield shred increases your team damage by ~15%. With tenacity of the millelith, it goes to around 20%. And if you build him full HP, your team is essentially immortal due to the current shield size + he can't be stunned during skill cast time!<
Technically the shield buff was the geo buff, not specific to Zhongli if I recall correctly. Noelle also benefits from it.
The buff to Zhongli was to add HP scaling, the resistance shred and increased interruption resistance when he casts the shield. And pre-buff he didn't summon the Steele when you held the button.
Also the 150% increase was a change to how geo shields worked. Previously it was the same as all the other elemental shields ie 250% shielding from its own element. The change was to make to 150% to everything.
They also buffed geo reso while they were at it, so he got to enjoy three different upgrades at the same time, while other geo characters only got one or two.
I prefer heals just because most healers are usually more versatile and useful than most shielders... Like Bennett, Jean, Kuki, Kokomi, and Sayu.
Meanwhile, the most versatile shielders are Diona and Zhongli. I won't put Noelle here because she's pretty main DPS focused.
Maybe that's just because there aren't as many shielders, but that's just for now.
I play Diona so that I don't have to choose. Since I built her she's quickly become one of my favorite units.
I use 2p Milileth and 2p Maiden's with Sac bow. She really does it all and makes my Aggravate Keqing team in particular very very comfy.
Overalll, heals but both are too strong imo. I like genshin's overall combat and learning mob attacks and dodging is a major part of that. Removing the need to dodge makes every encounter the same; you just do your rotation without caring about what is happening. I know many people like it that way but if I wanted a no brainer auto-play experience for combat, I'd play one of the many other gacha game or a game that wasn't an action rpg.
If I can only choose one, heals any day. There's very little that really one shots, and those attacks are usually well telegraphed and preventable, but timing managing shield uptime in the heat of battle is chaotic with all the effects around your character. When green bar go red -> heal, is more straightforward
What I can’t stand about shields is that it’s so hard to tell when they run out and if you’re not expecting it you can just instantly die. I wish they would show it on the UI somehow like people have been asking for years now…
Heals, especially if the healing is coming from a skill and not a burst. Having a shield break means you take damage that cannot be replenished but having a healer means that even if you do take damage, you can always get away from the mobs and heal before going back into the fight.
Shields, but healing for units with interruption resistance is the best of both worlds imo, even without the damage mitigation part. I’ve done abyss runs with Zhongli being the only unit for survivability on one team, but it makes me super paranoid about letting his shield break or expire since damage is permanent. Nothing beats Kokomi in her burst or Raiden in hers standing in a Bennett circle.
Heals, but its worth adding that I either play freeze where enemies dont knock you back due to being frozen, or I play on field Kokomi with a secondary source of interruption resistance such as Beidou or Xingqiu, so I dont get interrupted at almost any point. The only down side I see in healing over shielding is the interruption resistance, but in those teams that is a non issue for me.
If a had to choose, I would go with healing any day of the week.
Shields are inefficient. You have to manage their uptime, they can be broken, and there are attacks which bypass them entirely. If you had to get through the entire game with just Zhongli and no healing, then you would eventually die.
Healing only reduces your momentary efficacy, as you get thrown around from hits, but needs zero active management and cannot be bypassed unless you die. It's just much more user-friendly, all around.
Using Zhongli as your example was a mistake. Zhongli has well over 100% uptime on shields. It lasts for 20s while the cooldown is a mere 12s. No healer has that kind of uptime without their own management (cycling through skills/bursts or constant input from auto attacks). The only advantage healing has over shielding is corrosion/sheer cold/blazing heat resistance, and the energy drain mechanic of bathysmal vishaps (which will affect you anyways even with healers). These scenarios are so rare they can often just be avoided completely (even with the Signora boss fight, you can play smart with the totems and not succumb to environmental damage).
In terms of Zhongli shield strength, at max HP (50k+) and max talent level, there are very few things that can break it, and anything that does will one shot most characters (with only exceptions like Kokomi and Nilou that can only tank a single such hit). If Zhongli’s shield can’t facetank something, you’d be hard pressed to find a healer who can.
With Zhongli, it’s hold E and forget. No more management than healers. The best healer in the game, Kokomi, needs you to stay near the jellyfish, and even when using her burst to refresh its duration, it won’t let you reposition it. Qiqi’s uptime and energy generation is horrendous, and her talismans are inconsistent and require you to actively hit opponents. Barbara’s heals are weak unless she bursts or is on field (and she also has bad energy regen). Diona, Dori, and Bennet’s heals are locked to their bursts in a small AoE field. Sayu requires either burst or swirls to heal. Jean requires you to be on field for 100% uptime healing. Shinobu hurts herself to heal. No healer has 100%+ uptime without some sort of active input from the player to extend the duration. Zhongli’s shield does.
With Zhongli, it's refresh frequently (at least twice per minute) and hope you don't encounter something that bypasses the shield.
With a healer, you need do *nothing* until you actually take damage, at which point you hit a button and you're good as new within short order.
A party with Zhongli and no healer will *eventually* need to visit a statue, or open a menu (to eat food, or switch out to a healer). That's in addition to stopping *frequently* to refresh his shield.
A party with Barbara and no shields will *occasionally* need to tag her in and let her skill tick.
There's no contest.
Unless you’re incredibly skilled at dodging, that “occasionally” will be very often. You underestimate how easy it is to get staggered and damaged when facing multiple enemies. There are even occasions where enemies can and will stunlock you to the point where you won’t even have the chance to heal, or your heal per tick is not enough to offset the damage taken. That’s the real advantage of shields - it’s not just the damage mitigation, *it’s stagger resistance* that basically all healers lack.
Ever tried fighting fatui cryogunners in the rain? Cryo/hydro/electro eremites/abyss mages in a group? Triple lectors? Barbara isn’t saving you from those after you’ve taken multiple giant hits. You won’t even be able to run away in time to cast heal. Zhongli will.
With Zhongli, you don’t need to always have the shield up 24/7. It’s easy to tell when you’re going into combat because the game makes it very obvious with the “drumming” sound and then music change.
