Cyno (赛诺) is the poster character of Sumeru and featured in the Teyvat trailer.
Cyno could be a reference to Cynocephaly or having the head of a jackal. This features in Egyptian, Greek, and Roman mythology. In Egypt, cynocephaly is a characteristic of the gods Duamutef, Wepwawet (Ra), and Anubis.
Duamutef or the Golden Dawn is a guardian deity. Wepwawet is a god of war and wolf deity, and Cyno's constellation is called 金狼 meaning Golden Wolf. His outfit is like an Egyptian Pharoah's, and his headpiece does make him resemble Anubis. Anubis is the god of the underworld and has a canine head.
In the context of Genshin or the Yuan dynasty, Cyno could be a reference to Sayyid Ajall Shams al-Din Omar (赛典赤·赡思丁 / سید اجل شمسالدین عمر بخاری), a Muslim general of the Mongol Empire, and the first governor of Yunnan in the Yuan dynasty.
When Genghis Khan conquered Central Asia, Sayyid joined the Mongol armies. During Sayyid's term as Yunnan governor, he built a Buddhist temple, a Confucian temple, mosques, and embraced religious tolerance. He built some of the first Confucian temples in Yunnan and is the ancestor of many Muslim-Chinese in the area, including Ma Dexin and Zheng He. Sayyid is the subject of books written by Marco Polo and Rashid al-Din.
Sayyid (赛义德) is also an honorific surname of Muslims who descend from Mohammed (messanger of Allah) via his grandsons. Mohammad's daughter Fatima married his son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib (the fourth Rashidun caliph). Fatima and Ali had sons Hasan bin Ali and Alhusayn ibn Ali. According to historical records, the title of Sayyid rose to prominence during the Mongol Empire (Ilkhanate) in honor of local leaders (the Persian scholar Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani).
Mohammed's great grandfather was Hashim ibn Abd Manaf, founder of the Banu Hashim clan. Hashim's father was Abd Manaf ibn Qusai.
Cyno's title is Mahamatra, an Indian title established by emperor Ashoka referring to an 'officer of morality'. Cyno was also a disciple of Cyrus at the Sumeru Akademiya.
If Sumeru partly represents India, what is the connection to Egypt? In history there were a number of empires that spanned from Egypt (and North Africa) to as far east as northern India. Perhaps the first great empire was the Persian empire or Achaemenid empire founded by Cyrus the Great. Incidentally there is some semblance in Cyno and Cyrus' names.
The next great empire was Alexander's empire (incorporating Greece, Egypt, Persia, stretching even into northwestern India and parts of Central Asia), founded by Alexander III of Macedon. During Alexander's period, he established the city of Alexandria in north Egypt, and in the ensuing centuries, the so-called Greco-Roman Buddhism flourished across West Asia, Central Asia, and parts of South Asia. This was a time when east met west. It occurred around the time of the Han dynasty, and the Han would also send envoys to the Roman empire, referred to as Da Qin (大秦 Great Qin), which may refer to Syria under Roman rule.
The Hellenic empire was later divided into several states, including the Seleucid (塞琉古 sailiugu) empire, which incidentally also contains the sound sai.
After the Hellenic empires, there was a series of vast empires that stretched from Egypt to Persia and the borders of India. These include the Persian Sassanid empire, which was then succeeded by the Islamic empires founded by Mohammed, the messanger of Allah. This ushered in the Islamic Golden Age.
After that there was the Seljuk (塞尔柱) Turkic empire that also spanned this region. It did not quite reach as far into Egypt or even South Asia for that matter. But a loose connection is that both Cyno and Seljuk have the sai (塞) sound in their Chinese names.
And of course, what history would be complete without talking about the Mongol empire, perhaps the most recent empire that reached as far as the borders of Egypt and India. In a game titled Yuanshen, it can be observed that Cyno incorporates influences from all these Eurasian empires, spanning the vast geographic region from Egypt to India, including the Persian empire, Alexander's empire, and Islamic caliphates.
In this way, Genshin has achieved its own cultural syncretism in the design of Cyno.
On the sound sai (塞 or 赛): the Saka people (塞 sai) were a nomadic people that lived in northwest China and Central Asia. They were related to the Scythians and Aryans. In accordance with most north Chinese groups in history, the Saka either migrated south and became south Chinese, like into the Dian (滇) kingdom, or they migrated and conquered the lands in the west. The fact that the Dian kingdom (which existed around the time of the Han) spoke a Han-Tibetan language provides further evidence that the Chinese language has a genetic relationship with the Aryan languages, given that Saka also spoke Iranian languages.
Throughout history there have been many Aryan people who have lived in Central Asia and the western parts of China. This includes the Sogdian people, such as An Lushan.
There is a part in the archon quest where Cyno says something along the lines: choose your next words very carefully. This sounds like an allusion to what Leonidus says in the 'This is Sparta' scene.
The imagery of Cyno (Sai) with canines also reminds one of a certain erotic novel written during the Qing dynasty.
But perhaps one allusion that Genshin was going for is the Zelda series, including Breath of the Wild. This may explain the relation between Cyno and Lyney, another character that featured in the Travail.
