Riot Games announced Discord integration for LoL and VALORANT

League of Legends and VALORANT are getting closer to Discord as Riot Games announced a new integration with Discord that will make it easier for players to connect and form parties. While the feature aims to simplify how friends queue together, it arrives in a period when Discord itself has faced criticism over planned changes to user verification earlier this year.

Riot confirmed that players will soon be able to link their Riot and Discord accounts, allowing them to invite friends directly from their Discord list without leaving the game client. And as explained in the official announcement, this means “no alt tabbing necessary,” with party links letting players quickly invite others through Discord servers, social media, or streams instead of sending invites one by one through League’s social feature which requires players to be added as friends before playing together.

And for many players, this is a long-awaited quality-of-life upgrade, especially for small communities and grassroots tournament organizers who have relied on external tools since the early days of League, now finally getting a smoother and more direct way to manage lobbies and coordinate games.

Starting today, League players will be able to link their Riot and Discord accounts, but only if they’re from the United States, Canada, or Brazil, with players in those regions able to connect their accounts immediately. Riot plans to test and refine the system before expanding it to other regions in the coming patches, aiming for a wider release across all Discord-supported markets.

A similar system is also being introduced in VALORANT. Through Discord, the FPS’ players will be able to invite friends directly, share lobby links, and see who is already playing on VAL. The rollout on VALORANT will begin as a beta in Brazil, followed by the US and Canada on April 21st before expanding globally with VAL’s Patch 12.08 on April 29th.

The timing of this integration comes shortly after Discord faced backlash over its planned global age verification system announced last February. The company behind the app had initially planned to introduce a process requiring some users to verify their age through facial scans or ID, which quickly raised privacy concerns among the platform’s community.

Following strong criticism, Discord delayed the rollout and said it would explore alternative methods, including less intrusive options like credit card verification. And these concerns could shape how players view Riot’s new integration, especially as linking accounts between platforms often raises questions about how personal data is handled.

“We only share information necessary in order to enable the integration and help players make timely, relevant decisions to help you queue up with your friends,” Riot said to Sheep Esports.

According to the game publisher, this includes details like a player’s Riot ID, Discord name, what game they are playing, and basic match information such as score or availability, along with party size and status. This mirrors what players can already see in their in-game social panel, with no additional personal data being shared beyond what is needed for the feature to work.

While Riot has clarified which data is being shared with Discord — thus giving players a clearer picture of how the integration works — it's uncertain whether Discord’s latest controversy will have an impact on League and VALORANT players’ decision on whether to use the new social feature or not.