Combo · ENGINE
Bonus Damage on a SPLIT raises the pool and the number of bodies it may be split among — Riot's own worked example, uncatalogued
Pieces
- Volibear, Furious ×1
OGN-041 · payoff · fury
[Deflect 2] (Opponents must pay 2 Power of any domain to choose me with a spell or ability.) When I attack, deal 5 damage split among any number of enemy units here.
- Annie, Fiery ×1
OGS-001 · engine · fury
Your spells and abilities deal 1 Bonus Damage. (Each instance of damage the spell deals is increased by 1.)
Payoff
Deck
- Mono-Fury, so any of the sixteen legend names carrying Fury holds it (103.1.b.1): Daughter of the Void (OGN-247), Relentless Storm (OGN-249), Loose Cannon (OGN-251), Hand of Noxus (OGN-253), Dark Child - Starter (OGS-017), Mechanized Menace (SFD-181), Purifier (SFD-183), Glorious Executioner (SFD-185), Void Burrower (SFD-187), Virtuoso (UNL-181), Pridestalker (UNL-183), Bloodharbor Ripper (UNL-185), Piltover Enforcer (UNL-187), Rogue Assassin (VEN-139), Butcher of the Sands (VEN-141), Master of Shadows (VEN-143).
- Both bodies at the SAME battlefield: Volibear's trigger says 'here', and Annie's static is a Passive she carries anywhere, so only Volibear has to make the trip.
Prerequisites
- 715.3 IS RIOT WRITING THIS EXACT PAIR DOWN, AND IT SAYS SOMETHING 715.1 AND 715.2 DO NOT: 'If the Deal action Splits damage, then the Bonus Damage applies to the amount of Damage that will be Split. This can alter the number of targets eligible to be chosen.' The worked example is Volibear, Furious with Annie, Fiery: 'Volibear, Furious now deals 6 damage split among any number of enemy units at its location, and can choose to split that damage among up to 6 units rather than the usual 5.' So a +1 static on a SPLIT is not just +1 damage — it is +1 BODY the split can reach, which no other Bonus Damage shape gives.
- AND THE THIRD SHAPE IS WHY THIS IS A SEPARATE ENTRY FROM THE OTHERS. 715.1 raises a single-target Deal by the Bonus Damage; 715.2 raises EACH target of a multi-target Deal individually and separately; 715.3 raises the POOL of a Split and widens the choice. `icathian-rain-annie-ravenborn-six-deal-actions` is the 715.2 case at the pool's maximum; this is the 715.3 case, and the numbers behave differently.
- 715.4 IS THE FLOOR AND IT IS WORTH KNOWING: 'If no damage was Dealt, then Bonus Damage will not apply.' Bonus Damage never CREATES a Deal action — its worked example is a Teemo, Strategist reveal that finds no [Hidden] cards, so the 3 Bonus Damage from an attached Rabadon's Deathcrown has nothing to attach to. A static is a multiplier on an event, not an event.
- 714 KEEPS A SECOND SOURCE ADDITIVE: 'If more than one instance of Bonus Damage is applied or granted to a Deal action, all instances are summed and applied once.' Annie plus `OGN-032 Ravenborn Tome` is 7 damage split among up to 7 bodies, not 6 twice.
- [DEFLECT 2] IS THE OTHER HALF OF WHY HE SURVIVES TO ATTACK. 809.1.b: '[Deflect] is formatted as "Deflect [X]"'; 809.1.b.2 names X the Deflect Value; 809.1.b.3: 'If X is omitted, it is presumed to be 1' — so his printed 2 is explicit and doubles the usual tax. 809.1.c charges it 'for each time they choose', and 809.1.c.1 lets the Power be any domain, so a choosing removal spell aimed at him costs two extra Power. A programmatic sweeper still pays nothing (355.10.d).
