When a new Elden Ring DLC drops Elden Ring Items, the community immediately rushes to test new weapons, status builds, spell synergies, and bleed gimmicks. But amid all the chaos, there's something undeniably refreshing about a build that ignores meta DPS races and simply one-shots people with pure, old-school crit damage. That's exactly what this Executioner Great Axe setup does-and make no mistake, when it lands a backstab or parry, enemies melt.
In a landscape where Moonveil spam, homing sorcery, and bleed procs dominate PvP, this build brings the fight back to fundamentals: punish, stun, backstab, and boom-health bar deleted. What makes it even more compelling is how it blends tank-level defense with deceptively agile positioning through Quickstep, creating a crit-oriented strength build that feels both brutal and precise.
Why the Executioner Great Axe Works in a Crit Build
Most players look at great axes and think: slow, predictable, telegraphed heavies. But the Executioner variant breaks those expectations in one key way-its unusually high critical modifier. That means every successful backstab or parry doesn't just punish-it demolishes.
Combine that with the Dagger Talisman, which directly boosts critical hit damage, and you get one of the strongest burst punish tools available in melee PvP.
Backstab damage becomes absurd
Front crits (yes, the ultra-rare ones) hit even harder
Parry conversions feel like executing entire health bars in a single animation
This weapon doesn't win trades-it ends fights.
Quickstep: The Unexpected MVP
When people see a giant axe, they expect:
Flaming Strike
War Cry
Stormcaller
Sword Dance
Literally any aggressive Ash of War
What they don't expect is Quickstep, and that's the secret sauce. Quickstep doesn't just reposition-it creates crit opportunities that wouldn't exist otherwise.
Wrap around Moonveil users mid-cast
Slide past jump attacks and punish recovery
Dodge multi phantom pressure and turn it into isolation kills
In a world where sorcery teams spam homing boulders and bleed gank squads chase nonstop, Quickstep gives this build a scalpel-like control inside chaos.
Stat Breakdown & Infusion Choice
The build follows a classic strength profile, but with one important detail: Fire infusion.
Why? Because elemental scaling hits harder on crits than pure heavy scaling, assuming you aren't standing in water. And fire is the most consistent elemental choice for a Strength-focused layout.
Armor & Poise Setup
If you're hunting parries and backstabs, you must survive failed attempts. That's where the Solitude Set comes in.
High defense
Heavy poise
Enough bulk to tank Moonveil bursts, halberd running thrusts, and bleed pressure
The goal isn't to facetank-it's to guarantee that minor stun attempts don't eject you out of a crit window.
Invasion Field Notes: Moonveil Spam, Wizards, and Chaos
What makes the footage referenced so entertaining-and instructive-is the real-world application against coordinated DLC gank squads.
Common Enemies Faced
Triple Moonveil setups
Mirrored wizard duos controlling terrain
Bleed dual-wield jump-attack spammers
Halberd roll-catch chains
Quickstep + Crit Axe counters all of these, but only if the invader plays an isolation game.
Don't force straight pushes
Split targets
Eliminate sorcerers first
Abuse blind angles and map cover
When paired with regeneration buffs and poise stacking, the build becomes a rotating hammer of punishment: wait, bait, punish, delete.
Where the Build Truly Shines
This setup isn't just PvP viable-it thrives specifically in gank-heavy invasion landscapes.
It's built not for fair duels but for:
2v1 panic bursts
3v1 chaos
Wizards holding corners with projectile zones
Bleed partners waiting behind posture breakers
Most strength builds fall apart under ranged pressure. This one turns those situations into highlight reels.
Closing Thoughts
In a DLC landscape jammed with hyper-range magic, bleed accelerants, and status AoE spam, the Executioner Great Axe crit build feels like a love letter to classic PvP fundamentals. It rewards spacing, punishes greed, and turns Quickstep into the deadliest repositioning tool in the game.
It's not the easiest build to pilot-you don't have passive rot clouds, bleed explosions, or ranged nukes. What you have is far more elegant:
Perfect timing best site to buy elden ring items
Poise-enabled punish windows
Positioning mastery
Crits that erase players instantly
If you want to dismantle DLC gank squads not through gimmicks but pure mechanical execution, this is your build. It's explosive, stylish, brutally fair-and brutally unfair once you land the hit that matters.
