Cyrene’s Debut. Clearing MoC 3.6 with Serval

Why bother?

Cyrene’s obviously good with Chrysos Heirs, and that’s what everyone’s focusing on right now, but is she really universal? Plus some thoughts on this iteration of Flame Reaver, a yap session about Cyrene, her future, and the new RMC wheelchair, as well as Serval. I like Serval and she’s good against the Reaver, so why not.

The floor and ceiling of “general” supports

At the time of writing, I’m not aware of the lowest-cost Serval clear on 3.1’s Flame Reaver, so if anyone has a link, I’ll happily add it here. I know she could do a 0-cost 3 cycle on 3.0’s Nikador, but Nikador feels like the more favorable matchup, so it’s not a 1:1 comparison.

What we do know for sure: a 60% HP increase took place in the eight months between 3.1’s iteration of the Reaver and 3.6’s. How much of an upgrade the revised RMC kit, free Dan Heng, and Cyrene herself are, I leave to theorycrafters. Cyrene resists generalization, but we can look at Aglaea, who released in 3.0. Camaraderia’s calcs put her new best teams around 45–75% above the original. Therefore, it’s safe to say the HP inflation roughly tracks how much stronger the game’s BiS teams have gotten. But Serval, obviously, is nowhere near Cyrene’s BiS.

Combo 1: RMC goes all in on Cyrene pre-ult

For the non-Cyrene owners in the audience: this is a common pattern even in full Chrysos Heir teams. We’re not aiming for a 0 cycle, so we don’t care about landing the ult inside it, but we still want it unlocked ASAP, because Cyrene’s bounce attacks will carry us through the first wave. So we advance her, not Serval.

As an old-school Erudition unit, our rockstar can contribute in five-target scenarios; once the mobs are gone and two targets remain, she and RMC are both useless. Enter Cyrene. Her single-target damage is decently strong, and so this pattern repeats even in her standard teams. For example, in the fight against Aquilla, who’s another boss that keeps changing the target count, you want Evernight to clear the hands, then put Castorice’s and Cyrene’s bounce attacks into the main body in single target for maximum damage.

So, here you see me give up on buffing Serval with Cyrene in exchange for a fun chain: RMC ult → RMC enhanced basic → Cyrene follow-up → Cyrene ult → Cyrene extra turn for three minuets in a row, 600k bounce damage total.

Combo 2: Mem’s Support for a dual DPS setup post-ult

Pretty self-explanatory. Like I said, we’re treating Cyrene as a DPS here, so post-ult we alternate Mem’s Support to share the true damage buff between Serval and Cyrene and keep the uptime optimal. For context, this is more or less how you play her with Evernight too.

Two cycles done, two cycles to go.

Combo 3: three AoE attacks and one bouncing arrow

A minuet is a slow graceful dance in ³/₄ time and music for or in the rhythm of that dance. Fittingly, we’re going to attack in the exact same rhythm.

Let’s start wave two. Serval, RMC, and Souldragon focus on killing the Long-Shattered Vessels while Cyrene performs the fourth, single-target attack on Flame Reaver. The ideal loop: book-slap with RMC, clones die, Cyrene fires the bow. And if we get an extra turn, even better.

Mind the MoC buff this time around: “when an ally character has any summons, this unit and summons gain a 40% DMG boost.” DMG% is not game-breaking, but for context: Sunday’s skill gives 30% to summonless units, and Cyrene herself gives 40% to non-CH units. This team has three units with access: Cyrene, RMC, plus Serval herself through DHPT. And of course, RMC unlocks a buffed version of their kit on Cyrene teams, so their damage is higher now, too.

My theory: I wouldn’t be surprised if that DMG boost was calculated precisely so the Cyrene + RMC + DHPT wheelchair can comfortably kill the clones while Cyrene-less Tribbie teams get left behind. (And giving Cyrene to Tribbie raises the cost more than giving her to RMC, so you won’t see that pairing on the leaderboards.) I don’t have proof, but it’s what I’d do if I ran the endgame shilling department.

I bring this up because we as a community love these sweeping generalizations about units, when performance is really a function of investment × boss matchup × wave composition × endgame buffs. Maybe this gets a few more people looking into that. Another example comes from the Ichor fight, via a comment Eideh made analyzing a recent Anaxa x Cyrene 0 cycle: that matchup, too, was carefully designed to require toughness damage that non-Cyrene teams can’t reach at the same cost.

Wrapping up

By this point, the fight is almost done, so time for my opinions — take them or leave them.

Cyrene is strong in both CH and some non-CH teams: you’ll already find Feixiao x Cyrene 0 cycles with only two CH units present. Her generic buffs are not game-breaking, but the ult refund is worth more on some units than others. Feixiao, for example, can hold up to 12 of her own stacks, so Cyrene refunding two of Feixiao’s ults is twice the value of refunding one for somebody like Acheron, and Cyrene’s frequent attacks feed the synergy even further.

The refund turned out a much stronger, much more universal part of her kit than I expected before release. Maybe that’ll be her niche.

In casual play, right now, the 24-stack concerns are exaggerated. But after a year and a half with this game, I’ve learned that all doomposters are wrong in the short term… and that all units fall to the level of their doomposting sooner or later, once the shilling stops. I could easily see myself cursing at her buildup a year from now, when it starts deciding between three stars and two.

A smart reader has already noticed how much of this showcase, as well as others, is enabled not by Cyrene specifically but by her pairing with RMC, the F2P GOAT. But once Remembrance MC rotates out for a shiny new Blah-blah MC, built for the Blahblahstorice of 4.x… good luck. For context: HMC currently sits at a 1.03% usage rate among Prydwen players. My HMC stayed more usable through 3.x than I expected… but, well, I have a lot of supports on my account. For many of my friends, HMC was dead as early as 3.0 and the dawn of the AoE meta, and only saw play again in 3.4, after Phainon brought back destruction and blast for a few patches.

So, will Cyrene age well? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ All units are subject to the whims of Hoyo, and Hoyo only. Her placement right before 4.x is, IMO, unfortunate. Her power level is balanced for the current meta, not the future. So, weirdly enough: she’s strong, she’s bait, she’s a must-pull, she’s skippable, all at once. Perhaps the most Schrödinger unit this game has seen.

At least she’s fun to play.