A League of Legends HWID ban is a Riot Games penalty on your PC, not just your account: every login on that machine returns error VAN 152, in League and in every other Riot game. Riot's support article on hardware bans, last updated May 31, 2026, calls it "a drastic step" for players who keep breaking its rules. The standard ban runs four months, longer for repeat or severe violations.
League has handed out hardware bans since May 2024. Reinstalling the game, wiping Windows or making a fresh account won't shorten one, and the fresh account gets banned too. That leaves two ways back. Ask Riot to re-evaluate the ban, or change the hardware IDs your PC reports.
What Is a League of Legends HWID Ban?
A League of Legends HWID ban is a hardware ID ban: Riot restricts the computer itself, so no account can play League on it until the ban ends. Riot reserves it for what its article on understanding hardware ID bans calls "a drastic step we take against players who've consistently chosen not to adhere to our Community Pact or to abide by our terms of service."
The reach goes past League. Riot frames the ban as "effectively a statement that we don't want that particular person to create, access, or use any account on a Riot platform or game for the duration of the ban," so Valorant and Teamfight Tactics are off the table as well. An ordinary suspension is narrower and only stops the penalized account from logging in. For the same idea across other games, read what a hardware ID ban is and how it works.
Does League of Legends HWID Ban Players?
Yes. Riot started issuing HWID bans in League of Legends in May 2024, when the League team announced that its anti-cheat ban waves would bring "League's first ever Hardware ID bans," about a month after Riot Vanguard arrived in the game. That first wave targeted cheaters, mostly at Master tier and above, as Dexerto reported at the time.
Riot's support article names three behaviors that lead to an HWID ban:
- Extreme aggression in chat, or intentional feeding, across many accounts that have already been permanently banned
- A verifiable threat of harm against other players or Rioters
- Being flagged for third-party tools, meaning scripting or cheating
For toxicity, a hardware ban comes after the account penalties have run out, since the trigger is abuse repeated across accounts Riot has already banned for good. Cheating is different. Being flagged for third-party tools is enough on its own.
How to Tell If You're HWID Banned in League
The clearest sign of a League of Legends HWID ban is error VAN 152. According to Riot, on a hardware-banned PC "any login attempt will result in a VAN 152 error code," whichever account you use. Valorant players get the same code, and our guide to the VAN 152 error code explains why reinstalling Vanguard or the game won't clear it.
The second sign is what happens to other accounts. When a different account logs into a Riot game on that PC, Riot restricts it and bans it "for a set period," because the system treats it as an attempt to get around the ban. An ordinary suspension doesn't spill over like that.
| What differs | Account suspension or ban | HWID ban |
|---|---|---|
| What it restricts | Logging into League on the penalized account | Every Riot account and game on that PC |
| What you see | A suspension or ban notice for that account | Error VAN 152 on any login |
| Other accounts on the PC | Not restricted by it | Restricted, then banned for a set period |
| How long it lasts | A set period, or forever for a permanent ban | Four months as standard, longer for repeat or severe cases |
| How to challenge it | A ticket under "Discuss a Personal Suspension, Ban, or Restriction" | A ticket asking for a re-evaluation, one per account |
Account details come from Riot's League of Legends suspension and ban FAQ, updated June 2, 2026. The HWID column comes from Riot's hardware ban article, except the length, which Riot doesn't publish.
How Long Does a League of Legends HWID Ban Last?
A standard League of Legends HWID ban lasts four months. Repeat or severe violations stretch it, and when the ban was for "a verifiable threat of harm against a player or Rioter," Riot won't consider lifting it at all.
You won't find that number on Riot's pages. The hardware ban article only mentions "the duration of the ban," and the League support pages call ID bans "a much longer penalty" for "a more serious offense." Four months is the standard, not a guarantee.
And the ban can come back. In Riot's words, "if a player lapses back into their old negative behaviors, it's possible that we'll re-apply the HWID-ban."
How to Get Unbanned: Asking Riot for a Re-evaluation
The only official way to get a League of Legends HWID ban lifted early is a re-evaluation from Riot. Riot lets players "submit a player support request to ask for a re-evaluation of the HWID ban," and a lift is "possible (but never guaranteed)."
- Open Riot's support ticket form and choose "Discuss a Personal Suspension, Ban, or Restriction" as the request type.
- Ask for a re-evaluation of the HWID ban, in those words, and name the account it's on.
