Cyno, the Judicator of Secrets is a 5 star Electro polearm user that is featured in the first half banner for the 3.1 Update in Genshin Impact.

Cyno works as an on-field DPS whose main damage comes from his Elemental Burst. Try to imagine Raiden with her Q active but with longer duration and quicker attack speed, that is Cyno’s main gameplay.

Cyno Kit

Cyno’s Elemental Skill is called Secret Rite: Chasmic Soulfarer and works by dealing a swift thrust forward and deals Electro damage. This skill has added effect when paired with his Elemental Burst but we will get to it later.

His Elemental Burst is Sacred Rite: Wolf’s Swiftness. He clads himself into the Pactsworn Pathclearer and in this form, Cyno’s Normal Attack, Charge Attack, Plunging Attacks are enhanced and all converted into Electro damage and cannot be overwritten.

He also gains an increase in Elementary Mastery and resistance to interruption and also becomes immune Electro-Charged damage.

His Elemental Skill is also enhanced and instead, deals AoE Electro damage and extends the duration of his Elemental Burst by 4 seconds.

While in his Elemental Burst, Cyno is basically a powerhouse of Electro, dealing flurries of Electro Damage and paired well with his Elemental Skill, can last for a maximum of 18 seconds.

Cyno Passive

Featherfall Judgement is Cyno’s passive and when Cyno uses his Elemental Burst, he will also enter a stance called the Endseer stance at set intervals. What the stance does is that it enhances the damage of Cyno’s Elemental Skill and also shoots off 3 Duststalker Bolt that deals Electro Damage.

Cyno’s second passive is Authority Over the Nine Bows that increases Cyno’s damage values scaling with his Elemental Mastery stat.

For his adventurer skills, Cyno provides 25% more rewards when dispatched on a Sumeru Expedition, something that Kuki Shinobu has over on Inazuma Expedition.

Artfifacts

Artifacts	Set Bonuses
Thundering Fury	2-Piece: Electro DMG Bonus +15%
	4-Piece: Increase DMG by Overloaded, Electro-Charged, Superconduct and Hyperbloom by 40%, and the DMG Bonus conferred by Aggravate is increased by 20%. When Quicken or the aforementioned Elemental Reactions are triggered, Elemental Skill CD is decreased by 1s. Can only occur once every 0.8s.

Thundering Fury works best with Cyno not only from its 2-piece bonus that offers bonus Electro Damage but also the 4-piece bonus that reduces the cooldown on Elemental Skill upon causing Electro based reactions.

With the 4-set piece bonus, you will be able to cast Cyno’s Elemental Skill multiple times upon causing reactions to maximise the duration of his Elemental Burst. You’ll even benefit from the increased damage of Electro reactions from the 4-piece set bonus as it adds up with Cyno’s increased Elemental Mastery while in his Elemental Burst

Artifacts	Set Bonuses
Gladiator’s Finale	2-Piece: ATK +18%
	4-Piece: If the wielder of this artifact set uses a Sword, Claymore or Polearm, increases their Normal Attack DMG by 35%

Gladiator’s Finale works well if you want to focus more on the Cyno as a single unit and not heavily rely on reactions. Gladiator’s Finale 4-piece bonus is sure to make Cyno’s Normal Attack both with and without Elemental Burst to pack a serious punch.

Artifacts	Set Bonuses
Gilded Dreams	2-Piece: Elemental Mastery +80.
	4-Piece: Within 8s of triggering an Elemental Reaction, the character equipping this will obtain buffs based on the Elemental Type of the other party members. ATK is increased by 14% for each party member whose Elemental Type is the same as the equipping character, and Elemental Mastery is increased by 50 for every party member with a different Elemental Type. Each of the aforementioned buffs will count up to 3 characters. This effect can be triggered once every 8s. The character who equips this can still trigger its effects when not on the field.

Gilded Dreams works hand in hand with Cyno’s second passive, Authority Over the Nine Bows that increases Cyno’s damage values based on his Elementary Mastery and the 4-piece bonus of the set works perfectly well even if you went multiple element teams that focuses on reaction or just simple mono Electro team.

