Smurfing now integrated as an in-game reportable offense ahead of 2026 Season

A newly streamlined post-game reporting menu has entered League of Legends in 2026. Among its additions, rank manipulation and smurfing are now explicitly listed as bannable offenses—but what does this change actually mean? As Riot Games continues to address the long-standing reputation of the game’s community, further measures are being implemented to promote fair competition while maintaining a non-toxic environment.

To clarify Riot’s position, Drew Levin, Director of Product Management for League of Legends, weighed in alongside Matthew “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison, the game’s lead gameplay designer.

The short answer: no. Quoting Phroxzon directly from League’s October Dev Update: “We’re taking new steps to tackle smurfing […] We’re now taking additional action against accounts that engage in the two most common smurfing behaviors we see: boosting and hitchhiking.” As the designer explains, Riot’s definition of smurfing is broader than what many players might assume.

Later, when asked on X (formerly Twitter) about the “legality” of hand-leveled alternate accounts, Drew Levin clarified: “The point of language is to convey meaning. This is a report menu where the descriptions aid players in ticking the box that best describes their concern. None of them have detailed info about the origin of their teammates’ accounts.” In other words, the menu is not intended to ban legitimate alt accounts—the labels are simply there to help players quickly and accurately select the report category that matches the problematic behavior they observed.

As noted in the “rank manipulation” section, smurfing in this context refers to duo queueing and boosting other players, and does not indicate any intent to punish side accounts used for personal play. When asked in September whether Riot would ban players for smurfing, Drew Levin further clarified: “Boosting is smurfing—technical term versus colloquial term.” This confirms that Riot enforces bans only on policy-violating boosting, which is sometimes colloquially called smurfing, and does not target legitimate play on personal alternate accounts.

In other news, Riot Games has recently clarified its stance on duo queuing in ranked play, making it easier for players to queue together in higher tiers than was previously allowed. This change has sparked considerable debate, particularly around the ability for players to queue from Challenger down to Diamond 1—a policy that may see further updates, as Phroxzon detailed on social media.