
Developers at Riot Games have been increasing measures to prevent bad actors from ruining other players’ games, and one effect of that effort is a global ban system that may result in a shared ban for someone playing both LoL and Valorant.
League of Legends and Valorant both now use the Vanguard anti-cheat system to prevent cheaters from getting an unfair advantage during play online. Riot Games has also added preventive measures to their games to ensure fair play and less toxicity. Toxic players are meant to be dealt with swiftly, with suspensions and occasional bans to ensure that well-behaved and cooperative players can continue to enjoy their games.
Some players may wonder whether a suspension in one game will cause them to be unable to play online in another Riot Games title. Global bans are real, and Riot’s mission to ensure less toxicity might lead to LoL bans affecting Valorant accounts too.
Riot Games has made clear that a Riot Games account ban may affect all titles that a user plays, including both Valorant and League of Legends.
In November 2024, Riot announced the company’s intentions to take more severe action against offenders. The developer stated that suspending an offender in one game doesn’t always work as they can simply switch to playing another game in the meantime. So the company decided to dish out global bans to players who commit the most serious violations.
Riot has clarified that while global bans have been added to the penalty system, they will be used only in relatively rare cases. The developer said that the offense has to be particularly egregious to warrant a player getting a Riot Games-wide ban. A small offense committed in LoL won’t lead to a player not being able to access their Valorant account, even if it does result in a temporary ban from playing League.
Global bans aren’t the norm across most online games. Even games that use the same anti-cheat system tend not to implement them. One exception is the BattlEye anti-cheat engine which uses hardware bans to restrict players from all games it covers. So if a player is banned in Rainbow Six Siege, which uses BattlEye, they won’t be able to play fellow BattlEye game Fortnite either. The two games use the same anti-cheat, and maintain a unified listing of players banned for cheating.
While BattlEye mainly singles out cheaters, Riot has stated that its intention is to issue global bans to repeat toxic players as well. The developer also said that stream snipers and players involved in boosting or account buying and selling could also be so penalized.
The best way to avoid a global ban across LoL and Valorant is to simply be on good behavior. Avoid cheating in-game, don’t be toxic towards other players, and don’t engage in boosting or other account-related practices that are against Riot Games’ terms of service. Anyone following these general guidelines is sure to avoid such a ban.
Players must be 21 years of age or older or reach the minimum age for gambling in their respective state and located in jurisdictions where online gambling is legal. Please play responsibly. Bet with your head, not over it. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, and wants help, call or visit: (a) the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey at 1-800-Gambler or www.800gambler.org; or (b) Gamblers Anonymous at 855-2-CALL-GA or www.gamblersanonymous.org.