Best Builds for Cyno in Genshin Impact

Genshin Impact’s Cyno, General of the Desert is quite the peculiar character and one of the fastest in Hoyoverse’s roster to see a rerun. With humor as dry and sarcastic as the sands he hails from, Cyno can prove to be a pretty powerful unit. It just may take a bit of patience dealing with him and what avenue you want to chase when building his kit. Here are our best builds for Cyno in Genshin Impact.

Related: All Materials Required for Ascending Cyno in Genshin Impact

Genshin Impact – Elemental Skill and Burst

Cyno’s Elemental Skill is Secret Rite: Chasmic Soulfarer – a dash where Cyno darts forward, dealing Electro Damage to any enemy that stands in his way. This Skill takes on a different use when Cyno enters his Elemental Burst stage, Sacred Rite: Wolf’s Swiftness. Adorning a larger head mask and claws, Cyno embodies an ancient spirit into battle, dealing Electro Damage with all of his attacks. Occasionally, an eye will illuminate on the screen, indicating to the player that Cyno’s Passive Featherfall Judgement is in play. Using Cyno’s Elemental Skill during this stage where the eye is on the screen will increase the damage done by Secret Rite and fire off three bolts of lightning that are based on 100 percent of Cyno’s Attack as Electro Damage.

Best Weapons for Cyno

As a five-star, Cyno was released next to his signature weapon, Staff of the Scarlet Sands, so it’s only right for this to be one of the best weapons for him. With a main stat of Crit Rate and a passive that can boost his Elemental Mastery and Attack bonus based on EM, this weapon is flexible for either of Cyno’s builds. 

Polearms that come to a close second and replacements for Cyno are the Moonpiercer and the Missive Windspear. Moonpiercer is a weapon based in Sumeru that requires a special billet and for the Traveler to have completed most of the Aranara Quest to unlock. Based on Elemental Mastery instead, its passive drops a Leaf every time the wielder triggers a reaction such as Burning, Quicken, Aggravate, etc. Once collected, the leaf will boost the character’s Attack by 16 percent for 12 seconds. These Leaves can’t be stacked, since it takes 20 seconds for the spear to drop another even if there is an Elemental Reaction, but as a craftable spear, this passive can be increased once the polearm is refined with similar Moonpiercer’s. 

Missive Windspear was an event weapon available in Of Ballads and Brews, released during Cyno’s first run. Meant to be his free-to-play weapon, it’s based on Attack and has a passive that will boost Attack and Elemental Mastery similar to his Signature Weapon. Triggered whenever it creates an Elemental Reaction, Attack is increased to 12 percent and EM is increased by 48. As an Event Weapon, however, Missive Windspear can be refined with Plume of the Changing Winds, items that were available during the Event that can be used instead of an actual weapon. At full refinement, the Passive changes to increasing Attack by 24 percent and EM by 96. 

Artifact Sets and Stats

Cyno has two different sets that do relatively well on him; one being Thundering Fury and the other being Gilded Dreams. Cyno’s main source of damage comes from his Electro Damage, making Thundering Fury the preferred set. At two pieces, it’ll increase Electro Damage by 15 percent, and at four pieces, increases Damage done by Overload, Charged, Superconduct, and Hyperbloom by 40 percent. Additionally, Aggravate will do 20 percent and if Quickened is triggered, it’ll reduce the character’s Elemental Skill Countdown. While Thundering Fury will get you plenty of damage off of Electro damage alone, Gilded Dreams can be good for Cyno’s Elemental Mastery. 

Another of Cyno’s Passives is Authority Over the Nine Bows which will increase his damage based on his Elemental Mastery. At two pieces, Gilded Dreams will increase EM by 80, and at four pieces, will increase Attack and EM based on how you arrange your party. Allying Cyno with Electro will increase his Attack while allying him with different Element types will increase his Elemental Mastery. 

Related: All Genshin Impact Characters Locations in Windblume Festival (2023)

For his sub-stats, Attack and Elemental Mastery can go a long way into his build as well as Crit Rate/Damage. As long as his Crit Ratio equals that of 1:2 for Rate: Damage, you have a pretty standard DPS. For his Sands, you can either go Attack or Elemental Mastery depending on what has the better sub-stats for him, with the Goblet on Electro Damage bonus and the Crown evening out your Crit ratio with either Rate or Damage. Another potential avenue is going Kazuha with it and running Cyno on all Elemental Mastery. Combined with his Signature weapon, this can do a lot of damage with Gilded Dreams, but as Elemental Mastery is constantly an artifact that loves to evade me, perhaps other players will have better chances of pulling off a better Triple EM Cyno.