Contents |
Basic Information
Base Stats
Vigor | 42 | Battle Power | +42 | Bonus HP | +128 |
Speed | 30 | Def/M.Def | 42/36 | Bonus MP | +0 |
Magic | 24 | Block/M.Block | 18/6 | Run Chance | Low |
Stamina | 30 |
Cyan's not much of a runner, but a look at his other stats shows that he's more than suited to stand his ground and fight. He boasts average or better stats everwhere it counts, and while his base Magic is the worst in the game, his base Vigor is beaten only by Sabin, who can't raise it as fast as Cyan can. Cyan's evasion stats aren't great, but his defenses are spectacular, and he gets plenty of HP as well as exceptional baseline Battle Power.
Special Skill - Bushido
Cyan's special ability (renamed from the awkward "SwdTech" to something more in line with later translations and his character design) is fairly simple. Choose the Bushido ability and press A when the bar has filled to the desired number (be careful, the bar moves much faster than in vanilla FF6). Cyan will then execute the attack that corresponds to that number. Unless otherwise noted, all of Cyan's Bushido moves are physical attacks and will be lower in power if used from the back row, but they cannot miss under normal circumstances. Bushido requires that a bladed weapon be equipped, but Cyan doesn't have to worry about this as all of the weapons he can use count. The moves Cyan can learn via Bushido include:
#1 - Dispatch
(Lv.1) A single-target attack randomly chosen among all living enemies on the screen, Dispatch has decent power and ignores enemy defense, and it also does double damage to human enemies. This is perhaps the premiere Bushido of the WoB, coming from the start and being effective against the many human foes Cyan will go up against. By the WoR it will lose its luster due to fewer targets and inferior power to Cyan's Fight attack, but don't forget about the anti-human bonus if an enemy happens to be flagged as human. Likewise, don't forget it ignores defense if Cyan hasn't acquired any other abilities that bypass it.
#2 - Mindblow
(Lv.8) A single-target attack randomly chosen among all living enemies that deals 500 MP damage to the selected target. Mindblow does not damage the enemy, but most random enemies in BNW have less than 500 MP and will be completely empty once hit with Mindblow. In addition, undead enemies will die instantly if their MP reaches zero, meaning that Mindblow is almost certain to be an instant kill against most undead (though powerful undead may have more MP precisely for that reason, so beware). Don't bother trying to Mindblow most bosses; their MP is effectively limitless, and they won't die when their MP reaches zero as some bosses did in vanilla FF6. Cyan has much better things to do against boss enemies than to try to mill their MP to nothing.
#3 - Empowerer
(Lv.10) A single-target attack randomly chosen among all living enemies that damages both HP and MP, restoring damage dealt to Cyan's own HP and MP. Empowerer is usually so strong that its damage to HP/MP will exactly equal the amount Cyan has lost, restoring him to full form in a single attack. Cyan can also use it without fear against the undead; unlike other draining attacks, it doesn't reverse when used against them. Even when Cyan doesn't need the restoration, Empowerer also sets Seizure status on the foe, making it a great thing to employ against bosses. Judicious use of Empowerer will ensure that Cyan never has the slightest concern about his MP, making him an excellent choice for an out-of-combat healer. Just cast some spells and use Empowerer in the next fight and Cyan's right back up to full MP once again!
#4 - Flurry
(Lv.12) Cyan attacks four times in succession, picking a random living target each time, and deals considerable damage with each swing while also inflicting Confuse status on any enemy targeted by the attacks. Flurry is similar to Sabin's Suplex attack in that it deals a lot of damage and sets Confuse, but unlike Suplex it has the potential to choose multiple targets and could confuse up to four enemies if luck goes Cyan's way. Against just one foe, Cyan can be sure that all four hits will strike true, letting him deal up to 400 BPow of damage all in one turn. Most of Cyan's katanas can't claim to deal that much damage!
#5 - Dragon
(Lv.18) Cyan chooses a random target and attacks them with a spectral dragon cast forth from his sword, dealing defense-ignoring magical damage and possibly setting the Stone status (which will kill vulnerable enemies instantly). As Dragon is magical, Cyan can use it from the back row without a loss of damage, and unlike most magical attacks, Dragon utilizes Cyan's generally superior Stamina stat to determine how much damage it deals. Dragon is generally less powerful than Cyan's physical Bushidos, but for the right builds it is quite potent all the same and it is one of his safest Bushido options. The chance to defeat an enemy outright is also very handy against things with lots of HP but no immunity to Stone.
#6 - Eclipse
(Lv.24) Cyan uses his sword to attack all enemies on the screen with a magic-based attack that also sets the Blind status on vulnerable foes. Eclipse is a lot like Edgar's Flash, in that it's very powerful for clearing out random enemies but not necessarily the best choice against powerful foes or bosses. The attack is magical, so it runs off Cyan's fairly weak Magic stat, but it does have a very high power. The best way to use Eclipse is to beef up Cyan's Magic with a Katana that grants a +Magic boost and armor like the Force Armor that also raise his Magic. Even if you change his equipment setup for a boss fight, building up his Magic in between fights is a helpful way to clear out groups, and it helps him quite a bit defensively. Also bear in mind the Nirvana Band boosts magic attacks, whether they run off Stamina or Magic, so Eclipse gets powered up by it.
#7 - Tempest
(Lv.30) At first glance, Tempest seems to be identical to Flurry, except that each hit is lower in power and Tempest does not set status effects. But there is one critical difference between the two: Tempest ignores defense. This means that it hits four times at 75 power each, for a grand total of 300 equivalent BPow, all of it defense-ignoring. This is by far the strongest physical defense-ignoring move in the game, and can even deal more than 9999 damage per turn due to the multiple hits. For a Vigor Cyan, this is the ultimate boss killer attack. No foe can long withstand Cyan carving them to pieces (and laughing about it; watch his sprite carefully!).
#8 - Cleave
(Event) Cleave is a simple enough attack. With a dash and a leap, Cyan attempts to just cut every enemy on the screen to ribbons outright. If Cleave succeeds, the enemies affected just plain die, no resistance, no undead revival, nothing. It can miss, but it has a fairly high hit rate for an instant death attack, and it is uncounterable. That means if anything does survive Cyan's assault (or has a parting attack scripted), it won't get the opportunity to use a counterattack against him in retaliation.
NOTE: The event that grants Cyan Bushido #8 will also grant him any Bushido abilities he has not already learned. If a lv3 Cyan goes through the event, he'll learn every Bushido from Mindblow to Cleave instantly. This might be handy for a Low Level Game, or for learning Tempest before lv30.
Espers
Kirin | HP +30 / Stamina +1 | Alexandr | HP +60 |
Bismark | Vigor +2 |
Cyan's Esper selection is scant, but what he does have is extremely useful. Kirin provides plenty of HP and Stamina to fuel a resilient build, and Bismark comes not long thereafter with a coveted +2 Vigor boost. Few characters have high base Vigor and a +2 Vigor Esper, meaning Cyan can easily outpace most everyone else on sheer numbers. When the WoR rolls around, Alexandr gives Cyan even more durability, so a Vigor build might consider waiting for him to get twice the HP per level and open up more levels for Vigor gains.
Spells
Cure | (Kirin) | Storm | (Bismark) |
Cure 2 | (Kirin) | Demi | (Kirin/Alexandr) |
Life | (Bismark) | Quartr | (Alexandr) |
Regen | (Bismark) | Holy | (Alexandr) |
Cyan may not have much in the way of status magic, but don't count out his ability to support. He generally doesn't serve a role of a primary healer (too slow, not enough MP, too strong offensively to waste time healing), but don't forget that he has access to Cure 2, Life, and Regen. Cyan is durable, so a quick Life on the primary healer should he or she fall can save the party from disaster. Better yet, Cyan can cast his Cure and Cure 2 spells after battle and then refresh himself with Empowerer, letting him act as the field medic for a dungeon group to preserve others' MP.
