Riot now treats smurfing as rank manipulation: a veteran playing on a low-ranked account to stomp weaker lobbies. Since late 2025 it has actioned 296,416 accounts, and the tell is not the account age, it is the performance gap.
An alt is not a smurf, and Riot finally drew the line
About 9 percent of daily ranked accounts across League of Legends and VALORANT are secondary accounts, and Riot says roughly half of those are mostly harmless alternates: someone practicing a different role, or playing under a name their friends do not know. The other half is the problem, and Riot's September update drew the line in the one place it can be drawn cleanly, on intent and behavior.
An alternate account you created and leveled yourself, that you play honestly, is allowed. An account used to manipulate ranked matches, whether by boosting a friend, farming easy wins, or tanking to stay low, is not. The account is the same shape in both cases. The difference is what the player does with it.
How the system reads a performance gap
Detection starts with the numbers a new player cannot fake for long. A genuinely new account climbs slowly, loses games, and has the ragged stats of someone learning. A smurf account posts a win rate and a headshot rate and a CS per minute that no new player has, and it does it from the first placement match. Riot's system watches long-term performance and matchmaking data for accounts whose behavior does not look like a normal player at that rank.
Player reports feed the same system. VALORANT's patch 13.01 added a dedicated Rank Manipulation report category, so reports about smurfing, boosting, and win trading go into one bucket instead of getting lost under generic cheating reports. Cross-game experience from League's anti-boosting work feeds the VALORANT side too.
What happens when it catches you
Confirmed rank manipulation in VALORANT now brings account suspensions, rank reversions, and the removal of ranked rewards. The boosted account loses the points and rewards it gained, and the booster can face penalties on their main account too. Players who queue alongside a boosted account, the hitchhikers, can lose the rank they gained from those matches.
League's version escalates: a three-day suspension, then two weeks, then permanent for repeat offenders. And account linking means penalties follow the player across accounts. Buying a leveled account to skip the grind is itself a violation, which is why the bought-account smurf is the easiest kind to catch: the account's history and the player's skill do not match at all.
What you can still do with a second account
The safe list is short and clear. Level the account yourself. Play it honestly. Do not share it, do not buy it, do not use it to carry a friend or dodge your real rank. Starting in patch 11.08, League requires multi-factor authentication through Riot Mobile for anyone with an alternate account, or anyone caught smurfing or boosting, which raises the cost of running a stable of throwaway accounts.
The practical advice is boring, which is the point. If your second account is for practice, it will look like practice. If it is for stomping, it will look like stomping, and the system now has a name for that.
Keep reading
Related guides on this site: how replay review catches what automated anti-cheat misses how leaver penalties escalate from warnings to season bans why rank resets and placement matches feel rigged More from Bot Protection For Games.
Frequently asked questions
Can you get banned just for having a second account?
No. Riot explicitly allows an alternate account you created and leveled yourself, as long as you do not share it or use it to manipulate ranked matches. About 9 percent of daily ranked accounts are secondary accounts, and roughly half are considered harmless.
How does Riot tell a smurf from a genuinely new player?
By the performance gap. A smurf posts win rates, headshot rates, and CS per minute no new player has, from the first placement match. The system combines long-term matchmaking data with player reports under the Rank Manipulation category.
What are the penalties for rank manipulation in VALORANT?
Patch 13.01 introduced account suspensions, rank and MMR reversions, and removal of ranked rewards. Boosters can be penalized on their main accounts, and players who queued with a boosted account can lose rank gained from those matches.
Does smurfing affect the players you queue with?
Yes. Riot calls them hitchhikers: players who queue alongside a boosted account and gain rank from manipulated matches. When the manipulation is confirmed, hitchhikers can lose the rank they gained.