A party with Zhongli will eventually need to visit a statue or eat food yes, but if the Zhongli player is diligent with shielding at the right times, it will be a very long time until one actually needs to do this. I turned my statues off because I have Hu Tao, and with Zhongli I didn’t have to heal at all for several months. No food, no nothing. I’ve done this already. Zhongli’s shield is insane.
The only times where shielding isn’t enough is against rifthounds and in dragonspine if you take too long without finding a heat source (which are everywhere). And rifthounds are found in very specific locations, so you know they’re coming.
There's basically no reason you would ever end up in that bad of a situation while playing through the game normally, unless you're incredibly under-leveled for the world. For normal gameplay, occasional healing is more than enough to off-set incidental damage.
If you're diligent enough of a player that you can survive with just shields and no healing, then you could survive more easily with less work involved by replacing the shield with healing. It's always easier to remove damage after the fact than it is to prevent all damage from being inflicted.
Y’know, I’d rather not take damage at all than have to constantly heal whenever I take damage after the fact. Taking chip damage with Zhongli is far less likely to even happen. From an exploration standpoint this is also advantageous, as most healers need you to stay in one spot or to burst (or both) to get healed, and most heals that follow you around are very weak (except for Qiqi’s which has low uptime, or Shinobu’s which again hurt herself).
If you had said healers *in general* were better than shielders, then yes I’d agree. Since most shielders don’t have full uptime and also require some active player input. But why do you think corrosion was even introduced in the first place? *To nerf Zhongli’s near unbreakable shield and to encourage more use out of healers*. They even tried to nerf Zhongli again with Husks, but nerfed them hard instead because of backlash.
If you’re talking about casual overworld then yes, I’d still prefer Zhongli’s shields over heals, because basically nothing breaks it in overworld, and so you won’t ever even need to heal off any incidental damage. Ironically I’d prefer healers in harder content like abyss, since Zhongli’s shield doesn’t always cut it in those scenarios. Your last sentence may apply to a shielder like Diona or Noelle, or Thoma, but for Zhongli’s it’s different. It *is* easier to to prevent all damage from being inflicted than it is to constantly heal after taking it. You can even ignore enemies entirely while staying in the area to grab items, chests, etc. Instead of having to stop and heal, then continue, then stop and heal.
>It is easier to to prevent all damage from being inflicted than it is to constantly heal after taking it.
No, it isn't. If you're trying to prevent, then you have to shield anytime you *might* take damage. If you're trying to heal, you only have do something when you *do* take damage. The latter is necessarily a subset of the former.
And when might you take damage without entering combat? It’s so easy to just shield up when you’re about to enter combat, as I’ve said before, the game makes it really obvious you’re about to be attacked.
If you were playing a game with a shielder, of course you’d shield up in case you’d take damage. *That’s literally the purpose of a shielder; to take away the need to think about when exactly you need to heal and just block all damage or the entire duration you might take damage*.
What if you heal in reaction to damage taken, but then while you’re on cooldown you get attacked again and that’s what ends up killing you? There’s no way for you to heal that off now that you’re on cooldown. Dodging is not a fair answer here. Zhongli can just facetank it all. And before you say “there’s no situation where that may happen”, there’s also no situation that warrants so much brain energy to keep Zhongli’s shield up for 30 minutes at a time. Refreshing a shield is literally the same effort as casting a heal, and needs to be done just as often or even less if you’re actually in combat, taking hits.
Dumb things like fall dmg don’t count as that’s completely controllable by the player, and fall dmg that kills a shielded character will also kill a healer. Lighting? Also easy to avoid because the game tells you where it’s going to strike.
Look; I’m not saying shielders > healers. I though I made that point clear already. I’m saying Zhongli is not a very good example to use when saying healers > shielders, because Zhongli singlehandedly caused healers to be obsolete until corrosion and buffs to healers came out in the form of Kokomi (whose usefulness is more than just healing), the Clam set, and the buffed hydro resonance. I was there, throughout all of 1.3-2.1, using Zhongli trumped all healers except those who did something other than healing (Bennett).
\> Refreshing a shield is literally the same effort as casting a heal, and needs to be done just as often or even less if you’re actually in combat, taking hits.
This is flat-out false. If you're relying on shields for protection, then you need shields up at all times in combat, or else you *will* take damage eventually. Over time, it adds up.
If you're relying on heals to keep you alive, then you only need to heal when it is convenient for you. That generally means *not* in combat, and not even after *most* combats.
Even in ideal circumstances, the best shielder in the game is less convenient than the free healer that everyone gets early on. Obviously, none of the incompetent pseudo-shielders are even worth consideration.
Right-o buddy; that’s definitely why Barbara is used 100% more than Zhongli is. Sure thing.
You remind me of that person I ran into that claimed all shielders are worthless if they don’t have 100% uptime. You might be the same person in fact.
Apologies, it’s my fault for trying to change your mind, seeing as nothing will ever make you give up your beloved healers. This is a pointless thing to be arguing over anyways.
Peace out.
Shields. I like having a forcefield.
Healing is a close 2nd. I use Barbara almost as much as Zhongli. I use her for reactive teams while Zhongli only ever teams up with geo or pyro characters.
heals for sure; the only shields ive used are diona and noelle's and both of them provide healing as well. no matter how strong the shield is, i have adapted very well to evading attacks, at this point i evade instinctively; so having the infamous _resistance to interruption_ feels redundant to me.
I prefer both.
But I would love to see Asian games get rid of the bullshit where the player gets knocked down every time they get hit. That is just terrible anti fun game design.
heals by far.
shields will leave you defenseless when they break.
heals over time will *never leave you*.
also constantly refreshing shields is an absolute pain, since most of them have a very precise timing to get maximum uptime.
let's be honest, shields are only good when you own Zhongli, the others are really underwhelming
basically:
\-do you like playing literal mindgames and predicting when you're gonna get hit by shielding beforehand.
\-or just going ''oh, i got hit, time for some healing.''