So far, much of what we discussed is ancient history, but Cyno does have relevance to modern history and one of the most recent empires that ruled over the Sumeru region: the British Empire. There is a duality here: based on different parts of his character design, Cyno can either refer to the queen that ruled the empire or the rebel that actively opposed it for independence.
In the context of the British Raj, Saifuddin Kitchlew was an Indian independence activist that protested against British colonial rule, which eventually led to the Amritsar massacre (Jallianwala Bagh massacre) in 1919. Although Amrita (as in Lord of Amrita, the previous hydro archon) and Amritsar are two different words, their similarity in spelling does remind one of the British influence in India and how that seems parallel to the presence of the formerly deceased hydro archon in Sumeru.
So Genshin's opinion on Cyno is also part of their opinion on Saifuddin. If they support Cyno, it means they support Saifuddin's rebellion against British colonialism. Otherwise, they think that it was ok for Alexandrina Victoria and the British to colonize much of Asia, including India, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc. They also support the Opium Wars and the British defeating the Qing dynasty. They may have bias to zhu and the ming dynasty. Some may be brainwashed and bribed by USA imperialistic media and their overseas proxies. Remember that Singapore was a British colony, and it is now an American colony.
Perhaps the melancholy music played in the Vourukasha Oasis (Maidens of Sanctity) is a tearful hymn to eulogize the passing of the former hydro archon, the deceased Lord of Amrita, or the lives lost in the Amristar rebellion against British colonial rule in Sumeru.
More than 2000 years ago, Alexander of Greece first reached and shook the Indian subcontinent. 2000 years after, it can be said that Alexander came back when the British Empire coronated Queen Alexandrina Victoria as the first empress of the British Raj. During Alexandrina's reign, the British Empire defeated the Qing dynasty in the Opium Wars, conquered India, conquered Egypt and much of Africa, and created an empire that rivaled the Mongol empire in size and influence, the empire where the sun never sets. She is also the namesake of the era serving as inspiration for much of the steampunk genre, one of the basis for the region of Fontaine. Her image is somewhat tied to how the modern world views the British empire, which has left behind a complicated colonial legacy, but one thing that cannot be denied is that Alexandrina ranks as one of the most powerful rulers of all time.
One wonders if based on this, the hydro archon Focalors / Furina would work well with Cyno. One way this can happen is if Furina's hydro application lasts longer than 18s, the length of Cyno's absurdly long burst. Basically think of how Nahida's E lasts 25 centuries, which is great for Cyno, as that is the time period between Alexander the Great and Queen Alexandrina of the British Empire. C6 Xingqiu's hydro app lasts 18s, while Yelan's hydro app lasts 15s. But if Genshin wants to make Furina's hydro app last less than 18s and make Furina weaker than Xingqiu and Yelan, that is ultimately their decision.
Based on how connected Cyno is to the history of the Sumeru region from past to present, how he represents both the glory and pain of a civilization, Cyno ranks as one of the most interesting and creatively designed characters in Genshin.
His q will give him electro infusion and EM. It also gives interruption resistance and EC immunity (similar to Raiden q). In the last hit of his NA combo animation, he throws down a lightning bolt.
During his q, a circle will periodically flash on screen. With one of his passives, if he uses his e (chasmic soulfarer) when the circle appears, it will increase the e dmg by 35% and fire three dustbolts (similar to Chongyun's c1 passive or Sara's q) that have 100% atk scaling each.
During his q, his e skill changes. The e cd will be reduced to 3s and have higher scaling. The e does aoe damage. The e can also deal poise damage and break geo constructs, shields, and ore more easily.
Using his e during his q can also extend the duration of his q. The q lasts a maximum of 18s.
4p gilded is his bis given his EM scaling. 4p Thundering Fury (TF) for E spam, 2 TF 2 Gilded, 2 Gilded 2 WT, 4p glad for NA buff are also viable. There is no point in using Thundersoother when Mona and other ample dmg bonus sources exist for electro.
The Echo set is the worst set to use. When your career is based on the FBI backing you and attacking your political opponents, you deserve to be called the worst.
Unlike Raiden, Cyno works and synergizes well with Beidou. But at the same time, Emblem does not appear to work with Cyno. Besides Cyno also relies on E damage (including dustbolts), which emblem does not buff. On the other hand, TF focuses a bit too much on E, while glad focuses a bit too much on NA. But Gilded's EM buff increases ALL of Cyno's damage (E and NA damage). So Gilded is the best and most comprehensive set for Cyno.
Do EM sands, electro goblet, crit circlet, especially if using Scarlet Sands. For hyperbloom, a case can be made for full EM, but even then the crit route is usually preferred. Sometimes ATK sands is a viable substitute. But for optimal Cyno dps with reactions and his signature, EM sands is usually better.
Sand king is his bis by far. The EM to ATK conversion is quite high. PJWS is his next bis. Other good weapons are homa, skyward, prototype, ballad of fjords (4.0, hyperbloom), even white tassel. The kitain spear does give EM but the passive is kind of gimmicky, removing energy but then giving it back over time.
