Modders plonk Executor into Elden Ring because if FromSoftware won’t give us Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice 2, we’ll do it ourselves

One of the most tantalising additions to Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree was the introduction of the Deflecting Hardtear, a buff that basically turns you into John Sekiro himself. The only problem? It’s locked behind a DLC that requires you to push over Mohg, and that boy isn’t exactly an early-game boss.

Things looked up for us Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice lovers (there are literally dozens of us!) when FromSoftware introduced the Executor to Elden Ring Nightreign. And while I’ve come close to scratching my itch, it’s still not the same.

For one, Executor’s cursed sword stance is more of a defensive option—a cousin of the Guardian‘s Steel Guard—that lets the Executor plant his feet and swat aside anything with the right timing. But when you’re not on the back foot, you need to be slapping things with two status-build katanas to do any real damage.

I’m still left hankering for my fix, because despite the fact that basically every non-FromSoftware soulslike has snapped up Sekiro’s timed deflection system, the studio’s been hesitant to release a sequel. Well, now we’ve got the next best thing—the Executor, who is basically Wolf from Sekiro anyway—has been ported by modders to Elden Ring.

The Executor in Elden Ring mod picks up the Executor by the scruff, yoinks him out of Limveld, and plonks him in Limgrave. It replaces katana movesets, giving you the Executor’s swordplay while also letting you no-sell Margit like the chump he is—with the correct timing, of course.

The mod’s author NinjaRaiden, who made it with help from McKenyu (and links to a separate mod by madao112 to give players the Executor’s armor), posted a demonstration video while it was still in development—but you can also watch YouTuber Allence do a full playthrough of the game with the mod enabled below.

NinjaRaiden has plans for a version that’ll let you pick which bits of the Executor you’d like ported. For instance, by default, the Executor has the Nightreign sprint—which does bust up the balance of base Elden Rings bosses a tad.

The speed at which the Executor’s been ported over to base Elden Ring tells me one thing—I’m certainly not alone in wanting more Sekiro. While the rest of the world might be getting parry fatigue, I’m still a filthy deflection lover and I will not apologise. As soon as I’m burnt out on Nightreign, you can bet I’ll be snapping up this mod and heading back to the Lands Between. Me and Promised Consort Radahn have a score to settle.