General Overview

Wanting to put this out there more as a look at what I've been able to put together since the 1.0 launch prior to the upcoming balance changes on Tahiti and note down my thoughts on the build overall so I'm not looking back at this in a couple years going "What was I thinking?" like I was when looking back at a video I had of my build from live. This probably isn't the optimal DPS build for Cyclops, nor am I the best player to be listening to for advice on the game since I wouldn't consider myself "good", but this build worked for all content that I tried it in. Thing that needs to be understood is that, in the state he's in currently, Cyclops doesn't have good damage. There are things that can be done to make this build more "optimal", but his damage will still be low, so I went for flavor and fun over pure DPS. 

To that end, the biggest choice here that makes this not an optimal build for DPS is I don't use Strike Team: Emma. I prefer the theming of calling in the original X-Men (or at least most of them, my love for the theme isn't enough to make me use Eye in the Sky, sorry Angel), so I use Leader of the X-Men instead of Strike Team: Emma. This means no tri-hybrid gearing or anything like that, since Emma is his only source of mental damage. If you're looking for the top damage options for Cyclops, I think Strike Team: Emma will take that (and will be easier to play for hybrid stuff in general due to not needing Beast for physical damage, I'll get into that below), so you should probably use it if your primary goal is higher DPS. However, I don't feel like dropping her makes this build completely unviable in comparison. 

The other main focus of my build is dealing with spirit issues. If you use the Improved Optics talent, you'll go through spirit like crazy. He has serious spirit issues. Running out of spirit is incredibly annoying and slotting in something like the basic to fill in during that time lowers your damage potential even more, so my preference is to completely eliminate it as a concern. For levelling and early endgame play, I recommend not using that talent at all. Maximum Optics will still boost his damage a bit and helps the spirit issues tremendously early on, that plus a 100 spirit on medkit catalyst will probably be enough to keep things smooth. Once you have some spirit regen in your kit (the River of the Soul runeword is a good early option while you wait for Power Doop, I used this early on in 1.0 before the first Cosmic Chaos event) you can start looking at Improved Optics. For this build, I have the following things contributing to spirit regen:

• 4 spirit on hit - Cyclops Was Right T-Shirt
• 15% spirit cost reduction - Cosmic Artifact Affix
• 100 spirit on medkit - Catalyst affix
• 10% spirit cost reduction - Mind Gem 100 point mastery
• 10% spirit cost reduction - Vigilant Leader talent
• 17 spirit on Energy/Physical hits (7s cooldown for each) - The Power Doop
• 1 spirit on hit - Rogue synergy

With these options, I can keep Improved Optics sustained without ever really seeing spirit issues. Even when I make mistakes or a medkit activation gets eaten, I can recover from it. The Rogue synergy honestly isn't even needed, it helps give a little more wiggle room, but I've tested without it and was fine, so. Feel free to drop that for a damage synergy instead if you prefer. If you're still worried even with all of these options, though, you can also add some spirit with the two spirit potions on the crafter. They're really cheap and will boost your spirit by 45, along with giving some extra passive regen. Given their low cost, I don't think this is a bad option if you don't mind taking the time to craft them, that's a bigger cost than the actual cost, frankly. I took that route early on in 1.0 and it worked well, but I generally don't bother anymore since it's not needed. However, if you find yourself still having spirit issues, this is an extra thing you can add in without much cost.

Another thing to keep in mind here is that points in Energy give you cost reduction as well. It's a small amount (-0.25% per rank), but things like the Essence of Jinn will add a noticeable impact to your spirit sustain. I wouldn't prioritize Energy over Intelligence just for this, but Energy does have more benefits than just the pure damage, so it's worth considering.

Gearing

Most of the unique choices are fairly standard, I think slot 3 is the only real question mark for me. I'll give some alternatives for some of them, though, just based on what I've tested or looked at.

