Countering Blade Vortex Executioner combo

Player Guide: Countering the Blade Vortex and Executioner Combo

The Blade Vortex and Executioner combo is currently dominating the meta in Infinity Kingdom, achieving insane damage numbers and quickly nuking down anything in its path. However, this combo has a key weakness: it relies heavily on negative effects in the form of DoTs (damage over time) plus damage amplification debuffs. This gives us a few tools to counter this devastating combo effectively. Here are some ideas and concepts to counter the Blade Vortex and Executioner meta.

Key Counters

Most of these “how to counter” guides will give you an explanation of how to render something obsolete. This however is not the case, while Athena does render this combo obsolete, she is not available for everyone and therefore most players should expect to take significant damage from the combo. However, that does not mean you must have Athena to counter. There are many more ways to get advantages against an enemy Blade Vortex + Execution combo.

1. Theodora

Theodora is a powerful Holy Immortal healer who has been a staple in sustain Holy teams for years. Her unique ability to heal is rivaled only by her capacity to dispel damage over time effects, making her an excellent counter to Blade Vortex and the DoTs that activate Executioner.

• Healing and Dispel: Theodora’s healing ability, combined with her capacity to remove DoTs, makes her an effective tool against this combo. By consistently dispelling these negative effects, she mitigates a significant portion of the damage output from Blade Vortex and Executioner.

2. Purification

Purification is a top-tier Tower of Knowledge skill that can activate on any Immortal, giving you a 25% chance to clear debuffs from each Immortal every cycle. While Purification alone may not be strong enough to hard counter the combo, it can still dampen the ramp-up damage from Blade Vortex and Executioner.

• Debuff Removal: By regularly dispelling some of the DoTs, Purification can reduce the overall damage your team receives. This makes it a useful skill to include in your strategy, especially when combined with other countermeasures.

3. Athena

Athena is an absolute beast of an S-tier Immortal and the true hard counter to the Blade Vortex and Executioner combo. Her ability to remove all negative effects from all allies consistently makes her the best counter against this combo.

• Comprehensive Cleanse: Athena’s ultimate ability to cleanse all negative effects from her team makes her incredibly powerful against debuff-reliant strategies like Blade Vortex and Executioner. However, Athena is a Chaos Immortal, meaning she is more challenging to obtain and upgrade.

Effective Strategies

For most players, having access to Athena may not be feasible. Here’s a strategy that combines Purification and Theodora to effectively counter the Blade Vortex and Executioner combo:

Combination of Theodora and Purification

• Theodora + Adrenaline Rush: Using Adrenaline Rush to activate Theodora’s ultimate ability more frequently ensures that her healing and dispel capabilities are maximized. This combination helps to mitigate a significant portion of the damage from Blade Vortex and Executioner.

• Purification: Including Purification in your setup adds an additional layer of debuff removal, further reducing the impact of the DoTs and damage amplification debuffs from the combo.

Conclusion

In practice, you will still receive significant damage from the Blade Vortex and Executioner combo, but by mitigating it effectively with Theodora and Purification, your own physical damage dealers, such as Bathory or Alexander, can ramp up and overtake the opponent’s damage output, ultimately winning the fight.

By using these strategies and counters, you can effectively manage and counter the current Blade Vortex and Executioner meta, ensuring your team remains competitive and resilient in battles.

Published: 21-05-2024