Riot Games reveals mobile verification beta to combat smurfing

Riot Games has announced that it will be rolling out multi-factor authentication (MFA) for ‘certain accounts’ in VALORANT through Riot Mobile in its efforts to combat smurfing.

The developer also shared that starting in Patch 11.09, bans will be issued against both purchased and boosted accounts.

“Playing against smurfs is one of the most frustrating experiences in VALORANT,” Riot Games commented. “And a sizable amount of this disruption comes from shared accounts. By decreasing the number of accounts that can be shared, we expect smurfing to decrease.”

Riot Mobile MFA will be required if an account is detected as shared, if Riot suspects different users are playing on the same account, or if an account is ranked Ascendant as of Patch 11.10.

According to Riot Games, the reason behind enforcing MFA in Ascendant and above is that players in this rank can inflict ‘the greatest harm’ when smurfing and are at risk of more ‘integrity violations’.

On top of combating smurfing, the one-time verification requirement also aims to improve account security, as 80-90% of stolen accounts in VALORANT did not enable MFA.

Instructions on how to activate MFA are available through the designated FAQ page:

The MFA feature is in beta, and so is expected to evolve based on player feedback. Riot Games added that it may potentially expand the requirement to more players in the future to ‘protect competitive integrity’.

Riot Games also added details on future updates coming to VALORANT in 2025, all of which aim to further combat smurfing.

Patch 11.08 will allow players to report others for ‘rank manipulation’ through the in-game reporting system. Patch 11.09 will roll out MFA for shared accounts in NA, LATAM, BR, and KR. Patch 11.10 will mandate MFA for ranks Ascendant and above in the same regions, and will expand the requirement to AP and EU in 2026.