Raphael Guide in MLBB: Best Build, Emblems, and Counterpicks

Rafaela is a support hero in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang who specializes in healing allies, increasing movement speed, and controlling enemies. She can help her team in prolonged battles and even revive fallen teammates thanks to her unique passive ability. In this guide, we’ll break down Rafaela’s skills, the best items and emblems, and explain how to play her effectively and who to watch out for.

Rafaela is a support hero who typically plays the roamer position, though she has recently been picked for mid lane as well. Her main task is to accompany allies, restore their health, and assist the team in both offense and retreat. She pairs especially well with fighters and tanks, who need to quickly close the distance to enemies and withstand prolonged battles.

The hero can be purchased in the in-game store for 6,500 battle points or 299 diamonds. 

Raphael’s main advantage is her combination of mass healing, speeding up allies, and the ability to bring fallen heroes back into the game early. Thanks to her first ability, she also reveals the locations of nearby enemies, which helps uncover ambushes. Her ultimate allows her to stun multiple enemies at once and protect her team from dangerous attacks.

However, Raphael has low health and virtually no mobility. She is unable to make bold moves on her own, so she relies heavily on positioning and ally protection. Highly mobile assassins with high burst damage are particularly dangerous, as they can eliminate her before she can heal or stun.

Raphael has four abilities. Her skills allow her to heal allies, speed up their movement, slow down, and stun enemies. The heroine’s main feature is her ability to resurrect fallen allies, reducing the time they’re off the map.

Raphael can activate a special ability that, after a 2.5-second cast time, prematurely revives a selected fallen ally at base. The revived hero gains bonus movement speed for five seconds. If Raphael takes damage from an enemy hero or a powerful neutral monster during the cast time, the resurrection will be interrupted. The cooldown depends on the ally’s remaining respawn time and cannot be reduced by items. It’s best to use this ability in a safe location, prioritizing important allies before decisive battles.

Raphael strikes the three nearest enemies with holy light, dealing magic damage, slowing them by 40%, and briefly revealing their location. Repeated hits on a single target within a few seconds increase the damage dealt. “Light of Retribution” is useful for checking bushes, chasing enemies, and assisting allies on the lane. The ability is especially effective against enemies trying to hide from the team.

Raphael restores health to herself and her nearest allies, with both she and the most injured ally receiving additional healing. At the same time, the ability increases the team’s movement speed and grants temporary immunity to slow effects. “Holy Healing” helps you survive prolonged battles, catch up to enemies, and quickly retreat from dangerous situations.

Raphael unleashes a powerful beam of holy light in the selected direction, dealing magic damage and stunning affected enemies. This ability is particularly useful against groups of enemies who are clustered together or attempting to reach an allied marksman. “Holy Baptism” also helps interrupt dangerous attacks and set the stage for a counterattack by the team.

At level 1, learn “Light of Retribution” to help allies deal damage and scout dangerous areas of the map. At level 2, unlock “Holy Healing.” Then prioritize upgrading the second skill, as it provides the team’s primary healing and speed boost. Upgrade the first skill next, and enhance the ultimate at available levels.

Rafael’s Key Combos:

The key is not to waste your skills unnecessarily. Raphael is especially useful when her healing and stun are ready to use before an important team fight.

Raphael needs ability cooldown reduction, mana regeneration, and items that boost her healing of allies. The core build should also provide additional survivability, as she is vulnerable to sudden attacks.

For standard play as a roamer, the following six items are suitable:

The order in which items are purchased can be changed. If Rafaela is constantly running low on mana, it’s worth buying the “Enchanted Talisman” earlier. If allies frequently die from powerful enemy combos, it’s more useful to purchase the “Oasis Flask” sooner.

“Queen’s Wings” will come in handy if Rafaela consistently takes a lot of damage during team fights. This item increases health and helps Rafaela survive dangerous attacks thanks to a protective effect that activates when her health is low. It can be used instead of “Blood Wings” or “Immortality” if additional survivability is needed in prolonged battles.

