Overview
- Riot Games began rolling out an on‑demand mode for its Vanguard kernel anti‑cheat on June 24, 2026, that keeps the driver dormant except while a Riot title is running.
- The feature depends on a new Vanguard Pre‑Check that requires Windows 11 25H2, UEFI Secure Boot, TPM 2.0, Virtualization‑Based Security, Hypervisor‑Protected Code Integrity, and IOMMU.
- About 35% of Riot’s players already meet the Pre‑Check and can switch immediately, roughly 65% must enable settings or update firmware to qualify, and about 3% on older hardware cannot adopt on‑demand without upgrading.
- Riot worked with Microsoft’s Xbox OS Security Team to use the Windows Runtime Driver Attestation report to detect drivers loaded since boot so Vanguard does not need to run 24/7 to catch pre‑existing cheats.
- Riot says the change is optional for most players, may gain extra checks for top competitive tiers later, and could gradually increase adoption as more PCs ship with the required security defaults.