What do exhaust and ready mean?

Every card on the board in Riftbound: the League of Legends trading card game is in one of two positions. A ready card stands upright and can still be used this turn. An exhausted card lies sideways, because it has already done something, and it stays that way until an effect or the start of your next turn stands it up again.

The two positions are how the game keeps count of what each card has done. Moving a unit, taking Energy from a rune and using many abilities all exhaust the card, so most cards do each of these things once a turn.

What happens when you exhaust a card?

When you exhaust a card, you turn it 90 degrees so that it lies sideways, and the Core Rules treat it as spent. When you ready a card, you turn it back upright, and it is available again. An exhausted card cannot be exhausted a second time, and readying a unit that is already ready does nothing.

Both positions are public, so every player can see which of your cards have been used. On the cards, the exhaust symbol, a small card turning sideways, stands for "exhaust this" in a cost. Players who know Magic will recognize exhausting as tapping.

Which cards can be exhausted and readied?

Only cards on the board can be exhausted or readied: your units, your gear, your runes and your Legend, along with any tokens you make. A spell is never exhausted, because a spell never reaches the board: it is played, does what it says and goes to the trash. Cards in your hand, your decks and your trash have no position at all, and a card that leaves the board loses its exhausted state.

What do you exhaust cards for?

You exhaust a card most often to pay a cost. Four kinds of cost come up in nearly every game.

• Energy from runes. You exhaust a rune, such as a Calm Rune, to add 1 Energy. You may still recycle an exhausted rune for 1 Power of its domain, so one rune can pay both parts of a cost.
• Moving units. In your Main Phase you exhaust a unit to move it from your base to a battlefield or back again.
• Abilities with the exhaust symbol. Herald of the Arcane, the Legend of Viktor, makes a 1 Might Recruit token when you pay 1 Energy and exhaust it. The gear Iron Ballista deals 2 damage to a unit at a battlefield when you exhaust it.
• Additional costs. Meditation draws you one card, or two if you exhaust a friendly unit as you play it. A unit that is already exhausted cannot pay this cost.

Because an exhausted card cannot be exhausted again, an ability that costs an exhaust can be used once a turn, unless something readies the card in between. A few cards exhaust other cards as an effect: Royal Entourage can exhaust an opposing Legend when you play it, which keeps that Legend from paying an exhaust cost until its owner's next turn.

When do exhausted cards ready again?

Your exhausted cards ready in the Awaken Phase, the first phase of each of your turns, when you ready everything you control. Only the turn player's cards ready then, so a card you exhaust during your turn stays exhausted through your opponent's turn.

Card effects can ready a card at other times. Ride the Wind, an Action spell, moves a friendly unit and readies it, so that unit can move again later in the turn. Dark Child, the Legend of Annie from Proving Grounds, readies up to two runes at the end of your turn, and the battlefield Targon's Peak does the same at the end of a turn in which you conquer it.

A few cards work against readying. Firebrand Raider is a unit from Radiance, the set with its release on 23 October 2026, and while it is on the board, no unit readies in the Awaken Phase. Mageseeker Warden stops spells and abilities from readying enemy units and gear while it stands at a battlefield.

Readying matters most for runes. Unless a card readies them, the runes you leave ready at the end of your turn are the only ones that can give you Energy during your opponent's turn, for example for a Reaction spell such as Meditation, so it often pays to leave one or two unused. Dark Child makes this easier, because the runes it readies are free for your opponent's turn.

Do cards come into play ready or exhausted?

It depends on the kind of card. Units enter play exhausted, unit tokens included, which is why a unit you play usually cannot move until your next turn. Gear enters ready unless the card says otherwise, as Iron Ballista does. Runes you channel come onto the board ready unless an effect says otherwise, so the two runes of your Channel Phase can pay for cards in the same turn.

Several cards let a unit skip the wait.

• Accelerate. A unit with Accelerate, such as Legion Rearguard, enters ready if you pay 1 Energy and 1 Power of its domain extra as you play it.
• Units that say so. Vanguard Attendant and Master Yi, Honed from Proving Grounds both enter ready at no extra cost.
• Ready tokens. Sprite Call makes a 3 Might Sprite token that enters ready, so it can move on the turn it appears.

Can an exhausted unit still fight?

An exhausted unit fights as well as a ready one. In a combat, each side deals damage equal to the total Might of all its units at the battlefield, whether they are exhausted or not. A unit that has just moved in attacks while exhausted, since the move exhausted it, and your exhausted units at a battlefield still defend it.

Being exhausted only stops a unit from moving by itself and from paying any other exhaust cost. Spells and abilities can still move an exhausted unit: Unforgiven, the Legend of Yasuo, moves a friendly unit to or from its base for 2 Energy and an exhaust of the Legend, whether the unit is ready or not.

Exhausted is not the same as stunned. A stunned unit deals no combat damage that turn, ready or exhausted, and it stops being stunned at the end of the turn.

Can being exhausted ever help you?

Some cards reward you for exhausting your own units, and Radiance, the set with its release on 23 October 2026, has several of them. Seraphine, Not Alone has +1 Might for each other exhausted unit you control and makes a 1 Might Recruit token each time she becomes exhausted. Riven, Broken Blade lets you choose an effect each time she becomes exhausted, and one choice spends her buff to ready her, so a buffed Riven can move twice in a turn. Party Crasher costs 1 Energy less for each exhausted unit you control.

The gear page lists every piece of gear, and many of them have an ability that costs an exhaust. The units page lists every unit, and the runes page shows the runes of every domain.

Every standard move costs an exhaust, so a unit moves itself once a turn unless something readies it, which is why how units move decides how quickly your units reach a battlefield. A rune gives Energy by exhausting and Power by recycling, so paying for cards is where the two come together in one cost.