Lucian Riftbound Legend Guide | Hextech Analytics

Lucian’s Field Guide

Lucian wants Equipment on a unit that can use it more than once. Purifier adds Assault 1 to every friendly Equipment, making even a modest bearer a serious attacker. The Equipment's printed Might still helps outside combat, but the extra Assault applies only while attacking. Merciless is the natural starting point: Weaponmaster offers an attachment when he is played, and his first conquest each turn readies him. The next decision is where that ready unit can go. A ready unit at a battlefield does not automatically have permission to move straight to another battlefield. Plan the movement route along with the combat math, or the supposed second attack will never happen.

How Lucian wins

Develop enough inexpensive bodies to contest the board, then concentrate Equipment where it changes a fight. Units that draw or replace themselves, such as Kai'Sa, Survivor drawing after a conquest, help maintain pressure without spending every card on a single attacker. Merciless and First Mate give an equipped unit another action, while Faefolk can pull a defender away from the next target. Gear surviving its bearer also gives the following unit a useful starting point. The best attack gets the point and leaves a credible next attack or defense; piling every attachment onto a unit you cannot protect is much less convincing.

Key interactions

Give Merciless a route after the ready

Lucian, Merciless · Relentless Pursuit · Gem Jammer

Pursuit moves a friendly unit, can attach one of your Equipment to it, and gives it the option to return to base when it conquers that turn. It does not ready the unit. Merciless supplies that part after his first conquest: resolve the ready and optional return, then standard-move the ready unit from base into another attack. Ganking offers a different route, because a unit with it can move directly from one battlefield to another; Gem Jammer gives a unit Ganking for the turn when you play it. Neither route gives Merciless a second conquest-ready in the same turn. Sometimes staying to defend the first field is worth more than taking the optional move.

Spend on the attachment that changes the fight

Lucian, Merciless · Long Sword · Blighted Battleaxe

Weaponmaster's discount only removes a universal-Power component of an Equip cost, so when Merciless attaches Equipment whose Equip cost is Energy and domain Power, that payment remains in full. Long Sword costs two Energy and one Fury Power, but Quick-Draw lets you play it as a Reaction and attach it through its play effect without another Equip payment. Battleaxe is the larger commitment: four Energy to play, then one Energy and one Fury Power to Equip, including through Weaponmaster. Forge and Pursuit can instead attach it directly without paying Equip. If its bearer does not conquer that turn, the Axe comes off before dealing four damage to the bearer. Losing the four-Might bonus first can make that damage lethal.

Move the defender before choosing the next attack

Irresistible Faefolk · First Mate · Lucian, Merciless

When Faefolk moves to a battlefield, it can move an enemy unit to that destination. Bringing a defender away from the other field can make the follow-up attack much easier, but the abandoned field is not scored automatically. You still have to send a unit there and conquer it. Faefolk also does not remove the imported enemy; your current attack has to survive the new fight. First Mate can ready Faefolk or a stronger equipped unit for another use, but it cannot ready itself and does not grant Ganking. Count the bodies, their locations, and the remaining movement before spending the ready.

Strengths

Small Equipment contributes both its printed Might and extra attacking Might, making inexpensive units worth defending.
Merciless and First Mate can reuse the best equipped attacker instead of requiring another full Equipment investment.
Faefolk, Pursuit, and Ganking from Gem Jammer let the deck change where fights happen rather than repeatedly attack the largest defender.

Weaknesses

Assault disappears outside the attack. A unit that just won a fight may be much easier to remove or attack on defense.
Ready effects do not fix missing movement routes, and an unsupported Faefolk can bring a stronger enemy into its own attack.
Gear development, Equip payments, and double-Power spells compete for the same resources. A hand of expensive attachments can fail to establish a board.

Shadow's Pick

Lucian tournament list by ASC Deamon

Top 32 · Riftbound Regional Qualifier - Los Angeles, Sep 26, 2026

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Deck total $278.63

Legend (1)

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Runes (12)

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Battlefields (3)

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Spells (9)

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Power
2
Energy
1
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Energy
3
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Power
1
Energy
2
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Power
1
Energy
1

Gear (11)

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Energy
4
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Power
1
Energy
2
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Energy
3
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Energy
4

Units (20)

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Might
3
Energy
3
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Might
6
Power
1
Energy
6
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Might
3
Energy
3
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Might
2
Energy
2
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Might
1
Energy
2
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Might
4
Power
1
Energy
4
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Might
4
Energy
4
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Might
5
Energy
5
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Might
4
Power
1
Energy
4
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Might
5
Energy
6

Sideboard (10)

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Might
4
Energy
4
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Power
1
Energy
2
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Energy
1
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Might
6
Power
1
Energy
6
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Energy
3
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Energy
3
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Power
1
Energy
1
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Power
1
Energy
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Shadow's take

This is my Lucian pick because its Equipment does more than add Might. Trinity Force scores an extra point whenever its bearer holds, and Skyfall of Areion makes that same ability trigger when the bearer conquers. With both on one unit, each conquest it makes can be worth two points, so the rest of the deck is built to give that unit more than one fight. If Lucian, Merciless is that unit, Gem Jammer can give him Ganking for the turn, so when he readies himself after his first conquest, he can move directly to the other battlefield. Jhin already has Ganking, and First Mate can ready him or another bearer for a second move. I like that Purifier has no ability of its own to exhaust, so Forge of the Fluft's attach ability costs you nothing beyond controlling the battlefield. Relentless Pursuit is the other free attachment, and its move does not exhaust the unit. I would still be careful with the two Blighted Battleaxes: the +4 Might is excellent on an attacker that conquers, but a bearer that doesn't conquer loses the Axe at the end of your turn and takes 4 damage.

