Valorant's new Vanguard update seems to be bricking cheaters' PCs. Riot's response? "Congrats on your $6k paperweights"
PCGamesN • • technology
Key Points:
- Riot Games' Vanguard anti-cheat, required for playing Valorant and League of Legends, operates at the kernel level, giving it deep access to users' systems to prevent cheating but raising concerns about potential system damage.
- The latest Vanguard update has reportedly become more aggressive, targeting and disabling DMA firmware used to hide cheats on SATA and NVMe SSDs, sometimes causing PCs to become unusable and requiring a full OS reinstall to fix.
- Complaints have surged following Vanguard's integration into League of Legends in 2024, with high-profile cases like streamer Nick 'LS' De Cesare experiencing system issues, and Riot acknowledging the problem with a somewhat dismissive response.
- While Vanguard effectively deters cheaters by terminating games and disabling cheat methods, its kernel-level operation and potential to "brick" machines have sparked debates over user safety, legal implications, and the trade-offs of using such intrusive anti-cheat technology.
- Riot appears committed to maintaining Vanguard despite backlash, meaning players must accept the risks of installing the software or forgo playing Riot's games altogether.