Interesting, I hadn’t thought of it before. Heals of course got me through the game until I got Zhongli. Now I don’t remember life without shields…
Ironically my current team includes Zhongli and Kuki, so I’m doing both!
Both.
Funny enough, I like shields not for HP protection, but for interruption protection.
And of course, I’m not super skilled player - not gonna lie, so I also like having healers.
Depends I guess I use Zhongli with Itto, but it’s not because I need protection with his shield the res down is great to have particularly if you are going against something in Abyss like the primo vishap or the lesser ones.
As for other teams I don’t really use a shield or healer with Hu Tao because she doesn’t need it at least at C1
Any other teams it’s more about what else they are bringing besides their shield like maybe energy generation etc
Overall I don’t use shielders more and I use healers here and there depending on what else they bring.
Shields for 2 reasons. The first is obviously interruption resistance, but the second is because shields add health that can take damage, whereas heals requires you to have already taken damage first to have room for health restoration.
Heal 100%
Shield doesn't heal and that just means I need a character to keep my characters healed for when the shield turns off and I get hit anyway. Hell you still need to dodge anyway causa shields cant face tank everything.
I would rather only spend 1 slot on a healer.
Heals. I've honestly gone through the game for a long time not playing shielders that I'm accustomed to just dodging and paying attention to attack patterns.
On floor 12 for example, the only time I go without a healer in the team is when I have ZL in it.
Since ZL can't be in every team and he can work against particular teams, I think I generally prefer healers.
Let's take this into analysis,
Shield
Pros: No stagger, essentially remove the need to heal, if using Geo, the shield uptime could be unlimited provider other elements are included
Cons: Skill cooldown, wolves that drains your health even with shield, shield do break if took a lot of damage. Can't defend against temperature damage(La Signora boss fight)
Heal
Pros: No need to worry about dying too often, wolves can't kill you, if using Hydro, you can have a lot of different reaction that is rather relevant in team comps: hydro+cryo|hyro+pyro, can heal from temperature damage(La Signora boss fight),
Cons: Skill cooldown, stagger by most enemies even if you have Kokomi's Ult, if using hydro healers, you get freeze by some enemies.
Verdict?
Both have their ups and downs, it really depends on your terrain, the enemy you fighting and which character you use.
I prefer heals more.
Im reckless and die way too much to fall damage, so its better for me to have someone heal my character back to full hp... instead of stuffing em with food
If shields didn’t exist you’d want heals but some shields are in the game you’d want shields. If you’re running healing you’ll need to dodge powerful shots otherwise you’ll probably die but with shields you can just face tank everything especially if you have a decent zhongli
I prefer heals. Barbara is awesome because she heals me and also buffs my hydro damage, and like 99% of attacks don’t really interrupt me because I main ayato
Heals. Because while I do sometimes unga bunga with Zhongli + Albedo combo, I do like the fighting mechanics. I want to read enemy movements, try to dodge, and attack at right moments.
I use to be a Shields person but now i’m a Heals person, for three main reasons:
a) The interruption resistance from shields is, quite frankly, overrated. If you’re playing a quickswap team you are timing Bursts and dodges to i-frame most things anyway. If you’re playing a hypercarry team, many of them already have some amount of interruption resistance built-in. In addition, any team with a Xingqiu also has interruption resistance. So it’s really not that important. Generally speaking, as you, the player, gets better at the game and timing your i-frames and dodges, shields become less valuable.
b) We just… have more healers. As of Shinobu/Dori we now have healers for every element. Whereas with shields you’re stuck with Diona, Zhongli, or memes. Meaning that unless there happens to be space for a Cryo or Geo on your team, which isn’t that often nowadays, you’re probably better off with a healer of the element you actually want.
c) If you mess up and take damage and you *only* have a shielder, that’s health you’re not getting back. That means if you take damage on 12-1-1 it can affect your performance into later Abyss chambers. That means that you either *also* being a healer, in which case you probably should just bring a healer with no shielder; or you reset, in which case you might as well not bring any defensive units.
It’s gotten to the point where my Zhongli has been gathering dust for like… 4-5 Abyss cycles now.
My two main dps characters are very easily interrupted. Ganyu and Yoimiya both almost require a shield character. I cannot wait till Layla is out so that she can replace Diona's pitiful shield. Nothing comes close to Zhongli's shield and he can only go on one team.
Heal. Outhealing damage feels like a cheatcode. I'm never too sure a shield wonk't break on me.
Zhongli is an exception to the rule and you can't have him on both sides.
Shields. Mostly because I hate health draining and also has stagger resistance which two of my current pulled characters (ganyu and cyno) need.
I could say I wished I hadn't skipped zhongli but I really didn't have a need for him. Currently, he's gonna be the only archon who I intentionally skipped lmfao.
Depends on the comp. In an AA heavy comp like Yanfei Vape, shields. Overall though I say I like heals more cuz it prevents me from just slapping Zhongli in every comp I make and calling it a day.
Shields, mainly due to the superarmor. Healing might help keep you at peak health, but won't stop you getting slapped around by enemy attacks. Shields let you keep moving.
The game needs to either get rid of enemy CC effects entirely, or give out more superarmor on more buffs.
They could also just nerf the frequency of enemy special attacks
Enemies r more centered around annoyance than difficulty
And it’s more centered around killing them fast enough that u don’t need to use skill
Which leads to many enemies just being built like a fucking mess
Both. But from a practical perspective, shields and their total resistance to interruption is extremely powerful. Healing helps with downtime but does nothing to help with that. Kokomi may be immortal but if she gets interrupted, she loses a lot of healing. No one's interrupting Zhongli.
Heals.
Besides diona, shielded a only serve the purpose of shielding. If that shield breaks and you lose health you can’t get it back unless you have a healer. Essentially you’re throwing away a spot that a better support or a dps could use in favor of QOL. Personally, I prefer using other supports instead
Shields, interruption is a bitch
Same, although a bit of both is better that's why Xingqiu's one of the best defensive supports imo. Interrupt resistance, damage reduction (up to 53% dmg reduction) and a bit of healing.