Weapons

Weapons	Rarity	Substat	Passive	Comment
Staff of the Scarlet Sands	5★	Crit Rate	The equipping character gains 52% of their Elemental Mastery as bonus ATK. When an Elemental Skill hits opponents, the Dream of the Scarlet Sands effect will be gained for 10s: The equipping character will gain 28% of their Elemental Mastery as bonus ATK. Max 3 stacks.	Staff of the Scarlet Sands is tailored for Cyno as not only does it provide crit rate as its substats, its passive also increases the equipping character with bonus ATK% based on their Elemental Mastery and also increase it further upon using Elemental Skill. This works well with Cyno who has short cooldown and will be spamming the Elemental Skill especially when in his Elemental Burst.
Primordial Jade Winged-Spear	5★	Crit Rate	On hit, increases ATK by 3.2% for 6s. Max 7 stacks. This effect can only occur once every 0.3s. While in possession of the maximum possible stacks, DMG dealt is increased by 12%.	Primordial Jade Winged Spear is effective due to its crit rate substats and also its passive of increasing ATK% for every on hit attacks synergies well with Cyno who is basically a Normal Attack spammer when in his Elemental Burst
Staff of Homa	5★	Crit Damage	HP increased by 20%. Additionally, provides an ATK Bonus based on 0.8% of the wielder's Max HP. When the wielder's HP is less than 50%, this ATK Bonus is increased by an additional 1% of Max HP.	Staff of Homa is the third choice for its Crit Damage substats that very well adds up to Cyno who inherently increases Crit Damage upon ascension.
Deathmatch	4★	Crit Rate	If there are at least 2 opponents nearby, ATK is increased by 16% and DEF is increased by 16%. If there are fewer than 2 opponents nearby, ATK is increased by 24%.	Deathmatch is the best choice for its crit rate substat and also its passive of increasing ATK%
Missive Windspear	4★	Atk%	Within 10s after an Elemental Reaction is triggered, ATK is increased by 12% and Elemental Mastery is increased by 48.	Missive Windspear works well if you are building your Cyno team focusing on elemental reactions as it passive increases ATK% and Elemental Mastery upon causing Elemental Reactions.
White Tassel	3★	Crit Rate	Increases Normal Attack DMG by 24%.	White Tassel works well for its crit rate substat and its passive of increasing Normal Attack damage working well with Cyno’s gameplay.

Teams

Character	Rarity	Element	Comment
Raiden	5★	Electro	Cyno’s main damage comes from his burst so you would be needing an Electro battery to ensure he would always have his Elemental Burst ready after its cooldown is finished, so characters like Raiden and Fishcl works best for that
Fishcl	4★	Electro
Traveler	5★	Dendro	Aggravate reaction is Cyno’s core damage second only to his Elemental Burst. With Dendro Traveler, their Burst has a long uptime and that synergizes well with Cyno’s Elemental Burst who has his burst that can last up to 18 seconds.
Sucrose	4★	Anemo	Sucrose is the best option for Cyno as her passive, Mollis Favonius increases the Elemental Mastery of her team when she uses her Elemental Skill or Elemental Burst. Jean can not only be the team’s healer, but with C2, she can boost Cyno’s attack speed even further every time she picks up Elemental orbs.
Jean	5★	Anemo

Strength

Cyno’s main strong point is his Elemental Burst with his capability to dish out massive damage rapidly while it is active. Provided with the proper support you can constantly have his Elemental Burst up and continue to dish out damage with Elemental reactions through his Elemental Skill while waiting for the cooldown on his Elemental Burst.

His Elemental Burst also infuses his attacks with Electro that cannot be overridden so he pairs well with a C6 Bennet’s Elemental Burst that provides healing and attack buff.

As Cyno’s Authority Over the Nine Bows adds bonus values to his damage scaling with his Elemental Mastery, you can make use of this and create a fun team focusing on multiple Elemental reactions as he will be dealing massive damage both on his attacks and the reactions he triggers.

Weakness

His strong point can also be his weakness. Since his main damage comes from his Elemental Burst, you cannot swap characters while it is active or else the Burst will cancel itself when swapped.

Without a proper battery for Cyno, you are in for a bad time as Cyno’s Elemental Busrt costs a whopping 80 energy. Cyno by himself cannot provide fast enough energy for his Burst even with his low cooldown on his Elemental Skill.

One other major problem of Cyno is that his element is Electro. Electro as an element was only able to become viable with the introduction of Dendro and the Aggravate reaction. Without one, you will have to forgo making a team of multiple elements for reactions and focus on simply buffing Cyno.

Conclusion: Should you pull Cyno or not

If Cyno is your favourite character and you have been saving for him since launch, then go crazy with the pulls, the best way to enjoy the game is doing what you like after all.

However, for those still deciding on him, should you already have a decent Electro DPS like Keqing or Raiden then you can skip pulling for him. Even more so if you are lacking in Dendro characters as Cyno will need Aggravate reactions for maximised damage. 

Razor shares similar gameplay to Cyno with Razor being a combination of Physical and Electro with more focusing on Physical, Cyno is purely Electro. You can try out Razor should you want to get a feel of what Cyno’s gameplay is like and then decide if you want to roll or not.

Spiral Abyss wise, Cyno can’t replace Raiden as he does not offer anything else when swapped out, neither from his passive nor from any effects on his Elemental Skills or Burst

If you do not already have a proper Electro DPS, then Cyno is a good option as the only thing you actually need to worry about is having a battery for his Elemental Burst. Elemental Reactions and what not do not typically bring a huge difference in gameplay unless you are aiming to 36 star the Spiral Abyss.