The sharpshooting medic Sharla is next up in our series of builds for Xenoblade Chronicles. Met on the Gaur Plains and originating from Colony 6, this most caring of snipers immediately takes up the position of dedicated healer. As an exclusively ranged character Sharla is able to support the group from afar, contributing not only healing spells, but crowd control, shields and even a reasonable amount of damage. The former is clearly her main focus, but resigning her to a purely health restoration based role would be to miss out on some fantastic alternative play styles, especially if you decide to take her in the leader role. So then, let’s get down to detailing some of our favourite Sharla builds!
1. Full Healing
Our first Sharla build is both the most basic and likely the most popular among XBC players. As you might imagine, given the Full Healing title, this build focuses all of it’s effort on keeping your party alive, and it’s also the one build in our list that most lends itself to being controlled by a CPU. You can, should you wish, chuck this version of Sharla into the third slot of your party and complete the entirety of Xenoblade Chronicles with little issue. That’s not to say she cannot be controlled – it’s actually quite fun to play the role of the healer from time to time – but you’ll likely want to control others that have a greater control over the Break, Topple and Daze flow of battle. Either way, it’s perfectly reasonable to go with this Sharla build, but we do tend to find it quite boring after a while…
Build Arts
As you might imagine the Arts tray for this build is chocked full of healing abilities. We like to bring both group heals when we go full healing, and having Sharla in the lead will allow you to space their usage out a little, which accounts for their long cool down period. Aggro and said cool downs are actually accounted for here too, and we always like to bring an additional bit of utility where possible, either through being able to inflict Break, Sleep or some such. This is probably the most ‘boring’ of Art palettes for Sharla if we’re honest, but it certainly gets the job done.
Build Tips
- Having a Heat Sink gem will ensure you can keep the heals rolling for longer.
- Make sure to prioritise levelling up your group heals, mainly for the reduction in cool down.
- Any other arts should prioritise healing more often and removing aggro.
- Ether Up gems will ensure your heals are powered up.
- Stack up the best defence as possible with Sharla, even Heavy Armour through skill links, since her Agility doesn’t really matter.
- Works well as the only healing source in the group.
- Art and Debuff resistance is key to keep the healing flowing.
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2. General Utility
Of the three Sharla builds detailed here, the Utility build is probably our most used of all. It’s designed to capture pretty much everything Sharla can contribute whilst adding a few elements to round out her kit. In this form she is still very much a healing character, as shown below by our Art selection below, but she’s now capable of so much more thanks to the inclusion of things like Daze, crowd control in the form of Sleep and even a physical Art, which allows her to participate in building huge damage combo chains. The weapons gems tend to come down to personal preference here; we tend to go for debuff options like Slow or Strength down, which allows Sharla to contribute further even just by auto attacking. The Talent Boost gem is fantastic too, given that you’re unlikely to be too concerned about the auto attack damage itself.
Build Arts
As noted, the arts for this build are less healing based and tend to include abilities that cater to multiple situations. Targeting of Sharla’s Sleep art can be a bit of a pain at times, but there can be no arguing just how useful it can be, especially when you start venturing into the late game portions of the game. These arts can just about function as the only healer required, but it’s worth noting that you can take less heals and combine it with another member to cover things just as well.
Build Essentials
- Good all purpose build that can adapt to most any situation.
- Brings CC, plenty of healing and good amounts of damage.
- Heatsink is optional, though generally speaking Sharla operates best when this requires less management.
- Having some extra utility on Sharla in the form of Break and Daze can allow your other members to stack their damaging abilities without issue.
- Likely the best option for a Topple combo style of team.
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3. Full Damage
Where the Utility build is our most used in XBC, the full damage option has to be our absolute favourite. Nothing beats sitting at the back of the battlefield, firing off a massive rifle that often double attacks. It’s actually quite surprising just how much damage Sharla can put out with this kind of build, and whilst we understand that you’re having to sacrifice some utility or healing to do so, it’s tremendously good fun.
You’ll note here that we always keep the Debuff Resist gem there, no matter the build. This is because her damage is almost entirely based on auto attacks, so debuffs like Slow or such can really hurt her. The lack of Ether Up gems too might seem anathema to her ‘canon’ role, and we’re surely not advocating that you use this build for progression content, but we must insist you just give it a chance, it’s fantastic fun!
Build Arts
Of course you’re going to see the least amount of utility and healing spells here; this is a damage build after all. We like to retain a few however, and we’re most font of the group heals and debuff removal arts, mainly because this is primarily a build to be used as a Leader, which allows you to control the cool downs a bit better. Aggro removal is an essential art too; you could factor in some Auto Attack Stealth gems, but we don’t like to sacrifice either Double or Haste options.
Build Essentials
- Very fun Sharla build, underrated.
- Damaging Arts are taken, but the majority of Sharla’s damage will come from auto attacks.
- Haste can be swapped out for on-hit gems if you wish, but these will likely do less damage.
- Use of a few healing abilities can work well with another spot healer like Melia or Riki to cover all of the requirements, whilst still doing great damage.
- A Heatsink gem is not really a requirement here.
- Fantastic build for long physical combo attack chains.
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