• On slot 1, the Ruby Quartz Sunglasses are the best option to go with if you can't get a Fragment. They help with early spirit regen, and are better damage wise than the Phoenix Force Visor. You really want the Fragment for him if you'll be playing him regularly, though, since, on top of being great for damage, it helps his survivability and he really needs the help.
• On slot 3, like I mentioned, this is probably the only unique choice that's really a question mark for me. The other option is a Coat of the Skull, which adds some more power duration on top of some other great stats for us. I preferred his own unique in my testing, but power duration isn't an insignificant stat for Cyclops so this is an option you should consider.
• His slot 4, the X-Factor Mutant Hunter Boots, is not good offensively, this is the one I'd target first to replace with an Any Hero unique. His own is better than nothing, so use that until you can get the Skrull uniform, but you'll want to replace it quickly. If you're having bad luck with the Skrull uniform or just don't want to spare one for Cyclops, the Cerebra Helmet Interface is one you could look at as well. It can be purchased from the DR vendor and while Cyclops doesn't benefit from the summon affixes, the rest are better than what his slot 4 gives I think.
• His slot 5, the Headmaster's Leather Jacket, is okay, it's not the best but it'll hold you over until you get a better option. For a non-raid unique in this slot, the Helm of Doom is a great early option as well if you can get one, I used that early on after the 1.0 launch and it works well.
• For rings, the Industry City Signet (energy) or the Ranged version can sub in until you get a Sling Ring (although you'll want the Sling Ring ASAP if you're using the sig, his sig doesn't have any kind of damage reduction baseline and you'll be rooted in place, so Sling Ring helps keep it from getting you killed and turns it into a bit of a panic button if you need it). I briefly tested the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters Class Ring as well, since I remember using that on live, and I think the Sling Ring wins out, especially with the invulnerability on sig use. If you don't want to grind for a Sling Ring, it's worth a look, but it's much harder to use without Emma. To make the most out of it without Emma, you need a good amount of power duration (at least 30%+ to get Beast's bleed past 10s) and good aim on Beast, otherwise keeping the proc up is going to be more difficult.
• For Legendaries, I prefer the bow, but a Cosmic Control Rod can work too. I did test the two with my build and the Bow came out ahead, but CCR wasn't too far behind. For i70, as is the case for most characters, use Gungnir. 
• On Medallions, I haven't tested many outside of the Infernal War Skrull medallion, but one option I think is worth checking out is the Skrull Medallion Of Bravery. It gives some good stats, which is great, but it also gives spirit on hit. This + Rogue's synergy would bring you right around where the T-Shirt is, which could let you drop the T-Shirt for a different artifact that's more focused on DPS. Or this + the T-Shirt would give you even more wiggle room if you're struggling to stay sustained with just the T-Shirt. I did test this one briefly and I prefer the setup I have, but I think with the right combination this could work well too. The Doctor Doom Medallion is also a very good choice, taking more advantage of the power duration interactions. This came out worse in my testing, but it was close and could just be the exact rolls on my medallion and etc, this one is worth testing with at least.

Some alternative artifacts:

