Valorant's Anti-Cheat Does Not Completely Block PCs: Riot Games Clarifies After Controversy

In recent days, a heated debate has erupted around the anti-cheat system used by Riot Games for the famous competitive shooter Valorant. It all started after some social media statements seemed to suggest the possibility of rendering players' PCs unusable if they were caught using illegal tools. The company’s initial response, accompanied by a sarcastic jab at cheaters and their supposed "$6,000 paperweights", had indeed led to thoughts of a kind of total computer lockout.

The issue quickly raised doubts and controversies, especially regarding the legitimacy of software capable, in theory, of compromising the complete functioning of an operating system. To clarify the situation, Riot Games subsequently published a long explanatory message, specifying how Vanguard actually works and debunking the idea that the program could damage hardware or make an entire PC unusable.

According to the company's explanation, the system does not interfere with normal computers or their standard components but acts exclusively against specific hardware devices created especially for cheating in Valorant. These are DMA tools, used to illegally access the system’s memory and gain advantages in the game.

Well, that escalated quickly. There’s been a wave of claims by cheaters about Vanguard "bricking" their PCs, so let’s clear that up: Vanguard does not damage hardware or disable your devices. The photo we posted is a picture of cheat hardware devices that are sold explicitly... source -- Riot Games (@riotgames) May 22, 2026

Riot Games and the Vanguard Anti-Cheat System

Riot clarified that the latest updates to Vanguard leverage security features already present in modern operating systems, like the Input-Output Memory Management Unit, known as IOMMU. This technology prevents DMA devices from reading protected data within supported games.

The company also explained that if such devices continue to attempt access to protected memory after the defenses are activated, hardware errors or system instability may occur. However, these behaviors are expected by the security protections and are not damages caused intentionally by the anti-cheat.

By disabling the IOMMU, cheating devices can start functioning again, but the protection system remains necessary to launch Riot Games’ titles. In practice, the software prevents the use of illegal tools within the game without compromising the overall functioning of the computer. The company reiterated that it will continue to invest in the development of anti-cheat to protect the competitive integrity of its titles.