Riot Games expands Vanguard Anti-Cheat to macOS

Philip 'MirageOfPenguins' Koskinas, Riot Games' Head of Anti-Cheat, detailed the new implementation in a recent blog post.

The new kernel-level anti-cheat software, previously successful on PC, is now being rolled out to all League of Legends players on macOS.

Vanguard 2 is the latest iteration of Riot's cutting-edge anti-cheat system, which has proven to be highly effective in combating cheaters across its games.

Metrics such as the time taken to detect and act on cheaters, scripter counts, and bot detection have all improved dramatically since Vanguard's implementation on PC.

The success of Vanguard on PC led many cheaters and botters to migrate to macOS, prompting Riot to develop an equally robust solution for Apple's platform.

The macOS version, referred to as embedded Vanguard (mVG), will be mandatory for all League of Legends players on the platform.

This marks a departure from the less strict Packman anti-cheat system previously used in the game.

Embedded Vanguard is already running on consoles for VALORANT and mobile for Wild Rift, showing Riot's commitment to cross-platform anti-cheat measures.

The introduction of Vanguard on macOS could also pave the way for VALORANT to become natively playable on Mac, a development that would be welcomed by many fans of the tactical shooter.