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There's a lot of hype in the Genshin Impact community whenever there's an addition to the character roster. Being one of the few characters featured in the official Teyvat trailer, the hype for Cyno was off the charts when he was released during the Version 3.1 update alongside Sumeru Desert.
Every character in the game has six talents and constellations with numerous weapons and artifact choices. This allows players to have immense flexibility when they're building a character. Apart from that, Cyno also has some tips and tricks that can make you feel much better while using this character.
You Need To Time Your Elemental Skill
Cyno's Elemental Skill has two instances, and it's not unlike any other skill. If you press his skill normally, it's a dash dealing damage to enemies in its path. But, if it's used during your Elemental Burst, there is a special stomping effect to it dealing higher damage.
This damage can be increased even further if you time your Elemental Skill right with the Featherfall Judgement passive. When you're in your Elemental Burst, this passive creates an eye on your screen which is purple.
When you time the skill correctly, the eye will turn golden for a second before disappearing, notifying you that you did it. This passive has a cooldown of around four seconds, so it can be used four times in one Elemental Burst.
It is rather important to make use of this passive because it increases your skill's damage by 35 percent, and it fires three Duststalker Bolts that deal 100 percent of Cyno's ATK as damage. Using your Elemental Skill during the Burst already increases its duration, and you can further deal more damage with this passive.
Choose Your Artifact Set Wisely
While there are a ton of artifact choices for Cyno depending on how you build him, Gilded Dreams and Thundering Fury are the ones that outshine. Here are all the set bonuses you'll get from these artifacts:
| Set Bonus | Gilded Dreams | Thundering Fury |
|---|---|---|
| Two-Piece | 80 Elemental Mastery | 15% Electro DMG Bonus |
| Four-Piece | Whenever an Elemental Reaction is triggered, the character using this piece gets an ATK or Elemental Mastery buff based on the party members. | Increases the damage caused by Electro reactions like Overload, Superconduct, Electro-charged, Hyperbloom, and Aggravate. Further, whenever you trigger these reactions or Quicken, the Elemental Skill cooldown is decreased by one second and can be triggered every 0.8 seconds. |
Based on their bonuses, Gilded Dreams can be great on Cyno if you're using characters of any element other than Electro in the party with him to get extra Elemental Mastery. This stacks with Authority Over the Nine Bows passive to give you extra DMG as well.
On the other hand, while Thundering Fury looks great on paper, there is a little problem with it during his Elemental Burst. The four-piece bonus decreases the cooldown of his skill, but it doesn't decrease the cooldown of the Featherfall Judgement passive.
This might lead to scenarios where you have to wait until the eye appears even if your skill is ready, making the cooldown reduction useless. Nonetheless, the extra damage on elemental reactions still makes this set worth it.
It is also worth noting that Elemental Mastery is one of the most important stats for Cyno, especially if you're using his signature weapon. Apart from the passive mentioned above, his weapon also gives you an ATK bonus based on your Elemental Mastery.
Cyno Has Energy Problems
Every character has two abilities other than their normal attack, Elemental Skill and Elemental Burst. To use your Elemental Burst, you need to gain energy that can be acquired from the particles dropped when you hit an enemy with your Elemental Skill. Each character has a different energy cost to use their Burst.
For Cyno, this cost is 80 Energy, which is the second-highest cost in the game after 90. When you use your Elemental Skill, Cyno will generate three particles, and this doesn't increase based on the number of enemies you hit. This leads to the character having a hard time with his Burst.
Furthermore, even though you can use your Elemental Skill during your Burst, the particle generation is weird. It can generate either one or two particles, with one huge white particle occasionally that generates equal energy for all the characters in the party.
There are a few ways to mitigate this Energy problem. Firstly, you can try having a 140 to 150 percent Energy Recharge. This is not an easy task on Cyno though, because you already have stats like Crit, ATK, and Elemental Mastery to focus on.
If you still have Energy problems once you're done artifact farming for him, you can attempt to use certain weapons like the Kitain Cross Spear that can be crafted through the Blacksmith. Although, you will see a significant reduction in your damage if you use this weapon over something like Blackliff Pole.
Finally, you can try using a 'battery' character like Fischl or Yae Miko that can drop Electro particles for Cyno even when they're off-field. Although, if you're using Gilded Dreams set on Cyno with another Electro character in the party, this will reduce the Elemental Mastery you gain by 50.
Elemental Reactions Hit Hard With Him
Since you're going to be building a lot of Elemental Mastery on Cyno, it's natural to have a team based around Elemental Reactions. Along with the release of Sumeru in the Version 3.0 update, reactions involving Dendro and Electro like Quicken, Aggravate, and Spread were released.
Electro element has some of the best reactions in Genshin Impact. Electro-charged and Overload can heavily crowd-control the enemies, while Aggravate can buff your Electro damage significantly. With higher Elemental Mastery, the effects of these reactions also increase exponentially.
While Cyno is great for elemental reactions, it is important to note that there is an in-game cooldown to every reaction that isn't visible. For most cases, this cooldown is around 2.5 seconds. So, it's better to have a team with multiple reactions.
Swirl also deserves a mention when it comes to reactions. You can swirl Electro whenever it comes in contact with an Anemo skill, and it decreases the enemy's resistance to Electro if the Anemo character has a Viridescent Venerer artifact set. This can be decreased even more if you have characters like Kaedehara Kazuha.
Cyno's Skill Can Be Used For Mobility
While there are multiple Teleport Waypoints around the world on Genshin, there are times when you have to reach a location far away from any Teleport. It can be quite a struggle to run all the way while managing your stamina, which doesn't allow you to dash too much.
There are characters like Yelan or Sayu that make this process easier, and Cyno has joined that roster as well. The length of his dash in Elemental Skill is quite big, allowing you to cover a lot of distance without consuming any stamina.
Be careful while using this skill for mobility around elevation though. It works great if there's a set of stairs or slope, but you won't be able to dash through a ditch. The character gets stuck at the edge to prevent you from falling.
When you use Elemental Skill for distance, you won't generate any particles since that only happens when an enemy is around. Furthermore, if you try to dash when there is an enemy around, this skill will aim automatically at them. This prevents you from dashing away and forces you into battle.
Don't Try To Charge Attack With Cyno
During his Elemental Burst, Cyno changes all of his attacks, including charged attacks, to Electro DMG. This might incentivize some players to do a rotation involving charged attacks, but that isn't as efficient, especially if you have some constellations like:
- The first constellation increases Cyno's ATK SPD whenever you activate your Burst or trigger Featherfall Judgement successfully. Using a charged attack after this constellation can significantly reduce your overall damage.
- Constellation six gives you extra Duststalker Bolts that can only be triggered using your normal attacks. You'll be getting these bolts readily, giving you fewer chances to use your charged attacks.
It is also important to note here that Cyno's attack has different multipliers during his Elemental Burst. This means that you don't need to upgrade his normal attack talent to deal higher damage during the Burst.
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