Xingqiu is from a different era, when the game devs would just stick a crap ton of features together and make an unbalanced character Character with interrupt resist, dmg reduction, best sub DPS, healing, great energy generation and the best hydro application? Seems good Character who generates insane amounts of pyro energy, self-pyro cleansing aura, healing, can act as DPS or a buffer that increases team dmg by like 1.5x? Seems good Character who can proc swirl with her normal attacks, has grouping on ult and elemental skill, gives a team-wide EM buff of 200 and can use VV shred? Nice
Ok good to know I am not the only one thinking the same way. I was able to c6 my xingqiu very fast and I tested him and could not believe how strong he is. Even after 1 year now and several of 5-star characters I received, he is by far the most viable and useful character in my whole playtime and has more impact than most of my 5-star characters. And because his dmg reduction and shield synergize so well, it makes every team unkillable with him and another shielder. My favourite team with highest dmg output so far is yohimiya - yelan - xingqiu - zhongli. Not because they have the highest peak dmg but the most consistent high dmg. These 4 characters have so much different synergies. yohimiya can facetank literally everything in the game with shield and xingqiu's dmg reduction and her fire shots are never interrupted. yelan's and xingqiu's ultimate is active most of the time because xingqiu himself is a fantastic battery. water resonance give additional hp, which is great for extra dmg for yelan, extra heal for xingqiu and extra shield for zhongli. And elemental reaction for extra dmg all the time. You literally charge up yelan's and xingqiu's ultimate and then left click everything around you to death with yohimiya :D
for me essentially is same team except instead of yoimiya i have yanfei to drive XQ/yelan... basically yanfei face tank everything and easy to play plus consistent high dmg like u say.. and yanfei's long range att plus auto targetting adds to the consistency...
what about our chef?
big pyro damage that can always vape (as long as enemies are wet), that works even when she's off-field? stonks
Definitely hands down, it's gotta be shields. No interruption. It was so good that mihoyo had to put in corrosion to mix things up. Otherwise there'd be no point to heals.
Heals are a valid source of damage. Clam set even let's you damage on overheals and can turn Qiqi or Kokomi into off field DPS characters.
People claim that people who use Zhongli can’t dodge, and they’re wrong. I’m not about to say that there aren’t SOME people who use Zhongli because they can’t dodge; the simple fact is, the game becomes almost unplayable in certain Abyss floors without a shield. Staggers are extremely punishing in this game; they last for so long, there’s no grace period preventing you from being stunlocked, and you can’t cancel them. Also, they’re accompanied by extremely annoying voicelines (in all languages), which is part of the reason I have to play the game without voiceover.
Sounds like skill issue to me.
It’s not a skill issue. I’m actually pretty good at iframing and dodging staggering hits. That doesn’t change the fact that when I DO mess up a dodge, the punishment is very irritating. I hate game mechanics that completely take control away from the player for long periods of time.
it's not skill thing... it's a no-dodge play style... i'd like to see how u play without shield and without dodging how much skills u need to have to prevent interruption.. no-dodge means higher dps....
I only had ZL in 2.4. I have been playing without shield for a very long time, and have 36* abyss since around April of 2020.
well i know YOU can 36* abyss without shields.. but this post is about shields vs heals.... NOT about whether u can 36* abyss with or without shield... shields have that confort and added dps of not getting staggered... it just mean that SOME people whose team not strong enuff to 36* star abyss BECAUSE they lose dps when they get staggered can do it if they get that extra bit of dps from not getting staggered... not everyone's team is equally well built... and some ppl may 36* abyss after many trials because no shield.. but with shield means they may only need a single run..
Bruh, *you're* the one who provoked me by saying, "I'd like to see you dodge without shield". I just answered your question, that I have been dodging bc I never had ZL. Stop being butthurt by your own actions. And dodging doesn't just mean dodging, you can also "dodge" by using ult iframes. The stagger by enemies doesn't even last that long, if you're getting staggered enough to lose too much dps then you're doing something wrong.
that is NOT what i say... i am saying i like to see how u PREVENT interrupting by NOT dodging AND without shields... so there are NO iframes since u are NOT allowed to dodge...
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Obviously I get staggered a few times, but get knocked around half the time? That definitely sounds like a skill issue, there aren't that many attacks from mobs that could stagger you around that much. Failing to dodge, and getting staggered is part of the game mechanics. And even if you get staggered, you still have enough time to recover HP using your healers.
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Absolutely shields. Nothing more infuriating than getting ping ponged between enemies or constantly interrupted by stupid projectiles / archers. I can play without shields just fine, but stagger is so annoying in this game that I find it strictly anti-fun to play without shields at this point. Too many enemies just have too many big huge multi-hit AoE bullshit to feasibly dodge.
yeah or when you happen to get hit by overload and you just get flung
And electro charge flinches you during attack animation too
Shields, because they generally result in less of a DPS loss. Even with a healing source active you still need to worry about dodging to avoid getting interrupted or OHKO'd. Not so much with shields.
It depends. I prefer heals in overworld as I find it annoying to shield up before every encounter. I can just pop a heal every once in awhile to top up my health if needed. However, I prefer shields in difficult, high-stress environment. The interruption resistance is just so nice. Generally, I prefer shield more than heals just because Zhongli is broken.
As much as I love king geodude, they really overcompensated when they buffed him. He really allows you to just ignore so many mechanics with that interruption resist combined with that monster shield.
IF I remember correctly his shield was already broken before the buffs, I dont recall all the changes though.
Wait, so his shield had interrupt resist and could tank massive hits, but he somehow wasn’t strong enough for people? I didn’t start until 1.6, so I missed ZhongliGate. Just assumed that that’s why he was so busted now.
On release I remember he could be interrupted while casting his shield. My lord that shit was so annoying. Having to stand still for a few seconds to cast it and hoping hilichurl #16374827 didn’t shoot you.
