Riot Games unveils plan to curb smurfing and protect fair play in League of Legends
Riot Games has laid out a comprehensive set of measures aimed at ensuring every match in League of Legends gives players a fair shot at victory. The developer emphasizes that behaviors such as griefing, intentional feeding, smurfing, and verbal abuse undermine the integrity of the game, and pledges to detect, penalize, and reduce these actions.
What’s already been done
– Earlier in the year, patch 25.6 introduced LP refunds for players who faced cheaters in their games, leveraging Vanguard’s tools as part of a broader effort to remove cheaters from the ecosystem.
– Patch 25.9 delivered a significant boost to detection systems, resulting in roughly 10 times more bans for game-ruining behavior on a daily basis.
– Riot says this work is ongoing, with a commitment to continue improving protections in future updates.
What the rest of 2025 will bring
– The focus will shift to addressing common forms of game-ruining behavior tied to smurfing, including boosting, hitchhiking, and the use of purchased or bot-created accounts.
– Boosting involves a skilled player logging into another account to boost its MMR, while hitchhiking (or bussing) sees players pairing with others to climb artificially. Both practices degrade the experience for players aiming to climb the ladder honestly.
– A new patch, 25.18, expands reporting with a “Rank Manipulation” category to flag boosting, hitchhiking, and deranking. Reports collected through this system help refine detection models, and players will be informed when action is taken and LP is refunded where applicable.
– Vanguard continues to improve detection of shared, sold, or botting accounts, which commonly accompany boosting or hitchhiking. This work will enable stronger enforcement in patch 25.18 and beyond.
– Riot clarifies that personal alt accounts used responsibly by a single player are generally safe, provided they are not intentionally deranked. The company is also refining skill-level placement to prevent alt accounts from entering lower-skilled matches.
Looking ahead
– The plan acknowledges that no single change will eliminate smurfing, but Riot aims to roll out additional measures by the end of the year to address burner accounts and creators’ accounts used to bypass penalties.
– A long-term project highlighted is True Skill 2 (TS2), which promises more accurate MMR detection. The company has begun testing TS2 in North America across normal SR and ARAM, fixed initial issues, and expanded testing to all unranked queues in Korea. Early results show high-skill players landing in appropriately skilled games within about five matches—three times faster than current systems.
– Riot stresses that matchmaking quality remains a top priority and that users can expect ongoing updates. An October dev update is anticipated to outline further progress and new rollout timelines.
What this means for players
– Expect more robust tools to report and deter rank manipulation, along with clearer feedback when actions are taken.
– If you encounter boosted or hitchhiking behavior, filing a rank manipulation report will be part of the standard workflow, with the promise of more timely responses.
– For players who use high-quality alt accounts responsibly, Riot signals it will continue to refine how these are treated to prevent unfair gameplay while not penalizing legitimate uses.
Overall, Riot’s roadmap signals a strong commitment to fair competition in League of Legends and a steady cadence of improvements designed to reduce smurfing and related abuses. Players are encouraged to stay engaged, report suspicious behavior, and watch for upcoming updates in October as more changes roll out.
Additional notes and context
– The emphasis on True Skill 2 reflects a broader industry trend toward more precise matchmaking, aiming to place players in matches that reflect true skill levels more quickly.
– While the policy changes are positive, meaningful impact will depend on consistent enforcement and ongoing refinement of detection methods to minimize false positives and protect legitimate players.
If you’d like, I can add a brief reader-friendly sidebar with a quick FAQ on boosting, hitchhiking, and how to use the new Rank Manipulation reports, or draft a separate explainer on how True Skill 2 aims to change matchmaking dynamics.