Genshin Impact: Best 4-Star Support Tier List

by Alex Braham 46 views

Navigating the world of Genshin Impact can be quite an adventure, especially when you're trying to optimize your team compositions. A crucial aspect of any successful team is having reliable support characters. While 5-star characters often steal the spotlight, the 4-star characters in Genshin Impact can be surprisingly powerful and versatile support options. This tier list will guide you through the best 4-star support characters, helping you make informed decisions on who to invest in to enhance your gameplay experience.

Understanding the Support Role in Genshin Impact

Before diving into the tier list, let's clarify what we mean by a "support" character in Genshin Impact. Support characters are those whose primary function is to enhance the capabilities of their teammates. This can be achieved through various means, such as providing healing, boosting attack power, applying elemental reactions, or offering crowd control. A well-built support character can significantly increase your team's survivability and damage output, making them invaluable assets in challenging content like the Spiral Abyss or tough boss battles.

When evaluating support characters, several factors come into play:

  • Utility: What unique benefits does the character bring to the team? This includes healing, damage buffs, energy generation, and crowd control.
  • Consistency: How reliably can the character perform their support role? Consistent healing or buffs are generally more valuable than those with long cooldowns or conditional triggers.
  • Ease of Use: How easy is the character to integrate into different team compositions? Some supports require specific team setups to shine, while others are more flexible.
  • Investment Cost: How much investment (in terms of resources like Mora, talent books, and artifacts) is required to make the character effective? Some supports can perform well with minimal investment, while others need significant upgrades to reach their full potential.

With these factors in mind, let's proceed to the tier list.

Tier List Categories

To provide a clear and concise ranking, we'll categorize the 4-star support characters into the following tiers:

  • S-Tier: These are the best of the best. They offer exceptional utility, consistency, and flexibility, making them valuable additions to almost any team.
  • A-Tier: These are excellent support characters who can significantly enhance your team's performance. They may have some limitations or require specific team compositions to shine, but they are still highly effective.
  • B-Tier: These are solid support options that can be useful in certain situations. However, they may be outclassed by higher-tier characters or require more investment to be effective.
  • C-Tier: These characters can provide some support, but they are generally not recommended due to their limited utility or the availability of better alternatives.

S-Tier: The Top-Tier Supports

Bennett

Bennett is arguably the best 4-star support in Genshin Impact. His Elemental Burst, Fantastic Voyage, creates an Inspiration Field that heals allies and provides a significant ATK buff based on Bennett's base ATK. This makes him incredibly versatile and valuable in almost any team composition. The healing is substantial, ensuring your team's survivability, while the ATK buff significantly boosts your team's damage output. Bennett's ability to function as both a healer and an ATK buffer sets him apart from other support characters. He is effective at Constellation 0, but his Constellation 1 removes the HP restriction on his ATK buff, making him even more powerful.

Why Bennett is S-Tier:

  • Exceptional Healing: His Elemental Burst provides rapid and reliable healing, keeping your team alive in challenging encounters.
  • Massive ATK Buff: The ATK buff from his Burst significantly increases your team's damage output, making him a valuable asset in DPS-focused teams.
  • Energy Generation: Bennett's Elemental Skill has a short cooldown and generates a decent amount of energy, helping to keep his Burst up consistently.
  • Versatility: He fits into almost any team composition, making him a valuable addition to your roster.
  • Low Investment: While constellations can enhance his abilities, Bennett is effective even at Constellation 0, making him accessible to all players.

Xingqiu

Xingqiu is another outstanding 4-star support character known for his consistent Hydro application and damage reduction. His Elemental Skill, Guhua Sword: Fatal Rainscreen, creates Rain Swords that orbit your active character, providing damage reduction and applying Hydro to nearby enemies. His Elemental Burst, Guhua Sword: Raincutter, summons even more Rain Swords that attack alongside your active character, consistently applying Hydro and enabling powerful Vaporize reactions. Xingqiu's ability to consistently apply Hydro makes him an excellent enabler for Pyro DPS characters like Hu Tao and Diluc.

Why Xingqiu is S-Tier:

  • Consistent Hydro Application: His Elemental Burst provides consistent Hydro application, enabling powerful Vaporize reactions for Pyro DPS characters.
  • Damage Reduction: The Rain Swords from his Skill provide valuable damage reduction, increasing your team's survivability.
  • Off-Field Damage: Xingqiu's Rain Swords deal significant off-field damage, contributing to your team's overall DPS.
  • Energy Generation: He generates a decent amount of energy, helping to keep his Burst up consistently.
  • Versatility: While he shines in Vaporize teams, Xingqiu can also be effective in Electro-Charged and Freeze teams.

