Executor Counters
With the advent of Rogue One and the B-Wing, our old reliable P1 Executor is no longer a strong defensive play. Seriously, don't put this on defense.
Note: There are two effective variants of this fleet which you may encounter on defense. Each has different counters without much overlap. The deciding factor for which counter to use is whether or not HT is in the starting lineup.
Executor: 3x Attacker Variant (HT is NOT in the starting lineup)
While this is generally considered the strongest offensive variant of the Executor (some would call it the most offensive variant), it is definitely the weakest defensive variant. So weak, in fact, that Home One can beat it now! Because of the B-Wing. Hot damn the B-wing is the shit.
How to Counter this Fleet:
Profundity
The Profundity is hands down the most effective counter to both Executor variants. FYI the xwing in my reinforcements is Wedge. Do NOT bring Biggs on this fight. You want him with Home One.
Vs. the 3x attacker variant, open with the third ability, which will remove stealth from XB and mark it. Kill XB ASAP and then bring in Rogue One. Your second target should be P1. IF HT comes out, don’t worry - you have many tools for removing debuffs from yourself and buffs from them, and you should be getting your Tantive IV in short order, regardless. Once the tantive comes out, it’s a cake walk.
Home One vs. the 3x Attacker Variant: The Gerbil did a fantastic video breaking down the strategy, but I’ll give you the Cliff’s Notes version here:
Home One / Cassian / Raven’s Claw / Ghost. Reinforce with B-Wing. You can bring Biggs if you really feel like you need another ship, but the initial four should effectively end the combat.
At the top of combat, you get the bonus turn for Home One where you reinforce with the B-Wing.
B-Wing BASIC attack the Razor Crest (I guess I could have just written “10 ATTACK”). Hope this adds target lock to the target, but if it doesn’t, that’s okay.
Home One Ultimate.
Your next attacks are: ghost: call b-wing to assist twice; cassian: call b-wing to assist twice; raven’s claw: if you have foresight, which you should, basic. if you don’t have foresight, use the AoE.
This should give you enough juice to get a 2nd home one ultimate on home one’s next turn, back to back.
Kill order is RC > XB > P1 (though sometimes P1 will die before XB and that’s fine).
Executrix
Note: This is less reliable than the Home One B-Wing counter.
Because you’re using scythe, you’re going to start with three TIE fighters in play. They will always attack your middle TIE with their mass attack to open, which can go a number of ways. Assuming they kill the TIE fighter, you can summon Defender on Trixie’s turn, stun P1, and you’re off to the races. If they do NOT kill any of your ships in their opening barrage, you need to basic P1 with Trixie, and hope they kill a TIE in their next set of attacks. If they still don’t, you want to use Scythe to apply fear to P1 before P1 takes a turn. Keep focusing on P1 and hopefully you kill it or one of your TIEs dies in time for Defender to come in and either land the stun or clean up P1.
BitDynasty breaks down how to make this counter work, including all of that weirdness with RNG and your TIE fighters at the start (note that he’s using a larger fleet than I recommend and he’s fighting 5 and 6 star P1s because this is an old video from fleet arena, and not GAC, but the counter can still work):
Executor: HT Variant (HT IS in the starting lineup)
You can see from the name of this fleet, this is actually what I use to beat Home One when that’s on defense. Why? Because this fleet kicks Home One’s ass. Do NOT use Home One to counter this variant.
Profundity
The Profundity is hands down the most effective counter to both Executor variants. FYI the xwing in my reinforcements is Wedge. Do NOT bring Biggs on this fight. You want him with Home One. Yes, this is the exact same fleet and description for the 3x variant.
Vs. the HT variant, you want to open by targeting the P1 and inflict as much damage on it as possible. Prof should use its 2nd ability first, calling Outrider to attack P1. Then reinforce with Rogue One and you’re in business. With Profundity, this is just as easy as the 3x attacker fight.
Executor Mirror Match:
If you want to do the mirror match, use the 3x attacker variant. This will allow you to bum rush their P1, giving you a sizable advantage.
Endurance
The Endurance lives up to its name in this fight. It’s a tricky counter which requires precise play and at least R5 on most pilots (Ebon Hawk’s pilots can be G12). It’s complicated enough that I suggest watching this video by the man, the myth, the legend… BitDynasty (and sub to his channel while you’re there):
Executrix:
This is a kind of wild counter that I first learned about from Vexitron (video below). Because so many of us have Plo at R8 for GLs, his ship becomes very fast and very tanky, able to soak the entire opening salvo of the Executor fleet after giving himself taunt and crit immunity. On top of that, strategic use of TIE/In and TIE Defender as reinforcements allows for enemy buff control, letting you nuke down HT and other members of the fleet in rapid succession. This is NOT a high banner counter, but it is a good emergency option. And before you ask, yes, I like this counter to the HT variant more than the traditional Trixie fleet without Plo.