• Electro's artifact, Advanced Reserve Electrical Generator, is a pretty good option and the big alternative I want to mention here. I tested this in place of the Cyclops Was Right T-Shirt and they seemed pretty close to me with this build and the rolls I had. If you get one of these and want to spare it for Cyclops, it'll help quite a bit. I favor the t-shirt in this build because it has the added benefit of rolling its affixes on the Danger Room vendor, which I strongly recommend to save on Cosmic Fragments at the very least, they can be a pain. 
• For very similar reasons as the Advanced Reserve Electrical Generator, I think the Skrull Energy Rifle Focusing Crystal would also be a good alternative. I haven't tested this one personally, so I don't want to speak to how well it performs, but just based on the stats I think it would be a good alternative to the other 2 spirit sustain artifacts mentioned. If you have this one available and not the others, give it a go.
• Shortly after the 1.0 launch I got an early The Broken Crown from ICP, and that's a pretty good option as well for damage. I wouldn't put it above the 3 non-spirit artifact options I'm using in this build, and the T-Shirt or Generator are less for damage and more to solve the spirit issues, so that's why I didn't use the Crown in this build, but I think it's a very good alternative if you're not having any luck with the other 2 boss artifacts. If you stick with Maximum Optics, though, you might want to sub a Crown in over the T-Shirt since you won't need as much help on sustaining your spirit at that point. On Tahiti at least, the non-cosmic version of this is pretty common and droppable by other players, so play ICP on Wednesdays and you'll probably see it at least once even if it doesn't drop for you specifically. It's a very good early build option while you gear up for the Cosmic Trial even if you don't plan to use it in your final build.
• Another option I've tested briefly is the Advanced S.H.I.E.L.D. Motion Analyzer. It has crit/brute, damage, and a percentage based damage buff based on range. I tested it over the Hand of Doom and it seemed slightly worse, but close. I wouldn't wanna drop the other two, but it's certainly easier to get than a Hand of Doom, so it's worth considering if you don't have a Hand of Doom for him, or as an alternative to the Broken Crown if you use a non-artifact solution for spirit sustain.
• Bullseye's Deck of Cards is one I haven't had a chance to test, but looks like it could be a decent option as well. The non-cosmic version is available during the Hand event so you can pick it up fairly easily for a starter option at least, and it has some good stats for a ranged build like this. The proc on sig use would be about maybe 40% uptime ish depending on your power duration, since the sig ends up with an effective cooldown of around 30s due to Leader of the X-Men and the sig reduction cosmic affix. 
• The Hypno-Ray is also worth a look if you happen upon one. I don't think it's better than the Crown, but it has some good stats and we do mostly Energy damage so you get the full benefits of it, so if you don't want to spare a Crown for Cyclops, this could work too.
• Pyro's Flamethrower is another option if you happen upon it as long as you're using Jean over Emma. I don't think it's better than any of the ones listed above, but Jean specifically applies burn, so we can make use of the damage vs burning at least, so it works. This would be more for if you're short on the others and don't want to spare them for him, I wouldn't aim for this long term.
• Edge of Infinity is a good starter artifact in general as you build up your pool of boss artifacts. I think I passed the Cosmic Trial on 1.0 with that, a GotK, Broken Crown, and a S.H.I.E.L.D. Medal of Valor. You're guaranteed a Medal of Valor at the end of the story, I'm pretty sure, so that's also worth using until you get something better if you start with Cyclops and want to take him further before building other characters. 
• A few other artifacts you might see that are worth using early on while leveling/farming for better artifacts: Advanced Metasensory Array, Xerogen Crystal, Advanced Phoenix Feather, Ziggurat of Kargul.

One quick note I want to add here as well, I tried to keep the build showing here as close to the one I had for the videos at the bottom as possible so they can serve as a good representation of what the build can actually do, so there are a few things that may not be "best" but are what I had. The big one that stands out is the insignia. Ideally that'd be an Insignia of Cyclops, but the Weapon X insignia is the best one I've found stat-wise since the 1.0 launch, so it's what I'm using. The mutation affix on the catalyst would ideally be the 1000HP/s heal under 40% as well, the defense on sig use affix is kind of wasted due to the Sling Ring, but the one I have equipped is a higher grade catalyst from the anniversary so I favor that over trying to get each affix perfect.

Talents

His choices are kind of rough here, with several rows having almost no good options. First and third are the two in that category. Magik can't be taken if you don't use Emma since you need Beast for physical damage at that point (Magik also does not proc mental damage procs, since she doesn't have an initial hit like Beast does), Punchclops is bad, and X-Man Standing By has a very low proc rate. If you do take Emma, Magik is better DPS-wise at least, but I'll mention later some quirks with Beast that I think makes him better than he seems, and definitely better for survivability. So, even if you take Emma, Magik isn't a clear upgrade and I personally think it's actually worse overall. If you want Iceman on the bar, I'd argue you're better off just not picking anything here. Since I don't use Iceman, X-Man Standing By is free damage, even if the proc rate is low. On the third row, Magneto is a visual only change (if not a downgrade, I think I've seen that he's slower animation-wise), Beam Refraction doesn't really work well with his ranged builds and Punchclops is bad, and Cutting Beam is fine, but not a huge deal. It gives us more sources of bleed for stuff like X-23's synergy, basically, but it's a pretty boring talent.

