In Elden Ring Nightreign, Executor is a mostly silent character clad in bronze armor from head to toe, masking all but a sliver of his face. He spends most of his time in Roundtable Hold reflecting on and painting the Erdtree, but behind the silent artist is a bloodthirsty beast, a melee warrior who can stand toe-to-toe with the most fearsome foes.
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Executor has two abilities that make him a class every player should try: the ability to deflect blows like in Sekiro with his cursed blade, and the ability to transform into a gigantic beast with a unique, pummeling moveset.
This guide explains the basics of how to play Executor and take advantage of its unique melee skills, what to look out for during runs and in relic rewards, and details some advanced tips to help you get better at playing the Executor class.
Nightreign Executor Class Overview & Playstyle
How To Play Executor In Nightreign, Explained
This condemned soul, with a body fused with pieces of armor, went missing after a prison stint in the Lands Between.
Brandishes a cursed blade and savors every battle.
The Executor character class in Nightreign is a silent, enigmatic melee fighter who wields a cursed blade that can deflect enemy attacks perfectly. He has exceptionally high Arcane and Dexterity, followed by HP and Stamina, which makes him extremely good when paired with Katana weapons and armaments that can inflict status effects.
When the cursed blade is drawn, you can block enemy attacks perfectly to deflect them. This deals minimal HP and Stamina damage to Executor, and breaks away part of the shell on the cursed blade. Deflect enough attacks and you will be able to unleash a very powerful special attack with the Skill input – but the Sekiro-like deflect system is what really makes this class so engaging.
In addition to all of that, the Executor's ultimate ability transforms him into a primordial beast with a new moveset that crushes and knocks down all but the strongest enemies.
Executor is one of the toughest classes to learn in Nightreign, but when mastered, you'll breeze through combat without taking hardly a scratch.
Executor Character Skills & Ultimate Art
Tenacity, Cursed Sword, and Aspects of the Crucible: Beast
Executor Passive: Tenacity
- Receive a boost to Attack and Stamina Recovery after recovering from status ailments.
- This effect triggers when the status bar is drained, not when the status is inflicted on Executor
Executor Skill: Cursed Sword
- Draw a cursed sword that can deflect enemy attacks, which becomes more powerful after you deflect enough attacks
- You cannot run or sprint with the cursed sword active, and dodges become short dashes
- All attacks deflected by the cursed parry deal no HP damage and minimal stamina damage. These count as Guards for the sake of relic interactions.
- Timing is precise – block just before an enemy hit would connect, and you will see a large orange spark come off of the Executor's blade
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Executor Ultimate Art: Aspects of the Crucible: Beast
- Assume the form of a primordial beast, which unlocks a new moveset
- Attacks will drain your Ultimate Art bar, and when it reaches 0, you will transform back to normal
- Both light and heavy attacks can knock down enemies, and heavy attacks can interrupt some boss attacks (like Wylder's class Ultimate Art)
- You will still take damage in primordial beast form, but your HP bar is massively extended while transformed
Best Executor Relics In Nightreign
Relic Bonuses Executor Benefits From Most
Stat Upgrades: Arcane, Dexterity, Vigor
Being a melee character, the Executor is always in the midst of combat and must pay attention to incoming attacks to deflect them properly. He's far from a beginner-friendly character in Nightreign, but even experts are bound to let some hits through. When you first start playing as Executor, it's worth getting some relics with extra Vigor to help boost your HP.
Because Executor primarily uses Katanas and Dex weapons, relics that boost your Arcane and Dexterity are good to slot in, too – unless you have relics that grant unique Executor abilities as listed below.
Heal Upon Unveiling Cursed Sword
One of the most useful Executor relic bonuses is the Unlocking Cursed Sword Heals HP passive. When you wield the cursed sword and deflect enough attacks, the blade will glow bright orange, signifying that it is ready to be unlocked and deal a special attack. Press the Skill input to rush through your target and heal a chunk of HP with this relic equipped.
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You can get this relic either as a random reward from Expeditions and the Small Jar Bazaar, or as a reward for completing the first Executor Remembrance.
Any Relic Bonus That Procs From Guarding
When you deflect with the cursed blade, it counts as a Guard. Because of this interaction, Executor players should equip relics that trigger when you successfully Guard an attack. Not only will you unlock part of the cursed blade with a successful deflect, you'll also proc the Guard effect. And because you'll be deflecting a lot when playing as Executor, Nightreign players will be able to trigger these effects constantly.
Best Executor Weapons & Equipment
Executor Favored Weapon: Katana
Because the Executor has such high Arcane and Dexterity stats, it benefits the most from Katana-type weapons. In Elden Ring Katanas naturally scale well with Dexterity and oftentimes come with the ability to inflict a status effect, like Blood Loss or Poison.
Because Arcane increases the rate you build up status effects with hits, it's not a bad idea to keep other weapon types on hand that inflict effects you don't have access to on your main Katana.
It's not a bad idea to try to dual-wield Katanas, or a Katana and a Wakizashi, to unlock the dual-wield Powerstance moveset. With two Katanas equipped (or a Wakizashi in the offhand), you can press your Guard input to instead swing with both weapons at once. If both Katanas can inflict the same status effect, you'll build up status ailments in targets twice as fast.
Advanced Tips For Executor In Nightreign
How To Get Better At Playing Executor
Practice Deflecting At The Roundtable Hold Sparring Grounds
Arguably the most powerful tool in Executor's kit is the ability to deflect attacks perfectly with his cursed blade. However, the timing for this can be tricky, and every enemy has different movement and attack patterns that you will have to memorize to effectively deflect everything.
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When you first start playing Executor, spend some time in the Sparring Grounds in Roundtable Hold and get familiar with how it feels to use the cursed blade. The timing for perfect deflections is more forgiving than its counterpart in Sekiro, but it will still take some practice to get it down. When you learn how to time deflects right, though, you'll clear enemies without taking a scratch – even if you play Executor solo.
Know When To Use The Cursed Blade & When To Use Regular Weapons
The cursed blade is an integral part of the Executioner's playstyle, but it's not perfect for all situations. Because your movement speed is lowered and your dodging is impaired, it can be frustratingly slow to use against groups of enemies, for example. Worse yet, if you are stuck on the receiving end of a boss combo, you can't sprint away with the sword drawn.
The time it takes to swap between your regular weapon loadout and the cursed blade is very fast – you can also put away the cursed sword by pressing the Surge Sprint input.
The cursed blade shows its true strength in a one-on-one fight, not against a horde of enemies, so don't rely on it for every combat encounter.
Two Status Effect Katanas Are Better Than One
The Executor benefits the most from Katanas because he has a unique moveset while wielding them, and his stats naturally scale well with status effects that tend to come on Katana weapons. Though you can get by perfectly fine with just one Katana, unlocking the dual wield moveset with a second Katana in your off-hand is a great way to increase the rate you can build status on enemies.
You can still use the Cursed Blade while wielding two armaments at once, and the perfect deflect effect works when drawing the Cursed Blade. With two status effect weapons in hand, you'll rapidly build up status on enemies – you won't be able to block or parry, but if you need to, just switch to the Cursed Blade.
Elden Ring Nightreign
- Released
- May 30, 2025
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- From Software
- Publisher(s)
- Bandai Namco Entertainment, From Software
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op
- Number of Players
- 1-3
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG, Soulslike, Roguelite
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC
