So you’ve played a few games of Riftbound and something feels… off. You thought you scored, but did you really? You’re not sure when you’re supposed to get points, and honestly, the scoring system is kind of messing with your head. Trust me—you’re not alone. This is the #1 rule confusion we see in Riftbound, and it costs games.
Let’s walk through this together. I promise it’s not as complicated as it feels right now.
Here’s where most new players trip up: there’s a massive difference between taking over a battlefield for the first time (conquering) and just keeping control of one you already own. They sound similar, right? They’re not.
When you move units to a battlefield you don’t control and win the combat, you’re conquering it. That’s 1 point. But here’s the key—you can only do this once per turn per battlefield. Once you’ve conquered it, you’re done with it for that turn.
Now, holding is different. It’s the start of your next turn, and you look down and realize you still control that battlefield from last turn. Boom—you get another point just for keeping it. No combat needed. You literally just hold it and bank the point.
Think about it this way: conquering is aggressive. Holding is defensive. One’s about expansion, the other’s about staying power.
This is where things get wild. In an 8-point game, you need that 8th point to win the game. But the game has a trick up its sleeve to prevent runaway victories.
If you’re sitting at 7 points and you conquer a battlefield, you only actually score that point if you’ve conquered all the battlefields this turn. If you haven’t? You draw a card instead. Yep, nothing. Back to square one.
Why? The game’s trying to make you work for that final victory. You can’t just sneak in one cheeky conquest and call it a day—you’ve got to dominate the whole map to clinch the win.
Let me give you a real example. You’re at 6 points in an 8-point game with two battlefields. You move units to both, win both combats, and conquer them back-to-back. 6 → 7 → 8. You win. Done.
But shift the scenario: you’re at 7 points. You conquer the first battlefield. Nothing happens—you draw a card instead of scoring. Then you conquer the second. Now you hit 8 and win. It felt anticlimactic, but that’s the game keeping things close.
Combat ties are brutal. If both players have exactly the same total Might, they deal equal damage to each other. Usually? Everyone dies. All units on both sides.
And when everyone dies, nobody wins. The battlefield sits empty. Nobody scores. It’s like both of you just agreed to blow everything up and call a temporary truce.
But here’s where it gets weird: sometimes units survive (maybe one has an ability that protects it, like Kayn’s card). If both sides have survivors, the attacking player’s units have to go back to base, but the defending player keeps control. Still no points though—control didn’t change hands, so nobody’s scoring.
No. This trips people up because in other TCGs, damage sticks around. Not here. At the end of every combat, all units heal completely. All damage goes away. Your unit that just barely survived with 1 health left? It’s back to full health once combat ends.
Same thing at the end of your turn—everyone heals. So you can’t wear down an opponent’s units over time. Every turn is a fresh start for health.
Only once per turn. But if that battlefield becomes empty (neutral) again later in the game, you can absolutely conquer it again and score again.
This is actually a huge strategic element. Some games swing back and forth over the same battlefields multiple times. Control is temporary. Points are permanent.
The scoring system isn’t just about knowing the rules—it’s about understanding why they’re designed this way. They keep the game balanced and prevent any one player from running away with it. Master these five rules and you’ll stop leaving points on the table.
Still unsure about a scoring situation mid-game? That’s what Arbi is for.