Raiden can serve as inspiration for the types of teams Cyno can be played in. This includes Cyno international (Cyno-Kujou-Bennett-Anemo), Cyno rational (Cyno-XL-Yelan/XQ), and Cyno-Yae. The Cyno rational becomes even more like Rational with Cyno's c4 which gives him battery abilities. Other teams include: Cyno Beidou Yelan Bennett (Cyno fireworks) or Cyno Beidou XL Bennett.
Given Cyno's EM scaling he can also be built in aggravate comps (Cyno-Dendro), hyperbloom teams, and taser teams (electro-hydro-anemo). For these reaction based teams, Cyno shines as a sustained electro driver.
Cyno synergizes with many different supports including: Nahida, Beidou, Yae, Sara, Fischl, Candace, Yelan, Yun Jin, Dehya, XQ, XL, Yaoyao, Kirara, Dendro MC, Collei, Mika, even Albedo. He also benefits from Anemo vv and Bennett. Even Diona's c6 provides an EM buff for Cyno (while also healing and shielding).
Among electro partners, Kujou's 6s buff is too short to support Cyno's 18s burst duration. Cyno-Kujou pair is usually seen in speed clears. Fischl (Oz) faces a similar issue of not lasting long enough off-field (10s, and switching off Cyno to reset Oz duration will end Cyno Q state). Otherwise, Cyno would prefer an electro battery with a longer presence off-field, including Beidou, Yae, Kuki (C2). Even Raiden E works (25s duration).
Furina is Cyno's best hydro partner. Her E lasts 30s, enough to accomodate his 18s burst. Moreover, her Q gives what Cyno needs: more dmg bonus. And the Q buff also lasts 18s, matching Cyno's burst duration. So for an elite Cyno quickbloom team, Furina is basically a must pull and better than Yelan/XQ (for many other carries, Yelan/XQ are usually sufficient).
For other hydro partners, Kokomi 12s is a bit short (and same with Candace Q). Yelan 15s Q is not quite enough. XQ 18s Q at C2 matches but there is usually time spent switching between characters in a rotation, so Cyno appreciates the 'extra room' Furina's E provides.
Albedo and Morax can support Cyno's 18s burst as they provide long-lasting off-field abilities via E.
For dendro supports, Nahida is the perfect support. DMC Q is ok but costs 80 energy. Baizhu Q costs 80 energy and lacks Nahida's aoe and damage. Collei's Q does not last enough. Yaoyao E and Kirara E are actually ok since they have no energy cost. As quicken can stick to the enemy, it is not necessarily required to have 18s dendro app for Cyno aggravate teams. However, for hyperbloom teams, longer dendro app is required (as hydro will remove the quicken status), thus making Nahida indispensible for Cyno hyperbloom.
Cyno synergizes very well with Nahida. The two Cyno-Nahida form a powerful duo. Nahida works well with many teams, but Cyno arguably needs Nahida the most for her 25s off-field dendro app via E, EM buff, and sub-dps. If one does not have Nahida, then Yaoyao is the next best substitute for Cyno. Other supports like Yelan, Kujou, Anemo are secondary to the dendro support.
Some example teams (hyperbloom, aggravate):
Other combos:
At first glance, Kazuha seems to give all the vitamins that Cyno needs, including dmg bonus, vv shred, and even EM at c2. However, these effects may not last long enough as Cyno's burst lasts 18 centuries. This is why Nahida is more suitable as an EM buffer (and quicken enabler) for Cyno as Nahida's abilities last 20 millennia too. While hyperbloom Cyno can achieve higher dps than pure aggravate, aggravate can be more efficient to achieve (given quicken sticks to the enemy, whereas hyperbloom needs constant hydro and dendro app), so there is a demand for an anemo subdps.
Sayu's burst can give anemo app for 12s, but the main issue is that her burst costs 80 energy.
Technically vv c6 Faruzan's Q can last 18s, apply vv via the vortices from the pressurized collapses. So c6 Faruzan can keep up with Cyno's 18s burst. While this elevates Faruzan's already god tier status as a support, that requires c6 and an 80 cost burst for Cyno. Moreover, Faruzan is more suited to buffing anemo, rather than buffing autumn elemental dmg or EM.
So there is still room for another anemo subdps (using E) that can vv shred and last longer than 18s for Cyno. If it can provide dmg bonus (and even EM), that would be even more perfect. Something like an anemo Nahida would work great for Cyno (E gives anemo subdps, lasts 20+ seconds, can buff elemental dmg bonus).
Miscellaneous teams:
Cyno is designed to be the primary damage dealer (hypercarry) of the team. For supports, he really wants a dendro partner (for quicken/hyperbloom) and then an anemo partner for VV shred. Nahida, Yaoyao, Sucrose are good options for these. Besides that, he would like a sub-dps to complement his long burst (Nahida, Yelan are good options) as well as other sources of buffs such as dmg bonus buff (Mona, Yelan, Kazuha), EM buff (Nahida, Sucrose, 4p Instructor), ATK buff (Bennett, Sara), and electro dmg buff (Sara). Having an electro battery (Kuki, Yae) to get his burst on cd is nice too. And a hydro partner (Yelan, XQ) is good for hyperbloom teams (which are some of Cyno's most powerful teams).
