Want to find the best Genshin Impact Barbara build? Unless you were lucky enough to roll another early in the game, it’s likely that the Deaconess of the Church of Favonius was your first dedicated healer. And Barbara is good at what she does.
Sure, she isn’t great at dealing damage—unless you put work into building her that way— but her Elemental Burst and Skill both offer powerful healing. The Melody Loop she creates during her elemental skill is also a good way of applying the wet status to enemies to set up reactions, even if you do have to stand right next to them for it to work.
With Genshin Impact 2.1 on the horizon, it looks like Kokomi may basically be a super Barbara, with both healing and damage-based abilities that scale from her max HP. But no matter how powerful new characters are, Barbara will still be that same free reliable healer.
Anyway, here’s the best Genshin Impact Barbara build, along with details about her Ascension materials, and how to get her in the game.
Builds
The best Genshin Impact Barbara build
Barbara is basically good at two things: healing and Hydro. Our Barbara builds focus on making the most of both:
Healer
Weapon: Prototype Amber
This four-star catalyst is a good fit for Barbara. First, it gives an HP boost of 10%, which is useful as her elemental skill’s healing scales on her max HP. Second, Prototype Amber regenerates 12 energy over six seconds every time you use an elemental burst, as well as regenerating 4% HP for all party members every two seconds.
This both increases the healing effectiveness of Barbara’s abilities and grants her energy regeneration so she can use them more often, which in the end, is what you want from a dedicated healer.
Artifact: Maiden Beloved
Maiden Beloved is a straightforward artifact pick for Barbara. A two-piece set increases Barbara’s healing effectiveness by 15%, while a four-piece set boosts party healing by 20% for ten seconds every time you use an elemental burst or skill.
This build turns Barbara into a healing powerhouse, able to quickly recharge energy, while also topping off your party members’ HP whenever they need it.
Reaction DPS
Weapon: Mappa Mare
As a Hydro catalyst user, Barbara is able to cause all sorts of elemental reactions when in the right party combination, and in many ways it’s the most viable way to use her as a DPS, especially considering her burst doesn’t deal damage and her skill is mainly focused around healing.
Mappa Mare is a four-star catalyst that grants an elemental damage bonus of 8% when you trigger an elemental reaction. This bonus stacks twice and lasts for ten seconds, giving Barbara a decent damage boost when she uses her Hydro attacks to cause a reaction. It’s secondary stat is also elemental mastery, boosting the overall power of said reactions.
Artifact: Wanderer’s Troupe
While the Instructor set or Heart of Depth are also worthy alternatives, Wanderer’s Troupe is the best if you’re planning to rely on elemental reactions. Like Instructor, a two-piece set boosts elemental mastery by 80, but unlike it, a four-piece set offers a 35% damage increase to charged attacks.
Using Barbara’s charged AoE Hydro attacks to cause elemental reactions is a good way to take advantage of this, and it synergises well with that 4x healing bonus that her charged attacks grant when the Melody Loop is active.
How to unlock
How to get Barbara in Genshin Impact
Barbara is one of Genshin Impact’s six free characters, and is added to your roster once you reach adventure rank 18 and complete the quest, A Long Shot, which concludes the Monstadt section of the game’s main Archon quest.
Since she’s free, Barbara isn’t usually a featured character on banners. If you’re looking to roll more of her to unlock constellations, she is available through the Wanderlust Invocation standard wish banner.
Abilities
Barbara’s abilities
Here are Barbara’s abilities, passives, and Constellations:
| Normal | Perform up to four attacks that deal Hydro damage. |
| Charged | Consume stamina to deal Hydro AoE damage after casting time. |
| Plunging | Barbara plunges to the ground, striking opponents along the way and dealing AoE Hydro damage on impact. |
| Let the Show Begin | Barbara surrounds herself with a Melody Loop, dealing Hydro damage to nearby opponents, and applying wet status to them. When the Melody Loop is active, normal attacks heal party members, with the amount scaling on Barbara’s max HP, while charged attacks grant four times the regular amount of healing. The Melody Loop also periodically regenerates the active character’s HP. |
| Shining Miracle | Barbara heals herself and party members with a large amount of HP, scaling from her own max HP. |
| With My Whole Heart | When a dish is cooked Perfectly by Barbara, there is a 12% chance to get twice as much. |
| Glorious Season | Stamina consumption within the Let the Show Begin Melody Loop is reduced by 12%. |
| Encore | When the active character gains an elemental orb or particle, the Let the Show Begin Melody Loop is extended for one second, with a maximum extension of five seconds. |
| Gleeful Songs | Barbara regenerates one energy every ten seconds. |
| Vitality Burst | Decreases the cooldown of Let the Show Begin by 15%. When the Melody Loop is active, you gain a 15% Hydro damage bonus. |
| Star of Tomorrow | Increases the level of Shining Miracle by three. Maximum upgrade level is 15. |
| Attentiveness Be My Power | Every opponent Barbara hits with a charged attack regenerates one energy. A maximum of five energy can be regenerated for one charged attack. |
| The Purest Companionship | Increases the level of Let the Show Begin by three. Maximum upgrade level is 15. |
| Dedicating Everything to You | When Barbara is in the party and one of the members falls (that isn’t Barbara), the fallen character is revived with 100% HP. This can occur once every 15 minutes. |
Ascension materials
Barbara Ascension materials
Character
Barbara’s character ascension materials are Varunada Lazurite, which can be earned from defeating the Oceanid and the Hydro Hypostasis, though it’s better to fight the Oceanid as it also gives you Cleansing Hearts—another material you’ll need. There are also two world materials:
- Divining Scrolls
- Philanemo Mushrooms
Divining Scroll-series items are dropped by Samachurls of different world levels, and Philanemo Mushrooms can be gathered all around Mondstadt, though the best places to look are on the walls and roofs of houses in Mondstadt city, Springvale, and Dawn Winery.
Talent
Here are Barbara’s talent Ascension materials:
- Teachings of Freedom
- Divining Scrolls
- Ring of Boreas
- Crown of Insight
The Teachings of Freedom-series items are rewarded from the Forsaken Rift domain on Mondays, Thursdays, and Sundays. As mentioned earlier, Divining Scrolls and their upgraded forms are dropped by Samachurls of varying world levels.
The Ring of Boreas comes from fighting the level 70+ Wolf of the North in Wolvendom. Crown of Insight is a reward for seasonal events, and upgrading either the Frostbearing Tree in Dragonspine, or the Sacred Sakura in Inazuma.