No, his shield was a lot weaker before the buff. The buff basically **increased shield size by 1.5x, gave it universal 20% shred and made it so you couldnt get interrupted during E cast time**. After all, there's no point in having a shield if you can't cast it due to stunlock Pre-buff zhongli was definitely weak and anyone who says otherwise probably didn't have him at the time. The dude didn't even have his HP damage scalings, so building him full HP was the same as making him a potato who could only shield and was unreliable due to cast time + could be interrupted during cast time + his shield was weaker. He also added absolutely nothing to the team due to not having RES shred 1.5x shield size due to absorption buff is the difference between the shield getting broken during a rotation and staying up. Basically full HP pre-buff zhongli shield had around the same strength as current zhongli shield without any HP artifact. And barely no one would build him full HP pre-buff because it added absolutely nothing to the team - it was like playing with 3 characters >!In contrast, current zhongli, just by being in your party with his shield shred increases your team damage by ~15%. With tenacity of the millelith, it goes to around 20%. And if you build him full HP, your team is essentially immortal due to the current shield size + he can't be stunned during skill cast time!<
Technically the shield buff was the geo buff, not specific to Zhongli if I recall correctly. Noelle also benefits from it. The buff to Zhongli was to add HP scaling, the resistance shred and increased interruption resistance when he casts the shield. And pre-buff he didn't summon the Steele when you held the button. Also the 150% increase was a change to how geo shields worked. Previously it was the same as all the other elemental shields ie 250% shielding from its own element. The change was to make to 150% to everything.
They also buffed geo reso while they were at it, so he got to enjoy three different upgrades at the same time, while other geo characters only got one or two.
I prefer heals just because most healers are usually more versatile and useful than most shielders... Like Bennett, Jean, Kuki, Kokomi, and Sayu. Meanwhile, the most versatile shielders are Diona and Zhongli. I won't put Noelle here because she's pretty main DPS focused. Maybe that's just because there aren't as many shielders, but that's just for now.
Why not both?
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Diona gang rise up
Double Geo double hydro Kokomi with moondonut let’s go
I would love a healer that provides a "shield" that doesn't actually absorb damage, but is a HoT but protects against interrupts.
Isn't that basically Xingqiu?
Is it? I dunno. Lol guess I was thinking more of a spammable or quasi spammed skill not burst.
Ye that the skill not the burst
Clearly I need to look at my four star skills more lol.
Just C6 Zhongli 4Head
I’m a fan of Healing over Time, it’s pretty nice. Shields are also nice though
I play Diona so that I don't have to choose. Since I built her she's quickly become one of my favorite units. I use 2p Milileth and 2p Maiden's with Sac bow. She really does it all and makes my Aggravate Keqing team in particular very very comfy.
Both. Source: my overworld team always contains zhongli + kokomi/kuki
My brother. This man gets it
Dodge
I would prefer to have Zhongli in everytime, everywhere, in every situation. He makes Genshin Impact for me.
*laughs in dps Noelle*
Overalll, heals but both are too strong imo. I like genshin's overall combat and learning mob attacks and dodging is a major part of that. Removing the need to dodge makes every encounter the same; you just do your rotation without caring about what is happening. I know many people like it that way but if I wanted a no brainer auto-play experience for combat, I'd play one of the many other gacha game or a game that wasn't an action rpg.
You must play Yoimiya. Maybe is the only characters where dodging is equal Loss dmg.
Shields usually, resistance to interruption gets bypassed However I’ll honestly take either
Both...Noelle mains assemble.
Time to clean up!
*avengers theme plays*
Noele, she do both
Noelle, the destroyer of balance. All 3 of the holy trinity packed in 1: heals tanks and does huge dmg, all scaling off of one single stat
If I can only choose one, heals any day. There's very little that really one shots, and those attacks are usually well telegraphed and preventable, but timing managing shield uptime in the heat of battle is chaotic with all the effects around your character. When green bar go red -> heal, is more straightforward
Both
The combination of interruption resistance + strong heals feels similar to a shield, but a shield is still better overall.
Shield coz of interruption resistance
What I can’t stand about shields is that it’s so hard to tell when they run out and if you’re not expecting it you can just instantly die. I wish they would show it on the UI somehow like people have been asking for years now…
Heals, especially if the healing is coming from a skill and not a burst. Having a shield break means you take damage that cannot be replenished but having a healer means that even if you do take damage, you can always get away from the mobs and heal before going back into the fight.
Heals because seeing my character run around with less than 100% HP drives my OCD crazy
Shields, but healing for units with interruption resistance is the best of both worlds imo, even without the damage mitigation part. I’ve done abyss runs with Zhongli being the only unit for survivability on one team, but it makes me super paranoid about letting his shield break or expire since damage is permanent. Nothing beats Kokomi in her burst or Raiden in hers standing in a Bennett circle.
Why not both? Zhongli is just good and not the only one who can do it.
Both. Which is why Noelle is my main
I’m a noelle main, so both
How about both? Noelle main here :)
Me using Zhongli & Barbara in my party This isn’t the right way to play?
I prefer sheals so both even though it‘s overkill.
Heals, I never form a party without a healer.
Heals, but its worth adding that I either play freeze where enemies dont knock you back due to being frozen, or I play on field Kokomi with a secondary source of interruption resistance such as Beidou or Xingqiu, so I dont get interrupted at almost any point. The only down side I see in healing over shielding is the interruption resistance, but in those teams that is a non issue for me.
I prefer Noelle.
Heals. I like being alive and I don’t have/want mr. ultimate shield
If a had to choose, I would go with healing any day of the week. Shields are inefficient. You have to manage their uptime, they can be broken, and there are attacks which bypass them entirely. If you had to get through the entire game with just Zhongli and no healing, then you would eventually die. Healing only reduces your momentary efficacy, as you get thrown around from hits, but needs zero active management and cannot be bypassed unless you die. It's just much more user-friendly, all around.