In general, quicken teams are easier to build (and achieve optimal damage) than hyperbloom teams. This is especially true for Cyno. This is because quicken tends to stick to the enemy, so it is easier to get many more procs of aggravate/spread, whereas hyperbloom is like vape/melt in that it needs consistent application of element (hydro, dendro) as hydro will tend to erase the quicken status. If there is not consistent application of hydro/dendro this will lead to inefficiencies in hyperbloom performance, causing suboptimal dps (less than theoretically predicted). Although for Cyno, hyperbloom teams can technically reach higher dps ceiling, they require more work to build than quicken teams, especially since Cyno's 18s burst requires consistent off-field hydro/dendro app for a similar length of time (hyperbloom Cyno almost requires having Nahida and Yelan/XQ or equivalent to reach optimal performance, but when these conditions are met, hyperbloom Cyno is one of the highest dps teams in the game).
Form of quicken team is Cyno, dendro app, VV anemo, flex (Yae, Kujou, Kuki, Bennett, etc.). Form of hyperbloom team is Cyno, dendro app, hydro app, flex (VV anemo, electro battery, healer, etc.). Quicken teams technically only need 2 elements, dendro and electro, whereas hyperbloom needs at least 3, dendro, electro, and hydro. This is another part of the reason why hyperbloom teams can be more expensive to build for Cyno, even if they can give more damage.
For comparison between Raiden and Cyno: Raiden has 7s Q duration, Raiden regenerates energy for team (unless you have C4 Cyno), Cyno has up to 18s Q duration, Raiden E is off-field ability, Raiden has higher dmg bonus, Cyno has higher EM and EM-scalings, both have high scalings but Cyno's scalings are broken into several parts, both have phase changes on Q, but Cyno synergizes with Beidou, whereas Raiden does not but can use Emblem. Cyno has higher innate dps, whereas Raiden has more support ability.
The off-field E suits Raiden-Eula a bit more. So it is not like Cyno can be used in every team Raiden is in. Cyno-Eula is viable if one tries to play quickswap Eula, but Cyno does not provide off-field electro app like Raiden E. Cyno is a pure on-field hypercarry. The second aspect is Raiden's energy generation for Eula. Cyno's E can technically battery the team as it generates particles, and this effect becomes greater at C4. It is just that both Cyno and Eula will take up a lot of field time (whereas Raiden may not). It is recommended to use Raiden with Eula instead.
Although Cyno could be played quickswap by switching out early, it is recommended to play him as an on-field hypercarry (like Xiao or Itto), for as much of the 18s as possible. His buffed E has high scalings, so using them throughout the 18s contributes much to his dps. Switching off early is just a dps loss, as well as less energy generated via E. The duration bonus is almost a redundant feature and could have been replaced by something like increased dmg bonus (for each E use) and changing the base duration from 10s to 18s. All the duration gimmick does is force you to use two Es to get the 18s duration.
Cyno is a character that can get a lot of base dmg (additive) from his passives converting EM to dmg and from quicken. As such he benefits a lot more from dmg bonus and crit buffs than from atk and even more additive buffs (like Yun Jin).
Assume lv 10 E and Q with 4p Gilded, 46.6% dmg bonus, and 200 EM (gilded 80 + substats). During Q he gains 100 EM. When triggering a reaction he can gain 100 to 150 more EM. Suppose he is run on double electro (with Yae, Sara, Beidou, Kuki, etc.) so that he gains 100 EM on reaction. He can then get a total of 400 EM during his burst. On some builds he can possibly get more than 400 EM (like if using the missive weapon which gives ~100 more EM), but to demonstrate a simple calculation, we assume 400 EM for now.
He can use his E skill 5 times during his Q: 4 times it will be buffed during the endseer stance and once at the beginning (unbuffed). The first endseer circle will appear ~6s after using his Q. After that the endseer circle will appear once every ~4s until the end of his burst.
The lv 10 E mortuary rite has 282% scaling and 3s cd. When it is buffed it will gain 35% dmg bonus and fire three dust bolts that deal 100% scaling each. From his other passive the dust bolt dmg is increased by 250% of Cyno's EM. So if he has 400 EM, that is 1000 more flat dmg.
Suppose Cyno has 2000 atk. Then the flat dmg of one dust bolt is 2000+1000=3000. The e dps is then $$z_e = (2000*2.82*1.466 + 4*(2000*2.82*1.816 + 3*3000*1.466))/(20*3000) = 170.022$$
If we assume that Cyno has 3k atk (via Bennett, Scarlet Sands, or Sara), then when 'renormalizing' for Bennett's buff, then the flat dmg of one dust bolt is 3000+1000=4000 or equivalently 133% scaling each. So firing three dustbolts will have a total of around 400% effective/renormalized scaling. The e dps is then $$z_e = (282*1.466 + 4*(282*1.816 + 400*1.466))/20 = 240.373$$
Above the dust bolt dmg contributes 117.28 of the mv or around half, so it is quite significant.
