Riftbound Rules Step by Step

At first glance Riftbound looks complicated: legend, main deck, rune deck, battlefields, Might, Conquer, Hold. The core idea of the game, though, takes just a few minutes to understand. This article walks you through the rules step by step so you can actually play your first match with it: how to build a deck, what a turn looks like, how you win and what beginners forget most often. It’s based on the official Riot Games Core Rules (December 2025 version) and on the Tournament Rules for the additional sideboard rules.

What you need on the table

A match needs at least two players (1v1), optionally four (2v2 in teams, or more players in a free-for-all). Each player has:

• Champion Legend: a single card that sets your champion and the domains (colors) you have access to.
• Main Deck: your main deck of at least 40 cards, including your Chosen Champion, other units, spells and gear.
• Rune Deck: a separate deck of exactly 12 runes, kept apart from the main deck.
• Battlefields: three battlefield cards of your own that you bring into the game; how many of them end up being used depends on the game mode (see the table below).

What exactly to buy to put all of this together is covered in the article how to get started with Riftbound.

Deckbuilding

According to the official Core Rules, these numbers apply:

• Main Deck: at least 40 cards, counting your Chosen Champion. In casual (non-tournament) play you may go above 40, but in practice people play exactly 40: fewer cards keep the deck simpler and faster, while more cards just dilute it.
• Max. 3 copies of a card with the same name in the main deck, including your Chosen Champion. Cards featuring the same character but with a different full name (e.g. “Yasuo, Remorseful” and “Yasuo, Windrider”) count separately, so you may again have up to 3 copies of each.
• Signature cards with the same tag as your legend are limited to max. 3 in total in your deck, no matter how many differently named ones there are.
• Rune Deck: exactly 12 cards, which must match your legend’s domains. If you have two domains, the recommended ratio is 6:6.
• Battlefields: 3 unique cards (no two with the same name) that you bring into the game when building your deck. The game mode determines which of them are used in a given match.

The exact rules for the sideboard (exactly 0 or 8 cards, only cards legal for the main deck, copy limits counted across main deck and sideboard combined) apply to tournament formats under the Tournament Rules. You don’t need one for casual games with friends. Deckbuilding and the individual card types are covered in depth in the article cards, mechanics and deckbuilding in Riftbound.

How you win

The goal of the game is to collect points up to the target score set by the game mode:

Mode	Players	Target score	Battlefields in play
1v1	2	8 points	2 (each player contributes 1 of their 3)
FFA (free-for-all)	3–4	8 points	3
2v2 (teams)	4	11 points	3

Whoever reaches the target score first wins immediately. You earn points by controlling battlefields, the contested locations the game is fought over.

What a turn looks like

The active player’s turn (Turn Player) follows a fixed sequence of phases, but within them you have plenty of freedom over what you play and when:

1. Awaken Phase: exhausted cards you control return to the ready state.
2. Beginning Phase: first, any effects tied to the start of the turn trigger, then Hold is resolved: if you still hold a battlefield you already controlled at the start of this step, you score a point for it.
3. Channel Phase: you take (channel) 2 new runes from the top of your rune deck onto the board. If fewer than 2 remain in the rune deck, you take as many as you can.
4. Draw Phase: you draw 1 card from your main deck. If there are none left in the main deck, that’s a so-called Burn Out (more below), but you still try to draw the card again once the deck has been replenished.
5. Action Phase: this is where most of the game happens. You freely move units between battlefields, play cards and activate abilities until you have nothing else you want to do. If your units meet an opponent’s units on the same battlefield, Combat starts (see below).
6. End of Turn Phase: end-of-turn effects resolve, all units heal, temporary “this turn” effects expire and unused runes in your rune pool (see below) are lost. The next player takes their turn.

The runes you take in the Channel Phase are your resource for playing cards during the turn, and if you don’t spend them by the end of your turn, they’re lost. That’s why runes can’t be stockpiled indefinitely: whatever you don’t use this turn, you won’t have next turn.

Combat: how the fight for a battlefield works

Combat always happens when units of two opposing players end up on the same battlefield. A fight has three steps:

1. Showdown Step: the attacker (the player whose unit arrived at the battlefield last and thereby contested it) and the defender are determined. At this point, players have a last chance to play cards or activate abilities with the Action or Reaction keyword before damage is calculated.
2. Combat Damage Step: the Might (combat strength) of all attacking units is added up, and separately that of all defending units. The attacker and the defender then each assign damage equal to their Might total among the opponent’s units. A unit has to receive full lethal damage (equal to its Might) before damage can be assigned to the next unit. The damage is then dealt to all units at once.
3. Resolution Step: units that didn’t survive the fight leave the battlefield. Units heal, and attackers return (Recall) to their Base if defenders are still standing on the battlefield. If only one player’s units remain on the battlefield after the fight, that player takes control of it.

A key detail for beginners: if an attack on a battlefield fails (the defender still has a unit there after the fight), the attacking units return to your base instead of getting stuck in place. So what you mainly risk is the units lost in the fight, not your position on the map.

How you score points: Conquer and Hold

You score a battlefield in one of two ways, and at most once per battlefield per turn:

• Conquer: you gain control of a battlefield you haven’t scored yet this turn. This typically happens after winning a fight.
• Hold: at the start of your Beginning Phase you still hold a battlefield you already controlled before. You don’t have to fight for it again, you just have to keep it.

The final winning point comes with a special condition: if you’re exactly one point short of the target score, you can always earn it with Hold, but with Conquer only if you scored every single battlefield available to you in that same turn. If you don’t meet this condition, you draw an extra card instead of taking the final point. These rules prevent the game from ending “by accident” with one quick raid.

Burn Out: what happens when you run out of cards

If you have to draw a card and your main deck is empty, a so-called Burn Out happens: you shuffle your trash back into your main deck, your opponent gains 1 point for it, and only then do you draw the card. An empty main deck doesn’t mean you lose; you just pay your opponent a point every time it happens. If your trash is empty too, Burn Out can repeat.

The most common beginner mistakes

• Forgetting that runes expire. Runes from the Channel Phase that you don’t use by the end of your turn are lost, so there’s no point saving them for later.
• Expecting a lost attack to leave the unit “in place”. A failed attack sends your units back to base rather than leaving them stuck there. What you lose is mainly their strength for the next fight, not your position.
• Trying to finish the game with Conquer on the last point without having all battlefields. Without scoring every battlefield this turn, you only get an extra card instead of the winning point. For the last point, it’s safer to have a battlefield you simply hold (Hold).
• Mixing up the main deck and the rune deck. They’re two separate decks with their own rules (40+ cards vs. exactly 12), and cards never cross back between them: a recycled rune always goes to the rune deck, and a recycled main deck card always goes to the main deck.
• Not knowing that Combat can happen without their direct decision. A fight starts automatically whenever units of two opposing players meet on a battlefield; you don’t have to declare it as a separate action.

FAQ

Information verified as of 11 August 2026, based on the official Riot Games Core Rules (updated 4 December 2025) and the Tournament Rules from playriftbound.com, for the current Origins–Vendetta range of sets. What Riftbound actually is gets explained in the introductory article Riftbound: what it is and how to play. What to buy before you try out the rules is in the article how to get started with Riftbound. Card types and deckbuilding are covered in depth in cards, mechanics and deckbuilding in Riftbound, and a comparison with other TCGs in Riftbound vs. other card games. You’ll find all our League of Legends articles in the League of Legends hub.