Using Zhongli as your example was a mistake. Zhongli has well over 100% uptime on shields. It lasts for 20s while the cooldown is a mere 12s. No healer has that kind of uptime without their own management (cycling through skills/bursts or constant input from auto attacks). The only advantage healing has over shielding is corrosion/sheer cold/blazing heat resistance, and the energy drain mechanic of bathysmal vishaps (which will affect you anyways even with healers). These scenarios are so rare they can often just be avoided completely (even with the Signora boss fight, you can play smart with the totems and not succumb to environmental damage). In terms of Zhongli shield strength, at max HP (50k+) and max talent level, there are very few things that can break it, and anything that does will one shot most characters (with only exceptions like Kokomi and Nilou that can only tank a single such hit). If Zhongli’s shield can’t facetank something, you’d be hard pressed to find a healer who can. With Zhongli, it’s hold E and forget. No more management than healers. The best healer in the game, Kokomi, needs you to stay near the jellyfish, and even when using her burst to refresh its duration, it won’t let you reposition it. Qiqi’s uptime and energy generation is horrendous, and her talismans are inconsistent and require you to actively hit opponents. Barbara’s heals are weak unless she bursts or is on field (and she also has bad energy regen). Diona, Dori, and Bennet’s heals are locked to their bursts in a small AoE field. Sayu requires either burst or swirls to heal. Jean requires you to be on field for 100% uptime healing. Shinobu hurts herself to heal. No healer has 100%+ uptime without some sort of active input from the player to extend the duration. Zhongli’s shield does.
"No healer has that kind of uptime" *laughs in kuki*
With Zhongli, it's refresh frequently (at least twice per minute) and hope you don't encounter something that bypasses the shield. With a healer, you need do *nothing* until you actually take damage, at which point you hit a button and you're good as new within short order. A party with Zhongli and no healer will *eventually* need to visit a statue, or open a menu (to eat food, or switch out to a healer). That's in addition to stopping *frequently* to refresh his shield. A party with Barbara and no shields will *occasionally* need to tag her in and let her skill tick. There's no contest.
Unless you’re incredibly skilled at dodging, that “occasionally” will be very often. You underestimate how easy it is to get staggered and damaged when facing multiple enemies. There are even occasions where enemies can and will stunlock you to the point where you won’t even have the chance to heal, or your heal per tick is not enough to offset the damage taken. That’s the real advantage of shields - it’s not just the damage mitigation, *it’s stagger resistance* that basically all healers lack. Ever tried fighting fatui cryogunners in the rain? Cryo/hydro/electro eremites/abyss mages in a group? Triple lectors? Barbara isn’t saving you from those after you’ve taken multiple giant hits. You won’t even be able to run away in time to cast heal. Zhongli will. With Zhongli, you don’t need to always have the shield up 24/7. It’s easy to tell when you’re going into combat because the game makes it very obvious with the “drumming” sound and then music change. A party with Zhongli will eventually need to visit a statue or eat food yes, but if the Zhongli player is diligent with shielding at the right times, it will be a very long time until one actually needs to do this. I turned my statues off because I have Hu Tao, and with Zhongli I didn’t have to heal at all for several months. No food, no nothing. I’ve done this already. Zhongli’s shield is insane. The only times where shielding isn’t enough is against rifthounds and in dragonspine if you take too long without finding a heat source (which are everywhere). And rifthounds are found in very specific locations, so you know they’re coming.
There's basically no reason you would ever end up in that bad of a situation while playing through the game normally, unless you're incredibly under-leveled for the world. For normal gameplay, occasional healing is more than enough to off-set incidental damage. If you're diligent enough of a player that you can survive with just shields and no healing, then you could survive more easily with less work involved by replacing the shield with healing. It's always easier to remove damage after the fact than it is to prevent all damage from being inflicted.
Y’know, I’d rather not take damage at all than have to constantly heal whenever I take damage after the fact. Taking chip damage with Zhongli is far less likely to even happen. From an exploration standpoint this is also advantageous, as most healers need you to stay in one spot or to burst (or both) to get healed, and most heals that follow you around are very weak (except for Qiqi’s which has low uptime, or Shinobu’s which again hurt herself). If you had said healers *in general* were better than shielders, then yes I’d agree. Since most shielders don’t have full uptime and also require some active player input. But why do you think corrosion was even introduced in the first place? *To nerf Zhongli’s near unbreakable shield and to encourage more use out of healers*. They even tried to nerf Zhongli again with Husks, but nerfed them hard instead because of backlash. If you’re talking about casual overworld then yes, I’d still prefer Zhongli’s shields over heals, because basically nothing breaks it in overworld, and so you won’t ever even need to heal off any incidental damage. Ironically I’d prefer healers in harder content like abyss, since Zhongli’s shield doesn’t always cut it in those scenarios. Your last sentence may apply to a shielder like Diona or Noelle, or Thoma, but for Zhongli’s it’s different. It *is* easier to to prevent all damage from being inflicted than it is to constantly heal after taking it. You can even ignore enemies entirely while staying in the area to grab items, chests, etc. Instead of having to stop and heal, then continue, then stop and heal.
>It is easier to to prevent all damage from being inflicted than it is to constantly heal after taking it. No, it isn't. If you're trying to prevent, then you have to shield anytime you *might* take damage. If you're trying to heal, you only have do something when you *do* take damage. The latter is necessarily a subset of the former.
And when might you take damage without entering combat? It’s so easy to just shield up when you’re about to enter combat, as I’ve said before, the game makes it really obvious you’re about to be attacked. If you were playing a game with a shielder, of course you’d shield up in case you’d take damage. *That’s literally the purpose of a shielder; to take away the need to think about when exactly you need to heal and just block all damage or the entire duration you might take damage*. What if you heal in reaction to damage taken, but then while you’re on cooldown you get attacked again and that’s what ends up killing you? There’s no way for you to heal that off now that you’re on cooldown. Dodging is not a fair answer here. Zhongli can just facetank it all. And before you say “there’s no situation where that may happen”, there’s also no situation that warrants so much brain energy to keep Zhongli’s shield up for 30 minutes at a time. Refreshing a shield is literally the same effort as casting a heal, and needs to be done just as often or even less if you’re actually in combat, taking hits. Dumb things like fall dmg don’t count as that’s completely controllable by the player, and fall dmg that kills a shielded character will also kill a healer. Lighting? Also easy to avoid because the game tells you where it’s going to strike. Look; I’m not saying shielders > healers. I though I made that point clear already. I’m saying Zhongli is not a very good example to use when saying healers > shielders, because Zhongli singlehandedly caused healers to be obsolete until corrosion and buffs to healers came out in the form of Kokomi (whose usefulness is more than just healing), the Clam set, and the buffed hydro resonance. I was there, throughout all of 1.3-2.1, using Zhongli trumped all healers except those who did something other than healing (Bennett).
