How does combat work?

Combat in Riftbound: the League of Legends trading card game is the fight for a battlefield. It happens when units of two players stand at the same battlefield, which almost always means that one player has moved units onto a battlefield the other one holds. There is no blocking. Every unit at the battlefield takes part, and each side deals damage equal to the total Might of its units there.

What starts a combat?

A combat starts when units of two opponents are at the same battlefield. The usual way is a move in your Main Phase: you exhaust units in your base and move them to a battlefield where enemy units stand. Spells and abilities that move or play units can start a combat as well. The combat begins as soon as your units arrive, so units you want in the same fight should move together.

The player whose units arrived is the attacker, and the other player is the defender. A combat is always between exactly two players, so in a game with three or four players, no one else can move units into a fight that is going on. Combat only takes place at a battlefield, and a base cannot be attacked.

What happens before any damage is dealt?

At the start of a combat, abilities that say "When I attack" or "When I defend" trigger, and the defender's resolve before the attacker's. Leona, Determined stuns an enemy unit at the battlefield when she attacks, so that unit deals no combat damage. Lucian, Gunslinger deals damage equal to his Assault to an enemy unit there when he attacks, so that unit needs less combat damage to die.

Then the showdown runs. The attacker gets the first chance to act, then the defender, and the turns go back and forth until both players pass in a row. Only cards and abilities with Action or Reaction can be used, and units cannot make their normal move. A spell can still make a unit stronger, stun it or move it away, and a unit with Ambush can be played straight into the fight. Discipline gives a unit +2 Might for the turn, and Nidalee, Cat Form has Ambush, so she can join a fight at a battlefield where you have units.

How is combat damage dealt?

When the showdown ends with units of both sides still there, each player adds up the Might of their units at the battlefield. That total is the damage they deal, and they split it among the enemy units as they choose, the attacker first. A unit must be given lethal damage, enough to kill it, before any damage goes to the next one, so you cannot spread small amounts over several units.

All the damage is then dealt at the same time, so every unit hits back, even one that is about to die. A unit dies when the damage on it is equal to or more than its Might. Damage does not lower Might, so a damaged unit still deals its full Might. An exhausted unit fights like a ready one. A stunned unit deals no damage, but it still takes damage equal to its full Might to kill.

What does a whole combat look like?

Say you move Jinx, Demolitionist and Chemtech Enforcer to a battlefield your opponent holds with Sunlit Guardian and Stalwart Poro. Jinx, Demolitionist has 4 Might and Assault 2, so she fights with 6 as an attacker, and the Enforcer fights with 4. Shield gives each defender +1 Might, so the Guardian fights with 4 and the Poro with 3.

Your side deals 10 damage. The Guardian has Tank, so it must be given lethal damage first: 4 go to the Guardian and 3 to the Poro, which kills both, and the last 3 have nothing left to hit. Your opponent deals 7, enough to kill either of your units but not both. One of your units survives and no defender does, so you conquer the battlefield.

Now suppose your opponent plays Rune Prison on Jinx, Demolitionist during the showdown. She is stunned, so your side deals only the Enforcer's 4. Because of Tank, those 4 must go to the Guardian, which dies, but the Poro survives. The battlefield stays with your opponent, and whichever of your units survives goes back to your base. One spell in the showdown has changed the result.

Who wins the fight, and what happens to the battlefield?

After the damage, the dead units go to the trash and every unit heals, so damage never carries over to the next combat. The battlefield then goes one of three ways.

• Only attackers are left. The attacker wins the combat and takes control of the battlefield. If the attacker has not yet scored that battlefield this turn, that is a conquer, worth one point.
• Defenders are left. Any surviving attackers go back to their base, and the defender keeps the battlefield. The defender scores nothing at that moment, but can score the battlefield by holding it at the start of their next turn.
• Nobody is left. The battlefield is then controlled by no one.

A player wins a combat only when their units are the only ones left, so a defender who sends surviving attackers home keeps the battlefield without winning the combat. That matters for Nidalee, Cat Form, who draws a card when she wins a combat, and for Glorious Executioner, the Legend of Draven, which draws one for every combat you win. Near the end of a game, the final point rule can turn the point for a conquer into a card draw.

Which keywords change a fight?

Most combat keywords change either the Might a unit fights with or the order in which it takes damage.

• Assault and Shield add Might, Assault while the unit attacks and Shield while it defends. The extra Might counts for the damage the unit deals and for the damage it takes to die.
• Tank makes a unit take lethal damage before its controller's units without Tank. Taric, Protector has Tank and gives the other friendly units at his battlefield Shield.
• Backline works the other way round: the unit takes lethal damage only after its controller's units without Backline, as on LeBlanc, Everywhere at Once.
• Disarm comes with Radiance, the fifth set, with its release on 23 October 2026. When a unit with Disarm attacks, an enemy unit there gets 1 less Might for the turn, as on Trinket Peddler. A number after the keyword makes the cut bigger, so Disarm 2 takes away 2 Might.

How do you win more fights?

Count before you move, with Assault on your attackers and Shield on the defenders, and remember that your opponent's ready runes and cards in hand can still change the numbers. Use abilities without Action before you move, because they cannot be used once the showdown has begun. Keep a card with Action or Reaction for the fights that matter, and ask whether you can keep what you take, since a battlefield you hold at the start of your next turn scores again.

The units page lists every unit with its Might and keywords, and the spells page lists the Action and Reaction spells that decide showdowns. Damage from a spell or an ability heals after the next combat anywhere on the board and at the end of the turn, so a spell that weakens a defender helps most when you play it just before the fight it is meant for.