K'Sante Riftbound Legend Guide | Hextech Analytics

K'Sante’s Field Guide

K'Sante lets a unit built to defend also attack with its Shield counted as Assault. Set that up in your open Main Phase: the Legend has neither Action nor Reaction, so you pay one Energy and exhaust it before the attack, never during a showdown. Its Assault adds Might only while that unit is an attacker, so it does nothing on defense or at a battlefield with no enemy units. I would build the opening around units with printed Shield that can defend a battlefield alone. If your only shielded unit is also guarding a battlefield, decide whether the attack is worth leaving it open. The mistake is paying out of habit: if the unit is not attacking a real defender, that Energy belongs to a unit or a spell.

How K'Sante wins

K'Sante scores by conquering a battlefield with a unit that then defends it. Shield makes a unit larger while it defends and the Legend counts it on the attack too, so the unit that conquers is often the best one to hold. Dauntless suits one decisive fight, on either side of combat, while Courageous rewards staying on a battlefield, because every Hold with him there channels a rune that enters ready. The Legend does not move or ready anything, and the attacker stays exhausted after the fight, so it cannot shift to another battlefield that turn but can still defend where it stands. Near the finish, count which battlefields the opponent can score and keep a shielded defender on the one that decides the game.

Key interactions

Put the Legend on your biggest Shield

Pride of Nazumah · K'Sante, Courageous

Assault equal to Shield means Courageous, with Shield 2, attacks as a 6-Might unit for one Energy. The granted Assault adds to printed Assault, so a unit with Shield 2 and Assault 2 attacks with Assault 4, and Shield it gains later that turn raises the Assault again. The choice is locked in before you move into the fight, so pick the unit with the most Shield that is actually heading into a contested battlefield. If two units are close, prefer the one the opponent is less able to remove once combat opens.

Put Dauntless where his doubling counts

K'Sante, Dauntless · Pride of Nazumah

Dauntless doubles the Shield of a unit you control at his battlefield, himself included, when he attacks or defends. On defense the doubling needs no help: he can double his own Shield 1 to 2 and defend at six Might, or double a Shield 2 unit beside him to Shield 4, worth +4 Might instead of +2. Shield adds no Might to an attacker, so on the attack the doubling pays off on the unit carrying the Legend: with it on Dauntless, his doubled Shield 2 becomes Assault 2 and he attacks at six Might. If he already guards a battlefield, weigh that defense against the attack he would join.

Decide when Ntofo Strikes adds its Shield

Ntofo Strikes · K'Sante, Courageous · K'Sante, Dauntless

Ntofo Strikes is an Action that costs two Energy and one Calm or Body Power: it gives a friendly unit Shield 2 this turn, then deals damage equal to that unit's Shield to an enemy unit. Cast in your Main Phase on Courageous carrying the Legend, before he attacks beside Dauntless, it deals four, and the doubling takes Shield 4 to 8 for a 12-Might attacker. Cast in the combat showdown after the doubling, it deals six and Courageous attacks at ten. Take the early four when it removes a defender before the fight, and hold it when six damage or a surprise on the opponent's turn matters more.

Strengths

Shield added to the Legend's chosen unit later that turn still raises its Assault, so Ntofo Strikes cast during combat can grow an attack the opponent has seen.
Dauntless gives Shield a job on both sides of combat, doubling it to win a defense or, with the Legend on that unit, to enlarge one attack.
Courageous turns a conquered battlefield into extra resources, since every Hold with him there channels a ready rune before your Channel Phase.

Weaknesses

The Legend adds nothing unless the unit attacks with Shield by the time combat damage is dealt. When Shield is short, take the battlefield with ordinary Might and spend that Energy elsewhere.
Stacking the Legend, the doubling and Ntofo Strikes on one unit puts the whole attack on that unit, so removal in response can erase every investment at once.