Cyan also receives a hodgepodge of unusual offensive spells mostly intended to benefit other characters, but don't assume that he can't use them. Storm is okay in the late WoB (although its power will not impress in the WoR), and Holy is defense-ignoring and can hit an elemental weakness. But the real prizes are Demi and Quartr, which do percentile damage and are thus unaffected by Cyan's Magic stat. Quartr is a fair alternative to Cleave against foes strong against instant death but susceptible to Earth; it won't kill them, but it'll be close enough that an ally can finish the job. When it works, Quartr can do quite a lot of damage, and Cyan can easily recover the MP he spent to cast it with Empowerer.
Equipment
Cyan has a rather eclectic equipment setup. He can wear most Heavy Armor and most Helmets, but he can't equip Shields. For weaponry, his sole choice is Katanas. He can use each and every one, but he can't use anything else. Consequently, Cyan is always two-handing whatever weapon he has equipped and will always have one empty hand slot. It's unavoidable.
But unavoidable is not exactly undesirable. Katanas are potent weapons with great stat boosts and high BPow, as well as some interesting effects. Some Katanas automatically counterattack, a useful thing with Cyan and his brutal Fight power but slow Speed. Some will cast a magic spell on the entire enemy group in lieu of striking normally. These magical attacks use Cyan's Magic stat, but they are also very powerful to compensate for the fact that he cannot raise his Magic.
Cyan's Relic selection is fairly basic, but he does have access to the Nirvana Band. Since Cyan's Bushido uses a mixture of physical and magical attacks, and since he can act as a secondary healer, being able to boost both physical and magical damage is extremely handy. Cyan cares less about the Black Belt than other characters as Bushido is perfectly accurate and he can often counterattack without it, but Relics and equipment that boost his Speed are worth considering anyway. Cyan has power to spare, but he can't bring it to bear as often as other characters and his lack of offhand options means there are fewer things he can employ to raise it. Relics are an excellent place to acquire extra Speed, so consider the Black Belt or Zephyr Cape as options to do just that! He can also get plenty of mileage out of a Stat Stick, since he has a use for almost everything it grants him. And the humble Sprint Shoes are never quite replaced for Cyan; with no access to other auto-Haste equipment like the Mirage Vest or Aegis Shield, they're always an appealing choice for him.
Availability
Cyan doesn't come right away, but he makes a reasonably early World of Balance appearance. He shows up in Sabin's scenario and unlike Shadow he'll stay through the whole of it. Sabin has some tough fights to get through, and Cyan is a big help against the Soul Train and Rizopas. He'll be available for the Narshe Battle, Zozo, IMRF, and Sealed Gate sequences, is unavailable for Crescent Island, then returns at the Floating Continent. All in all, he is one of the better WoB characters in terms of his availability.
In the World of Ruin, Cyan is the first character the game gently encourages you to seek out once the Falcon is acquired, although it's not strictly necessary to go after him first. He's easy enough to find in an area full of good treasure that's not hard to get to or get through, though, and there's no boss fight barring the party's way to him, so it's well worth recruiting him as soon as possible. He rejoins without a fuss, and is available in almost the entirety of the WoR. The one exception is that he cannot join the party for the Cyan's Soul segment, for... obvious reasons.
Build & Role Options
The Vigorous Samurai
Cyan lives and dies by the sword, but this Cyan role is more fixated on making other things die by the sword. A Cyan who pumps his Vigor receives one of the highest baseline Vigor stats in the entirety of BNW, and he has the power to back it up with two-handed weaponry and the Bushido command.
There's not a whole lot to say about this Cyan's battle plan. Pump Vigor, strap on defensive and offensive gear, get in the front row, and carve up foes like pumpkins. Bushido using Dispatch, Flurry, or Tempest is ideal with this setup, but don't overlook the value of Empowerer in boss battles to set Seizure or restore HP. Use a Katana that enables counterattacks so that Cyan can strike back whenever something strikes at him; with his insanely powerful Fight attacks, the counters will often do nearly as much damage as Cyan does on his own turn and can greatly increase his overall output. Don't overlook his medic role either, particularly with the Nirvana Band.
