League of Legends

League of Legends is the flagship MOBA and, by most measures, the largest competitive PC game in the world for more than a decade. Five players per side, free to play, with a roster of champions that has grown past 160 since launch. Riot GamesPublisherRiot GamesRiot Games is the publisher of Valorant and League of Legends, and the developer of Riot Vanguard, the kernel-mode anti-cheat that backs both titles. Founded 2006, owned by Tencent since 2011.2 games in this family → released it in 2009 and has continued to build on its own custom technology, the Hextech Engine, rather than moving to Unreal or Unity. The competitive scene runs from open ladder to regional leagues to the annual World Championship, which routinely posts the highest concurrent viewership in esports. If a PC has a Riot Client installed at all, it is usually because of League.

If League of Legends is installed, expect Riot VanguardAnti-cheatRiot VanguardRiot Vanguard is Riot's kernel-mode anti-cheat for Valorant and League of Legends. Notable for loading at every Windows boot regardless of whether a Riot game is running, in contrast to most PC anti-cheats which load only while their protected game is open. The kernel driver (vgk.sys) and user-mode service (vgc.exe) are both catalogued in the Field Guide.2 games in this family → to be installed too, expect vgk.sys to load at system boot, and expect the vgc service and vgtray tray icon to be running. Uninstalling League removes Vanguard only if Valorant is not also installed on the same machine. If both are present, Vanguard stays as long as either game does. Keeping the Riot Client up to date is the practical hygiene step.

In April and May of 2024, Riot extended Riot Vanguard, the kernel-mode anti-cheat already shipping with Valorant, to League of Legends. The global rollout landed in patch 14.9 on April 30, 2024, after a pilot in the Philippines server with patch 14.8. After install, Vanguard's kernel driver (vgk.sys) loads at system boot whether League is open or not, the same posture it takes for Valorant. The companion user-mode service and tray (vgc.exeProcessvgc.exeRiot Vanguard service (Valorant and League of Legends anti-cheat)Open plate → and vgtray.exeProcessvgtray.exeRiot Vanguard tray iconOpen plate →, both curated in the Field Guide's processes section) run alongside it. This was a real change: before 14.9, League had no kernel anti-cheat, and many players had years of habit with that lighter footprint.

Riot Games has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Tencent since December 2015, when Tencent bought the remaining stake on top of the majority position it took in 2011. The 2024 decision to bring Vanguard to League was contentious in the mainstream gaming press and on the LoL subreddit, with coverage in PC Gamer, Dot Esports, Sportskeeda, and others, and a later flare-up in 2025 around an update targeting DMA cheats that drew accusations of bricked hardware that Riot denied. To Riot's credit, the company has been more open than most about its anti-cheat design, publishing developer blog posts about Vanguard's architecture and goals. The debate over kernel anti-cheat is not Vera's debate to settle.