How to Heal in HSR and How Many Sustains You Need: Healers, Shields, Food, Techniques
30-second summary: HSR has 5 main ways to restore HP: (1) walk past a Space Anchor on the map to fully heal and revive your whole team out of combat, (2) use an Abundance character's Skill/Ultimate — your most common source of healing during a fight, (3) destroy glowing green objects, (4) use the Destruction Trailblazer's Technique, (5) use healing food items. On sustain: a standard 4-slot team usually needs just one sustain — a healer (Abundance) or a shielder (Preservation). You can skip it if you kill fast, and only need two sustains in the hardest endgame or when your units are undergeared.
The 5 ways to heal in HSR, ranked
HSR has five main ways to restore HP, and they are not equal. Ranked by usefulness: the best is walking past a Space Anchor on the map — it fully heals your whole team automatically. Second is using an Abundance character's Skill or Ultimate, which is almost always your source of in-combat healing (a few Relic sets and Light Cones can heal too, but they are rarer). Third is destroying the glowing green objects scattered around the map. Fourth is the Destruction Trailblazer's Technique. Lowest is eating healing food, a one-time consumable. In short: while exploring, lean on Anchors and green objects; but for tough battles, you need an in-team healer or shielder. The other four methods only work out of combat or as emergency patches, so they cannot keep you alive during a real fight.
- 1Space Anchors on the mapWalk past to fully heal the team and even revive downed characters
- 2Skill / Ultimate of an Abundance characterHealing you get right in the middle of a fight
- 3Break the glowing green objectsHeals while exploring, but usually a detour
- 4The Destruction main character's TechniqueHeals the whole team a fair amount as you enter battle
- 5Eat healing foodA consumable — one use and it's gone
Space Anchor: free full heal and revive out of combat
The Space Anchor (Japanese: 界域アンカー) is the glowing anchor placed throughout every map. It's the number-one heal while exploring. Just walk near one and your whole team is instantly fully healed, for free. Even better: it also revives characters knocked out during exploration. So if a trap or a nasty mob wipes you, just limp back to the nearest Anchor and your team is revived. There's one small limit: the HP an Anchor can restore per period is capped, and if you drain it you wait for it to recharge over time. In normal play you'll basically never hit that cap. So make it a habit: every time you pass an Anchor, tap it — treat it as a free roadside clinic that also saves your consumables and Techniques for when you actually need them.
In-combat sustain: healer (Abundance) or shielder (Preservation)?
Anchors and food are useless once the fight starts. What keeps you alive then is a sustain unit — the character whose job is staying power. HSR has two ways to do it. One is an Abundance character: they use Skills or Ultimates to heal back lost HP. The other is a Preservation character: they generate shields that absorb damage, stopping HP loss before it happens. Both count as one sustain and both take one of your four team slots. Which to pick depends on the fight: against enemies that open with one big hit, a shield blocks better; against enemies that chip your HP over many turns, a healer tops you up more steadily. To build a team with proper sustain, use GameVika's Teams tool for standard templates; to see which sustains are strong right now, open GameVika's Tier List to compare.
| Aspect | Healer — Abundance | Shielder — Preservation |
|---|---|---|
| How it sustains | Restores lost HP | Shields to prevent HP loss |
| Pick when | Enemy chips HP over many turns | Enemy hits one big burst |
Techniques, food, green objects: the emergency backups
The remaining three are emergency backups for when an Anchor is far away or you're short on sustain. First, the Destruction Trailblazer's Technique: each use spends one Technique point and heals your whole team a meaningful chunk (around 15% of max HP) the moment the fight begins. If you have Technique points to spare, use it as a convenient pre-battle heal. Second, healing food — consumables you cook or pick up. Open your bag (top-right icon), go to consumables, and eat one. Each use is gone for good, so save them for real emergencies or when you can't be bothered to walk back to an Anchor. Third, the glowing green objects on the map: smash one to heal, though you usually have to detour to reach it. The common thread: all three only patch you up out of combat and won't save you in the middle of a hard fight.
How many sustains do you actually need?
This is the big question. Every HSR team has four slots. The standard rule for new players: keep exactly one sustain — a healer (Abundance) or a shielder (Preservation) — with the rest being one main damage dealer (DPS) and damage supports. One sustain is enough to survive nearly all content. When can you drop it? When your team kills so fast that one burst turn ends the fight before enemies retaliate — then the sustain slot becomes extra damage. When do you need two? Only in the hardest endgame, where enemies are both tanky and hit hard over many turns, or when your units are still weak with unfinished Traces and gear. New players should default to one sustain, get used to the rhythm, then experiment. To find who can sustain, open GameVika's Characters tool and filter by the Abundance and Preservation paths.
| Sustains | When |
|---|---|
| 0 | When your team kills so fast the fight ends in one burst |
| 1 (default) | Enough to survive almost all content |
| 2 | Hardest endgame stages, or when your units are still weak |
FAQ
How do I heal outside of combat while exploring the map?
You have three options outside combat. Fastest and best: walk past a Space Anchor — touching it fully heals your whole team and even revives fallen characters. Second: smash the glowing green objects scattered on the map. Third: open your bag, go to consumables, and eat a healing food item. The Destruction Trailblazer's Technique also heals your whole team a meaningful chunk (around 15% of max HP) on entering combat if you have Technique points to spare.
Does the Space Anchor revive characters that have died?
Yes. A Space Anchor not only fully heals but also revives characters knocked out during exploration. Just walk near it and it triggers automatically, instantly and for free. One caveat: there's a cap on how much HP it can restore per period, and if you drain it you must wait for it to recharge over time. In normal play you'll almost never hit that cap.
Is there a free healer for new players?
Yes. The game gives out one Abundance (healer) character as a story reward — no gacha or payment needed. Just progress the main Trailblaze quest and you'll get her. She's a solid early-game sustain that carries you through most starter content until you pull a better one. Check GameVika's Characters tool to see who belongs to the Abundance path.
Can a team run with no sustain at all (no healer, no shield)?
Yes, but conditionally. If your team kills fast enough (one big burst turn and it's over), enemies never get to hit back, so you don't need sustain. But in hard endgame, where enemies are tanky and hit hard over many turns, dropping sustain gets you wiped easily. New players should always keep one sustain in a 4-slot team, then experiment with going sustain-less once you know the fight's rhythm. Use GameVika's Teams tool to build a team with proper sustain.
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