Cyno will also na during his burst in between his Es. Using gilded dreams, it is possible to do the full 5-hit NA combo in between consecutive Es. It is even possible to do more than 5 hits. But for simplicity we assume between every pair of Es he will do a 5-hit NA combo. So he will do the full combo 4 times.
For a lv 10 Q the full combo has 987% total scaling. His na are also buffed by 150% of his EM. For 400 EM this is 600 flat dmg per NA.
If he has 2000 atk then the effective scaling is $$x_a = (2000*9.87 + 5*600)/3000 = 7.58 = 758\%$$
If we assume he has 3k atk and renormalize for Bennett's buff, the effective scaling is $$x_a = (3000*9.87 + 5*600)/3000 = 10.87 = 1087\%$$ So the em scaling can increase the overall na dmg by a bit more than 10%. Note that especially with R5 Scarlet Sands, it is possible for Cyno to reach 3k atk without Bennett. Also note that 4p Gilded can give atk buffs depending on team comp.
The dps from na is with 2k atk: $$z_a = 4*1.466x_a/20 = 222.2456$$ and with 3k atk: $$z_a = 318.7084$$
Note the last hit of his 5-hit na combo has higher scaling compared to the other hits. It can also be steered.
The total dps from his NA and E is with 2k atk: $$z = z_a + z_e = 392.2676$$ and with 3k atk: $$z = 559.0814$$ So Cyno's dps is quite high. And this is without reactions (quicken, hyperbloom), which would increase this further.
Earlier we said that in between Es he can do the 5-hit NA combo once (c0). Technically, he can do 2 more hits after the 5-hit NA combo. This adds 317% more scaling to the NA, so for c0 and 2k atk $$x_a = (2000*(9.87+3.17) + 5*600)/3000 = 9.6933333333$$ The NA dps is $$z_a = 4*1.466x_a/20 = 284.2085333324$$ and $$z = z_a + z_e = 454.2305333324$$ For most dps we usually compute assuming 3k atk, but here we include 2k atk computations to account for some teams where Cyno is without Bennett, such as quicken/hyperbloom teams as we will discuss later. But for most other characters without Bennett, divide their dps by 1.5 to get the dps with 2k atk.
For 3k atk $$x_a = (3000*(9.87+3.17) + 5*600)/3000 = 14.04$$ and the NA dps is $$z_a = 4*1.466x_a/20 = 411.6528$$ and the total c0 dps is $$z = z_a + z_e = 652.0258$$ We will call this the 7-hit combo (compared to the 5-hit combo calcs we did previously). Note with c1 (and other atk spd effects from weapons or Mika), it becomes easier to achieve the 7-hit combo.
The golden wolf is definitely an upgrade from Razor (so the 3.1 Mondstadt event can be thought of as Razor's retirement). Moreover, it is higher than Keqing's dps. Not just that, among C0 electro characters as of version 4.2, Cyno has the highest personal dps (among electro). But this makes sense since Cyno is a pure dps, whereas Raiden, Yae, and Keqing have more supportive roles, whether via battery, sub-dps, quickswap, exploration, etc.
Looking at some of the 1.x HSR characters as well as the treatment of Scaramouche and Navia, Cyno's base atk should have been higher. All that can be said is that some people have a tendency to be much harder on certain people while ignoring the flaws and mistakes of others.
It can be said that a C0 Cyno 'approximates' a C6 Xiao. However, obviously Cyno will not use his E as often. Whereas C6 Xiao can use his E six times per second, Cyno may probably only use his E six times during his entire 18s burst. But the fact that Cyno kind of has C6 Xiao technology built into him at C0 already makes Cyno one of the best dps in the game (and one of the best dps we have had in a long while since Itto and Yae). Some people try to take the Xiao analogy even further by using TF for more E spam.
The 4p TF will reduce the E cd by 1s from 3 to 2s when triggering electro reactions, so within 18s he can technically use his E nine times if he consistently triggers reactions (in practice this is not the case which makes TF less optimal). If you use TF, you get 15% more dmg bonus, you can use the E up to 4 more times possibly (but those will not be buffed), but you lose around 200 EM (500 flat dmg or around 16.7% scaling per dustbolt, times three or 50% scaling per buffed E). $$x_e = (5*282*1.616 + 4*(282*1.966 + 350*1.616))/20 = 337.9304$$
However, using Cyno's E every 2s interrupts the 5-hit NA sequence, so the damage from his NA will decrease (basically get halved since instead of having 4s to interweave you only have 2s). The rotation is much tighter, and in practice it is harder to play optimally with TF. With gilded, the na contributes most of the dps (320 out of 560). But when using TF, even if you gain 100 mv in the E you lose half of the mv from na or around 160 mv. So you actually lose more mv than what you gain, even if you adjust for dmg bonus. And this is assuming you are playing TF optimally, which is much harder. It is also assuming you have no other sources of dmg bonus, but in practice, Cyno has many options for dmg bonus, including Mona, Yelan, etc. which makes the 15% extra dmg bonus hit diminishing returns.
The buffed E contributes a significant portion of the damage, and TF can lead to a decrease in dust damage, which is why Gilded synergizes better with Cyno. Of course, among all the characters that can use TF, Cyno is probably the best character tailored for that set, but that does not mean TF is the best set for him. By contrast Gilded is a much more general set that works for many characters, but can still be bis for many.
Above we ignored dmg from reactions. But the quicken reaction plays an important role in Cyno's dps. With gilded Cyno can reach 400 EM. With TF, he will have less EM (say 200 EM) and 20% increased aggravate damage.
With gilded the reaction bonus from aggravate is $$1+(5*400/1600) = 2.25$$ With TF the reaction bonus is $$1+(5*200/1400)+.2 = 1.91$$ That is, TF is worse when considering reactions. You get ripped off. The Genshin combat designers are smart and know that gilded is better.
Note most of Cyno's attacks have less scaling (but higher frequency) to accomodate the way additive reactions and bonuses work. Additive bonuses tend to give a bigger portion boost when the scalings are smaller. See elements for details.
Also because of ICD not every attack will trigger aggravate. Specifically, Cyno has normal 3 hit/2.5s icd on his na, his E mortuary rite has its own icd, and the three dust bolts have their own icd (and share icd). The dust bolts can usually always proc a reaction (since there are three of them).
That is why Cyno's dps (and the dps of other quicken based dps) is broken into high frequency parts with less scaling. It is high frequency to ovrerride the 3 hit icd to proc aggravate more often. It is less scaling so that the additive reaction buff contributes a greater portion of damage.
In general, damage can be dealt in two extremes: one extreme is a huge nuke that occurs once in a long period of time, the other extreme is less scaling but dealing damage much more frequently. When you do one huge nuke of damage, of course the number may look bigger and may make you happy, but because it is less frequent, it has higher variance to crit and rng (unless your crit rate is 100%). That is, if you miss that nuke, or it does not crit, then the dps will not be as high as you expected. By contrast, if you deal damage at higher frequency, even if it is not a nuke or one big number, due to the central limit theorem in probability, as the sample size is larger, the variance is less, so it is more possible to achieve the expected damage.
Note of course there are some exceptions to these two extremes (low frequency nuke vs. high frequency non-nukes): some characters may do nukes but at a high frequency too. That would be quite broken if you can nuke every second or even several times a second, but that is exactly what c6 Xiao does (his E has high scaling and can be done 4-6 times a second, Xiao's E also has its own unique icd of .1s/7 hits).
Lastly, it is true that quicken is a 'sticky' status, and its gauge can last several seconds. But currently if you want to consistently refresh quicken and proc aggravate throughout Cyno's 18s burst, you would need the DMC (15s q with C2) or Collei (up to 9s q). It is possible future dendro characters may also work.
For Cyno, suppose he does the 7-hit NA combo 4 times (once before each E). Assuming a 3-hit ICD, this means 10 of the 28 hits can proc aggravate (just estimate it for now, there is also the 2.5s reset). If Cyno has 400 em during his q and is lv90 then aggravate will give flat damage of $$b = 1446.85*1.15*(1+5*400/(400+1200)) = 3743.724375$$ This is around \(b/3000 = 125\)% extra scaling. If he procs it 10 times that is 1250% extra scaling. Within 20 seconds that is around 62.5 mv. If Cyno has 46.6% electro dmg bonus that is $$r_n = 91.625$$ more mv / dps.
Now consider the procs on his E. As his E are spaced out by 4s (more than 2.5s), each mortuary rite can proc aggravate. Moreover each time 3 dustbolts are fired, one of them can proc aggravate. So for each buffed E he can proc aggravate twice. He can only proc 4 buffed E so that is 8 aggravates. If we add one more unbuffed E at the beginning that is 9 aggravates. But note four of these will be buffed (get 35% dmg bonus) while the rest are unbuffed. The dps is then $$r_e = 125*(4*1.816 + 5*1.466)/20 = 91.2125$$
So if we add all the aggravate additive damage, that is around $$x_r = r_n + r_e = 182.8375$$ extra dps at c0.
If he has 2k atk $$z_r = z + x_r = 637.0680333324$$ and for 3k atk $$z_r = z + x_r = 834.8633$$ This gives aggravate Cyno very high dps at c0 (without needing Bennett). And this is more than the dps of Noctis, another dps that does not need Bennett.
And here we only calculated aggravate dps, not hyperbloom. But quickbloom/hyperbloom will tend to do more dps than pure quicken. And if Cyno is the sole electro proccing hyperbloom (in say a Cyno-Nahida-Furina-Yaoyao/Baizhu team), then all that hyperbloom dps is technically also attributed to him, so one portion of his dps is his high personal damage (scale with dmg bonus, crit), while the other portion is transformative. (Both can be buffed by Nahida C2.)
Some extra considerations from constellations: C1 will make Cyno attack faster and proc some more aggravates.
