I’m going to be straight with you. Jiang Ziya is going to take the HBH meta, and flip it right on its head, and she will do so almost immediately. And it all goes back to our old friend, Thaniel. As many of you are aware, Thaniel as been a perennial feature of HBH groups since day one. Nurse Aeleen did OK in Standard, but she just couldn’t cut it in Expert or Master due to her lack of a defense boosting ability or Burn purge for off-meta hopefuls. True, her HPS was vastly superior to Thaniel, but it wasn't enough. Thaniel’s kit, however lacking, was and is ideal for HBH. His S1 is a serviceable enough heal and Burn cleanse, while his S2 boosts defense, allowing himself and Lily to cheese the opening blast. The rest of his kit is junk though; with no Skill Prep, Thaniel is forced to run The Chocolatiers, and his passive Gauge Inhibitor is of dubious merit.

So why I have I spent a paragraph talking about Thaniel and not Jiang Ziya? Because Jiang Ziya is going to render Thaniel completely obsolete. That’s not to say you can’t still heal mHBH with Thaniel: You absolutely can. It’s just that it’s going to be much, much easier with Jiang Ziya. She is Thaniel, but better.

Let’s start with the S1. Both Thaniel and Jiang’s S1s have identical SP costs, and both are heals that cleanse Burn. They’re functionally identical, with the same recovery multipliers. Except that Jiang has a HP = 70% Recovery Potency passive, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves. The S2 is where the clear difference emerges. Now, granted, Jiang’s S2 has a higher SP cost. In some rare, niche cases, where teams were abusing, say, Valiant Crown or other Doublebuff passives, Thaniel has an edge here. But for the most part, you don’t spam Thaniel’s S2, you save it for key moments in the fight. So a slightly higher SP cost is somewhat irrelevant. Both S2’s provide 20% Defense for 15 seconds, but Jiang’s tacks on a Heal Over Time. That, right there, is reason number one why she is better: With her S2 providing healing, teams will recover faster and easier from mistakes. With Thaniel, for the most part, one mistimed heal, one party member taking a bit of extra damage, and that was it. The run was over, you were all going to die because Thaniel could barely keep up with healing demands. Having a virtually identical S2 but with a heal attached makes all the difference. Jiang can easily and quickly recover from minor errors and keep her team topped off faster, which really matters if you have a Lily, what with her HP conditional.

But that’s not all. If it were just the superior S2, well, Thaniel would still be toast, but that isn’t all. I mentioned Jiang’s recovery potency HP conditional. That...doesn’t matter as much as you might think. Honestly, most of the time in HBH if you’re healing up the party you’ve all had your HP tanked, and the conditional will be turned off. Oh well. No, that's not what sets Jiang so far above Thaniel he can’t even touch her. That would be her 100% skill prep. This instantly means that you have a free slot for a Wyrmprint. You can put anything there. Skill Haste, Dragon Prep, Buff Time, Strength Conditionals, the possibilities are nearly endless, and I don’t know what the meta pick is going to end up being. But it doesn’t matter. Thaniel HAS to run The Chocolatiers to even have a prayer in mHBH. That’s a limited print, and one that only helps in the first seconds of the fight. But Jiang could put anything there. Even Chocolatiers! (Please don't run Chocolatiers)

So, in the end, I’m giving Jiang a very enthusiastic maybe. Why? Because unless you are healing HBH or similarly challenging content, Thaniel (or Nurse Aeleen) is perfectly fine. Heck, Thaniel has been healing HBH for a long time, and he’s not going to magically lose the ability with Jiang here. But she’s going to do the job better, and when harder content inevitably comes out, she’ll be the one leading the charge. Again though, only if you want to play healer. Which if you’re like me, means Jiang is a dream come true. So long Thaniel, and thanks for all the fish.

Final Verdict: Maybe. If you want to heal HBH or other end game content, Jiang is the best. If, however, you prefer DPS, you can just keep letting the AI control a 4★ water healer instead.