May 22 2026, 11:27am PST: Riot has since issued a tweet confirming that Vanguard does not “brick” PCs, clarifying that the devices in its tweet are “cheat hardware devices.” It states that “Vanguard now makes those devices worthless for Valorant, but does not in any way brick PCs or PC components or PC software.” PCGamesN apologizes for any confusion.
Riot Games’ Vanguard anti-cheat has come under fire many a time. When it first launched with Valorant, players accused the tech of “bricking” their PCs, with complaints about its kernel-level access. Those same allegations began to spiral when Vanguard was added to League of Legends in 2024, with high-profile streamer Nick ‘LS’ De Cesare’s computer being one of many that appeared to have issues post-launch. Some users have claimed that a new update to Riot’s anti-cheat has led to PCs being “bricked,” but Riot has since issued a statement highlighting that Vanguard “does not in any way brick PCs or PC components or PC software.”
If you want to play either Valorant or League of Legends, you have to have Vanguard installed. As a kernel-level anti-cheat, Vanguard operates at the deepest level on your OS, ensuring that hackers can’t just bypass Riot’s anti-cheat systems. We’ve seen it work wonders in recent years, with games now officially terminating if cheaters are found.
There were rumors that the latest Vanguard update had made the tech more aggressive. ‘ogisada’ on X alleged that “the majority of DMA firmwares using SATA/NVMe.” DMA firmware, for those not in the know, is the software used to disguise cheats on your machine, while SATA and NVMe refer to the SSD type you’re using.
“VGK [Vanguard] suddenly triggered an IOMMU restart warning in-game, after which the DMA firmware becomes completely unusable, even without the game running or after uninstalling Vanguard. Only fix is a full OS reinstall.” In non-tech jargon: Vanguard was allegedly going after DMA firmware whether or not you’re playing Valorant. The FPS game also doesn’t even need to be on your PC for Vanguard to activate, and if Vanguard does go after any DMA firmware on your PC, the only fix is a full Windows OS reinstall.
In the wake of ogisada’s tweet, Riot has clarified that Vanguard “does not in any way brick PCs or PC components or PC software,” noting that the image attached to the tweet shown below “is a picture of cheat hardware devices that are sold explicitly for cheating in Valorant.” The anti-cheat’s latest update “now makes those devices worthless.”
Riot goes into detail about how Vanguard is operating following its latest update, which you can check out here. “Disabling IOMMU allows the cheat device to function again, but IOMMU will still be required to play our games,” it writes. “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.
“We’ll keep investing in anti-cheat to protect competitive integrity, and we’ll keep being as transparent as possible about how those systems work.”
