- Warning β chat β 2 weeks β ban
- Penalties within 15 min
- Ranked rewards: Honor 3+
- Account sharing breaks the ToS
Every League of Legends account can be warned, chat-restricted, suspended or banned β and in 2026 the system works faster than most players realise: penalties can land within minutes of a game, chat restrictions run for days rather than games, and Riot now detects account sharing and boosting automatically. This guide explains the penalty ladder, what triggers each step, how Honor ties in, what Riot's terms say about sharing accounts and boosting, every 2025β2026 change and what you can appeal. Checked 2026-10-25.
- Four steps: warning, chat restriction, two-week suspension, permanent ban β Riot can skip steps.
- Fast: Instant Feedback penalties arrive within 15 minutes and are rarely lifted.
- Honor: an active penalty lowers it; ranked rewards need Honor 3 or higher.
- Account sharing breaks Riot's terms β the account owner is responsible for whatever happens on it.
- Ranked Restrictions ended in patch 26.4; Match Termination arrived in 26.10.
The penalty ladder
| Step | What it does | Typical cause |
|---|---|---|
| Warning | A message in the client, no restriction | A first, milder report |
| Chat restriction | No chat β in game or in lobbies β for a number of days; a chat restriction at season end means no ranked rewards | Insults and harassment in chat |
| Two-week suspension | The account is suspended for two weeks; chat, gifting and the store are disabled | Repeated or severe behaviour |
| Permanent ban | The account is closed | Extreme behaviour β "a permanent ban can come at any time without prior warnings for excessive negative behaviour" |
| Hardware ID ban | The PC itself is blocked | Cheat tools, threats of harm and repeat permabanned players |
Instant feedback and chat restrictions
Riot's Instant Feedback System reviews reports automatically and penalties arrive within 15 minutes of the game ending. Milder offences get chat restrictions; extreme behaviour can jump straight to a two-week or permanent suspension. Two other rules catch players out:
- Chat restrictions run in days, not games, and cover champion select and the post-game lobby too.
- The zero-tolerance filter (since 19 May 2025): a message with a word from the zero-tolerance list is never sent and you're muted for the rest of the game. There's no automatic penalty, but reports can still lead to one.
- Ping spam is detected since patch 26.4 and can temporarily limit your pings.
How penalties hit your Honor
Everyone starts at Honor 3, and Riot is blunt: "Honor is lost when you have an active penalty." Low Honor costs you things:
Honor 1
No All chat, champion-select chat or post-game chat; pings limited to 2; no ranked season rewards.
Honor 2
No All chat; pings limited to 4; no ranked season rewards.
Getting it back
Play a set number of games without being reported to climb back to at least Honor 3 β a new penalty resets the progress.
Since patch 26.20 Honor also controls team voice chat (NA and OCE first). The full system is in the Honor guide.
Account sharing and boosting: what Riot's rules say
Riot's Terms of Service (last changed 1 December 2024) are direct: "You can't share your account or Login Credentials with anyone." Section 7 also prohibits "playing on another person's account or otherwise engaging in activity intended to 'boost' an account's status or rank". Riot has two official descriptions of the penalties, and they differ β we quote both:
| Riot Support β Elo boosting (24 May 2026) | Riot β Vanguard: Anti-Boost (17 September 2026) |
|---|---|
| 14β180 day suspension (by severity and frequency) for the booster and the boosted account | Escalating suspensions per offence, from three days up to three centuries |
| Honor reset, and no ranked rewards for the current season | Ranked points and rewards gained by the booster are revoked |
| Second offence: permanent ban | Purchased or ownerless (smurf) accounts are banned permanently |
| Duoing with a scripter: 6-month suspension | Players who repeatedly queued with smurfs or boosters lose the undeserved rank, even if unknowingly |
Riot Support's definition is broad: any ranked game played by someone who is not the original creator of the account may be considered boosting. And on appeals Riot is clear that the account owner is fully responsible β "I wasn't playing" doesn't count. We won't pretend otherwise: a piloted boost is the riskiest way to climb, a duo boost keeps your login private but isn't risk-free, and coaching carries no account risk. More in is LoL boosting safe?
What changed in 2025 and 2026
- Patch 25.04 Β· February 2025
Honor rebuilt: everyone starts at 3, and active penalties pull it down.
- Patch 25.09 Β· Spring 2025
Better inting and griefing detection β about 10Γ more bans a day for game-ruining behaviour.
- Patch 25.13 Β· Summer 2025
A "Rank Manipulation" report category.
- Patch 25.18 Β· Autumn 2025
Riot starts penalising boosting and hitchhiking accounts.
- Patch 26.4 Β· 18 February 2026
Ping-spam detection that can limit your pings; Ranked Restrictions stop being applied.
- Patch 26.10 Β· 12 May 2026
Match Termination: a team can vote to end a game with a confirmed disruptive player and lose no LP.
- Patch 26.12 Β· 9 June 2026
Honor and active penalties show in the social panel.
- Patch 26.20 Β· 6 October 2026
Team voice chat tied to Honor level, starting in NA and OCE.
Leaving games has its own system β LeaverBuster's queue delays and lockouts β covered in AFK and leaver penalties.
Suspensions, bans and appeals
- 2 weeksthe in-client suspension tier
- 15 minfor an Instant Feedback penalty to arrive
- Honor 3+needed for ranked season rewards
- 296,416accounts actioned for rank manipulation (League and VALORANT)
To ask for a review, open a ticket under "Discuss a Personal Suspension, Ban, or Restriction". Riot's own expectations: Instant Feedback penalties are generally not lifted or adjusted, correctly placed penalties stay, and permanent bans are almost never removed. Riot uses "suspension" for short-term and "ban" for permanent, though the words are sometimes used interchangeably β and some suspensions are for security (a suspected compromised or sold account) rather than behaviour.
How to stay clear of penalties
- Mute early.
/mute all costs nothing and removes the trigger for most chat penalties.
- Never share your login.
The owner is responsible for anything played on the account.
- Don't ping-spam or feed.
Both are detected automatically since 2025β2026.
- Keep Honor at 3 or above
before the season ends, or you lose the rewards you played for.
Help without the risk
- No account access at all: 1-on-1 coaching β from $22.00 an hour.
- You play every game: duo mode with a verified booster.
- Read next: Vanguard explained and Riot's smurfing rules.
- Riot Support β Suspension & Ban FAQ (2 Jun 2026) Β· in-client penalty notifications (17 May 2026) Β· Instant Feedback System (24 May 2026) Β· chat restrictions (30 May 2026) Β· blocked-word filter (19 May 2025) Β· MMR / Elo boosting (24 May 2026) Β· ban types Β· Honor guide (31 May 2026) Β· HWID bans Β· Ranked Restrictions
- Riot β Terms of Service (1 December 2024) Β· Vanguard: Anti-Boost (17 September 2026) Β· /dev: Banning Bots, Boosters & More (11 Aug 2025) Β· /dev: inting and griefing detection Β· Patch 26.4 Β· Patch 26.10 notes. Checked 2026-10-25.
All free tools: calculators, percentiles & season countdowns β
Common questions
How long is a League of Legends ban?
How fast do penalties arrive?
What is the penalty for boosting in LoL?
Do penalties affect ranked rewards?
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