Second row is Improved Optics, but as mentioned above, take Maximum Optics until you can handle the spirit regen. 4th row has better options, I take Vigilant Leader for the cost reduction (and I don't like the cooldown reset on Overwatch, but that's a taste thing). The 5th row, again, Emma's probably better, I like Leader of the X-Men though because I like the sig and having it more often is nice. My understanding is it's a DPS loss, at least for single target, but I love having it in heavy AOE situations. The range on it is more than the animation implies (even without power radius buffs, its shown radius can reach from the SHIELD logo to the opposite door in the training room, it covers probably about double the area that the animation indicates), so you can clear out a ton of enemies in a single cast if you get the right situation. Things like the more densely packed terminals or areas in patrols can easily get you to 70-100 kills in seconds (the Cultic Invasion wave in Hightown is my prime example here, correct positioning there can lead to over a third of the wave completed in a single cast of Visor Off). It's worth noting, too, that the passive activations of Strike Team: Iceman through X-Man Standing By count as proper activations, as if you'd hit it yourself, so when it does happen to go off you get the -2s on Visor Off's cooldown and the extra Crit Damage from the Blue Team Utility Belt. The proc rate being low makes that less useful, but it does help.

The only one I don't recommend on the last row is Last Resort. At least once you get your hands on a Sling Ring, this just isn't necessary and being stuck in Visor Off for that long can be annoying (mostly just wanting to move on once everything's done, it can't be cancelled normally). Since the duration is 5s, it can also cause you to lose the ramp-up from Improved Optics, which will delay getting back to its max damage. I don't pay attention to this super hard, so I don't know how big of a DPS impact it is, but this would pretty much guarantee losing it every time you hit Visor Off, so I don't recommend it. Maybe for a more AOE focused build where you don't use Focused Beam at all, but even in those cases I think Last Resort would be your worst option. If you're not taking Emma, take Leader of the X-Men.

Playstyle

For the playstyle, use the skills on cooldown and end in Focused Beam. The only thing that really gets tricky is Beast. Beast needs to be aimed properly, his roll has travel time and can completely whiff, and if he whiffs you won't get anything that procs on physical damage, like Power Doop, since the hits after he's summoned don't count. He can also get stopped by the missile shield boss affix (because, apparently, Beast rolling counts as a missile, very impressive). It takes some getting used to, but once you do it's not that bad. I don't consider myself "good" at the game and I don't have issues with it most of the time, so just keep an eye on where you're aiming him. You will occasionally whiff, but it doesn't happen that often for me. I will say there seems to be some leeway on his hitbox, so even if he doesn't seem to have hit, he may have still hit. You don't have to be perfect with it, basically.

One benefit of Beast that I didn't realize early on, but definitely comes in handy: He counts as a melee hit for the Close Quarters passive. He's tagged as melee, so that makes sense, but my assumption was that you'd only get the passive for 3 seconds from the initial hit (or 0 if he whiffs) since hits from summons don't count. However, Beast's initial hit applies a bleed, and each tick of that bleed counts as a physical melee hit, refreshing the Close Quarters passive. So that's an extra 8% damage reduction for potentially 8 seconds ish past the initial hit (total of 11 seconds ish, roughly, so about 50% uptime), and it can proc Power Doop a second time before Beast comes off cooldown. This is most impactful if you hit the boss with Beast, since adds will probably die before the bleed can last its full duration, so keep that in mind when deciding how to aim him. If you can safely hit the boss, hit the boss.

As I mentioned in the talents section, I think Magik is still better DPS-wise (and lasts longer, both by default and because her summon is affected by power duration while Beast's isn't), but the survivability aspect bumps Beast up quite a bit for me considering how squishy Cyclops is. Magik has some survivability as well with a small HP shield, but the effective HP added by the damage reduction from Beast outweighs that in my book (the damage reduction adds between double or triple the amount of effective HP compared to what Magik's shield gives, depending on what your HP is, and can last the full duration instead of being lost when you take that damage). It's also worth noting, because of another quirk with Beast that I don't think is mentioned in-game anywhere, while Magik is better DPS-wise, it's closer than it seems. Beast has the initial hit and the bleed to add to the overall damage, however, once he's summoned, every hit he lands is also a guaranteed brutal strike. That brings the overall single target damage Beast offers at least closer to Magik's, in my testing it was very close, so I think the defensive bonuses Beast can provide boosts him above Magik in general, even if you use Emma. He's just harder to use since he has to hit to give those benefits.

