Top 5 Legends of Runeterra Confusing Interactions

Even though Runeterra is an extremely easy game to play and understand, a few mechanics many times make players a bit confused as they don't work as you expect them to.

In this article, I bring you the 5 interactions which cause more confusion among players and explain to you how each one of them works.

Barrier, even though it is a simple keyword, has a few confusing interactions.

In the pop-up text that explains this keyword, it is written that Barrier negates the next damage the unit with Barrier would take. However, this doesn't negate the damage dealt to the enemy Nexus through the unit with Barrier.

That means if an Overwhelm unit attacks a Barrier unit, the damage difference will still be dealt to the Nexus even though the damage against the Barrier unit was negated.

Another interaction that might be a bit confusing with this keyword is how healing from units with Lifesteal is countered. If a unit with Lifesteal attacks a Barrier unit, as the damage dealt is negated, the healing is as well, considering the Lifesteal healing is equal to the damage caused by the unit which has this keyword.

Spellshield is a very common keyword in control metas, and knowing how to interact with this keyword correctly might be crucial to get a win in many games when the meta is slower.

Spellshield, as the name says, shields the Spellshield unit from next spell, or Skill that would affect it. That means effects that aren't Spells or Skills, even if they target the Spellshield unit, aren't countered.

The most straightforward example of this interaction is with the card Icevale Archer, which, even though it Frostbites an enemy by targeting it, because this effect isn't an Ability, nor Spell, it isn't countered by Spellshield. That happens with Blinded Mystic as well, for the same reasons.

Sejuani is also a main character in these weird interactions with Spellshield, because her Frostbite effect after dealing damage to the enemy Nexus also isn't a Skill, nor a Spell.

Equipment is a resource that is currently very present in the competitive metagame in all formats, and many players get confused with the interactions these cards bring into the game.

Equipped units can't be silenced. That means that, if you have a unit on board that is equipped with a unit or a weapon, and this unit is silenced, the additional effects that the equipment and attachment give to your unit will not be silenced. That happens because these cards work independently of their bearers.

If the attachment is offering the Elusive keyword, as is the case for RainbowFish, its bearer doesn't lose Elusive if it's silenced. And the unit also will not lose the additional stats given by the Fish.

Another confusing Equipment interaction is that, if the bearer unit is removed from the board, the Equipment goes back to your hand. That happens when that unit is destroyed, captured or recalled. But as Obliterate is an effect that removes the obliterated unit from the game, and not the board, any equipment and unit equipped will also be obliterated if its bearer is obliterated.

Currently, Transform is one of the most common effects in the game, because of Nidalee and Concurrent Timelines. Players become victims of confusing interactions with this keyword very frequently.

The first confusing interaction with this keyword is that it keeps any and every Bonus health and attack stat the transformed unit got before it transformed. That applies to Positive keywords as well.

That means that, if we transform a Keeper of the Box into another unit, this new unit won't have the Fearsome keyword, but it will have Lifesteal if you have equipped a unit in the match. The reason behind this is that Lifesteal is a Bonus effect that comes from the Keeper's own effect.

Another example is with the card Fleetfeather Tracker - if you transform this unit after it has already gained Challenger, the transformed unit will also have Challenger, considering this keyword was given to Tracker through the card's own effect.

Transformed units will also retain equipment and units attached to the card. And effects that transform cards into Identical Copies of other units, such as Hextech Transmogulator and Shady Character, still respect the rules listed above regarding keeping bonus stats that come from the transform effect. That means that, if you use a Hextech Transmogulator on a Fleetfeather Tracker transforming it into another unit, this transformed unit will keep the Challenger keyword from the Tracker effect, even though this card was transformed into an identical copy of another unit that doesn't have Challenger.

If you use Shady Character on an equipped unit, even if the Character's effect makes it clear that you're transforming it into an exact copy of the targeted unit, it doesn't copy its equipment, nor the stats and bonus keywords given by this equipment.

This effect is extremely confusing as it is an effect that doesn't show up with a yellow visual indicator on the cards, and there isn't a pop-up explaining the effect when you hover your mouse on a card with this effect. As a result, many players don't know exactly how it works.

Lastly, we have the Assimilate effect, which is nothing more than the Transform effect, only a bit harder. Even though there is only one card in the entire game that has this keyword, World Ender, it is still the most confusing effect in Legends of Runeterra.

The Assimilate effect has all the confusing transform interactions we've discussed above, with additional effects that are even more confusing. The first one we'll discuss is that Assimilate transforms the equipped units with Darkin equipment into the Darkin unit it is carrying. That means that, if you have a random Poro equipped with The Darkin Harp, if you Assimilate it, your Poro will transform into a Styraatu.

But, according to the Transform effect rules, your Poro will keep the equipment; as a result, your Styraatu will have The Darkin Harp equipped on board. That means other Assimilated Darkins will still apply the original effects from their equipment forms, because they'll be equipped with them.

Which means, Anaakca will give the unit on top of your deck +1/+1 due to The Darkin Spear's effect, and then it will give an extra +1/+1 and summon this unit on board due to Anaakca's own effect.

Another confusing Assimilate effect is that units equipped with Darkin weapons that are champions transform into their level 2 versions. However, it isn't explained on the card that it only works on followers. That means, you won't be able to transform other champions into Darkin. It was very common for players to try and transform their Vaynes into Darkins at the time Aatrox Vayne was popular in the meta, and become frustrated as that isn't possible.

You can only transform Kayn into a Rhaast Final Level with Assimilate, because Blue Kayn, The Shadow Assassin final level, isn't a Darkin.

If you've read this far, now you know everything about the most confusing Legends of Runeterra interactions.

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