“Burning Staff” is useful against teams with strong health regeneration and shields. It applies a burning effect to hit enemies and reduces the effectiveness of their healing. It’s especially useful against Alice, Esmeralda, and support heroes. You can purchase this item instead of “Blood Wings” if you need to reduce your opponents’ healing.

You can also choose the roaming blessing “Encouragement” instead of “Favor.” It boosts the attack stats of nearby allies and is suitable for a more aggressive playstyle. However, in most matches, “Favor” better fulfills Raphael’s primary role as a healer.

A support emblem is best suited for Raphael, as it increases healing effectiveness, movement speed, and reduces ability cooldowns. Thanks to these stats, she can assist her allies more often and move between lanes more quickly.

For standard gameplay, you can choose the following talents:

Three combat spells are suitable for Raphael: “Purification,” “Flash,” and “Healing.” The choice depends on the enemy composition and the required level of protection.

“Purification” helps remove most negative effects and briefly protects against being controlled again. It’s especially useful against teams with a lot of stuns and slows, which prevent Raphael from using his healing abilities. However, the spell does not protect against suppression.

“Flash” allows you to instantly move a short distance to avoid a dangerous attack or overcome an obstacle. Since Raphael lacks his own dash abilities, this is the most versatile option against mobile assassins.

“Heal” creates a health regeneration zone for nearby allies and helps the team survive prolonged battles. It’s suitable for matches where extra support is needed and opponents can’t quickly reach Raphael.

If the enemy team has a lot of crowd control, choose “Purification.” “Flash” works best against assassins, while “Healing” is best for maximizing ally healing.

Raphael is most effective when she stays close to her allies and uses healing, speed boosts, and crowd control at the right moments. She helps the team move safely across the map, defends key objectives, and brings fallen teammates back into the game at crucial moments.

Early in the game, assist your team’s Ranger or escort the Marksman on the gold lane. Use “Light of Retribution” to check bushes and slow enemies, and “Holy Healing” to restore health and speed up allies. Try to move between lanes more often and participate in battles for the Turtle. At the same time, don’t linger too long in one area of the map—Raphael must provide support to all allies. In the early game, her passive cooldown is short—don’t hesitate to use it, and prioritize the Ranger in the early stages. 

By the middle of the match, Raphael obtains her core healing items and begins to have a noticeable impact on team fights. Move around with your allies more often, help them chase down enemies, and use “Holy Baptism” to stop dangerous attacks. If an important teammate has died, consider whether to revive them: it’s better to bring back a fully itemized marksman or jungler who can actually help the team capture a key objective. That said, it’s important to realize that even the Archer and Ranger can make too many mistakes—in which case, it’s better to resurrect other teammates. 

Toward the end of the game, it’s important to maintain a safe position and use “Divine Resurrection” wisely. If the team’s main damage dealer has died, Raphael can bring them back to base earlier than usual and help prepare for a defense or a decisive battle. However, don’t waste the ability on every fallen ally: its cooldown is costly in the late game. Before the Lord fight, stay behind the tank, save your healing for dangerous moments, and don’t let assassins get too close.

Raphael struggles against heroes with high burst damage and abilities that prevent her from safely healing allies. Ling and Hayabusa are particularly dangerous: thanks to their high mobility, they can quickly close in on her and eliminate her before she can stun them. Eidora can deal massive damage in a single combo, while Ixia and Odette are dangerous in team fights. Baxia further reduces health regeneration, diminishing the effectiveness of Raphael’s healing. Against such opponents, it’s important to stay on the front lines and maintain a defensive spell.

Raphael’s best allies are considered to be Atlas, Carmilla, Tigril, and Lapu-Lapu. The first three are capable of initiating team fights and holding enemies in place, while healing and speed boosts help them stay close to enemies longer. Lapu-Lapu gains additional survivability and the ability to close the distance faster. Raphael also pairs well with Freya and other fighters who actively engage in close combat and need constant support.