- File a separate ticket for every affected account, as Riot asks.
- Explain what happened and attach anything that backs it up, such as proof you bought the PC second-hand or that someone else used it.
- Don't try other accounts on that PC while you wait. Every one you try picks up its own ban.
Riot handles League and Valorant appeals through the same ticket form, so our guide to appealing a Valorant ban works as a template here. Keep its structure and swap in your League details.
Keep your expectations honest. Riot's League suspension FAQ says correctly placed penalties "will not be removed," and for threat-of-harm bans Riot says it "may even cut off our communication with the affected player entirely." A re-evaluation deserves one clear, accurate ticket per account. It isn't a campaign.
What Won't Lift a League HWID Ban
Reinstalling League, deleting the banned account or starting a new one won't lift a League of Legends HWID ban. Riot's article spells it out: "Reinstalling a game or deleting the responsible account won't remove an HWID ban." The ban sits on the PC, so anything that only changes software or logins leaves it in place.
- A new Riot account hits VAN 152 like the old one, and Riot bans it for trying.
- A factory reset or a fresh Windows install doesn't help either. It rebuilds the software, and the identifiers a hardware ban rests on live in the hardware.
- A VPN changes your IP address, and an HWID ban isn't an IP ban.
- Reinstalling Riot Vanguard fixes other Vanguard errors. For this one, Riot's VAN 152 page rules it out.
One more warning, because it catches families out. If your brother, a roommate or a friend logs into League on your PC during the ban, their account gets restricted and banned for a set period. Riot names "a friend's or family member's" account as exactly this case, so until the ban ends, any Riot login on that machine puts another account at risk.
Playing League Again on the Same PC
Playing League of Legends again on an HWID-banned PC before the ban ends means changing the hardware identity Riot restricted. You can replace components, but Riot doesn't publish which identifiers sit behind a ban, so swapping parts is an expensive guess. The other option is an HWID spoofer, software that swaps the identifiers your PC hands to Vanguard so the machine no longer matches the one Riot banned. For the mechanics, see what an HWID spoofer changes and what it can't.
Saturn, an HWID spoofer for Windows, covers League through its Vanguard product. One Vanguard license covers League of Legends, Valorant and Teamfight Tactics from the same loader, and setup doesn't involve reinstalling Windows. Saturn spoofs the CPU, TPM, motherboard, RAM, drive, MAC address, GPU, USB and monitor identifiers.
The Saturn League of Legends spoofer page shows League's current status and plans, while the Vanguard HWID spoofer page shows every Riot game one license covers. You can try it on League free for 24 hours, and the trial asks for an email address but no card.
Know what this route does and doesn't do. Nothing about a spoofer unbans you: the ban stays on Riot's side, your banned accounts stay banned, and you'll need a Riot account that isn't itself permanently banned. Playing during an HWID ban is against Riot's Terms of Service as well, and because Riot treats any account used on a banned PC as an attempt to get around the ban, a detected spoofer can cost you the account you play on. Decide with that in mind.
If an account still gets flagged after the normal setup, Saturn's Still Getting Banned? guide covers the clean-install route step by step, ending with a fresh account.
League of Legends HWID Ban FAQ
Is a League of Legends HWID ban permanent?
No. Four months is the standard length for a League of Legends HWID ban. Repeat or severe violations run longer, Riot can re-apply the ban if the behavior comes back, and a ban given for a verifiable threat of harm stays in place.
Does a factory reset remove a League HWID ban?
No. A factory reset reinstalls Windows, but a League HWID ban rests on identifiers stored in the PC's hardware, and those survive a reset. Riot also says reinstalling the game or deleting the account won't remove it.
Does a League HWID ban block Valorant too?
Yes. An HWID ban covers "any account on a Riot platform or game," so the same PC is blocked from Valorant and Teamfight Tactics as well as League, and each one shows VAN 152 at login.
Can someone else play League on my HWID-banned PC?
Not without risking their account. Riot restricts any other account that logs in on a hardware-banned PC and bans it for a set period, and it names a friend's or family member's account as an example.
Will a VPN get around a League HWID ban?
No. A VPN changes your IP address, while a League HWID ban is tied to your hardware.
Does an HWID spoofer lift a League HWID ban?
No. A spoofer alters the hardware details Vanguard reads, but nothing changes on Riot's side: the ban record and the banned accounts stay as they were, and using one to play through the ban goes against Riot's Terms of Service.