Effect: 1% chance to instantly Execute an enemy on hit. Each Execute permanently increases Damage by 1% for the rest of the run.
Unlock: Kill 10,000 enemies using the Dexecutioner
Joe's Dagger is a Legendary item with two effects that feed into each other. First, each hit has a 1% chance to Execute a regular enemy - instantly killing it regardless of its HP. Against bosses and red ghosts, Execute instead deals 2% of their Max HP as damage rather than an instant kill. Second, every time an Execute triggers, your Damage stat increases by +1% for the rest of the run.
That +1% stacks permanently with no cap. In a long Tier 3 run against thousands of enemies, a single Joe's Dagger can accumulate hundreds of percent in bonus damage purely from the Execute procs. The item rewards time spent in enemy-dense situations - the longer the run and the more enemies you face, the higher the Damage total climbs.
One important mechanic: the +1% Damage bonus also triggers on Executes from the Dexecutioner weapon and from Ninja's passive. If you have Joe's Dagger in your inventory, every Execute from any source counts toward the stack.
| Property | Details |
|---|---|
| Base Execute chance | 1% per hit (does not increase with more copies) |
| Damage per Execute | +1% per copy of Joe's Dagger held |
| Execute cap | Maximum 200 Executes per minute |
| Boss interaction | Deals 2% of boss Max HP. No +1% Damage bonus on boss executes. |
| Dexecutioner synergy | Dexecutioner and Ninja passive Executes also trigger the +1% Damage stack |
| Damage bonus type | Additive with most damage items. Multiplicative with Gym Sauce, Idle Juice, Brass Knuckles, Speed Boi. |
Stacking multiple Joe's Daggers does not increase Execute chance - it stays at 1% regardless of how many copies you have. What stacking does is increase the Damage bonus per Execute. With one dagger each proc gives +1%. With two daggers each proc gives +2%. The rate cap of 200 Executes per minute applies across all copies combined.
The wiki specifies exactly how Joe's Dagger's Damage bonus interacts with other items. Items like Gym Sauce and Idle Juice multiply your Joe's Dagger stacks rather than adding to the same pool. In practice this means pairing Joe's Dagger with even a small amount of Gym Sauce produces much higher final damage than either item alone, because the multiplier applies on top of everything the dagger has accumulated.
| Step | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Step 1 | Unlock the Dexecutioner by reaching 12,500 total Sword kills across all runs |
| Step 2 | Kill 10,000 enemies using the Dexecutioner |
| Step 3 | Purchase Joe's Dagger from Main Menu - Unlocks - Items with Silver |
The Dexecutioner unlock requires cumulative Sword kills across all your runs - not in a single run. Once you have the Dexecutioner, equip it and grind 10,000 kills. Tier 1 and Tier 2 maps with high enemy density are the fastest approach. The Dexecutioner itself has an Execute mechanic that helps clear enemies quickly, making the grind faster than it sounds.
Use CL4NK or Bandit with the Dexecutioner on Tier 2 Forest for the fastest kill accumulation. Both characters have passives that increase attack speed and hit frequency, which both generates Dexecutioner kills faster and makes runs longer by keeping survivability high. High-density stages like Desert Tier 2 are also efficient since enemy count per minute is higher.
CL4NK - CL4NK's +1% Crit Chance per level passive directly multiplies Joe's Dagger damage stacks. The wiki confirms all Crit Chance and Crit Damage bonuses are multiplicative with the Execute damage gain. At high crit rates, every Execute proc's +1% Damage is then multiplied again by the crit multiplier.
Ninja - Ninja's passive includes an Execute mechanic that triggers the Joe's Dagger +1% Damage bonus directly. This is confirmed on the wiki. Every Ninja passive Execute contributes to the damage stack even without needing the 1% hit proc, making Ninja one of the most efficient characters for building the Execute count quickly.
Bandit - Bandit's high attack speed passive generates more hits per second than most characters, which means more 1% Execute rolls per second. In enemy-dense situations Bandit accumulates Joe's Dagger stacks faster than almost any other character.
Joe's Dagger gives each hit a 1% chance to Execute an enemy, instantly killing regular enemies and dealing 2% Max HP to bosses. Every Execute permanently increases your Damage by +1% for the rest of the run. Executes from the Dexecutioner and Ninja's passive also trigger the +1% Damage bonus. The maximum rate is 200 Executes per minute.
First unlock the Dexecutioner by reaching 12,500 cumulative Sword kills. Then kill 10,000 enemies using the Dexecutioner. After both conditions are met, purchase Joe's Dagger from Main Menu - Unlocks - Items with Silver.
Extra copies of Joe's Dagger increase the Damage bonus per Execute rather than the Execute chance. One dagger gives +1% Damage per Execute. Two daggers give +2% per Execute. The 1% Execute chance stays the same regardless of how many copies you hold. All copies share a combined cap of 200 Executes per minute.
Not as an instant kill. Against bosses and red ghosts, Execute deals 2% of their Max HP as damage instead of killing them outright. The +1% Damage bonus also does not trigger on boss Executes - only regular enemy Executes give the permanent damage stack.
Yes. The wiki confirms that Executes from the Dexecutioner and from Ninja's passive both trigger Joe's Dagger's +1% Damage bonus. Any Execute from any source counts toward the stack as long as you have Joe's Dagger in your inventory.
