Riot Games has added “Smurfing” as an explicit report category in League of Legends‘ in-game reporting menu for Season 16. The option appears under the broader “Rank Manipulation” umbrella, placing it alongside offenses like boosting and wintrading.
The change represents the first time smurfing has received its own dedicated checkbox in the post-game reporting interface. Previously, players could only flag suspected smurfs through manual support tickets or loosely related categories.
What exactly Riot means by “smurfing” remains the key question. The company has historically tolerated players creating alternate accounts that naturally climb to their real skill level. The enforcement focus has always been on manipulation—players who intentionally keep accounts below their true rank.
The new report option likely targets specific behaviors rather than simply having a second account. These include buying pre-leveled accounts with artificially low MMR, intentionally losing games to maintain a lower rank, and account sharing for boosting purposes.
Bot-leveled accounts sold at Iron or Bronze MMR have created a pipeline for rank manipulation. These accounts let skilled players bypass the natural climb and immediately start dominating lower-ranked lobbies. Riot’s recent anti-botting measures and account-linking enforcement suggest the company is treating this as part of a broader competitive integrity push.
The placement under “Rank Manipulation” is telling. Rather than punishing players for being skilled, Riot appears to be giving players a way to flag suspicious patterns—accounts that consistently stomp games without climbing, or obvious duo-boosting situations where one player is vastly outperforming their rank.
Some players have already reported receiving feedback notifications indicating their smurf reports led to action. Others claim punishments are being applied across linked accounts, though Riot hasn’t confirmed the specific penalties tied to the new category.
The irony at the top
Interestingly, the same patch period saw Riot allow Diamond 1 players to duo queue with Challengers—an unusually permissive matchmaking change that seemingly contradicts the competitive integrity messaging. Riot developer Phroxzon has since indicated the company may walk this back, potentially restricting Challenger duo queue to Grandmaster and above.
