Riot's Stance
No software should compromise game integrity or negatively impact the in-game player experience, from the moment you press “Play” until you log off.
Competitive games work because each player is afforded the same amount of information about the game and other players.
Third party applications are programs or files that aren't part of the games produced by Riot Games (League of Legends, Legends of Runeterra, Teamfight Tactics, VALORANT, Wild Rift). Third party applications can be great for onboarding newer players, tracking your stats, finding like-minded teammates, hosting/playing tournaments, and more.
We only take issue with applications that impede the competitive nature of our games or violate any of our terms of service or policies.
This includes applications that provide a measurable player advantage, such as:
- Exposing information that's intentionally obfuscated
- Taking actions on your behalf (botting or scripting)
- Drawing conclusions for you during gameplay (ie we want to see you play the game first, then analyze and reflect later!)
- Altering your field of intelligence (zoomhacks or global ult alerts)
For more specific details, you can check out each of our game policies to see what is and isn't okay for third party applications.
League of Legends
Legends of Runeterra
Teamfight Tactics
VALORANT
Custom Models and Artwork
We can't optimize for assets we don’t develop, and we reserve the right to take action against applications that allow the use of our assets for free (often referred to as skin hacks).
Detection
If a third party application is approved and built using the official Riot API, players should rarely have an issue. However, if the application is unauthorized and interacts with the game in a nefarious way, this could flag an account for suspicious behavior.
While we can't reveal the specifics of our detection process, we can say with confidence that we're looking at the right data and maintain a strong commitment to accuracy.
If the violation is suspected to be at the player level, we look at each individual's playstyle and performance history and examine reports that come in through the in-game reporting system. Suspicious accounts are then queued up for review and, if found guilty, punished.
Punishments
If a third party application is found to be intentionally violating our policies, we will conduct a thorough review which, if verified, could result in the takedown of the application.
Account suspensions for the use of malicious third party applications such as scripting or botting can vary in length depending on the severity of the offense, but includes permanent suspension for consistent, blatant use. If these applications were used to climb in Ranked, we may also remove the account's ranked rewards for the season.
Using Third Party Applications
Because there are so many third parties developing applications, we can't provide a full list of which ones are safe to use. A good guideline to go by is if an application directly impacts game integrity as outlined in our policies or provides an unfair advantage, it's not acceptable. If you have any concern that an application might fall under this umbrella, better to be safe and not use it.
If an application offers any unauthorized services, continuing to use it may still result in the loss of your account.
If you are a third party developer or just want to know more about our API and third party integration, please visit our Developer Relations website.