Vanguard 2 arrives on Mac without extra installations

Riot Games took the Mac gaming community by surprise. The announcement revealed that League of Legends anti-cheat system, Vanguard, is being rebirthed on Mac. This could be huge, as the arrival of Vanguard 2 promises to improve and fix a lot of issues.

Riot Games’ popular MOBA, League of Legends, has had little issues on macOS. The proprietary kernel-level anti-cheat, Vanguard, was originally developed for Riot Games’ FPS Valorant. The macOS version of Riot Vanguard used an alternative method because of the differences in Mac and Windows architectures. This meant that cheaters could use macOS VMs to by-pass Vanguard, referred to as bots.

Recently, in a dev blog, Riot Games’ Head of Anti-Cheat, MirageOfPenguins, confirmed that the Vanguard will soon be on Mac, in the shape of Vanguard 2 or embedded Vanguard(mVG). Although this version of Vanguard is already utilized through Valorant on console, the implementation for Mac is a significant milestone. Players will experience enhanced security without the additional steps or installations, making the process more user-friendly. This move is a part of Riot Games’ broader commitment to providing a secure gaming experience across all platforms.

• Related: Riot is giving a free Valorant console beta card, here’s how to get it

What does Vanguard 2 mean for Mac users?

For Mac users, embedded Vanguard (mVG) or Vanguard 2, could mean a smoother experience with fewer interruptions and potential compatibility issues. This is a subtle but important step in Riot’s ongoing efforts to provide a seamless and secure gaming experience across different platforms.

This highlights the inherent differences in operating systems and how security is managed. While Mac’s architecture allows for this integrated solution, Windows users must continue with the existing setup, which is intrusive, but necessary for comprehensive security.

MirageOfPenguins commented on this architectural difference by saying, “The unique security of the macOS environment allows us to be a little less stringent on defending its kernel, so as the name implies, this won’t require any extra installs…”

Unfortunately, the expected release date of Vanguard 2 isn’t finalized yet, but the same dev blog suggests the new anti-cheat is expected to release later this year. Mac users can soon look forward to more streamlined gaming experience with enhanced security. This implementation could potentially hint at Valorant running natively on macOS. However, that is out of the question. When it comes to League, in the words of MirageOfPenguins, “We hope it will be the final blow to bots…”