Rules · 9 min read
Every Riftbound keyword, explained
All of the game's keyword abilities in one place, quoted word for word from Riot's Core Rules, with the cards that use each one and what they cost today.
Riftbound puts a lot of its rules into keywords printed on the cards. This is the full glossary, taken from the official Core Rules rather than paraphrased, with the rule number beside each entry so you can check the source. Where a keyword takes a value, it is written as X or N below.
How to read these
Most keywords are shorthand for a sentence of rules text. The quoted line under each keyword is that sentence, written from the card's point of view. "I" is the card carrying the keyword. A few keywords instead restrict deckbuilding or grant permission to act, and those are noted.
Combat and damage
| Keyword | What it means | Rule | Cards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assault | Hits harder when attacking. The X is printed on the card.While I am an attacker, I have +X [Might]. | 807 | 58 |
| Shield | Hits harder when defending. The X is printed on the card.While I am a defender, I have +X [Might]. | 814 | 40 |
| Tank | Soaks damage first, protecting your other units at that battlefield.I must be assigned lethal damage before any other unit you control that does not have Tank. | 815 | 37 |
| Backline | The opposite of Tank. Takes damage last, so fragile units survive longer.I must be assigned lethal damage after any other unit you control that does not have Backline. | 826 | 6 |
| Ganking | Can move sideways between battlefields instead of only forward.I may move to a battlefield from another battlefield with a standard move. | 810 | 57 |
Playing cards
| Keyword | What it means | Rule | Cards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accelerate | Pay extra when you play it and it arrives ready to act instead of exhausted.As you play me, you may pay an additional cost. If you do, I enter ready. | 805 | 41 |
| Ambush | Can be played straight to a battlefield you already hold, at reaction speed.I may be played to a battlefield where you control units, and I have Reaction while being played there. | 822 | 26 |
| Flow | Can be cast once from your trash, then it is banished for good.You may play this from your trash for its flow cost. Then banish it. | 829 | 18 |
| Repeat | Pay again to make the same spell happen twice.You may pay an additional cost as you play this. If you do, execute its instructions again. | 820 | 27 |
| Action | A permission, not an effect: it can be played during a Showdown. | 806 | 103 |
| Reaction | A wider permission than Action. It can also be played in Closed State, so it resolves first. | 813 | 140 |
| Quick-Draw | Gear that can be equipped at reaction speed, mid-combat. | 819 | 7 |
Ongoing and triggered
| Keyword | What it means | Rule | Cards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deathknell | Triggers when the unit dies. Trading it off still gets you something.When I die, [effect]. | 808 | 29 |
| Vision | On arrival, look at your top card and choose whether to recycle it.When this is played, predict. | 817 | 14 |
| Hunt | Earns XP when the unit conquers or holds a battlefield.When I Conquer or Hold, my controller gains X XP. | 823 | 19 |
| Legion | Gets stronger if you have already played another card this turn.If you have played another card this turn, this card gains [text]. | 812 | 17 |
| Level | Switches on once you have banked enough XP.While you have N or more XP, this card gains [text]. | 824 | 21 |
| Temporary | Disappears at the start of your next turn, before scoring.At the start of its controller’s Beginning Phase, before scoring, kill this. | 816 | 29 |
| Weaponmaster | Equips one of your Equipment cards at a discount when played. | 821 | 22 |
| Hidden | Can be placed face down and revealed later, from hand or the champion zone. | 811 | 61 |
Costs and deckbuilding
| Keyword | What it means | Rule | Cards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Empower | Pay a cost to switch the card into its Empowered state. Only once.[Cost]: Empower this. Play only if not Empowered. | 827 | 68 |
| Empowered | The state Empower puts a card into, unlocking extra rules text.While I have the Empowered status, this card gains [text]. | 828 | 64 |
| Equip | Pay the cost to attach the gear to one of your units.[Cost]: Attach this gear to a unit you control. | 818 | 67 |
| Unique | A deckbuilding restriction rather than a game effect. | 825 | 3 |
Actions that are not keywords
Three terms show up constantly in card text and questions without being keyword abilities. They are game actions defined elsewhere in the rules.
- Recycle 416. Putting a card on the bottom of the deck it belongs to. Runes recycle to the Rune Deck, everything else to the Main Deck.
- Predict 436. Looking at the top card of your Main Deck and choosing whether to recycle it.
- Stun 423. Rendering a unit Stunned. It is a binary state. A stunned unit cannot be stunned again.
- Empower 441. The act of making a game object Empowered. Also a binary state.
- XP 729. A resource players accrue and spend during a game, tracked with counters or dice.
- Showdown 342. A window in which both players may play spells back and forth in an Open State.
Quoted from the Riftbound Core Rules, last updated 16 July 2026. Where a keyword changed in a later patch, the rules document is the authority and this page follows it. Official Rules Hub