The Ashwinder and Poacher factions in Hogwarts Legacy have a lot in common, including a strong desire to hunt down, capture, or kill the player's character. They also share some enemy types, including the Executioner. The Ashwinder Executioner and the Poacher Executioner are identical in almost every single way, and both can be a challenge to take down for a few reasons. These large enemies have a lot of HP, don't take a ton of damage, and resist many of the player's usual tricks.
Because they are so similar, the focus here will be on how to beat Ashwinder Executioners, but Hogwarts Legacy players should make note that all of these tips and tricks apply to the Poacher Executioner as well. The only differences between the two enemies are appearance and the element of their area of effect attack.
What Are Ashwinder and Poacher Executioners?
The Wizard Field Guide gives a lot of information about how to defeat Executioners but doesn't explain in great detail what their role within the Ashwinder and Poacher organizations are. That said, it doesn't take much to infer what the job of these so-called executioners might be.
These enemies are big and burly, much taller than most other human enemies, and are capable of unleashing columns of fire or bolts of lightning to execute their foes. Ashwinder Executioners can be identified by their suspenders and bandana around their face. Poacher Executioners are a bit harder to identify, but they also wear suspenders and are much larger than other enemies.
Executioner Defenses
Notably, Executioner enemies don't have shields, but this doesn't make them pushovers. On the contrary, they actually have a natural immunity to many of the player's spells due to their sheer size. For example, Control spells like Glacius and Levioso have little or reduced effect on Executioners. Likewise, Force Spells simply push or pull the Executioner a few feet rather than their normal effects. Executioners also seem to have high natural defenses, as they take reduced damage from spells unless stunned.
While Hogwarts Legacy players can use Ancient Magic or Petrificus Totalus on Executioners, it won't result in an instant kill. These techniques will still do a lot of damage to these enemies and can help to whittle down their sizable HP pool, but should not be entirely relied upon.
Executioner Attacks
Executioners have only two attacks: Ashwinders have Expulso and a lightning bolt attack, while Poachers have Confringo and a fire pillar attack. Expulso and Confringo are blockable, so Hogwarts Legacy players should use Protego to avoid damage here or even reflect the spell back at the Executioner. The other attack is much deadlier if left unchecked. The Executioner will start to charge up for a while, and the ground beneath the player will react.
Once fully charged, Ashwinder Executioners will drop a bolt of lightning, and Poacher Executioners will summon a pillar of flame at the player. This spell can damage the Executioner's allies as well as the player.
Executioner Weaknesses
Executioners have one major weakness that can actually make them beneficial to have present in a fight with lots of enemies. If players hit the executioner with Expelliarmus while they are charging their lightning or fire attack, the attack will instead strike the Executioner and any nearby enemies.
Alternatively, if the player waits for the Executioner to finish charging and start the spell, using Arresto Momentum will cause the lightning or fire to stay for much longer, giving players the chance to pull or push enemies into the attack and deal massive damage.
Hogwarts Legacy is available now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. PS4 and Xbox One ports are scheduled to release on April 4; the Nintendo Switch version is arriving on July 25, 2023.