Of the eight different “Nightfarer” character classes you can play as in FromSoftware’s recently launched experimental roguelike Elden Ring Nightreign, the Executor — a high-risk, high-reward katana-wielding warrior — stands out as the most mechanically interesting fighter of the bunch.
With the ability to pull out a cursed sword that forces you to walk slowly but can be used to deflect any attack with well-timed parries (think Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice), skilled players can use the character to tank a boss’ deadliest moves while teammates get in tons of damage for free. Notably, each deflection also builds up stagger damage for frequent stance breaks, and enough parries will light up the sword with holy energy you can unleash at will with a heavy counter-attack slash.
It’s an extremely handy mechanic that can be extremely clutch in the right hands — but ironically, the best build for Executor barely makes any use of it at all. Instead, it’s all about transforming his basic starting katana into a boss-melting monster of a weapon capable of rapidly proccing not one, not two, but three status effects. And the wildest part? You don’t need to rely on random drops you get from killing minibosses in your runs whatsoever, as it simply requires the use of two Relics.
These Relics are the Night of the Wise and the Night of Miasma, the former coming from defeating the Sentient Pest (Gnoster, Wisdom of Night) and the latter obtained from slaying the Fissure in the Fog (Caligo, Miasma of Night). That means you will need to kill these Nightlords to bring this build online; note that both are weak to Fire damage, so take advantage of that by using Fire-related Relics and hunting down Fire weapons in the runs leading up to these bosses.
Night of the Wise gives your starting katana the Poison affinity that stacks on top of its inherent Bleed capabilities, while Night of Miasma adds the Chilling Mist Ash of War to it — a skill that creates a cloud of frost and temporarily buffs the sword with Frostbite. Both Relics also give you a damage boost when their respective statuses proc in combat. What you put into the third Relic slot is up to you, but anything that boosts katana damage or the Arcane stat that dictates how quickly a character can build up status effects is ideal.
When you consider that Bleed chunks down a percentage of a target’s health, Frostbite does the same to a lesser extent while also making enemies weaker to further damage, and Poison adds a damage-over-time effect, it’s easy to see why this combo would be solid on any Nightfarer. It’s particularly lethal with Executor, however, because he has an extremely high S ranking in Arcane.
With that key trait, he can often apply all three conditions a ridiculous number of times throughout boss battles — melting even the Nightlord big-bads into puddles of sizzling status effect goo. I’ve been using this setup every time I play Executor for a few days now, and unless FromSoftware nerfs it at some point, I can’t imagine I’ll ever switch off for any reason other than a desire for variety.
The only problem to solve in order to maximize this build’s potential is that you’ll have to upgrade your starting sword during your run, but that’s very simple to do. Merchants that sell a basic Smithing Stone to get it to +1 are found next to or within tons of enemy fort and camp points of interest, while purple ones that can bring it to +2 are easily taken from minibosses like trolls, knights, and pumpkin head baddies within mineshafts (look for a tunnel icon on your map for entrances).
That’s it. That’s the build. You can add another Bleed-capable katana to your offhand if you find one to power stance it with yours if you want, and any upgrades or talismans you can find that improve stamina, defenses, or your attacks will be great, but really, an upgraded starting weapon with these Relics is all you need.
It’s so absurdly effective that the Elden Ring YouTuber Youwy used it to destroy the Darkdrift Knight at Level 1 solo, and it’ll hard carry in three-player co-op, too. And while it’s certainly ironic that it’s more optimal not to use your cursed sword ability to deflect attacks while using this setup, it’s still there as an option in the event you’d rather parry something instead of dodge it.
Elden Ring Nightreign is a bold new experimental spinoff from FromSoftware that spices up the original game’s Soulsborne combat with a roguelike, co-op driven twist. Though it has sizable issues like only having one map or underwhelming enemy variety, it’s nevertheless going to be one of this year’s best Xbox games and best PC games for Souls fans craving action. It’s $39.99, but you can get it for $33.99 at Newegg with the promo code XVSAVE (PC) or EPET226 (Xbox).