C2 will give him 50% dmg bonus. For NA procs that is $$62.5*1.966 = 122.875\%$$ more dps. For E procs that is $$125*(4*2.316 + 5*1.966)/20 = 119.3375\%$$ more dps. In total this is around 242.2125% more dps (an increase of 60% compared to C0).
C6 will fire extra dustbolts which can proc aggravate too.
We assume Nahida and Furina for hyperbloom uptime. Note it will be more like quickbloom given slower hydro app (compared to Yelan/XQ), which means Cyno can get some more aggravate damage. We will ignore this for now and assume no aggravates and just hyperblooms. Just note that the actual dps may be higher than what is calculated below.
Given Nahida and Furina's rate of app, we will assume at least 1-2 seeds every 2.5s. In reality it could be faster (as Nahida's passive making E proc faster with electro), but at the very least we expect 2.5s. Let's start with 1 seed per 2.5s. In 20s, that is 8 seeds.
As above we assume Cyno has 400 EM and procs all the hyperblooms (it is possible he is paired with say 1k EM Kuki, in which case Kuki gets some procs, leading to some more damage). Hyperbloom damage is then 15915.35 (see elements for formula). Dividing by 4050 gives equivalent scaling of 392.97160494% (which we round to 393%).
Eight of these gives hyperbloom dps of $$x_h(1, 400) = 393*8/20 = 157.2$$ Adding this to the 7-hit (non-reaction) dps gives a total $$z + x_h(1) = 809.2258$$
Note this will increase with more EM and seeds. Also the dps does not include possible aggravates in quickbloom setups. The above suggests that if EM is not high enough, then aggravate can do a bit more damage than hyperbloom. However, if we factor in possible aggravates, off-field subdps, the hyperbloom/quickbloom teams can tend to deal more team damage than pure aggravate.
If we get 2 seeds per 2.5s (in aoe situations or if doing double dendro) $$x_h(2, 400) = 2*393*8/20 = 314.4$$ Now 2 seeds is possible with Nahida as her E applies 1.5 gu of dendro, meaning it can take more than 1 hit of 1u hydro to remove the dendro status, making it possible to create 2 cores.
Cyno's dps with 2 cores is then $$z + x_h(2) = 966.4258$$ And that is actually pog. So Cyno's dps is good, but he is just quite expensive to build. You probably want his signature Scarlet Sands. You also need Nahida and Focalors, two archons to get this done as Cyno is burst based with a long burst, thereby requiring subdps with long uptime. Non-burst dependent units like Alhaitham may be a bit more flexible with teammates.
So why not just do full em Kuki for hyperbloom? It is because Cyno has high personal damage too besides the reaction damage. And this personal damage can be buffed by Furina's Q, dmg bonus (Kazuha), atk buffs, etc.
His E will also generate particles during his Q, so Cyno can function as a battery too (giving him support abilities). During his Q, an E will generate 4/3 particles on average. If he uses his E five times, it will generate 20/3 particles on average. So Cyno can gain 3*20/3 = 20 energy during his burst. If he has 130% ER then this becomes 26 energy, so his Q is effectively reduced from 80 to 54 cost.
Note to get more particles one can use E before Q. Outside his Q, his E generates 3 particles. What will happen is that whatever time passed in the 7.5s cd will carry over into the E within the Q. In other words, the Q will have the effect of reducing the E cd by 4.5s. Then one can use E (unbuffed) again during the 6s interval before the first eye appears on screen. Then one can use the 4 buffed Es during Cyno's Q. In total there are 6 E uses in this rotation. Then in total Cyno gains 3*(20/3+3) = 29 energy, reducing effective energy cost from 80 to 51.
Above we ignored electro resonance (which generates an extra electro particle when proccing reactions). Electro resonance will generate 1 electro particle when a reaction is triggered (with cd of 5s). So within Cyno's 18s burst, he can generate 3 extra electro particles from reactions (the c4 amplifies this effect). Then in total Cyno gains 3*(20/3+3+3) = 38 energy, reducing effective energy cost from 80 to 42.
In practice, especially if Cyno is paired with another electro partner or battery, it is very possible to get Cyno's burst back on cooldown. Moreover, using NA and defeating enemies can generate more energy too.
His c1 gives 20% na atk spd. Theoretically this should increase his na dps by 20%. Apparently though, there is something called hitlag. Using Yun Jin's c6 with Cyno's c1 would make him attack pretty fast though.
His c2 gives 50% dmg bonus, which is roughly another 1.966/1.466=1.34 times increase (34% increase) to na and E if using Gilded. Note if there are other sources of dmg bonus (like Mona or Yelan), then there will be diminishing returns from the c2. Still the constellation is good. By comparison, Raiden's c2 increases damage by around 40% (but since this is def shred, this is usually a more robust increase as there are not as many sources of def shred compared to dmg bonus buffs).
In the beta, Cyno's c2 used to give 15% cr and 30% cd only to NA. It was then changed to 50% dmg bonus for everything, which buffs all his damage. The old c2 gave 60 cv (by comparison Itto's c6 gives 70 cv). If you have 'perfect' 100-200 crit ratio to begin with, this is roughly a 3.6/3=1.2 times increase only to NA. By comparison the new c2 with gilded is roughly a 1.966/1.466=1.34 times increase to all damage. So the new c2 is indeed a buff.