Outside of Beast, again, use everything else on cooldown, find a safe spot, and channel Focused Beam. If you know there's a big AOE requirement coming up, save the sig for it and maybe swap to Ricochet for a bit longer. You'll want to toss Ricochet in every once in a while for the bleed anyway, I usually try to time it with Strike Team: Jean since the cooldown roughly matches the duration. You can replace it with Explosive Blast for vulnerability in between Master Tactician uses, this would especially help for fully single target scenarios where Ricochet loses its main benefits, but I prefer Ricochet for normal gameplay so that's what I've used in this build. Could also see dropping Master Tactician or Overwatch for Explosive Blast for AOE situations for the same reason, I'd recommend a second power page for that if you're going to do it, or just hot swap the ability on your bar, since you'll lose more from the single target damage and that's where he struggles more in my experience. I can't be bothered to swap stuff around often, so I stick with what I have here, but I can see the argument for doing it.

Infinity & Final Notes

Infinities are probably my weakest area here, I don't pay attention to them as much as I probably should. Temporal Loophole is one I've picked up on being a good starting point and it helps add some Attack Speed early on especially (the extra dash and restored charge on medkit use are also super helpful, I recommend it just off that due to the QOL that adds). From there, I usually just go with what I feel I "need" at the time for most characters, the big one with this build, which I mentioned above as well, is 100 points in the Mind Gem for the cost reduction. We'll eventually want to dump points into the Mind Gem regardless since Intelligence is our best attribute to boost via IPs, but taking it early has the double benefit of helping us sustain Improved Optics sooner. From there, my next goal was some Brutal Strike in the Power Gem since I wasn't getting enough elsewhere. So a quick and dirty route would be something like 152 in the Time Gem (148 in Temporal Loophole + 4 in the damage on hit) => 150 in the Mind Gem (Crit Rate, Crit Damage, or Intelligence + a rank in the damage on hit) => 150 in the Power Gem (Brutal Strike or Brutal Damage + a rank in the damage on hit) => 154 in the Reality Gem (Energy + 4 points in the damage on hit). After that, go for what you need, then eventually dump into Intelligence. In the videos below, I have my extra points tossed into sig damage. I don't think this is a huge benefit, but it's just an easy 1 point option that still helps a bit since I use the sig, so I tend to slot extra points there until I have enough to move it to Intelligence or whatever else.

Another option I've taken here that's not the best for DPS, but certainly helps him feel better in content is 73 ranks (146 total IP, then 4 in the damage on hit node to hit 150) into Gravity Well in the Space Gem for the extra HP. This might be overkill for defenses, but even with the damage reduction from Beast I mentioned above, he's still squishy, so the extra HP helps a lot on letting you focus more on DPS during a fight. It leaves it such that any deaths I had during gameplay were usually obvious mistakes on my end (again, I don't consider myself "good" at the game, I make a decent amount of mistakes, so having room for those mistakes is helpful). He's still squishy even with that, I don't want to overstate the value here, but it helps a lot compared to how he feels without it.

As mentioned at the start, Cyclops has low damage in his current state. You're not gonna be beating the cosmic trial with no gear or anything like that, he needs a big investment to reach a decent place and that investment will get you much more damage on most other characters. So, building him certainly won't be for everyone, but if you just like him and want to use him, a build like this can get the job done. Cyclops is my main, accounting for over half of my total playtime on Tahiti, and while you definitely feel his lower damage at times, I still feel like I can do any content with him with this build. I even use him in some of the Danger Room tournaments and I feel like I've done pretty well given his relatively low damage (I go by the same name on Tahiti, if you see my name in the Brood, Doop, or Subway tourneys, they're probably done with this build, with tweaks for the scenario when needed if I'm trying to push. Doop usually requires the most changes due to its restrictions, but he does surprisingly well in that one).

Here are some videos to showcase the playstyle and some of what I've been able to do at my current progression level, inspired by some of the TTK stuff compiled on the Tahiti discord (strongly recommend checking that out as well, even if you're not playing on Tahiti, there's some great info compiled there and some very good players to learn from, even if you're mostly playing casually like I usually do). All 3 videos use the same IP/Gear as shown in the first one, total IP was 907, which is what I'll slot into the build's IP as well.

TTK (2:43)

Kurse terminal (1:31)

Ultron terminal (2:23)

And finally, with the balance changes coming in Tahiti's BUE, I'll make some notes here if anything in the build changes significantly as a result. Depending on the changes I might also make some updated videos to show the difference, but my current plan is to otherwise leave this build as-is so it can also work on any server that hasn't made balance changes. I might make a new build entirely if there are enough changes to the build to warrant it, but this one will stay as-is.