Riftbound designers adapt League champions into cards by focusing on their most resonant abilities

Riftbound’s Game and Design Director Dave Guskin says the first step in turning a League of Legends champion into a card is examining their kit to find what resonates most with players. He points to Zed’s shadow stepping and Miss Fortune’s bullets as examples of abilities designers consider for translation. The goal is to map that resonant element to how the champion’s identity works in Riftbound, where a player’s entire deck represents their approach.

The translation is rarely direct and often requires testing and iteration. Guskin notes that designers start with a mechanical version of a champion’s ability, then adjust based on playtesting feedback. For champions with high mobility—like Ezreal’s teleport-like movement—the team experiments with ideas such as quick battlefield shifts, only to discover these don’t map cleanly to Riftbound’s mechanics. After playtesting, they refine the concept to ensure it remains fun.

When a direct mechanical translation feels unsatisfying, the team explores alternative mechanical or thematic aspects of the champion. Darius serves as an example: an early attempt to replicate his execute ability frustrated opponents, so designers moved the effect into his signature spell instead of making it a repeatable unit ability. Guskin also noted that Riftbound’s lack of cooldowns and stat tweaks forces creative workarounds for League of Legends mechanics.

In contrast, the team succeeded with Rengar by focusing on his thematic identity as a hunter. The card centers on an ambush mechanic that rewards the same playstyle Rengar players enjoy in League of Legends, demonstrating how thematic consistency can guide design when direct translation fails.

The Polygon reveal of Graves, Blasting Through illustrates this process. The card requires 5 Energy and a Fury (Red) Rune to play, enters with 4 Might, and triggers its ability whenever it attacks or defends, dealing damage equal to its Might to all enemy units on the battlefield without inflicting standard combat damage. This mirrors Graves’s League of Legends shotgun spread and explosive ultimate, which hit multiple enemies, by having the card blast all foes simultaneously.

Since a Riftbound unit is removed when it takes damage equal to or greater than its Might, Graves’s 4-damage blast can eliminate several opposing units in one activation. The ability’s trigger on both attack and defense forces opponents to account for the damage each time Graves defends, which can deter attacks or prompt removal attempts. Graves’s effectiveness scales with effects that increase his Might, boosting both his survivability and the damage of his blast.

Graves’s impact hinges on board control and timing, as enemies can retaliate after surviving the blast. Despite its high potential, Graves demands a significant Energy investment, does nothing when first played, and can be removed, stunned, or neutralized before his blast triggers. He belongs to the Fury Domain, meaning any Legend whose two-domain identity includes Fury can include him in a deck, and his ability works independently without needing another Graves card.

Graves excels in Fury decks that prioritize board dominance, particularly when paired with cards that boost his Might.