What does Legion do?

Legion is a keyword in Riftbound: the League of Legends trading card game that rewards you for playing more than one card in a turn. The text that follows Legion on a card stays switched off until you have played another card that turn, and from then until the end of the turn it works exactly as written. Legion first appeared in Origins, the first set, and it is the keyword of Darius.

How does Legion work?

The Core Rules call Legion a dependent keyword, which is short for a condition: "if you have played another card this turn, this card gains" the text that follows. Until that is true, the text does nothing: it does not apply, it cannot trigger and it cannot be activated. When the turn ends, the condition is false again, and the next turn starts from zero.

Noxus Hopeful shows the idea at its simplest. It is a unit of the Fury domain with 4 Might that costs 4 Energy, and its Legion text says it costs 2 less. Played as your first card of the turn, it costs the full 4 Energy. Played after Cleave, a Fury spell that costs 1 Energy, it costs 2 Energy. The two cards together then cost 3 Energy, while in the other order they cost 5.

Cleave is only one way to switch on Noxus Hopeful: any other card you play first, such as Hextech Ray, does the same. A single card also switches on every Legion text you have at once, for the rest of the turn.

What counts as playing another card?

Any unit, spell or gear that you play counts, wherever you play it from: your hand, your Champion Zone, your trash, or facedown at a battlefield with Hidden. A card counts as soon as you have finished playing it onto the Chain, even before it resolves. So a spell that your opponent counters, for example with Defy, still switches on your Legion cards, and the Core Rules use exactly this case as their example.

Several things do not count.

• The Legion card itself. Legion asks for another card, so a Legion card can never switch on its own text.
• Your opponents' cards. Only the cards you play count for your Legion texts.
• Hiding a card. Placing a card facedown with Hidden is not playing it. Playing it later from facedown does count.
• Tokens. The Core Rules say that tokens are not cards, so the two Recruit tokens that Vanguard Captain plays do not count.
• Runes and abilities. Runes are channeled rather than played, and using an ability, even the ability of your Legend, is not playing a card.

Legion looks only at the current turn, whoever's turn it is. If you play a card during your opponent's turn, for example a Reaction in a showdown, your Legion texts are on for the rest of that turn as well.

Does the order of your plays matter?

Yes. For most Legion cards, the other card has to come first. A Legion text that works as the card is played, such as a lower cost or a "when you play me" ability, checks the condition at that moment. If the Legion card is your first card of the turn, that text is lost, even if you play five more cards afterwards.

Darius, Executioner is the clearest case. He is a 6 Might champion unit in the Order domain, and his Legion text readies him when you play him. Units enter play exhausted, so played as your first card, he usually has to wait until your next turn to move. Played after any other card, he is ready at once and can move to a battlefield on the same turn, where his second ability gives your other units there +1 Might.

Abilities that you use later are more forgiving than the one on Darius, Executioner, because they only need the other card before you use them. Sun Disc is a Fury gear that you exhaust to make the next unit you play this turn enter ready, once you have played another card. Gear enters play ready, so you can play Sun Disc, then a spell, then exhaust it and play a unit that can move at once. Undying Legion, from Unleashed, works from your trash: once you have played another card in the turn, you may play it from there for 3 Energy and one Fury Power.

How does Darius use Legion?

Darius is the champion built around Legion. His Legend, Hand of Noxus, is Fury and Order, and you can exhaust it to add 1 Energy once you have played a card this turn. Its reminder text says "a card" instead of "another card", because a Legend is never played, so any card you play switches it on. In practice, once you have played your first card of the turn, the Legend gives you 1 Energy toward the next one. The ability also has Reaction, so you can keep the Legend ready and use it during your opponent's turn after you have played a card there.

His signature spell, Noxian Guillotine, costs 4 Energy and one Power. Without Legion, it marks a unit to die the next time it takes damage that turn, so you still have to damage it, for example in combat. With Legion, it kills the unit at once.

His other champion unit, Darius, Trifarian, has no Legion but follows the same idea: when you play your second card in a turn, he gets +2 Might for the turn and readies.

Which other cards have Legion?

Legion is on ten cards: nine from Origins and Undying Legion from Unleashed. Spiritforged and Vendetta add no new card with Legion, and neither does Radiance, the fifth set, with its release on 23 October 2026. All ten are Fury cards, Order cards or both, the two domains of Darius, and most are units that gain a bonus when you play them.

• Trifarian Gloryseeker, a 2 Energy Order unit, buffs itself, which gives it a +1 Might buff if it has none.
• Vanguard Captain, an Order unit with 3 Might, plays two 1 Might Recruit unit tokens where it is.
• Dangerous Duo, a 3 Energy Fury unit, gives a unit +2 Might for the turn.
• Scrapyard Champion, a 5 Might Fury unit, makes you discard 2 cards and then draw 2.

Three cards carry the word in their names without the keyword. Legion Rearguard, Legion Quartermaster and Legion Marauder have no Legion text, so they work the same whatever you played before them.

How do you build a deck around Legion?

A Legion deck needs cheap cards to open each turn. A spell such as Cleave, at 1 Energy, or Hextech Ray, at 1 Energy and one Fury Power, switches on everything else and still does something useful. Plan your Energy for two cards a turn, and keep a cheap card in hand for the turn you want to play Darius, Executioner or Noxus Hopeful.

Think of each Legion card as the second play of your turn. On a turn when you can afford only one card, a card without Legion is usually the better choice. Other cards reward the same habit without the keyword: Battering Ram, a Fury unit from Spiritforged, costs 1 Energy less for each card you have played this turn, down to 1 Energy.

The cards with Legion are among the units, spells and gear on the site, and the Darius page shows his Legend, champion units and signature spell together. Level is another keyword that switches text on only while a condition is true, in its case having enough XP. The full wording of Legion is rule 812 of the Core Rules on Riot's Rules Hub.