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Sekirofans, rejoice. It is finally our time to shine asElden Ring Nightreignhas Executor to scratch that itch of deflecting enemy attacks. With Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, we got Deflecting Hard Tear, a crystal tear that temporarily lets you deflect all incoming attacks to your heart’s content.
Sadly, once the effects of the Wondrous Physick were over, you were back to your old playstyle. But with Executor, you might finally get the Sekiro experience inElden Ringyou crave.
Elden Ring Nightreign Review
“Git gud” personified.
Executor is a master swordsman who can dish out high damage and can easily come out victorious as long as the battles are a 1v1. His deflecting capabilities aren’t all that this Nightfarer is about, but knowing the enemy moves does pay off for him big time.
No matter if you know the attack pattern of every single boss from previous games or are just starting out, here is how you can play Executor in Elden Ring Nightreign to deal maximum damage and make your enemies regret being born!
Executor Abilities Explained
Description
After recovering from status ailments, Executor gets a temporary boost to his attack and stamina recovery speed.
Cursed Sword
Character Skill
Executor draws his cursed sword. This sword can deflect most incoming attacks to charge itself. Once the sword starts glowing, you can use its skills to deal a lot of damage to your target.
Aspects of the Crucible: Beast
Ultimate Art
This ability turns Executor into a primordial beast that has a large health pool and can attack enemies with light or heavy attacks and a special move.
Starting with Executor’s passive, Tenacity is probably the oddest passive in the game. When you compare it to some other passives like Revenant’s Necromancy or Duchess’s Magnificent Poise, it doesn’t seem all that useful. Which, to a certain extent, it isn’t, as the only way this buff triggers is when you let a status ailment build up completely and then heal from it. Luckily, this doesn’t stop you from using boluses.
Pay attention to your status buildup meter, let yourself get affected by some effect, then immediately cure it. For example, you can use Neutralizing Boluses to cure poison. This way, you still get the buff without practically losing any health.
Next,for his character skill, we have Cursed Sword. This can be a very broken ability in the right hands and, at the same time, not so useful if you don’t know your enemy.To make the most out of it, you should practice deflecting attacks from different enemies and try learning their movesets.
Try deflecting enemy attacks just before they are about to hit. This works in a way similar to parrying attacks with a buckler.Once you deflect enough attacks, your blade will charge up and have a golden shine.
This is when you should use its weapon skill on your target. The good thing is that your deflect charges are saved even after you swap your weapon or die. So, you don’t have to worry about losing it.
This skill has no cooldown, so you can enter and exit the Cursed Sword stance at any time.
The main catch of using Cursed Sword is that it reduces your movement speed a lot. So even though it might be very strong, you cannot use it all the time.
Finally,for Executor’s Ultimate Art, we have Aspects of the Crucible: Beast. This is an ability that you should save for when you are about to end up in situations where you need to fight hordes of enemies.
It isn’t the most damage-dealing ultimate when you compare it with some other Nightfarer’s ultimates, but it can save you in a pinch when you are getting hounded by lesser mobs.
Just make sure you don’t use it in a panic because when you activate it, your Ultimate gauge starts depleting. When it is over, you will be back to your regular form and won’t have many means to defend yourself.
Best Weapons
Executor has an S rating for both his Dexterity andArcane. This makes picking weapons for him easier, as the main weapons that fit this criteria are Katanas.
Since he has issues with Stamina, you should avoid using any heavy strength-focused weapons like Great Hammers, Greataxes, Colossal weapons, and other similar armaments at all costs.
Ideally, you should go forRivers of BloodorHand of Maleniaas these are the best weapons for him in the game. But since his gameplay also focuses a lot on inflicting status ailments,Serpentbone Bladeis another good pick if you are going for a Poison build.
Elden Ring: Every Katana, Ranked
We studied the blade(s)…
For quicker weapons with short range, you can go withStar Fistor Reduvia dagger. Do remember that you will need to be in your enemy’s face if you want to do any damage with these weapons. Or to experiment with something safer, you could try Elenora’s Poleblade, as this weapon also scales with Dex and Arc. while having a nice reach
Ripple Crescent Halberdis another excellent Arcane weapon, but it is something that doesn’t scale with Dexterity. As such, it shouldn’t be your primary weapon and must only be used when you are looking for something that has a better reach.
Lastly, if you are someone who wants to make use of your passive, then you should find a Katana with Seppuku. If you do decide to go that route, also carry a Finger Seal with Heal so that you don’t accidentally bleed yourself to death while you are focused on your passive.
Best Relics
Selecting the right relics can be tricky for Executor, butthe safest options that you can always go for are the ones that increase his Dexterity, Arcane, or Endurance. Additionally, the ones that increase his physical attack power can also be useful.
Since Executor is quite good at inflicting ailments, equipping something like Night of the Wise that changes your starting armament to have Poison damage can be very handy.
Don’t forget to buy Executor’s Goblet from Small Jar Bazaar so that you havemore relics to experiment with.
Lastly, make sure to swap around your relics based on the Nightlord that you are about to challenge. For example, if you are about to start the Tricephalos expedition, you should equip relics that can increase your Holy attack power.
Or if you are about to fight the fourth Nightlord, use relics that increase your sleep resistance. If you don’t have any good relics, you can check out the Small Jar Bazaar to see if you can get something goodin exchange for your murk.
Executor Expedition Strategies
Executor is a very high-risk, high-reward character that can be fun to play during both solo and multiplayer runs. However, the one aspect that can make or break him is your knowledge of the enemy’s moves.
Even if you are completely new to this game or the series as a whole, here are some tips that can help you have an easier time with Executor:
Best Team Comp
These are the best characters to team up with Executor:
It is no surprise that, since Executor is a glass cannon character, he can have issues surviving most fights—especially if the numbers are against him. However, having a character like Guardian that has a lot of HP to tank can help even the odds.
It is easy for Executor to die by having his poise broken and taking a critical hit while trying to deflect enemy attacks. When this happens, Guardian has you covered. Be it just one Near Death bar that the Guardian can break with his regular attacks or a full Near Death gauge,he can revive Executorwith a single use of his Ultimate Art, Wings of Salvation.
Since Guardian has a B rating for Strength, he can use weapons that often interrupt the enemy during their attacks. This can again be beneficial to Executor, as he can dash in to get a few slashes of his Katanas and hopefully apply some status ailment.
However, if survivability with Executor isn’t an issue for you, and you are looking for some extra damage, thenWylderis someone that you can swap Guardian with. Or you could go withDuchess, another Dex-based character that can pair surprisingly well with Executor thanks to her skill, Restage.
With Guardian in the team to tank hits, and Executor to damage and pressure the enemy,Revenantgets to play the role of support. This works perfectly with her high Faith and Intelligence.
In this team comp,Revenant should primarily use her summons to help out her allies whenever they need to distract an enemy. Next, she should have Great Heal, Lord’s Heal, or Erdtree Heal ready whenever Executor or Guardian gets low on health, especially if they are out of flasks.
If the team is doing pretty well and doesn’t need her heals, Revenant gets to join in on the fun. With incantations like Black Flame, Rotten Breath, Placidusax’s Ruin, or Elden Stars, she can help chip away a lot of the boss' health.
Of course, Revenant has her problems. Once she is out of FP, she can’t exactly do much. She also has pretty low HP. So if you have Duchess as your other party member, you can swap Revenant withIroneyeto add more physical attacks. Or if you have Wylder, then for magic damage, Recluse could be her replacement.
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