Cyan has two noteworthy weaknesses in this role. The first is his sluggishness, which is an issue for all Cyan builds but a noticeable one due to the second issue, which is durability. Cyan would like to boost his Speed so he can hit more often, but he has relatively few equipment slots to do that with. About the best he can hope for is something like a Dark Hood and some +Speed Relics, and equipping those will greatly lower his Defense. Since Cyan wants to be in the front row, lowering Defense is a problem... and since Cyan has poor evasion and doesn't use Shields, he's probably going to get hit quite a lot. He'll definitely want support in the form of Safe, Image, or just constant healing, and some levels pumped into HP are absolutely critical for keeping him standing, especially after powerful magic attacks.
CRITICAL ESPERS - Bismark
If Cyan can fit in an extra level anywhere, try to make sure it's Bismark whenever possible. Every bit of Vigor is amplified by Cyan's two-handed and defense-ignoring attacks, giving him returns on investment matched only by Terra.
USEFUL ESPERS - Kirin / Alexandr
More Vigor is always great, but some HP is essential. Cyan should be able to coast through the WoB on his bonus HP, so waiting for Alexandr is definitely an option and will give double the HP benefit that Kirin does. On the other hand, Kirin gives Stamina, and that's pretty useful on Cyan as well. At least five levels of HP gains are well worth getting, and in Kirin's case possibly even more. It might be worth avoiding leveling Cyan too much before Zozo in order to sneak in some extra Kirin levels, if possible.
The Stamina Stalwart
This Cyan lives by the sword, but he has no intention of dying by it. Or by the Doom spell, or by Meteor, or by just about anything really. If your party needs a tank with the healing and revival abilities to see it through any encounter, no matter how apocalyptic, Cyan can do it with a Stamina-heavy build.
The big advantage to Stamina is how defensively synergistic it is. Every level of Kirin is 30 more HP for Cyan, and more HP means easier survival, especially with Empowerer available. The extra Stamina helps shrug off attacks that check it, and it also enhances Cyan's cheap Regen spell and his own personal Regen rate. Since Dragon is a Stamina-based attack, Cyan can also park in the back row and toss out Dragons, greatly reducing his physical damage intake while still doing very good damage per turn. That lets him equip armor like Force Armor which is more magically defensive, making him almost untouchable overall (and enhancing things like Eclipse for random encounters).
Stamina's biggest flaw is that it relegates Cyan to a mostly defensive and supportive role that doesn't take full advantage of his powerful offensive Bushidos, most of which want Vigor and a front row presence to deal maximum damage. Counterattacks with Katanas that have them will be much weaker for a Cyan who is in the back row, and Dragon is both boring and not nearly as effective at damage past the WoB as the physical Bushidos. That said, it's stronger than almost any other Stamina-based attack, and it should be respectable against any enemy no matter its weaknesses. With his slow Speed Cyan's going to be a bit of a dull spot in your party damagewise unless you're aggressively exploiting Dragon at every opportunity, but don't forget that his first priority is to be the tank and ensure nothing bad happens to the rest of the group.
CRITICAL ESPERS - Kirin
You could, and pretty much should, level Cyan with nothing but Kirin. He will rapidly evolve into an invincible brick wall, and once he hits lv18 he'll be doing some good damage too. Be on the lookout for the Nirvana Band; not only does it shore up his physical attacks, it also boosts the power of Dragon.
USEFUL ESPERS - Bismark
While this is not a Vigor build, and Bismark shouldn't be heavily used if it's used at all, Bismark's high yield for minimal level investment makes a consideration of 5-8 levels one that you should think about. An extra 10-15 Vigor will allow Cyan to swap over to a Vigor-oriented equipment loadout and still do very respectable front row damage. Rotate him into the front row only for fights that require extreme damage, and keep him safely tucked away in the back row otherwise. This is by no means necessary (and remember you're losing up to 10 Stamina and 300 HP from the diversion, which is not a small amount), but it can be a good way to keep him from getting boring.