Riftbound combat and showdowns explained

Combat in Riftbound is the part that looks familiar and behaves differently. It is not a duel between two cards. Two things make it its own thing: Might is summed across every unit at the battlefield, and surviving attackers get sent home.

How a fight starts

You move a unit to a battlefield where the other player has units. That applies Contested status, and a showdown opens (rules 187.3.a and 344).

The player whose unit moved in is the attacker. The other player is the defender (rule 459.2.b). Every unit each player has at that battlefield picks up the matching designation, including ones that were already sitting there.

You cannot start a fight by playing a unit onto contested ground. Units can only be played to your base or a battlefield you already control (rule 355.2.a). Fights are started by moving.

The showdown window

Before any damage, both sides get a chance to act. This is where Action and Reaction cards are used: combat tricks, removal, a unit pulled out of the fight, a temporary Might boost.

The attacker acts first (rule 459.2.c). When both sides pass without doing anything, the showdown closes and damage happens (rule 348).

This window is most of the skill in Riftbound combat. The Might totals you can see are not necessarily the totals that will resolve.

The damage step

This is the part to get exactly right (rule 460.2):

1. Sum the Might of all attacking units.
2. Sum the Might of all defending units.
3. Each side assigns that total among the other side's units.
4. All the damage is dealt simultaneously.

So two 2-Might units attacking into one 3-Might unit is 4 against 3. The defender dies, and 3 damage comes back to be shared among the attackers, which kills one of the 2-Might units.

There is no first strike and no attacker advantage. Trades are genuinely mutual.

The assignment rules

You do not get to spread damage however you like (rule 460.2.c):

• Lethal first. You must assign enough damage to kill a unit before assigning any to the next one. Five damage against four 3-Might units cannot be 2/1/1/1. It has to be 3 to one, then 2 to another.
• No overkill. You cannot dump more than lethal onto a unit while others remain untouched.
• Tank goes first. A unit with Tank must be assigned combat damage before anything else (rule 815).

These rules mean a wall of small units is genuinely harder to clear than one big one of the same total Might, because you have to pay full price for each body.

Might is current Might

The sums use Might at the moment damage resolves, not printed Might. That includes:

• Assault X: +X while attacking (rule 807)
• Shield X: +X while defending (rule 814)
• buffs, and anything given "this turn" during the showdown window
• Stun: a stunned unit contributes nothing to the damage step, but still needs its full Might in damage to die (rules 423.1.b and 423.1.c)

Assault and Shield only apply in their one direction. A unit with Assault 2 gets nothing for defending.

The cleanup, which is where people get caught

After damage, three things happen (rule 461.1.a):

1. Every surviving unit is healed. All damage clears immediately.
2. If any defender is still standing, surviving attackers are recalled to base.
3. Attacker and defender designations are removed.

Read the second one again. If you attack a battlefield and fail to clear it, your surviving units do not stay there. They go back to your base, exhausted, having achieved nothing except losing whatever died.

This is the single most expensive mistake available in Riftbound. An attack that does not clear the ground is worse than no attack at all, because you have spent your units' readiness and given up nothing on their side.

The healing matters too: you cannot soften a big unit this turn and finish it next turn. Damage that does not kill might as well not have been dealt.

Working out control afterwards

Once the fight resolves, whoever is the only player with units left there establishes control (rule 461.5). If that player has not already scored that battlefield this turn, it is a Conquer and they score immediately (rule 461.5.d).

If both sides still have units there, nobody takes control, the battlefield stays contested, and another combat is staged. If nobody has units there, it becomes uncontrolled.

A worked example

You have a 2-Might Poro on a battlefield you hold. They move in a 3-Might unit with Assault 2.

• Attacker total: 3 + 2 (Assault) = 5
• Defender total: 2

Your Poro takes 5 and dies. Their unit takes 2 and lives. They are the only player left there, so they take the battlefield and score.

Now the same board, except you also moved a 3-Might unit in before their turn:

• Attacker: 5
• Defender: 2 + 3 = 5

They assign 5 to your units: 3 to kill the 3-Might one, 2 to kill the Poro. Both die. You assign 5 to their one unit, which needs 3 to kill and dies.

Everyone dies, nobody is left, the battlefield becomes uncontrolled and nobody scores. That is often a fine result if you were the one about to lose ground.

The habit worth building

Before moving a unit into a fight, do this in order:

1. Add up your Might at that battlefield, including Assault if you are attacking.
2. Add up theirs, including Shield if they are defending.
3. Ask what happens if they have a trick. Do they have runes ready and cards in hand?
4. Ask what you gain if you win, and what you lose if you only half-win. Remember the recall.

Practising it

Two sections of the Trainer are about fighting: showdowns and how they open, and the combat damage step including assignment. There are tests where you have to count the Might yourself and decide whether the attack is worth making, which is the actual skill.

Free, no account needed.