Riot now lets you enable its anti-cheat when you want to

Riot Games has announced a new feature for League of Legends and Valorant players that changes how Vanguard anti-cheat software operates. With the introduction of Vanguard Pre-Check, players who have the necessary hardware and opt into "pre-boot security mechanisms and Windows’ own native protection features" can now switch Vanguard from always-on to an on-demand mode, meaning the kernel-level driver will only launch when the game runs and stay active only while playing a Riot title.

According to Phillip Koskinas, Riot’s head of anti-cheat, this change is possible after collaborating with Microsoft’s Xbox OS Security Team to improve the Windows kernel. These improvements block driver and memory exploits commonly used by cheats for wallhacks, aimbots, and triggerbots. To ensure no cheats are loaded without constant monitoring, Riot uses a Windows security feature called the Runtime Driver Attestation Report, which provides a secured list of device drivers loaded since boot.

Using Vanguard Pre-Check requires at least Windows 11 version 25H2. This means enabling UEFI Mode, Secure Boot, Trusted Platform Module 2.0 (TPM), Virtualization-Based Security (VBS), Hypervisor-Protected Code Integrity (HVCI), and Input-Output Memory Management Unit (IOMMU). Koskinas notes that most new PCs already ship with these settings enabled, making the update optional for those who want to take advantage of it.

Pre-Check is optional; players can stick with the always-on mode if they prefer. Riot states that 35% of players already meet the requirements and can switch to on-demand mode with their next update. The remaining 65% will need to adjust their system settings if they wish to use the new feature.