The anti-cheat program Riot Vanguard will launch on Philippine servers for testing, but Riot Games has decided to delay its rollout on League of Legends servers globally.
In the 15-year history of League of Legends, Riot Games has always opted out of employing anti-cheat software in the game’s servers. This is despite releasing their anti-cheat software, Riot Vanguard, in their first-person shooter Valorant a few years back.
Recently, the tides have stirred for cheaters in the beloved MOBA game. Amid the rise of scripters and AI cheating bots that have significantly tainted the game’s integrity, Riot Games announced their plans to implement Riot Vanguard in League of Legends in their 2024 Roadmap announcement.
However, Riot Games has recanted their initial announcement in the League of Legends’ 14.4 patch notes. The developers share their decision to change the rollout plan, focusing on a single-region test for Riot Vanguard first instead of global implementation.
Riot Vanguard to make League of Legends debut in PH2 servers
The LoL devs did not expound on their choice of server to test on. However, it can be noted that the Philippine server (PH2) is among the youngest dedicated servers in League of Legends. The region was formerly supported by Garena until January 2023.
While adding an anti-cheat server can significantly improve gameplay and integrity, not every League of Legends player is on board with the idea of adding Riot Vanguard to the game.
The anti-cheat software was previously slammed by Valorant players due to the extreme measures it takes to prevent players who need bot assistance in their ranked games.
The software runs at a kernel level and has the ability to ban not only accounts but hardware that has been linked to in-game cheating.
Despite the calls and concerns with the software, Riot Games is still eager to employ Riot Vanguard in their MOBA game. Many players are still frustrated with the recent rise of in-game scripting and AI-aided players ruining ranked matches.
Besides clearing the game of “no integrity” players, Riot Vanguard will also stop players from installing “skin mods” and personalized skins on their game – to the dismay of some.
Other apps that could be affected by the implementation of anti-cheat software in League of Legends include game overlays and third-party apps, which can result in account timeouts or even a hardware ban.
The PH2 Servers will require Riot Vanguard on the 14.5 patch, with the release of the software on other servers still yet to be announced.