A-Tier: Excellent Support Options

Sucrose

Sucrose is a fantastic Anemo support character who excels at providing Elemental Mastery buffs and crowd control. Her Elemental Skill, Astable Anemohypostasis Creation - 6308, pulls in nearby enemies and deals Anemo damage. Her Elemental Burst, Forbidden Creation - Isomer 75 / Type II, creates a large Anemo vortex that pulls in enemies and absorbs elements, dealing additional elemental damage. Sucrose's passive talents further enhance her support capabilities by granting Elemental Mastery to your team based on her own Elemental Mastery. This makes her an excellent choice for teams that rely on elemental reactions.

Why Sucrose is A-Tier:

  • Elemental Mastery Buffs: Her passive talents provide significant Elemental Mastery buffs to your team, increasing the damage of elemental reactions.
  • Crowd Control: Her Skill and Burst provide valuable crowd control, grouping enemies together for easier targeting.
  • Versatility: She can be effective in various team compositions, particularly those that focus on elemental reactions.
  • Accessibility: Sucrose is a relatively easy character to build, as her effectiveness is primarily tied to her Elemental Mastery.

Diona

Diona is a versatile Cryo support character who provides healing, shielding, and Cryo application. Her Elemental Skill, Icy Paws, fires Cryo-infused paws that provide a shield and apply Cryo to enemies. Her Elemental Burst, Signature Mix, creates a Drunken Mist field that heals allies and applies Cryo to enemies within its AoE. Diona's ability to provide both healing and shielding makes her a valuable asset in teams that need extra survivability. She is particularly useful in Freeze teams, where her Cryo application can help to keep enemies frozen.

Why Diona is A-Tier:

  • Healing and Shielding: She provides both healing and shielding, increasing your team's survivability.
  • Cryo Application: Her Skill and Burst consistently apply Cryo, making her useful in Freeze teams.
  • Energy Generation: She generates a decent amount of energy, helping to keep her Burst up consistently.
  • Versatility: Diona can be effective in various team compositions, particularly those that need extra survivability or Cryo application.

Fischl

Fischl can be an amazing support character due to her unique skill. Her Elemental Skill, Nightrider, summons Oz, who attacks enemies with Electro. Oz remains on the field even when Fischl is switched out, providing consistent off-field Electro application. This makes Fischl an excellent enabler for Electro-Charged and Superconduct reactions. While she is often used as a DPS character, Fischl's off-field Electro application can be incredibly valuable in support roles.

Why Fischl is A-Tier:

  • Consistent Electro Application: Oz provides consistent off-field Electro application, enabling Electro-Charged and Superconduct reactions.
  • Off-Field Damage: Oz deals significant off-field damage, contributing to your team's overall DPS.
  • Energy Generation: Fischl's A4 passive talent generates energy particles when Oz attacks enemies affected by Electro, helping to keep her Burst up consistently.
  • Versatility: Fischl can be effective in various team compositions, particularly those that focus on Electro reactions.

B-Tier: Solid Support Options

Barbara

Barbara is a dedicated healer who primarily focuses on providing healing through her Elemental Skill and Burst. Her Elemental Skill, Let the Show Begin, creates a Melody Loop that heals your active character and applies Hydro to nearby enemies. Her Elemental Burst, Shining Miracle, heals all party members for a significant amount. While Barbara's healing is substantial, her Hydro application can be a double-edged sword, as it can also apply Hydro to your active character, making them vulnerable to Freeze reactions. Despite this drawback, Barbara can be a useful support option in teams that need a dedicated healer.

Sayu

Sayu is an Anemo support character who provides healing and Anemo application. Her Elemental Skill, Yoohoo Art: Fuuin Dash, allows her to roll around and deal Anemo damage to enemies. Her Elemental Burst, Yoohoo Art: Mujina Flurry, summons a Muji-Muji Daruma that heals allies and attacks enemies with Anemo. Sayu's healing is decent, and her Anemo application can be useful for triggering Swirl reactions. However, she may be outclassed by other Anemo support characters like Sucrose or Jean.

Gorou

Gorou is a Geo support character who specializes in buffing Geo characters. His Elemental Skill, Inuzaka All-Round Defense, provides buffs based on the number of Geo characters in your party. His Elemental Burst, Juuga: Forward Unto Victory, creates a field that provides additional buffs and pulls in Crystallize shards. Gorou's buffs are significant, but they are primarily limited to Geo characters, making him a niche support option.

C-Tier: Limited Utility

Xinyan

Xinyan is a Pyro support character who provides shielding and Pyro application. However, her shield is relatively weak, and her Pyro application is inconsistent. She may be useful in certain niche situations, but she is generally outclassed by other Pyro support characters.

Lisa

Lisa is an Electro support character who can apply Electro to enemies. However, her Electro application is not as consistent as Fischl's, and her other support capabilities are limited. She is generally not recommended as a support character.

Final Thoughts

The 4-star characters in Genshin Impact offer a diverse range of support options, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. By understanding their abilities and roles, you can build effective teams that can tackle even the most challenging content. Remember to consider your team's needs and playstyle when choosing your support characters, and don't be afraid to experiment with different combinations to find what works best for you. With the right support characters by your side, you'll be well-equipped to conquer the world of Genshin Impact! Guys, have fun playing.