With c4 he restores 15 energy for other party members (but not himself) when triggering electro reactions. See energy for Raiden energy calcs.
His c6 allows his na to fire one dust bolt every .4s when consuming jackal stacks (the jackal stacks are generated after using q or buffed e). Earlier we said that the dust bolt (with the EM buff) has effectively 150% scaling. So as an approximation this increases the scaling by around $$150/.4 = 375$$ which is actually pretty good as a buff. Overall, a c6 Cyno may have similar dps as a c6 Itto. The difference is that c6 Cyno does not fundamentally change his gameplay compared to other c6 units.
Most of Cyno's constellations focus on his NA rather than his E. His C1 buffs his NA speed (help gain C2 stacks faster and fire more C6 dustbolts), his C2 requires him to do NA to gain full stacks for dmg bonus, his C6 requires him to do NA to proc additional dustbolts. His constellations require him to do NA, making his kit more NA focused rather than E focused. If he does his E too frequently with TF, that will interrupt his NA combos and make him not gain as many stacks, which will make him lose damage from his constellations. Most of Cyno's damage comes from his NA anyways, and Gilded Dreams buffs his NA a lot more and synergizes best with his constellations. Cyno is designed more to be an NA spammer than an E spammer.
Some say Cyno's best constellation is Nahida's C2. That's actually sort of true.
C1's speed boost would supposedly allow him to do more NA combos in between Es. We will ignore C1 effects for now.
We will factor in the C2 buff of 50% dmg bonus (which requires NA spam for stacks). The e dps is then $$z_e = (282*1.966 + 4*(282*2.316 + 3*150*1.966))/18 = 372.5366666667$$ The NA dps is $$z_a = 4*1.966x_a/18 = 496.7426666667$$ The total dps is $$z = 869.2793326667$$
C3 and C5 increase his scaling (NA multipliers and mortuary rite, but the dustbolt scaling is the same). Note that C3 increases Q while C5 increases E, so this is acknowledgement that design-wise Cyno is focused more on NA spam than E spam (the NA contributes more to Cyno's dps).
Let's assume lv13 E and Q. The e dps is then $$z_e = (333*1.966 + 4*(333*2.316 + 3*150*1.966))/18 = 404.355$$
The total NA scaling is 1196.77%. Accounting for the additive EM buff, the effective scaling $$x_a = (3000*11.9677 + 5*600)/3000 = 12.9677 = 1296.77\%$$ The NA dps is $$z_a = 4*1.966x_a/18 = 566.5444044444$$ The total dps is $$z_5 = 970.8994044444$$
Now consider the c1 effect. As a rough approximation suppose this increases damage by 20% so the NA dps is $$1.2z_a = 679.8532853333$$ The total dps is $$z_5 = 1084.2082853333$$
At c5 the 7-hit combo will add 385.06% scaling. The effective scaling when accounting for the additive EM buff is $$x_a = (3000*(11.9677+3.8506) + 5*600)/3000 = 1681.83\%$$ The NA dps is $$z_a = 4*1.966x_a/20 = 661.295556$$ At c5, the total dps (7-hit combo) is around $$z_5 = 1.2z_a + z_e = 1197.9096672$$
With c6, Cyno will gain 4 jackal stacks after using his Q or activating the buffed E (which only happens 4 times during his burst). When using an NA he will consume a stack and fire one dustbolt. So after using his Q, he will have 4 stacks and consume all of them until the next buffed E, after which he will gain 4 more stacks and consume them. Only one stack can be consumed every .4s. Given how fast Cyno attacks, he will almost always consume all 4 stacks in between buffed E.
So in total he can fire \(4*4 = 16\) extra dustbolts during his q with c6 (4 dustbolts per 'wave' or before each buffed E). This increases the mv by $$z_6 = 133*1.966*16/20 = 209.1824$$ The total dps is then $$z = z_5 + z_6 = 1407.0920672$$
This is C6 Itto level, but still less than C6 Xiao. Each of Cyno's constellations steadily increases his overall dps. Still, Cyno is one of the best c6 dps we have had in a long time, even if his c6 does not change his gameplay as much as for Itto or Xiao.
Trivia: Raiden, Yae, Cyno all have birthdays close to each other in June.
Overall, Cyno is a well-designed character, one of the best designed to date and much better designed than Ayaka. Cyno's EM scaling makes him synergize well with the new dendro element and quicken reaction. Being able to spam his E during his Q gives him battery properties and makes him like C6 Xiao. His aoe is quite good. He has many weapon options to choose from. He is quite different from Raiden although both are electro polearm users. Whereas Raiden is more about energy generation, nuking, and quickswap, Cyno is more about on-field sustained dps and EM. Whereas Raiden focuses on Emblem and pure burst damage, Cyno cares more about EM and even his E damage. Moreover, Cyno synergizes with Beidou at least. The visuals and artistic design of the Egyptian Anubis are on point.
His dps is no laughing matter.