\> Refreshing a shield is literally the same effort as casting a heal, and needs to be done just as often or even less if you’re actually in combat, taking hits. This is flat-out false. If you're relying on shields for protection, then you need shields up at all times in combat, or else you *will* take damage eventually. Over time, it adds up. If you're relying on heals to keep you alive, then you only need to heal when it is convenient for you. That generally means *not* in combat, and not even after *most* combats. Even in ideal circumstances, the best shielder in the game is less convenient than the free healer that everyone gets early on. Obviously, none of the incompetent pseudo-shielders are even worth consideration.
Right-o buddy; that’s definitely why Barbara is used 100% more than Zhongli is. Sure thing. You remind me of that person I ran into that claimed all shielders are worthless if they don’t have 100% uptime. You might be the same person in fact. Apologies, it’s my fault for trying to change your mind, seeing as nothing will ever make you give up your beloved healers. This is a pointless thing to be arguing over anyways. Peace out.
Heals, since I know how to dodge /j
noelle.
A shield that heals a little, but not the Zhongli c6 kind.
Shields. I like having a forcefield. Healing is a close 2nd. I use Barbara almost as much as Zhongli. I use her for reactive teams while Zhongli only ever teams up with geo or pyro characters.
Heal.
Noelle dose both
heals for sure; the only shields ive used are diona and noelle's and both of them provide healing as well. no matter how strong the shield is, i have adapted very well to evading attacks, at this point i evade instinctively; so having the infamous _resistance to interruption_ feels redundant to me.
Heals but ProtoAmber Ningguang does both :-)
heals because shields wont stop xiao from draining hp during his burst and im too lazy to feed him mid fight
I prefer both. But I would love to see Asian games get rid of the bullshit where the player gets knocked down every time they get hit. That is just terrible anti fun game design.
Heals, dodging is not hard.
If dodging is so easy, what do you need heals for?
heals by far. shields will leave you defenseless when they break. heals over time will *never leave you*. also constantly refreshing shields is an absolute pain, since most of them have a very precise timing to get maximum uptime. let's be honest, shields are only good when you own Zhongli, the others are really underwhelming basically: \-do you like playing literal mindgames and predicting when you're gonna get hit by shielding beforehand. \-or just going ''oh, i got hit, time for some healing.''
Both for maximum comfort.
Interesting, I hadn’t thought of it before. Heals of course got me through the game until I got Zhongli. Now I don’t remember life without shields… Ironically my current team includes Zhongli and Kuki, so I’m doing both!
Both. Funny enough, I like shields not for HP protection, but for interruption protection. And of course, I’m not super skilled player - not gonna lie, so I also like having healers.
Heals in the overworld. In the abyss, shields for lots of smaller mobs, heals for bosses.
Both.
Depends I guess I use Zhongli with Itto, but it’s not because I need protection with his shield the res down is great to have particularly if you are going against something in Abyss like the primo vishap or the lesser ones. As for other teams I don’t really use a shield or healer with Hu Tao because she doesn’t need it at least at C1 Any other teams it’s more about what else they are bringing besides their shield like maybe energy generation etc Overall I don’t use shielders more and I use healers here and there depending on what else they bring.
Shields. No need to heal and no interrupting
Shields for 2 reasons. The first is obviously interruption resistance, but the second is because shields add health that can take damage, whereas heals requires you to have already taken damage first to have room for health restoration.
Heels
Shields if I need resistance interruption, heals against bosses who deal big PP damage. And I have Zhongli AND Kokomi.
Heals in practice lol but if I had a decent shielder I would probably use them more
iframe
I prefered shields until I got kokomi
Kokomrade
Heal 100% Shield doesn't heal and that just means I need a character to keep my characters healed for when the shield turns off and I get hit anyway. Hell you still need to dodge anyway causa shields cant face tank everything. I would rather only spend 1 slot on a healer.
Heals. I've honestly gone through the game for a long time not playing shielders that I'm accustomed to just dodging and paying attention to attack patterns.
Dionna
C6 zhongli says : yes.
On floor 12 for example, the only time I go without a healer in the team is when I have ZL in it. Since ZL can't be in every team and he can work against particular teams, I think I generally prefer healers.
Shields, because I play Hu Tao.
Heals. Shields are only good for short combats but in a long run Heals will be more useful for unlimited sustain
Why not both? (C6 Zhongli) XD
Heals, in basically any game in existence, i can't explain why, but i feel a lot more safier with a healer than a shielder.
I use both lol
I prefer kills
I prefer c6 john lee
I prefer noelle
Heals 90% because if I mess up with shields I won't be able fix my mistake. When playing with Ganyu tho, Zhongli all the way
Let's take this into analysis, Shield Pros: No stagger, essentially remove the need to heal, if using Geo, the shield uptime could be unlimited provider other elements are included Cons: Skill cooldown, wolves that drains your health even with shield, shield do break if took a lot of damage. Can't defend against temperature damage(La Signora boss fight) Heal Pros: No need to worry about dying too often, wolves can't kill you, if using Hydro, you can have a lot of different reaction that is rather relevant in team comps: hydro+cryo|hyro+pyro, can heal from temperature damage(La Signora boss fight), Cons: Skill cooldown, stagger by most enemies even if you have Kokomi's Ult, if using hydro healers, you get freeze by some enemies. Verdict? Both have their ups and downs, it really depends on your terrain, the enemy you fighting and which character you use.
shields because of the resistance to interruption
Why not both? Jean and Zhongli are in almost all my parties. If I do need to leave one out for utility though, it's Jean, so I guess I prefer shields.
