Riot penalizes 296,416 LoL and VALORANT accounts

Riot Games has penalized 296,416 League of Legends and VALORANT accounts for rank manipulation since late 2025, applying measures that range from rank removals and revoked rewards to temporary suspensions. Not all actions were permanent bans; some accounts received shorter penalties depending on the case.

Anti-Boost first launched in League of Legends in September 2025 and was extended to VALORANT earlier this summer. The system flags instances where a large share of an account’s ranked points are earned by a higher-rated player. It looks for sudden changes in performance that do not match an account’s prior behavior, such as when someone else uses the account and plays at a substantially higher level.

When boosting is confirmed, Riot can remove points or rewards earned during the affected period and return the account to its previous rank. Temporary suspensions start at three days and increase for repeat violations. Accounts that appear to be purchased or that lack a legitimate owner can face permanent bans.

Riot also targets the players doing the boosting. Investigations that link a booster to a main account and find recurring behavior can lead to escalating suspensions on the booster’s primary account. The company listed behaviors it treats as boosting, including sharing an account with a boosting service, paying boosters who play on smurf accounts in the same party, handing a lower-ranked account to a more skilled friend, buying or borrowing accounts to face weaker opponents, and deliberately losing matches to lower matchmaking rating.

Players who repeatedly group with boosters or smurfs can also lose ranks and rewards. A Riot social post summarized the policy: “PSA: Boosting, smurfing, hitchhiking… it’s all cheating,” and added, “296,416 rent-a-rank customers served and counting.”

Riot separates legitimate alternate accounts from those used to manipulate matchmaking. About 9% of accounts active in ranked queues on a given day are secondary accounts, and roughly half of those are considered harmless. Over 70% of players have at least one alternate account. Anti-Boost is not designed to automatically punish people for owning multiple accounts; an account created and leveled by its owner and not shared is treated as a legitimate alternate.

Riot said the system is still being expanded and that it plans to widen the removal of improperly earned ranks in the coming months and increase enforcement against boosting services and account sellers.

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