• Increasing moisture content reduces peak stress and crack initiation stress by 15.28%–21.11% and 17.64%–23.04%, respectively, while increasing peak and crack initiation strains by 19.85%–44.53% and 19.15%–41.94%.
• Pre-cracked rocks under different moisture contents predominantly exhibit tensile failure, but higher water content increases the proportion of shear cracks.
• Higher water content decreases acoustic emission events and dissipative energy, while significantly increasing charge signals, due to water's lubrication reducing crack surface friction.
• The study integrates DSCM, AE, and EMR to reveal failure precursors and damage mechanisms in pre-cracked rocks under graded cyclic loading, aiding in rock mass stability assessment.