Cyno is a 5-star Electro Polearm DPS in Genshin Impact. Here are Cyno’s best weapons, artifacts, and teams to bring judgment down upon your enemies!
Playstyles
Cyno is an on-field Aggravate DPS. His EM-focused Ascension 4 Passive makes him much more effective in Dendro teams compared to other Electro DPS units.
Most of Cyno’s damage is dependent on his Burst. When Cyno uses his Burst, his Normal Attacks deal Electro damage and have a larger AoE. At intervals, a large purple eye will periodically appear on the screen, indicating an Endseer interval. Using Cyno’s Skill during an Endseer interval unleashes a more powerful version of his Skill.
Set up your support skills, swap to Cyno, then use his Skill and Burst in quick succession. You can then spam his combo, falling into a rhythm of spamming Normal Attacks and using your Skill when the eye appears. Doing this for the full duration of Cyno’s Burst requires quite a lot of field time, so depending on your situation, you can end his combo early by swapping to a teammate.
Note that you should level up Cyno’s Burst before his Normal Attacks. His Electro damage scales with his Burst Talent level, so you can ignore his Normal Attack levels.
Weapons
Staff of Scarlet Sands
Cyno’s signature 5-star Polearm is, unsurprisingly, his best-in-slot. The difference between this weapon and R5 White Tassel is noticeable, but not game-changing.
Primordial Jade Winged-Spear
This is Cyno’s second-best weapon if you happen to have a spare. Its passive effect lasts long enough for Cyno’s full combo.
Ballad of the Fjords / Deathmatch
These are the 4-star Polearms obtained through the Battle Pass. At R5, they can outperform the 5-star weapons below. At R1, they perform about the same. It’s up to you whether they are worth spending $10-50.
White Tassel / Staff of Homa / Calamity Queller / Vortex Vanquisher
Cyno’s Normal Attacks during his Burst state still benefit from White Tassel’s 48% Normal Attack DMG. As a 3-star weapon, it has a low Base ATK, but Cyno cares less about ATK than most DPS units. R5 White Tassel is my baseline cost-effective recommendation. White Tassels can be found in chests around Liyue. If you happen to have any of the 5-star weapons listed alongside it, they perform similarly.
Kitain Cross Spear
Kitain Cross Spear is a 4-star craftable Polearm from Inazuma. Its performance varies quite a lot based on how much Energy Recharge Cyno needs in your team. In addition, it prevents you from using Cyno’s Skill before his Burst, so keep that in mind if using this weapon.
Artifacts
4pc Thundering Fury (4TF)
This set decreases Cyno’s Skill cooldown, allowing you to use Cyno’s Skill twice as many times. Only half of these Skill uses will fall within the Endseer interval though, and the timing can be quite tight. You’ll need to spam your Skill as soon as it comes off cooldown, lest you miss an Endseer proc. This is technically Cyno’s best artifact set, but I prefer the less stressful gameplay of the other sets below.
4pc Gilded Dreams (4GD) / 4pc Gladiator’s Finale (4GF)
These are my generally preferred sets that provide more relaxed gameplay and are easier to farm. Gilded Dreams can be obtained from the same domain as Deepwood Memories, which you’ll likely be farming anyway for Cyno’s Dendro teammate. You might already have a usable 4GF set, but if not, they can be obtained through artifact strongboxes.
2pc combos
If all else fails, combine 2pc sets that provide Elemental Mastery, Electro DMG, or ATK until you are able to obtain one of the 4pc sets above.
Artifact Stats
| Sands | Goblet | Circlet |
| Elemental Mastery ATK | Electro DMG Elemental Mastery | CRIT Rate/DMG Elemental Mastery |
Cyno’s Energy Recharge requirements can be prohibitively high as the sole Electro character. With a second Electro character, you should try to have around 140% Energy Recharge. Having a 4TF artifact set, Kitain Cross Spear, or a teammate using a Favonius weapon helps bring this down by about 20%.
Aside from Energy Recharge, Cyno should focus on CRIT, Elemental Mastery, and ATK. Elemental Mastery is almost always more valuable than ATK.
Teams
Cyno should always be paired with a Dendro teammate. Nahida provides the highest damage, but her Skill works by marking individual enemies. This can work against you in multi-wave content where enemies die quickly, since newly-spawned enemies will not have Dendro on them and Cyno ends his Burst state when switching off. Dendro Traveler is better in multi-wave mobbing situations.
If you need defensive utility, Baizhu and Yaoyao are both able to provide healing and off-field Dendro. Baizhu is better for Cyno, since Yaoyao requires valuable field time to do the bulk of her healing, but both are definitely usable.
Hyperbloom
Cyno’s Hyperbloom teams combine Dendro, Hydro, and Electro for a combination of Quicken and Hyperbloom. The Hydro can sometimes reduce Quicken uptime on enemies, but the additional Hyperbloom damage is generally still worth it. I recommend having a second Electro character to help provide Energy for Cyno, but you can also go double Dendro. Combine your favorite characters from the list below.
- Dendro: Dendro Traveler, Nahida, Baizhu, Yaoyao
- Hydro: Furina, Xingqiu, Yelan
- Flex: Fischl, Beidou, Kuki Shinobu, Kujou Sara, Zhongli
Quicken
Cyno’s pure Quicken teams tend to have a lower damage output than Hyperbloom teams, but can be more straightforward to play. All you need is Cyno and a Dendro teammate of your choice. You can double up on Electro and Dendro if you wish, or throw in an Anemo unit with 4pc Viridescent Venerer. It can be hard to Swirl Electro depending on your setup, so if you notice that you’re not able to comfortably Swirl Electro, consider Zhongli instead.
- Dendro: Dendro Traveler, Nahida, Baizhu, Yaoyao
- Electro: Fischl, Beidou, Kuki Shinobu, Kujou Sara, Yae Miko
- Flex: Sucrose, Kazuha, Zhongli
