Best Cyno builds in Genshin Impact

After being teased for two years, the five-star Electro Polearm character has finally arrived in the world of Teyvat.

Cyno was a planned character from back when Genshin Impact first launched, but it wasn’t until the Version 3.1 “King Deshret and the Three Magi” update that he finally made his highly-anticipated debut.

Related: Genshin Impact tier list: Best and worst characters ranked

Cyno serves as the General Mahamatra for Sumeru’s prominent Akademiya. His profession requires him to exact justice against those who use the Akademiya’s pursuit of knowledge in illegal or immoral ways.

He is a five-star Electro Polearm character, which means that he excels at dealing heavy and effective damage against his enemies. The “favor of the gods” is what grants Cyno his ability to manipulate the Electro element and to “summon a divine spirit” that aids him throughout his continuous pursuit for justice.

Cyno takes his job extremely seriously and those who know him warn against breaking the Akademiya’s code, “for as are Cyno’s jokes, so too is his judgment: no laughing matter.”

The Electro Polearm character is meant to function as the primary damage dealer of the team he is put on since many of his abilities require him to stay on the field actively taking on enemies. Thus, this is the role that players should focus on building him for.

Best weapons for Cyno in Genshin Impact

Polearms are among the most powerful damage-dealing weapons in Genshin thanks to them being brute weapons. Thus, Cyno will deal a solid amount of damage regardless of the polearm he is equipped with but also has the potential to truly excel with certain polearms that are better suited for him.

Staff of the Scarlet Sands

The “Heat Haze at Horizon’s End” ability of this five-star weapon grants the wielder 52 percent of their elemental mastery as an attack bonus. When the wielder of this polearm uses an elemental skill and successfully hits an enemy, the secondary Dream of the Scarlet Sands ability will then be attained.

This secondary ability is gained for 10 seconds and grants the wielder 28 percent more of their elemental mastery as a further attack bonus. This can stack up to three times.

Staff of Homa

Because five-star polearm characters tend to focus on dealing heavy amounts of damage, the best weapons for Cyno are mostly identical to those of other polearm characters like Hu Tao and Raiden Shogun. Thus, the five-star Staff of Homa makes an excellent weapon for Cyno just as it does for most polearm characters.

The “Reckless Cinnabar” effect of this weapon grants the wielder a 20 percent health increase. It also gives an attack increase that is equal to 0.8 percent of the wielder’s maximum health points. When the wielder of the Staff of Homa drops below 50 percent health, the attack bonus is further increased by one percent of maximum health points.

Primordial Jade Winged-Spear

Another top choice for both Cyno and any damage-dealing-centric polearm character is the Primordial Jade Winged-Spear. The “Eagle Spear of Justice” ability increases attack by 3.2 percent for six seconds when the wielder hits an enemy for up to seven stacks.

The ability of this polearm may only occur once every 0.3 seconds. Once the wielder of this weapon has attained the maximum of seven stacks, they will then gain a damage increase of 12 percent.

Deathmatch

Five-star weapons are quite difficult to obtain, so a solid four-star option for Cyno is Deathmatch. The “Gladiator” ability of this weapon increases attack and defense by 16 percent when there are two or more enemies nearby. If there are less than two enemies, then attack is instead increased by 24 percent.

Best artifacts for Cyno in Genshin Impact

The best artifacts for Cyno are the ones that focus on increasing his overall damage output and powerful Electro abilities. The more damage that Cyno can deal through his general attack and his Electro abilities, the better he will function as the primary damage dealer of a Genshin Impact team.

Gilded Dreams

The Gilded Dreams Artifact Set is easily one of the best sets when used right and is among the top choices for Cyno. The two-piece set grants the character that it is equipped to an elemental mastery increase of 80.

The full four-piece set will grant two different buffs depending on what other characters are in the party. These buffs will only be activated within eight seconds of activating an elemental reaction.

• The first buff grants a 14 percent attack increase for all party members who have the same element type as the character that this set is equipped to.
• The second buff grants an elemental mastery increase of 50 to all party members who have a different element type than the character that this set is equipped to.

These buffs can be applied on up to three characters and triggered every eight seconds. They can also still be activated when the character that this set is equipped to leaves or is not on the battlefield.

