Barbara is the first character to be introduced as healer in Genshin Impact. All players can get Barbara for free after completing first Archon story in Mondstadt.
Normally, players would use Barbara as a character who really focused on healing. But with the right set of artifacts and weapons, players can also use Barbara as a DPS.
Barbara Talent Overview
Barbara main damage source is her Charged Attack. So when it comes to barbara talent priority, it would be Charged Attack > Elemental Skill > Elemental Burst. Barbara DPS is recommended mainly for vaporize team and electrocharged team, so you will need support character who can keep applying pyro to enemies like Xiangling or electro like Raiden Shogun.
By using a set artifact that gives an increase in ATK after using elemental skill (Shimenawa), Barbara’s DPS duration lasts for 15 seconds. This duration can be increased up to 5 seconds if the character gets an elemental particle (+1 second per particle with Encore passive).
 Encore | When your active character gains an Elemental Orb/Particle, the duration of Let the Show Begin’s Melody Loop is extended by 1s. The maximum extension is 5s. |
It’s recommended to get at least Barbara 2nd constellation before using her as dps character. Her C2: Vitality burst will reduce 15% CD of Let the Show Begin and gain 15% Hydro DMG Bonus.
 Vitality Burst | Decreases the CD of Let the Show Begin by 15%. During the ability’s duration, your active character gains 15% Hydro DMG Bonus. |
One of Barbara passive: Glorious Season will reduce stamina consumption for 12% when you are using let the Show Begin, means you can do more charged attack.
 Glorious Season | The Stamina Consumption of characters within Let the Show Begin’s Melody Loop is reduced by 12%. |
Best Barbara Weapons
When it comes to catalyst, we have so many choices for Barbara. For 5 star section, I would recommend to use Skyward Atlas or Lost Prayer. Skyward Atlas have ATK substats and high base ATK while Lost Prayer have always sought CRIT Rate substats.
You can say that both weapon is universal for catalyst dps, and both can be obtained from standard banner if you are lucky enough.
For 4 star weapon, let’s start with Widsith. This weapon have CRIT DMG% substats and passive which is unfortunately rng, gacha again. When it’s active, Widsith have effect to increase one of these 3 aspect: ATK, Elemental DMG, or Elemental Mastery.
Second choice is Dodoco Tales which unfortunately only available from past event: first Golden Apple Archipelago. This weapon have ATK% substats and effect to increase Barbara Charged Attack for 6s.
Third we have Blackcliff Agate from Paimon Bargain Shop. This weapon have CRIT DMG% substats and effect to increase ATK after defeating enemy, stackable up to 3 times. Not recommended to use for Boss Fight.
Fourth we have Solar Pearl from monthly premium battle pass level 30. This weapon have CRIT Rate% substats and effect to increase Elemental Skill and Burst DMG after Normal Attack hits an enemy, and likewise Normal Attack DMG will be increased after Elemental Skill or Burst hit the enemy.
Barbara Build Artifacts Set
| 4 Wanderer’s Troupe | (2) Increases Elemental Mastery by 80. (4) Increases Charged Attack DMG by 35% if the character uses a Catalyst or Bow. |
Wanderer’s Troupe only obtainable from weekly bosses and elite bosses, so getting proper good stats will take quite a while. 4 sets of Wanderer Troupes will provide a consistent 35% damage bonus for Barbara charged attacks.
| 4 Shimenawa Reminiscence | (2) ATK +18%. (4) When casting an Elemental Skill, if the character has 15 or more Energy, they lose 15 Energy and Normal/Charged/Plunging Attack DMG is increased by 50% for 10s. |
Shimenawa Reminiscence is an artifact that focuses on increasing Normal and Charged Attack at the expense of 15 energy from elemental bursts gauge. By using these 4 sets of artifacts, Barbara will only have a DPS duration of 10 seconds and will use elemental bursts less frequently.
| 4 Heart of Depth | (2) Hydro DMG Bonus +15%. (4) After using an Elemental Skill, increases Normal Attack and Charged Attack DMG by 30% for 15s. |
The Heart of Depth is artifact set that can be obtained from domain in the Dragonspine. It’s 4 set is first choice for most hydro dps. You can also take only 2 sets and combine it with 2 other artifact sets that give +18% ATK such as Shimenawa or Gladiator’s Finale.
Artifacts Stats and Substats Priority
It’s pretty much regular dps stats at this point. Go for ATK% Sand, Hydro DMG Bonus% Goblet, and CRIT Rate%/CRIT DMG Criclet, and so on.
| Sand | Goblet | Circlet |
|---|---|---|
| ATK% | Hydro DMG Bonus% | CRIT Rate%/CRIT DMG% |
| Substats |
|---|
| CRIT Rate% > CRIT DMG% > ATK%/ATK > Elemental Mastery > Energy Recharge% |
Barbara Team and DPS Rotation
For team, you will mainly need support character that can keep applying pyro for vaporize or electro for electro charged. For pyro you can go for Xiangling, while for electro you can go for Raiden Shogun or Fischl.
Other characters in your team is depend on what you need. You can go with buff character like Bennet, shield support like Zhongli, etc.
For Barbara DPS rotation, the best rotation would be use elemental skills first to reduce stamina consumption, followed by Normal Attack > 2x Charged Attack > Jump to cancel the animation, repeat until the DPS duration is complete.
