What do Hunt and Ambush do?

Hunt and Ambush are two keywords printed on units in Riftbound: the League of Legends trading card game. Both arrived with Unleashed, the third set, with its English release on 8 May 2026, together with XP, the resource that Hunt earns. Hunt rewards a unit for taking and keeping battlefields. Ambush changes when and where a unit can be played, so it can turn up in the middle of a fight.

The two keywords are separate rules, and no card has both, not even in Radiance, the fifth set, with its release on 23 October 2026. In its overview of Unleashed, Riot presented Ambush as the way a jungler strikes from hiding at exactly the right moment, a picture every League of Legends player will recognize.

What does Hunt do?

Hunt gives you XP when the unit conquers or holds a battlefield. The number after the keyword says how much: Hunt 2 gives you 2 XP, and Hunt with no number gives you 1. Rule 823 of the Core Rules makes it one triggered ability that counts both as a conquer effect and as a hold effect.

Voracious Gromp is a 5 Might unit with Hunt 3 and no other text. Mosstomper, the card Riot used to present the keyword, has Hunt 2 and gains +1 Might and Deflect once you have 3 XP. The XP goes to you, not to the unit, as the article on XP and Level explains.

When does a unit with Hunt give you XP?

A unit with Hunt gives you XP when it stands at the battlefield at the moment you conquer it or hold it. Conquering usually happens in your Main Phase, when your units move in and take the battlefield. Holding happens in your Beginning Phase, when you score the battlefields that are still yours.

A unit that is not there earns nothing, whether it waits in your base or died in the fight. Winning a fight on defense gives no XP either, because keeping a battlefield you already control is not a conquer. That battlefield pays out when you hold it at the start of your next turn.

Each unit with Hunt at the battlefield triggers on its own, so Voracious Gromp and Mosstomper conquering together give you 5 XP. Each player scores each battlefield only once per turn, but a unit can earn from two battlefields in one turn. Master Yi, Tempered has Hunt 2, and with 6 XP or more he also has Ganking. He can hold one battlefield at the start of your turn for 2 XP, then move straight to the other one and conquer it for 2 more.

The final point rule does not stop Hunt. A conquer that gives you a card instead of the winning point is still a conquer, so Hunt still gives you the XP (rule 383.4.c.2.c).

What does Ambush do?

Ambush lets you play a unit as a Reaction to a battlefield where you already have units. Rule 822 of the Core Rules splits it into two permissions: the unit may be played to a battlefield where you have units, and it has Reaction while it is played there.

Without Ambush, a unit can be played only in your own Main Phase while nothing else is going on, and only to your base or a battlefield you control. With Ambush, it can also be played to a battlefield where you have units during a showdown or a combat on either player's turn, or in answer to a spell or ability on the Chain. It can even go to a battlefield you do not control yet, as long as your units are there, which is the case while you attack it.

A unit goes onto the board as soon as it is played, so your opponent cannot answer the unit itself, only the abilities it sets off. If it lands in a combat, it becomes an attacker or a defender for its side at once. It enters exhausted like every unit, which does not keep it out of the fight.

Inferna, the card Riot used to present Ambush, costs 2 Energy and has 1 Might and Assault 2. Played into one of your attacks, she fights with 3 Might, and your opponent sees her only once the fight has begun.

When is the best moment to play a unit with Ambush?

The best moment is usually the showdown of a combat, after your opponent has committed to the fight. When you attack, Inferna lands as a 3 Might attacker, and Lord Broadmane gives your other units there Assault for the turn as he arrives. Vi, Peacekeeper becomes an attacker as she lands, so her attack ability stuns an enemy unit there, and a stunned unit deals no combat damage this turn.

When your opponent attacks you, Ambush is a defense. Chakram Dancer gives your other units there Shield for the turn. Poppy, Defender of the Meek has Tank, so the attacker must assign lethal damage to her before your units without Tank. Vilemaw, an 8 Might unit for 8 Energy, stops every enemy unit there with less Might than it from dealing combat damage.

Ambush works outside fights as well. If your opponent plays a spell to kill your only unit at a battlefield, you can answer by playing a unit with Ambush there. It arrives before the spell resolves, so the battlefield stays yours. Every unit you play on your opponent's turn is paid for with the runes you left ready, as the article on Action and Reaction explains.

What can a unit with Ambush not do?

A unit with Ambush cannot be played as a Reaction to an empty battlefield or to one where only enemy units stand. Played to your base, it is an ordinary unit with the ordinary timing. Ambush does not lower the cost, and on your opponent's turn it still needs a moment to act: your Focus in a showdown, or a spell or ability on the Chain to answer.

A few cards stretch these limits. Rengar, Trophy Hunter can Ambush to a battlefield with enemy units even if you have none there, so on your own turn he can be played straight onto a battlefield your opponent controls, and a combat starts as if he had moved in. Stalking Wolf asks you to kill one of your Birds, Cats, Dogs or Poros as an extra cost and may Ambush to that unit's battlefield. Evelynn, Consuming, from Radiance, deals with the exhaustion instead: she is readied and gets +1 Might for the turn whenever you play a card from face down, which is how Hidden cards are played.

Which cards have Hunt or Ambush?

Both keywords appear only on units. Twelve units of Unleashed have Hunt, half of them Body cards, and neither Vendetta nor Radiance added another. Twelve units of Unleashed have Ambush, spread over all six domains. Vendetta brought it back on Morgana, Vindictive and Soulspinner, and Radiance has Evelynn, Consuming. Ambush also sits on champion units such as Nidalee, Cat Form, and Poppy, Defender of the Meek ties the two systems together: she costs 3 Energy less if you spend 3 XP as you play her.

How should you play Hunt and Ambush?

Hunt belongs in a deck that takes battlefields and keeps them, with Level cards to switch on. A unit with Hunt that conquers on your turn and holds on the next pays you twice, so send it where it is likely to survive. Wuju Master, the Legend of Master Yi, is Calm and Body, the domains of nine of the twelve units with Hunt.

Ambush rewards patience. Keep runes ready at the end of your turn while you hold a unit with Ambush, and your opponent has to wonder whether an attack will meet an extra unit. At a tournament, the official Tournament Rules ask you to track your XP where every player can see it (rule 415.4) and to announce each Hunt trigger before the game moves on, because a trigger you skip is forgotten and never goes on the Chain (rules 506.3 and 506.4).

Every unit is on the units page, and a search of the card list for Hunt or Ambush shows every card with the keyword. Because Hunt pays out at the same two moments that score points, how conquering and holding differ decides when your XP arrives. The full wording of both keywords is in rules 822 and 823 of the Core Rules on Riot's Rules Hub.