How Combat Works in Riftbound
If you’re wondering how does combat work in Riftbound, you’re in the right place. This guide covers Showdowns, attacking, defending, and everything in between, explained in plain English for beginners..
How Combat Works in Riftbound
Combat in Riftbound is called a Showdown. Understanding how Showdowns work is one of the most important skills in the game.
What is a Showdown?
A Showdown begins the moment you move one or more of your units to a Battlefield. There are two types depending on what is already there.
An Open Showdown happens when the Battlefield has no enemy units on it. You move your unit in unopposed. Your opponent still has a window to play Action or Reaction cards before the Showdown resolves, but if your unit survives you conquer the Battlefield and score a point.
A Combat Showdown happens when the Battlefield already has enemy units on it. Both players can move multiple units to the same Battlefield before combat resolves. Everything then gets fought out between all attacking units and all defending units together.
What happens before the fighting starts?
Before damage is dealt, there is a sequence that gives both players a chance to respond.
First, any “When I defend” abilities on defending units trigger, followed by any “When I attack” abilities on attacking units. These resolve before anything else.
Then the Showdown window opens. The attacker goes first and can play an Action or Reaction card. Once an Action has been played, only Reactions can be added by either player from that point. If there are three or more players at the table, only two players are directly involved in the combat, but either of them can invite other players to join in and play Actions and Reactions too.
Once both players pass without playing anything, the fighting happens.
The Official Steps of Combat
The Vendetta rulebook confirms combat follows five steps in this exact order:
1. Combat Triggers: Resolve any “When I defend” abilities first, then any “When I attack” abilities.
2. It’s a Showdown: Both players can play Actions or cards hidden at the battlefield. In a 3+ player game, all players can play actions and reactions even if only two players have units in the combat.
3. Fight: Add up the Might of your units and distribute that much damage among enemy units, assigning lethal damage to one unit before moving to the next.
4. Deal Damage: All damage is dealt simultaneously. Units with damage equal to or greater than their Might are killed. Then all units at all locations heal any damage they have marked.
5. Conquer or Recall: If only attackers remain, the attacker conquers the battlefield and scores 1 point. Otherwise, surviving attackers return to base.
The sections below cover each step in more detail.
How is combat resolved?
Each side adds up the total Might of all their units at the Battlefield. Might is the number shown in the top right of each unit card. It is both how hard a unit hits and how much damage it can take before it is destroyed. See our Damage Explained guide
Each side then distributes their total Might as damage across the enemy units. You have to assign enough damage to fully destroy one unit before moving on to the next, so you cannot spread damage around to weaken several units at once. Both sides do this at the same time, meaning even the losing side deals their damage before units are removed.
Any unit that takes damage equal to or greater than its Might is destroyed and goes to the Trash. All damage is then cleared from every surviving unit at every location, so they start your next turn at full strength
What happens after after combat?
If your attacking units survive and all defending units are destroyed, you conquer the Battlefield and score a point. If all your attacking units are destroyed, your opponent keeps the Battlefield. If both sides lose all their units at the same time, neither player scores and the Battlefield becomes uncontrolled.
Winning the game: The first player to reach 8 points wins. The final point must come from either Holding a battlefield at the start of your turn, or by scoring all battlefields in a single turn. You cannot win by dealing combat damage alone on your final point.
Can I play cards during a Showdown?
Yes, and this is one of the most important things to understand about Riftbound. The Showdown window is where a lot of the real game happens.
Action cards can be played on your turn as normal, and at the start of a Showdown before any chain of cards begins. Once cards start being played in a Showdown, only Reaction cards can be added by either player.
Reaction cards can be played on your turn or during Showdowns, but they have a special extra power. You can play a Reaction before another spell or ability resolves, so your Reaction resolves first. This is what makes Reactions so powerful in combat situations.
Some abilities add Energy or Power directly and cannot be reacted to at all. These happen immediately.
A well-timed Reaction can completely change the outcome of a fight you looked like you were losing.
What keywords affect combat?
Several keywords change how combat plays out. The full list grows with each new set, so rather than duplicate it here, the Keywords page covers every keyword in plain English with the most current information.
The keywords most directly relevant to combat are:
Assault (bonus Might while attacking)
Shield (bonus Might while defending)
Tank (must be assigned damage first)
Deflect (costs extra Power to target with spells)
Deathknell (triggers an effect when destroyed)
Ganking (can move between battlefields)
Hidden (play face down, reveal later), and
Accelerate (enters the board ready).
New sets introduce additional combat keywords. Check the Keywords page for anything added since this article was written.
Can exhausted Units defend?
Yes. Exhausted units can still defend in a Showdown even if they cannot take other actions. Your opponent cannot exhaust your defenders and then attack freely. They will still fight back.
What about Equipment in combat?
Equipment is a type of Gear introduced in Spiritforged. When Equipment is attached to a unit it grants that unit Might bonuses and additional abilities shown in the lower text box. If a unit with Equipment attached is destroyed, the Equipment goes to the Trash along with it. It does not transfer to another unit automatically.
For a full explanation of how gear attaches and what it does, see the Gear and Equipment guide.
Tips for winning Showdowns
Hold Reaction cards back for combat. Playing a Reaction during a Showdown when your opponent is not expecting it can turn a fight you appeared to be losing into one you win.
Always think about what Reactions your opponent might be holding before you commit to an attack. If they have ready Runes and cards in hand, they probably have something waiting.
Moving multiple units to a Battlefield at once increases your total Might and can overwhelm a single defender who cannot match your combined damage.
Do not forget the Showdown window on Open Showdowns too. Even when you are attacking an empty Battlefield your opponent can still play cards to disrupt you before you score.