- THE DAMAGE IS SPELL-AND-ABILITY DAMAGE, NOT UNIT DAMAGE, AND THAT IS WHY ANNIE REACHES IT AT ALL. 417.6.b.3 excludes a Deal whose source is specified as a Unit; Volibear's trigger instructs the Deal without naming a unit as its source, which is what 715.3's example confirms. Contrast `last-breath-beast-below-unforgiven-unit-damage-ready`, where the spell DOES source the damage to the unit and no Bonus Damage static applies — the two entries are the two sides of that paragraph and each names the other.
- A SPLIT IS N CHOICES, SO IT PAYS THE [DEFLECT] TAX ONCE PER BODY — AND THIS ENTRY IS PRICED WITHOUT IT (upgrade 2026-09-12, #187 batch 28). **355.14.a** — *"If a card specifies that an amount of damage may be split among some number of Units, then each Unit chosen is Targeted"* — with **355.14.d**, *"Each Target is valid, and contributes to Targeting Effects individually"*, cited once and zero against 355.14.h`s sixteen. Read with 809.1.c, which charges Power equal to the Deflect Value *"for each time they choose"*: **47 printings carry Deflect, and 187.7 gives it to a Bird token BY RULE**, so `UNL-044 Flurry of Feathers` — four Birds at [Reaction] speed — taxes an incoming split **four rainbow**. 355.14.c caps targets at the damage available and permits taking fewer, so the mitigation is to spread LESS: Deflect converts a split from a free spread into a rainbow per body. **It reaches the trigger and not only the spell** (809.1.c and 809.1.d both say *"spells and abilities"*), and batch 21`s asymmetry then bites: the tax is paid at step 404, where 404.2 lets you DECLINE — and declining removes the whole trigger, so against a Bird garrison it is pay-per-body or nothing.
Steps
- Play Annie, Fiery (5 Energy + 1 Fury Power) and keep her alive; her static works from anywhere.
- Play Volibear, Furious (5 Energy + 1 Fury Power) and move him into an enemy battlefield (144.2, 144.4).
- 464.2.c.1 makes you the Attacker and 464.2.c.3 places his attack trigger.
- The trigger's Deal is a Split of 5, which 715.3 raises to 6 — and the split may now be spread over up to SIX enemy units there instead of five.
- Assign the 6 as you like: six 1-Might bodies dead, or 6 onto one target. 143.2.a resolves each kill on marked damage equalling or exceeding Might.
Per iteration
+1 damage AND +1 eligible body on every attack, for as long as Annie stands
How it ends
engine — 6 damage split among up to 6 enemy units at his battlefield every time Volibear attacks, for no further cards; nothing here scores beyond the Conquer the combat produces (466.5.d)
Sources
Published elsewhere
- Riftbound Core Rules, Last Updated 2026-07-16 (data/Riftbound-Core-Rules-2026-07-16.txt) 2026-07-16
Walked here, in this project
- Hand walk 2026-09-07, issue #191 — uncited Core Rules sub-rules 500-899 2026-09-07 record
How this entry was audited
REFUTE = a refutation pass, with its date and verdict · WOUNDED = the pass found a flaw and the entry was rewritten · BUDGETED = the pass checked the recycle-and-draw ledger · lens = the hunt that proposed it.
First entry of the uncited-sub-rules slice, and it is a paragraph Riot illustrates with BOTH of its cards by name. 715.3, 715.4, 809.1.b, 809.1.b.2, 809.1.b.3 were all uncited by data/combos.json and data/synergies.json before this entry. OGN-041 Volibear, Furious appears in one other entry (`sky-splitter-volibear-free-removal`) and OGS-001 Annie, Fiery in five, none of which is the Split case — 715.3's 'this can alter the number of targets eligible to be chosen' is a different number from 715.1's and 715.2's. Card text verbatim from data/corpus_flat.txt; every paragraph above opened in the Core Rules file. No unruled reading.
Walked against Core Rules 2026-07-16