If you’re shopping around for a solid defensive character in Honkai: Star Rail, then you’re in luck. There are eight different characters designed to keep your team alive and healthy during tumultuous battles, but naturally, some are better than others in this regard.
We’ll break down the top defensive characters in the game so you know who to dedicate your resources to. Here are the best defensive characters in Honkai: Star Rail, ranked.
Related: 11 Best offensive characters in Honkai: Star Rail, ranked
#8: March 7th
March 7th being at the bottom of the list does not mean she is a bad unit for sustain. This 4-star Ice Preservation character provides strong shields as her way of keeping the team healthy, but there are a couple of downsides to her. One, her shields are single-target only, meaning that you won’t be able to shield your entire team. Two, her shields are tied to her skill, meaning to keep her team alive, you will always need a healthy influx of skill points.
March 7th’s shields will also cause enemies to target the shielded characters more. As such, March 7th synergizes well with characters who have low skill point usage and those who prefer to take a hit or two, such as Clara. While it’s possible to use March 7th as the sole defensive character of a team, you might find it easier to pair her up with another Preservation unit for some extra security.
#7: Fire Trailblazer
The Trailblazer is every player’s starter character and has the unique ability to change his or her class whenever you want. The second unlocked class for the Fire Trailblazer is a Preservation unit. The Trailblazer provides some very weak shields, but can also Taunt enemies, forcing them to target the Trailblazer instead of any other unit on your team.
This Taunt is potent, and as the Trailblazer will have a high DEF stat, means the Trailblazer can tank a lot of hits. However, this is not very helpful against enemies who can dish out a lot of AoE damage. Furthermore, the Fire Trailblazer’s shields are quite weak. If you do not have a lot of sustain on a team, the Fire Trailblazer can be used to edge out a team’s weak spot.
#6: Bailu
Bailu is a 5-star Electric Abundance character and is the classic 5-star healer of the game. Bailu’s main claim to fame is her relatively high healing (although nowadays, her healing is outclassed by characters like Luocha) and her ability to revive one teammate. The problem is, aside from healing and her niche revival, Bailu does not offer anything else to the team.
As Bailu’s healing is tied to her Skill and Ultimate, she is not a skill-point-efficient character in keeping your team alive. Additionally, her Skill’s healing is RNG-based. As her Ultimate is her only means of reliable AoE healing, Bailu’s healing will not be as efficient as other Abundance characters. Her defensive utility is low compared to characters like Natasha, who has easier access to Eidolons and has a crowd-control cleanse, a tool proven to be very important for endgame content.
#5: Natasha
As the free-to-play healer of the game, Natasha is a character accessible to all players. As such, some might expect her to be the weakest defensive unit in the game, but Natasha’s healing is pretty capable and generally matches Bailu, if not somewhat worse. Natasha edges out Bailu due to her ability to cleanse status effects, which has proven to be a very important asset.
Natasha also has easy access to Eidolons and a cheap Burst. Note, similar to Bailu, Natasha’s healing abilities are tied to her skill. Additionally, her healing abilities are single-target, meaning you will need reliable access to your Burst to keep the team healthy against hard-hitting attacks.
#4: Lynx
Lynx is a solid 4-star Quantum Abundance character, able to keep the team healthy with her strong healing ability. Lynx has a similar playstyle to Bailu and Natasha, with a healing ability tied to her Skill and Ultimate. Lynx can increase the maximum HP of characters and can also cleanse status effects with her Ultimate. With Eidolons, Lynx can even pull a Fu Xuan and have a character she heals be resistant to crowd control effects.
If that’s not enough, Lynx can also cause taunt enemies to hit an ally if they are a Destruction or Preservation character. If Lynx is paired with a character like Clara or Blade, this will provide some very nice synergy. If you can get Lynx, it’s advised to build her over Bailu, despite her status as a 4-star character.
#3: Gepard
Gepard is a 5-star Preservation character and is renowned for his ability to apply some strong shields to your entire team. He is almost like an advanced version of March 7th, with the ability to apply a large team-wide shield with his Ultimate. He also has the niche ability to work well in a Freeze team, keeping enemies Frozen and preventing them from taking their turn.
As Gepard has no healing ability, you’ll need to make sure he gets his Ultimate often and that his shields are strong enough to solo sustain a team. If you find that his shields aren’t quite enough to completely sustain a team, consider pairing him with a second defensive unit.
#2: Luocha
Luocha is an incredible healer, and easily the strongest healer in the game. Luocha is a 5-star Imaginary Abundance character and is very capable of keeping your team alive. He has an auto-heal that will proc whenever an ally reaches critical health and a passive that allows your team to heal itself while attacking. Luocha’s targeted heals will also cleanse allies from any status effects.
These two healing methods are incredibly potent, but more importantly, Luocha is able to heal without using any skill points at all, save for an emergency situation where you might need to use Luocha’s skill to heal. This means Luocha will not only keep your team alive but generate a whirlwind of skill points.
#1: Fu Xuan
Fu Xuan is the latest Preservation unit. A 5-star Quantum Preservation character, Fu Xuan keeps her teammates alive by reducing the overall damage taken by the team when she uses her Skill, which also directs damage taken from her allies to herself. She has a passive that allows her to heal most of her health back when she reaches critical health, and her Ultimate has a team-wide heal that’s small, but not inconsequential. When using her Skill, Fu Xuan will also raise the Effect RES of the entire team, increasing their resistance to status effects.
This is a huge list of defensive utility, which allows Fu Xuan to solo sustain a team. Fu Xuan is an incredible unit and one of the best defensive characters in the game. If you’re considering pulling for any of these units, it’s highly recommended to save for Luocha and Fu Xuan, as they will work amazingly for two different teams.
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Honkai: Star Rail is available on PC and PS5.
