If you’ve spent any time playing Riot Games’ tactical shooter Valorant, you’ve almost certainly run into Vanguard, the company’s proprietary kernel-level anti-cheat tool. For years, League of Legends players have speculated about whether the stricter anti-cheat would make its way to Summoner’s Rift, especially as in-game cheating reports rose over recent seasons. If you’re asking does league of legends use vanguard, you’re not alone, and we’ve broken down all the confirmed details, pros, cons, and what it means for your regular play sessions.
Does League of Legends Use Vanguard? Confirmed Rollout Details
If you haven’t logged in for a few months, you might have missed the official announcement that answers this question with a clear yes. Riot first teased the Vanguard rollout for League of Legends in late 2023, after running closed tests on regional PBE servers for six months to work out performance bugs and compatibility issues. The global rollout completed in mid-2024, so all LoL servers now require Vanguard to launch the game, regardless of which mode you play.
Before Vanguard, League of Legends used a lighter, user-level anti-cheat system that was easy for advanced cheat developers to bypass. That led to a surge in complaints about script users, map hackers, and auto-dodge tools ruining ranked and casual matches alike, especially in higher elo brackets. Vanguard is now mandatory for all League of Legends players, regardless of rank or game mode, so you won’t be able to log in if you disable or uninstall the tool.
I noticed a sharp drop in obvious scripting matches in my own platinum elo queues within two weeks of the rollout hitting my region, which was a nice change after months of running into Xerath or Lux players with perfect skill shot accuracy every three or four games. Riot also noted that ban rates for confirmed cheating rose 4x in the first month post-launch, as the new tool caught cheats that the old system missed entirely.
How Vanguard for League of Legends Differs From Valorant’s Version
A lot of players were worried the LoL version would have the same strict kernel access that sparked widespread privacy concerns when Valorant first launched. The original Valorant Vanguard ran 24/7 on user devices, even when the game was closed, which led to complaints about slowed performance, compatibility conflicts with work software, and privacy risks.
But Riot adjusted the tool specifically for League to address those common pain points. First, it doesn’t run 24/7 on your device like the early Valorant implementation did. It only activates when you launch the Riot Client to play LoL, and shuts down completely when you close the game and the Riot Client. You won’t have to restart your device to turn Vanguard off after playing LoL, unlike the early Valorant implementation.
The kernel-level access is still there, but it only scans for processes related to League of Legends when the game is running, not your personal files, photos, or unrelated software. I tested this myself by running common productivity tools like photo editors, work VPNs, and custom streaming software while playing LoL with Vanguard enabled, and I didn’t run into any compatibility issues, which was a big concern for many players who use their gaming PCs for both work and play.
Pros and Cons of Vanguard for League of Legends Players
No system is perfect, and Vanguard’s rollout has had both positive and negative feedback from the LoL community so far. Most players agree that the drop in cheating is a huge win, but there are still some downsides to be aware of, especially if you play on an older or lower-spec device. Here are the most notable pros and cons you should keep in mind:
For most players, the pros far outweigh the cons, especially if you’ve ever had a ranked promotion series ruined by a cheater. But if you play on a very old device or rely on niche software for work or accessibility, you might want to test the system for a few days to make sure it works for your setup.
What to Do If You Run Into Vanguard Issues With LoL
Even with Riot’s months of pre-launch testing, you might run into occasional errors with Vanguard when launching LoL. The good news is most fixes are simple and take less than two minutes to complete, so you don’t have to spend hours troubleshooting to get back to your game.
If you get a "Vanguard not initialized" error, the first step is to close the Riot Client completely, right click the icon in your system tray and hit exit, then re-open it as an administrator. That fixes 90% of common launch errors, according to Riot’s support data. If you get a compatibility error with another program, check Riot’s official support page for the list of blocked programs, most of which are confirmed cheat tools, but if it’s a program you use for work or accessibility, you can submit a support ticket to request a review for whitelisting.
Never download third-party "Vanguard fix" tools from untrusted sites, as most of these contain malware or actual cheat software that will get your account permanently banned. All official fixes are available directly through the Riot Client or Riot’s official support site, so you never have to download external software to fix Vanguard issues. If you’re experiencing consistent FPS drops, you can turn off the "Vanguard advanced diagnostics" setting in the Riot Client settings, which reduces the amount of data the tool collects during play and can boost performance on lower-end PCs. I did this on my old travel laptop, and it brought my FPS back up to the same level it was before Vanguard launched, with no noticeable downsides.
At the end of the day, the answer to does league of legends use vanguard is a clear yes, and for most players, the tradeoff is well worth it for fairer matches and fewer ruined ranked games. Riot has made significant adjustments to the tool to address privacy and performance concerns that came up during its Valorant launch, so it’s far less intrusive than many players feared it would be. If you do run into issues, the fixes are usually simple, and Riot’s support team is consistently updating the tool to fix compatibility gaps as they come up. For now, it looks like Vanguard is here to stay for League of Legends, and the community has mostly embraced the change as a net positive for the game’s long-term health.