The developers behind League of Legends and Valorant, Riot Games, recently caused a stir among fans. There were accusations that their anti-cheat system could even damage hardware. They have now publicly commented on this.
On May 22, Riot sparked a controversy with a post regarding Vanguard, their anti-cheat system. They are now supposedly taking action against hardware tools that cheaters can use to cheat in games like Valorant with a new update.
This has led to a lot of outrage from players, who claim that Riot has gone too far. Some accused them of making hardware unusable, and some users feared that innocent programs might be falsely detected. We reported on these allegations.
In light of the news, we also submitted a press inquiry to Riot. Now, a day later, Riot has addressed the allegations in a lengthy post and wants to clarify that Vanguard is not intended to cause damage to hardware or render your devices unusable.
PCs should not become unusable
What does Riot say about the allegations? In a lengthy post, Riot spoke out on x.com. In this post, they addressed the allegations that Vanguard “bricks” PCs, meaning makes them unusable. Right at the beginning of the post, they clarify: Vanguard does not cause damage to hardware and does not disable your devices.
The posted photo (source: x.com) is said to show hardware that is explicitly intended for cheating in Valorant. It should not be regular PC hardware. The latest update of Valorant is supposed to make these devices unusable for Valorant, but not for the PCs, other components, or software. The new system only blocks devices used for cheating.
If one continues to cheat after the anti-cheat system has detected a cheat setup, it can lead to hardware failures or instability
. If one tries to disable the IOMMU (Input-Output Memory Management Unit), which checks whether one is using cheating hardware, the cheating device may work again, but the IOMMU is required to play Riot’s games.
Here, Riot again clarifies that this device will not work with their games, but the PC will not be bricked
, meaning unusable. According to the statement, Riot would and can have no influence on the functionality of the PCs themselves. Players who do not use such cheats are not affected at all.
Community continues to discuss
What else does Riot say about the allegations? Riot continues the post with short responses. They explain that Vanguard does not cause physical damage to hardware and that the system only targets software and hardware that affects Riot’s games.
If one wants to cheat in other games, Riot explains, one can also disable the IOMMU just as it was enabled. However, one still cannot play Riot’s games.
When asked why they joked about making PCs unusable (referring to the photo), Riot explains finally that they merely made a comment about devices used for cheating in Valorant.
We have also asked Riot further questions regarding legality and EU data protection regulations (GDPR). If Riot provides us with further information, we will supplement this article.
How does the community react to the response? Under the post, which has now been viewed over 8 million times on x.com, the discussion seems to have intensified. While some users vent about cheaters, others are not satisfied with the statement and question whether all of it is true.
In the comments, there are also some cheaters who claim to have suffered hardware damage. But there are also users who allegedly did not cheat, expressing their displeasure and problems with Vanguard.
At this point, these allegations cannot be confirmed. In the past, players have reported that Vanguard destroyed their PCs. At that time, Riot also stated that no cases had been confirmed where hardware was damaged.
It remains to be seen whether Riot will comment again on Vanguard, after all, the anti-cheat system has been under criticism since its implementation. At the end of 2025, Riot announced the probably largest update of all time for League of Legends: Riot announces one of the biggest updates in the history of LoL, plans a comprehensive overhaul of the entire game
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