Riot Games is stepping up its fight against ranked boosting, with Vanguard’s Anti-Boost detection system now operating across both League of Legends and VALORANT.
According to Riot, the technology was first privately deployed in League of Legends in September 2025 before expanding to VALORANT this summer. Since late last year, Riot says it has already taken action against exactly 296,416 accounts for rank manipulation across the two games, and the system has not even reached its full potential yet.
In brief:
- Vanguard’s Anti-Boost system now operates in both League of Legends and VALORANT.
- Riot has actioned 296,416 accounts for rank manipulation since late 2025.
- Boosted ranks and ranked rewards can be removed, while repeat offenders face increasingly long suspensions.
- Riot plans to continue expanding its detection systems and account verification measures.
Vanguard’s Boosting Detection Expands to VALORANT
Riot originally introduced Vanguard’s Anti-Boost classification system privately in League of Legends in September 2025. After almost a year of testing, the technology was brought over to VALORANT.
VALORANT players started seeing the expanded anti-boosting effort in Patch 13.01 in July 2026. Riot said at the time that its updated detection could more accurately identify boosting and other forms of rank manipulation. The company also confirmed that penalties could include account suspensions, rank or MMR reversions, and the removal of ranked rewards.
The Anti-Boost system is designed to identify situations where a significantly higher-skilled player logs into another person’s account and earns ranked progress that the actual owner would not normally achieve. Riot also tracks players who knowingly queue alongside boosters to benefit from the manipulation.
Riot Has Actioned 296,416 Accounts
The scale of the crackdown is already significant.
Riot says 296,416 accounts across VALORANT and League of Legends have been actioned for rank manipulation since late 2025. The company also made it clear that enforcement is still being expanded, meaning that number is likely to continue increasing.
When Vanguard confirms that an account has been boosted, Riot can:
- Remove ranked points or rewards gained through boosting
- Return the boosted account closer to its previous legitimate rank
- Temporarily suspend the account
- Permanently ban purchased or disposable smurf accounts
- Suspend the main accounts of repeat boosters
- Remove undeserved rank from players repeatedly benefiting from boosters
Riot previously confirmed that VALORANT’s detection specifically targets boosters, boostees, and what it calls “hitchhikers,” meaning players who queue alongside boosted accounts to benefit from the unfair rank gains.
Riot Is Targeting Account Sharing and Purchased Smurfs
Riot says roughly 9% of daily active ranked accounts across VALORANT and League are secondary accounts. However, the company is not treating every alternate account as malicious.
Players who create and level their own alternate accounts are generally not the primary target. Instead, Vanguard is focusing heavily on purchased accounts, shared accounts, deliberately deranked accounts, boosting services, and players using lower-rated accounts to manipulate matchmaking.
Riot’s Community Pact also explicitly lists boosting, queue boosting, deranking, smurfing for competitive advantage, win trading, and other forms of rank manipulation as violations of its fair play standards.
Vanguard’s Anti-Boost Crackdown Is Far From Over
The nearly 300,000 enforcement actions appear to be only the beginning.
Riot says it intends to increase rank removal enforcement over the coming months while also exploring stronger verification measures. Future measures could include wider MFA restrictions and expanded TPM 2.0 requirements as Riot attempts to make disposable accounts, bots, cheating, and repeated rank manipulation harder to maintain.
With Vanguard’s Anti-Boost technology now covering both of Riot’s biggest competitive games, boosting services and purchased smurf accounts are facing significantly more pressure than before.
