Riot Games has moved to dispel rumours suggesting that its Vanguard anti-cheat system is being used to render the PCs of cheaters useless. The developer of League of Legends and Valorant found itself at the centre of a storm following a post on X/Twitter (formerly Twitter) late yesterday. The company published an image along with the message, “congrats to the owners of a brand new $6k paperweight.” This image showed a collection of hardware, and was meant as a humorous jab at cheaters.
The post was taken by some as an indication that Riot was capable of permanently disabling the computers of players caught cheating. Less than a day later, Riot responded,
that “Vanguard does not damage hardware or disable your devices.” It confirmed that the paperweights in question were hardware used for cheating, explicitly stating, “Vanguard does not damage hardware or disable your devices.”
Riot Games wrote in a follow-up post, “The photo we posted is a picture of cheat hardware devices that are sold explicitly for cheating in VALORANT (not normal PCs or PC components).” The company explained that its latest updates to Vanguard now make these cheating devices useless for Valorant. However, it reassured users that the updates do not in any way render PCs, their components, or software useless. The company also explained that the latest update enforces standard platform security features, like the Input-Output Memory Management Unit (IOMMU). This is on accounts identified as using Direct Memory Access (DMA) cheating devices. These protections are already part of modern systems and, when enabled, they block DMA cheat devices from accessing memory in downstream applications, such as their games.
Riot continued, explaining that cheaters may encounter hardware faults or instability if they persist in their attempts. It added that “this is expected behaviour.” If IOMMU is disabled, the cheating device should function as normal. Additionally, only those who use DMA-based cheats will be affected by the aforementioned issues. Riot said, “This means the cheat device won’t work with our games, but your PC isn’t ‘bricked.’ We would not, and cannot, impact your PC’s functionality in any other fashion.”
The company reiterated its commitment to investing in anti-cheat measures to protect the integrity of competitive play. It also pledged to maintain transparency about how these systems operate. The League of Legends developer attempted to further quell controversy with a follow-up post. Riot clarified that it “didn’t joke about bricking PCs, only about Valorant cheating devices.” It even instructed cheaters on how to fix any paperweight-ing that may have occurred, but noted that as long as they are using DMA cheats, they “won’t be able to play our games.”
Riot’s latest effort to address fan concerns follows a similar conversation that emerged around Vanguard in 2024. At that time, players claimed that the developer was using the anti-cheat system to render PCs useless. Riot stepped in to state that it was unable to confirm any reports of bricking taking place.
