Genshin Impact version 3.5 banner evaluation: Are Dehya or Cyno worth your Primos?
Dehya and Cyno are rather restricted characters, though their signature weapons by comparison are very versatile.
Genshin Impact version 3.5 is finally here! The banners for the first half of this new version will feature the debut of Dehya and the rerun for Cyno, with their signature weapons on the weapon banner.
Should you pull for Dehya, Cyno, and their weapons, or save your hard-earned Primogems for the second half or future versions? Read on and we'll help you to decide.
Pull for Dehya or just get her from the standard banner?
Dehya has been a fan-favourite character throughout the Sumeru Archon Quests, where she repeatedly showed both bravery and kindness as she helped the Traveler free the imprisoned Dendro Archon and foil the schemes of the Fatui and the corrupt Akademiya Sages.
Her teaser has even inspired many Chinese players to start a charity campaign to help children's education. What's not to love about Dehya?
Well, as it turns out, her in-game kit leaves much to be desired. HoYoverse seems well aware of this, as they relegated Dehya to the standard banner after giving her a questionable skillset that makes her an off-field, pseudo-shield character.
Dehya's skill, Molten Inferno, creates a field that unleashes a coordinated attack every 2.5 seconds while mitigating any damage received by the active character and diverting it to Dehya herself.
Molten Inferno's coordinated attack is painfully slow, especially when compared to other skills with coordinated attacks that are more reliable and proc more often. The damage mitigation and divertion mechanic is also inferior to a true shield skill, as the mitigation stops when Dehya takes too much damage.
Dehya's burst, Leonine Bite, doesn't look too promising either. When used, she automatically unleashes a barrage of attacks that deal damage based on her ATK and Max HP. Previews of this burst in use showed by HoYoverse suggest that the multipliers aren't great, so don't expect to easily mow through bosses with it.
What really makes Leonine Bite an underwhelming burst is that it prevents Dehya from using Normal, Charged, and Plunging Attacks, meaning it won't trigger the coordinated attacks of top-tier Hydro characters like Yelan and Xingqiu. As a result, Dehya can't be a Vaporize-focused DPS character.
The fact that she scales off of ATK and HP also means she won't be a good fit as the Pyro character in Burgeon or Burning teams either.
It's looking like Dehya really only functions as a DPS in a Mono Pyro or Melt team or as a off-field pseudo-shielder, if you're looking for a flex character or have no shielders.
With all that said, pull for Dehya if you like her. She should still be functional in the overworld and usable in the Spiral Abyss with enough investment.
However, if you need a Pyro DPS or a shielder, best to look at other characters who were designed with those roles in mind.
Honestly, it's such a shame that a great character like Dehya received such an underwhelming kit. Here's to hoping HoYoverse gives her the buff she deserves in the future.
If you need someone for the Spiral Abyss, get Cyno
If Dehya doesn't have a definite role she excels in, Cyno is the opposite. The General Mahamatra is built for clearing the Spiral Abyss as a Electro hypercarry that demands a lot of field time.
Cyno's kit is centered around his burst, Sacred Rite: Wolf's Swiftness, which makes his Normal, Charged, and Plunging Attacks deal Electro DMG while increasing his Elemental Mastery and resistance to interruption.
Cyno's burst state has a base duration of 10 seconds, which can be extended to 18 seconds when he uses his skill at certain intervals.
Because of the very long duration of Cyno's burst, he must be the one taking up almost all of the field time for your team during a rotation in order to maximize his damage. The cost is worth it though, as Cyno can clear anything the Spiral Abyss throws at him (as long as it isn't immune to Electro), especially single targets.
Cyno's best team is a 'Quickbloom' lineup, which uses the Quicken, Aggravate, and Hyperbloom reactions to boost his personal damage while also letting other party members deal considerable damage from off-field.
Some of Cyno's best teammates include Nahida, Yaoyao, Dendro Traveler, Yelan, Xingqiu, Yae Miko, Kuki Shinobu, and Fischl, among others. If you already have these characters, then you should have a strong Cyno team ready in no time.
Of course, Cyno's high field time requirements doesn't leave much room for versatility.
If you want a team where all of your party members get their own time to shine instead of having just one character in the spotlight, then you can go for more versatile Electro DPS characters like the Raiden Shogun, Keqing, or Yae Miko.
A weapon banner better than the characters?
While Dehya and Cyno are rather limited characters, their signature weapons are actually pretty good in the hands of others. So if you're looking to pull for weapons that you can give to multiple characters, then it would be a good choice to pull in this weapon banner.
Let's start with Dehya's signature weapon, the Beacon of the Reed Sea. This weapons is looking to supplant the Wolf's Gravestone as the best generalist claymore in the game.
At max level, this weapon has a 608 base ATK and a 33% Crit Rate substat. Its passive also buffs its wielder's ATK by 20% for 8 seconds after using an elemental skill. Another 20% ATK buff is given when the wielder takes damage (this triggers even if the character is shielded, as long as they get hit).
The Beacon of the Reed Sea gives things that any DPS character wants to have: a ton of Crit Rate and a 40% ATK buff that is easier to proc compared to Wolf's Gravestone.
If you main claymore DPS characters like Eula, Arataki Itto, Diluc, and Razor, take note. If you don't have a 5-star weapon or their signatures, then the Beacon of the Reed Sea will be a very good alternative.
Cyno's signature weapon, the Staff of the Scarlet Sands, is also a good generalist polearm, but not to the same extent as the Beacon of the Reed Sea.
At max level, it has a 541 base ATK and a 44% Crit Rate substat. This weapon's passive also increases its wielder's ATK based on their Elemental Mastery.
The Staff of the Scarlet Sands is a good just because of the 44% Crit Rate it gives. The passive also makes it great for characters that rely on elemental reactions to deal damage, notably Hu Tao and Xiangling.
Other polearm DPS characters like Xiao or the Raiden Shogun can still find it a worthy 5-star alternative just because of its massive Crit Rate substat and reliable ATK buffs.
Genshin Impact version 3.5 is expected to run until early April. The version's second half will feature reruns for the 5-star characters Kamisato Ayaka and Shenhe as well as the debut of 4-star character Mika.
After version 3.5 comes version 3.6, which will feature the debuts of Baizhu and Kaveh.
Yan Ku is a full-time dog parent, part-time (gacha) gamer, and part-time writer.
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