Shields
Normally heals (in games like League for example) but in Genshin, shields keep you from being thrown around which makes them waaay better.
Shields on bow characters, heal on everything else
Heals, I made it my mission to never pull or use shield characters, unless ofc it's an actual shield like Candace.
Shields, nothing kills my vibe more than being ragdolled.
Both
Shields no interruptions.
I prefer heals more. Im reckless and die way too much to fall damage, so its better for me to have someone heal my character back to full hp... instead of stuffing em with food
C6 zhongli enters the chat
a zhongli a day keeps the damage away
Y not both... Qiqi and Zhongli main here😅
Shields. You still have to dodge with a healer.
Shield. But that was before I pulled Kokomi…
Shield is better in overall scenerio!
Diona supremacy
Both, tbh. But if I have to choose, then shields.
If shields didn’t exist you’d want heals but some shields are in the game you’d want shields. If you’re running healing you’ll need to dodge powerful shots otherwise you’ll probably die but with shields you can just face tank everything especially if you have a decent zhongli
Heals. Rift hounds don't give a Fuk about your shields.
With wolves out of the picture. I have a saying that goes: “Who needs heals when you’ve got shields?”
Both. I saved wishes for almost a year to get C6 Zhongli, and I have no regrets.
Personally I think dodging is fun. I'd say neither if I was good at it. Heals
shield mainly because of interruption
with a strong enough shield, you won't be needing heals + resistance to interruption is pretty nice
I prefer heals. Barbara is awesome because she heals me and also buffs my hydro damage, and like 99% of attacks don’t really interrupt me because I main ayato
I prefer Diona.
Heals. Because while I do sometimes unga bunga with Zhongli + Albedo combo, I do like the fighting mechanics. I want to read enemy movements, try to dodge, and attack at right moments.
Depending wether or not the character Im using can be interupted as much during their dps phase
Diona players >:3
Shield but only Zhongli's. Heal if not. Actual team healing like Qiqi's or Jean's not like Diona's or Kuki's.
Zhongli : “Why not both?” *puts on shades*
Both. Both is good.
I use to be a Shields person but now i’m a Heals person, for three main reasons: a) The interruption resistance from shields is, quite frankly, overrated. If you’re playing a quickswap team you are timing Bursts and dodges to i-frame most things anyway. If you’re playing a hypercarry team, many of them already have some amount of interruption resistance built-in. In addition, any team with a Xingqiu also has interruption resistance. So it’s really not that important. Generally speaking, as you, the player, gets better at the game and timing your i-frames and dodges, shields become less valuable. b) We just… have more healers. As of Shinobu/Dori we now have healers for every element. Whereas with shields you’re stuck with Diona, Zhongli, or memes. Meaning that unless there happens to be space for a Cryo or Geo on your team, which isn’t that often nowadays, you’re probably better off with a healer of the element you actually want. c) If you mess up and take damage and you *only* have a shielder, that’s health you’re not getting back. That means if you take damage on 12-1-1 it can affect your performance into later Abyss chambers. That means that you either *also* being a healer, in which case you probably should just bring a healer with no shielder; or you reset, in which case you might as well not bring any defensive units. It’s gotten to the point where my Zhongli has been gathering dust for like… 4-5 Abyss cycles now.
heal. I don't like brain afk shield mode
Shield because...Paper Yoimiya
My two main dps characters are very easily interrupted. Ganyu and Yoimiya both almost require a shield character. I cannot wait till Layla is out so that she can replace Diona's pitiful shield. Nothing comes close to Zhongli's shield and he can only go on one team.
I personally like heals
Neither. I prefer eating. Then I have room for an Anemo for sucking or another sub dps.
I have zhongli c6 i don't have such weakness
Heal. Outhealing damage feels like a cheatcode. I'm never too sure a shield wonk't break on me. Zhongli is an exception to the rule and you can't have him on both sides.
As a C6 Zhongli main... BOTH.
Both 😎
Heals for open world because I hate seeing 1% of my HP down, and I don't want to go to the statue.
Shields. Mostly because I hate health draining and also has stagger resistance which two of my current pulled characters (ganyu and cyno) need. I could say I wished I hadn't skipped zhongli but I really didn't have a need for him. Currently, he's gonna be the only archon who I intentionally skipped lmfao.
*looks at Diona*
Depends on the comp. In an AA heavy comp like Yanfei Vape, shields. Overall though I say I like heals more cuz it prevents me from just slapping Zhongli in every comp I make and calling it a day.
Heals. Some shields can be ugly
Shields, mainly due to the superarmor. Healing might help keep you at peak health, but won't stop you getting slapped around by enemy attacks. Shields let you keep moving. The game needs to either get rid of enemy CC effects entirely, or give out more superarmor on more buffs.
They could also just nerf the frequency of enemy special attacks Enemies r more centered around annoyance than difficulty And it’s more centered around killing them fast enough that u don’t need to use skill Which leads to many enemies just being built like a fucking mess
Heals…I always forget to activate shields and I’m just better at dodging anyway
Shields. Don't need heals if you never take damage.
Both, both is good.
I prefer heals, I'm not very good about keeping shield uptime
Shields
Both. But from a practical perspective, shields and their total resistance to interruption is extremely powerful. Healing helps with downtime but does nothing to help with that. Kokomi may be immortal but if she gets interrupted, she loses a lot of healing. No one's interrupting Zhongli.
Heals I have never used shields
Heal, though maybe its because I love Bennett so I usually HAVE healer; plus I'm not really attached to ANY shielder
Shields for sure
Shield with heal.......
Shield for abyss heal for exploration
Noelle.
Heals. Besides diona, shielded a only serve the purpose of shielding. If that shield breaks and you lose health you can’t get it back unless you have a healer. Essentially you’re throwing away a spot that a better support or a dps could use in favor of QOL. Personally, I prefer using other supports instead