Gladiator’s Finale

Because Cyno functions as a primary damage dealer, the Gladiator’s Finale set is a great choice for helping him deal massive amounts of damage. The two-piece set will grant Cyno a simple 18 percent attack increase.

The full four-piece set grants characters who wield a polearm, claymore, or sword a 35 percent normal attack damage increase. Players simply seeking a general damage output increase for Cyno will find that this Artifact Set is exactly what they are looking for.

Thundering Fury

Those looking to improve Cyno’s Electro damage may want to try Thundering Fury either as a full set or alongside a different two-piece Artifact Set. The two-piece version will grant the character that it is equipped to a 15 percent Electro damage bonus.

Equipping the four-piece set increases the damage dealt by the elemental reactions Overloaded, Hyperbloom, Superconduct, and Electro-Charged by 40 percent. The damage bonus dealt by Aggravate is also increased by 20 percent.

Additionally, when Quickened or any of the other mentioned elemental reactions occur, the elemental skill cooldown will then be decreased. This may only occur once every 0.8 seconds.

All Ascension Materials for Cyno in Genshin Impact

Because Cyno is a character that was released quite a ways into Genshin Impact, players will likely need to spend lots of time gathering his required materials since most of them are specific to the fairly new region of Sumeru. Luckily, at least one of his Ascension Materials may be something that players already have an abundance of since the various levels of Divining Scroll dropped by Samachurls have been around since the game first launched.

One of Cyno’s essential materials was only launched in Version 3.1 with Sumeru’s desert expansion update. Scarabs can thus only be attained throughout the desert area of the Dendro region. Cyno’s other material, which is Thunderclap Fruitcore, may be easily obtained from taking on the Electro Regisvine in Sumeru.

Across all of Cyno’s Ascension levels, players will need to gather a total of 420,000 Mora, 46 Thunderclap Fruitcore, one Vajrada Amethyst Sliver, nine Vajrada Amethyst Fragment, nine Vajrada Amethyst Chunk, six Vajrada Amethyst Gemstone, 168 Scarab, 18 Divining Scroll, 30 Sealed Scroll, and 36 Forbidden Curse Scroll.

• Ascension to level one requires 20,000 Mora, one Vajrada Amethyst Sliver, three Scarab, and three Divining Scroll.
• Ascension to level two requires 40,000 Mora, three Vajrada Amethyst Fragment, two Storm Beads, 10 Scarab, and 15 Divining Scroll.
• Ascension to level three requires 60,000 Mora, six Vajrada Amethyst Fragment, four Thunderclap Fruitcore, 20 Scarab, and 12 Sealed Scroll.
• Ascension to level four requires 80,000 Mora, three Vajrada Amethyst Chunk, eight Thunderclap Fruitcore, 30 Scarab, and 18 Sealed Scroll.
• Ascension to level five requires 100,000 Mora, six Vajrada Amethyst Chunk, 12 Thunderclap Fruitcore, 45 Scarab, and 12 Sealed Scroll.
• Ascension to level six requires 120,000 Mora, six Vajrada Amethyst Gemstone, 20 Thunderclap Fruitcore, 60 Scarab, and 24 Sealed Scroll.

All Talent Materials for Cyno in Genshin Impact

Only one of Cyno’s required Talent Materials is fairly new, while the others have been around in Genshin Impact for quite some time. Players can obtain the various levels of Teachings of Admonition by visiting the Steeple of Ignorance Domain on Sundays, Mondays, and Thursdays.

Frequently returning to the Electro region of Inazuma is required for obtaining the Mudra of the Malefic General from the Raiden Shogun at the End of the Oneiric Euthymia Trounce Domain challenge. Players will also need a lot of the Scroll loot dropped by Samachurls for Cyno’s Talent Materials in addition to his Ascension ones.

Fully raising all of Cyno’s talents will require players to gather 1,652,500 Mora, six Divining Scroll, 22 Sealed Scroll, 31 Forbidden Curse Scroll, three Teachings of Admonition, 21 Guide to Admonition, 38 Philosophies of Admonition, six Mudra of the Malefic General, and one Crown of Insight.

Cyno is currently available with an increased drop rate on his special “Twilight Arbiter” banner. He will be available until Oct. 14, 2022. Those hoping to recruit the Electro Polearm character should thus wish on him now because he will likely not return for at least around six months in keeping with Genshin’s usual rerun patterns.