Genshin Impact: Cyno Talent Guide

Once you have your Cyno, you want to treat your Cyno right. Talents are an often overlooked feature in Genshin Impact, but they can significantly improve your character’s abilities. To get the most out of Cyno, focus on upgrading his Elemental Burst and Elemental Skill, in that order. For the most part, you want to use Cyno while his Burst is active. And if you time it correctly, Cyno’s Skill can extend his Burst’s duration.

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Similar to his character ascension, Cyno needs Scroll drops for his Talents. You can easily farm these throughout Teyvat since they’re dropped by Samachurls. Most Hilichurl camps will have Samachurls standing around. Though considering you can get the Scrolls starting with Mondstadt, you probably have a backlog of these sitting around in your inventory.

For Talent books, Cyno needs the Admonition series. Admonition books are available on Mondays, Thursdays, and Sundays from the Steeple of Ignorance domain in Sumeru.

Finally, Cyno needs the Mudra of the Malefic General drop from the End of the Oneiric Euthymia Trounce Domain. So far, only Kamisato Ayato and the Dendro Traveler also need the Mudra of the Malefic General for Talents.

Combat Talents

Invoker’s Spear – Normal Attack

Despite being designed as a Main DPS, Cyno’s Normal Attack is remarkably unremarkable. Instead, you want to use Cyno during his Elemental Burst. But when performing Normal Attacks during his Burst, the attacks don’t scale with this Talent. Instead, attacks made during Cyno’s Burst scale off of the third Combat Talent. If you’re short on resources, skip upgrading the Normal Attack.

Secret Rite: Chasmic Soulfarer – Elemental Skill

When activated, this allows Cyno to deal Electro DMG to enemies along a path. 

However, when Cyno goes into the Pactsworn Pathclearer state – achieved by using his Elemental Burst – he will unleash a Mortuary Rite instead. The Mortuary Rite deals AoE Electro DMG and extends the duration of Pactsworn Pathclearer. 

Sacred Rite: Wolf’s Swiftness – Elemental Burst

Sacred Rite: Wolf’s Swiftness grants Cyno with Pactsworn Pathclearer status. Under this, Cyno’s Normal Attacks will be converted to Electro DMG. Cyno receives buffs for Elemental Mastery and resistance to interruption. Additionally, he will gain immunity to Electro-Charged DMG. Pactsworn Pathclearer can last for a maximum of 18 seconds, but will end early if Cyno leaves the field.

This is like the Raiden Shogun’s Burst on steroids. 18 seconds is a long time in real time combat – and you can get a taste of what it feels like through Cyno’s trial. There’s not much to say here, this is just an awesome Burst.

Despite affecting Normal Attacks, Normal Attack DMG inflicted during the Burst scales off of the Burst Talent. It does not scale from the Normal Attack Talent.

Passive Talents

Featherfall Judgment – 1st Ascension

After ascending Cyno for the first time, this Passive will take effect. When Cyno is in the Pactsworn Pathclearer state, he will enter the Endseer stance at certain intervals. If you activate his Skill while Cyno is in the Endseer stance, he will activate the Judication effect. The Judication effect increases the DMG of Cyno’s Elemental Skill by 35% and fires three Duststalker Bolts. Each bolt deals 100% of Cyno’s ATK as Electro DMG. Finally, Duststalker Bolt DMG is considered Elemental Skill DMG.

That’s a lot to unpack, there’s a lot of things potentially at play here. Let’s break it down. This Passive Talent kicks in after Cyno uses his Elemental Burst. Despite this, the Passive does not buff Burst attacks. Instead, it increases Cyno’s Elemental Skill DMG. In summary, to add power to this Passive, you need to level up Cyno’s Elemental Skill.

Authority Over the Nine Bows – 4th Ascension

After ascending Cyno for the fourth time, this Passive will take effect. This Passive increases Pactsworn Pathclearer’s Normal Attack DMG and Duststalker Bolt DMG based on Cyno’s Elemental Mastery. They scale at 150% and 250%, respectively. 

Overall, both Passive Talents incentivize Cyno Havers to focus on increasing Cyno’s Elemental Mastery, ATK%, and Electro Bonus DMG.

The Gift of Silence – Utility Passive

Following in Kuki Shinobu’s footsteps, Cyno’s Utility Passive grants a 25% bonus for 20-hour Sumeru Expeditions. Unlike all the other expedition Utility Passives (except Kuki Shinobu’s Passive), this one does not lower the expedition time. A 20-hour expedition will still take 20 hours. Instead, you just get more of the expedition rewards. So if you do the Mora expedition, Cyno will bring home an extra 1,250 Mora. This only works for Sumeru Expeditions.

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Combat Talent Materials

Remember, each Combat Talent can go up to Level 10. To triple crown a character, multiply all materials by three.