The Game Plan

Early gameLook for a hand with a couple of two- and three-Energy units and one Equipment you can afford, rather than several four-Energy Gear and nobody to carry them. Gem Jammer, Irresistible Faefolk, First Mate and Lucian, Merciless are the early bodies. Long Sword is the cheap attachment: it costs two Energy and one Fury Power, and Quick-Draw lets you play it as a Reaction and attach it as it is played, even during a Showdown. Trinity Force is worth placing early on a unit that can hold a battlefield, since each hold with that unit present scores an extra point. Sabotage costs one Energy and one Body Power and can recycle the non-unit answer you are worried about before you invest in a bearer.
MidgameWork toward Trinity Force and Skyfall of Areion on the same unit. Equipping Trinity costs one Body Power and Skyfall costs one Energy and one Fury Power, but Forge of the Fluft and Relentless Pursuit can attach either one without that payment. Weaponmaster lets Merciless take one of them when you play him, at its normal Equip cost. Once the pair is together, look for a turn with two conquests: Gem Jammer gives the bearer Ganking for the turn, Merciless readies after his first conquest, and Jhin has Ganking already while adding one Energy and one Power of any domain each time he moves. Irresistible Faefolk can pull an enemy unit to the battlefield it moves to, which can clear the defender off the battlefield you actually want. Faefolk has to move there, because playing it directly to a battlefield does not trigger it.
Late gamePoppy, Paragon readies herself when you play her if an opponent is within 3 points of the Victory Score, which gives you a five-Might attacker with Deflect on the turn you play her. Punch First adds +5 Might for one Energy and two Body Power and can be played during a Showdown. Ruin Runner can't be chosen by enemy spells and abilities, so it is the hardest unit in the deck to remove before it holds with Trinity Force, although its Equipment can still be chosen. Red Brambleback makes your conquer effects at its battlefield trigger an additional time, including Kai'Sa, Survivor's draw and a Trinity Force point that Skyfall has made a conquer effect. Put Blighted Battleaxe only on a unit that will conquer this turn. Otherwise the Axe comes off at the end of your turn and deals 4 to that unit, which kills a four-Might unit with no other Might bonus. Ferrous Forerunner leaves two 3-Might Mech tokens at base when it dies, giving surviving Equipment new bearers.

Battlefields

Blind

Zaun Warrens · Blighted Battleaxe

Warrens is my default because its only requirement is a conquest, which this list needs in every game. When you conquer here, you discard 1 and then draw 1, which is a good use for a Battleaxe or another expensive card the hand cannot support yet. It replaces a card rather than adding one, so the conquest still has to be worth taking for the point.

Going First

Forge of the Fluft · Trinity Force · Skyfall of Areion

Going first usually gives you the earlier chance to put a unit on a battlefield and take control. Forge rewards control that lasts: while you control it, Purifier gains an exhaust ability that attaches an Equipment you control to a unit you control, and nothing else in the list competes for that exhaust. That saves Trinity's Body Power or Skyfall's Energy and Fury Power each time you use it. It is not a Reaction, so use it in your own main phase before moving into the fight. An opponent who controls Forge gets the same ability for their own Equipment.

Sideboard

Keep the bearer alive against damage

Ambessa, The Wolf · Unyielding Spirit

Ambessa costs four Energy, and once you pay three Energy and one Body Power to empower her she has +3 Might and can't be dealt damage unless she is in combat. That makes her a durable Trinity Force bearer against decks that remove units with damage spells or abilities. Unyielding Spirit is the cheaper answer: as a Reaction for one Energy and one Body Power, it prevents all spell and ability damage this turn. That includes Battleaxe's end-of-turn damage. Bring them in for a cheap route card when keeping one bearer alive matters more than another move.

Answer Gear, Mind cards and non-unit answers

Brittle Steel · Decree of Strength · Sabotage

Brittle Steel kills a gear for two Energy and one Fury Power, and Flow lets you play it again from the trash for four Energy and one Fury Power before banishing it. Decree of Strength costs one Energy, reveals the opponent's hand and makes them recycle a Mind card you choose, including a unit. The third Sabotage takes any non-unit card instead. Swap these in for less useful combat cards when the opponent's important cards are Gear, Mind cards or non-unit answers.

Win the trade outside combat

Rampage

The two extra Rampages make sense when a large equipped unit can trade damage with a key enemy unit outside combat. Paying the optional Body Power gives your unit +2 Might first, then the two units deal damage equal to their Mights to each other. Purifier's Assault does not apply because neither unit is attacking, but the Equipment's Might bonus does. Trim a combat trick that is not changing the trades.

Give the Equipment more bearers

Ferrous Forerunner · Pendulum Blade

The second Forerunner costs six Energy and one Fury Power and leaves two 3-Might Mech tokens at base when it dies, so your Equipment has somewhere to go after removal. A banish or a return to hand does not trigger that Deathknell. Pendulum Blade costs three Energy, gives +1 Might, and gives its bearer +2 Might for the turn whenever it moves to a battlefield, which suits the Ganking turns where one unit moves twice. Its Equip costs one Fury Power.