Riot Games recently updated its Vanguard anti-cheating system and introduced a new "On-Demand Mode" that allows players to turn off Vanguard and start it automatically at boot, and only load relevant modules when running games that require anti-cheating support such as "League of Legends" and "VALORANT". This adjustment stems from previous reports that Vanguard has a "soft brick" risk when interacting with some hardware commonly used for cheating, causing players to worry about compatibility and security.
According to Riot’s official blog, in on-demand mode, Vanguard no longer starts with the operating system, but is loaded when the player starts the protected game. This can theoretically shorten the boot time of Windows PC and slightly reduce the system’s daily resource usage. However, in order to use on-demand mode, players’ devices must pass a set of security standard pre-checks (Vanguard Pre-Check) set by Riot.
The so-called Vanguard pre-check means that players need to meet a series of security conditions at the system and firmware levels, including running Windows 11 25H2 or later, and enabling Secure Boot, TPM 2.0, IOMMU, VBS, and Hypervisor‑Protected Code Integrity (virtualization-based security and hypervisor protection code integrity). These measures are designed to ensure that no cheats are enabled or malicious code is injected into the kernel layer from system boot to Vanguard loading, thereby maintaining a trusted link to the anti-cheat environment.
Riot said that currently about 35% of Vanguard user systems are already in the so-called "secured-core state", which means that their configuration has met all the above requirements and will be able to enable on-demand mode directly after receiving the next version of Vanguard update. For those users who have turned off one or more of the above UEFI security options, they need to go through the pre-check process and turn on the relevant security features one by one before enabling on-demand mode.
This change is seen as Riot's attempt to balance player experience with anti-cheating strength: on the one hand, the on-demand mode alleviates some users' concerns about resident kernel drivers and system performance; on the other hand, by raising the system security base and pre-check threshold, Riot attempts to maintain the ability to monitor and defend against kernel-level cheating methods. In an environment where competitive online games continue to "upgrade their offensive and defensive capabilities" with plug-in tools, similar system-level anti-cheating solutions are still controversial, but manufacturers are also constantly trying to balance players' sense of security and user experience through technical and strategic adjustments.
