Vanguard Finally Goes On-Demand: My 2026 Valorant Story

I still remember the first time I installed Valorant back in 2020. I was hyped for the gunplay, the agents, the ranked grind. But the moment Vanguard dug its driver into my Windows startup, I felt a small pang of regret. Every time I turned on my PC—whether I wanted to play Valorant or not—Vanguard was already there, watching, waiting, running. For six years, I and millions of other players asked the same question: why does an anti-cheat need to run when the game isn’t even open? Riot called it necessary. We called it invasive. Neither side moved. Until now. In 2026, Vanguard is finally getting an on-demand mode, and as someone who has been both a skeptic and a dedicated player, I have thoughts.

The June 24 Announcement That Changed Everything

According to a post published June 24 on the Riot Games website, Vanguard will now support an on-demand mode that keeps its driver dormant until you actually launch a Riot title. That means no more Vanguard at startup. No more background driver running while I’m editing videos, browsing, or playing a non-Riot game. The driver sleeps until I double-click Valorant—or any other Riot game—and then it wakes up to do its job. For a player like me, that’s not a small quality-of-life change. It’s a fundamental shift in how the anti-cheat relationship works.

But there’s a catch. Players need to meet a set of hardware and software requirements, collectively called “Vanguard Pre-Check.” Riot says roughly 35% of its playerbase already qualifies, with that figure growing by one to two percent each month. Here’s what the checklist looks like:

Requirement	What It Means	My Status
Windows 11 25H2	The latest Windows feature update	✅ Updated
Secure Boot	Prevents unauthorized bootloaders	✅ Enabled
TPM 2.0	Hardware-based security chip	✅ Present
IOMMU	Input–output memory management unit	✅ Supported
Virtualization-Based Security	Isolates critical OS processes	✅ Enabled

When I first saw that list, I groaned. I’m a gamer, not a sysadmin. But then I checked my rig. I already had Secure Boot, TPM 2.0, IOMMU, and VBS enabled from previous Windows updates. The only thing I needed was Windows 11 25H2. After a quick update and a reboot, I ran Riot’s pre-check tool. It passed. I was in the 35%. And let me tell you, the first time I booted my PC without Vanguard, I felt a weird sense of freedom. 😌

Why Riot Couldn’t Do This Before

For years, Riot insisted that Vanguard had to run 24/7 for a reason. And to be fair, the reason was real. Without an always-on driver, a cheater could load a vulnerable driver, strip it out, and leave no trace before Vanguard booted up. By the time the anti-cheat started, the evidence was gone. That’s the gap that made the always-on requirement feel unavoidable—at least from Riot’s perspective.

The breakthrough comes from new Windows functionality developed with Microsoft’s Xbox OS Security team. A feature called Runtime Driver Attestation now lets Vanguard verify that no cheat drivers loaded before the game launched, even if Vanguard itself wasn’t running to see them do it. That’s the piece that closes the gap natively. Instead of Vanguard watching everything all the time, Windows itself keeps a tamper-evident record. When Vanguard wakes up on demand, it can check that record and know whether the system was clean before launch. It’s elegant, and it’s about time.

What This Means for Cheaters—and for Us

This isn’t Riot going soft on cheaters. If anything, Vanguard has been on a tear. In May, Vanguard made headlines after it rendered thousands of dollars worth of DMA cheat hardware unusable. Riot joked that the devices had become “$6K paperweights.” I laughed, but I also appreciated it. Cheating in Valorant has been a persistent nightmare, especially in high-rank lobbies. So when I see Riot adapting and improving, I pay attention.

The on-demand mode doesn’t mean Vanguard is weaker. It means it’s smarter. It still runs when I play. It still blocks the bad stuff. But it no longer treats my personal computer like a permanent crime scene. For a game that launched in 2020, this is a long-overdue evolution. Six years of forum posts, Reddit threads, and support tickets finally paid off.

My Honest Take as a Player

As a first-person account, I’ll be blunt: I love this change. I can leave my PC on without Vanguard idling in the background. I can play other games without wondering if the anti-cheat is scanning something it shouldn’t. I can stream, edit, and work without that extra driver layer. And when I want to play Valorant, Vanguard starts automatically. It’s the best of both worlds—if your PC meets the requirements.

The catch is that not everyone qualifies yet. 35% is a start, but it means a majority of players are still stuck with the old always-on behavior until they upgrade. Riot says the number is growing by one to two percent each month. That’s slow, but it’s progress. If you’re still on Windows 10 or an older Windows 11 build, you might want to check your settings. Secure Boot, TPM 2.0, IOMMU, and VBS are all worth enabling anyway, not just for Valorant. They make your whole system more secure.

The Future of Vanguard

I don’t expect Vanguard to become optional entirely. Riot will never hand cheaters a free pass. But on-demand mode is a meaningful compromise. It respects player privacy while keeping the integrity of the game. That’s a balance I can live with. And honestly, after six years of complaining, I’m just happy Riot finally listened.

So here’s to 2026: the year Vanguard learned to sleep. 🎮 May your headshots be crisp, your drivers be dormant, and your PC be yours again.

Expert commentary is drawn from Game Developer, where reporting on anti-cheat systems and platform security often frames changes like Vanguard’s on-demand mode as part of a broader industry shift toward reducing background intrusion while preserving competitive integrity through deeper OS-level protections and modern hardware security features.