Riot Games Comments on Vanguard Bricking PCs Rumors

Riot Games has stated that it “will not and cannot” block PC gamers after a number of people began claiming that the company's Vanguard anti-cheat software was disabling their devices. Riot Games is an incredibly popular developer League of Legends and brave, and its Vanguard system is designed to combat increasingly sophisticated cheats and fraudsters, especially hardware methods used to bypass traditional anti-cheat protections.

On May 19, the Vanguard update appeared to block DMA, or direct memory access, of devices using SATA or NVMe firmware. Claims began circulating that Vanguard was bricking the PC, and funny pictures of the “red screen of death” players encountered started appearing on social media. Riot Games, perhaps unintentionally, fueled the rumors by posting an image two days later showing a collection of rogue gear with the caption “congratulations to the owners of the brand new $6,000 paperweight”. Some users started claiming that the Vanguard update made the DMA firmware unusable, even after uninstalling the anti-cheat software. Others have reported that they have started receiving instability warnings related to the I/O Management Unit or the IOMMU security feature.

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Riot Games says Vanguard doesn't make PC bricks

In response to the rumors circulating online, Riot Games responded on Twitter that “Vanguard does not damage hardware or disable your device”. The paperweight joke specifically referred to cheating hardware that no longer works Valiant. The studio further explained that its latest Vanguard updates are intended to enforce standard security protections such as IOMMU on accounts that are detected using DMA-based cheats. These protections prevent unauthorized memory access by cheating devices, but do not permanently disable the computer or component. Any hardware errors or instability experienced by users, Riot clarified, are the expected behavior of these security protections and not intentional damage caused by Vanguard. “We should not and cannot affect the functionality of your computer in any other way.”

In a post on Twitter, the developer further clarified that disabling IOMMU will allow DMA devices to function normally again outside of Riot games. However, IOMMU protection will still be required to run Valiant. Other than that, normal players won't experience any hardware issues since the update only addressed DMA-based cheating. In a second FAQ-style post, Riot reiterated that “no hardware is damaged and no other features are affected.” The situation is reminiscent of similar claims that surfaced in 2024, when some users claimed that Vanguard updates were causing computers to crash. At the time, Riot said it was unable to verify reports that anti-cheat software was blocking computers.

The situation has sparked a wider debate about the increasingly aggressive measures being taken to combat cheating in video games. In particular, hardware DMA has become a problem for developers because it can directly access system memory and bypass many traditional anti-cheat systems. Riot claims that Vanguard is one of the most advanced anti-cheat systems in the industry, and many players welcome the company's strong stance against cheating. But at the same time, there are concerns about anti-cheat software at the kernel level, potential privacy issues, and the extent to which developers interact with player hardware to achieve their goals.

Scratch & Peek

Identify the cover and scrape off as little of the foil as possible.

Scratch & Peek

Identify the cover and scrape off as little of the foil as possible.

EasyMediumHardPermadeath

Despite the regular controversy surrounding Vanguard and other anti-cheat software, Valiant continues to be a huge success for Riot. The tactical first-person shooter has maintained a strong player base worldwide since its launch in 2020. The game receives regular seasonal updates, new agents and anti-cheat improvements and maintains a healthy presence in esports.