Is Smurfing Safe in League of Legends?
Anyone who has played enough League of Legends knows that playing ranked games can be a hit or miss situation. You can do everything right and still lose because of your team. This can be frustrating, especially if you want to practice with a specific champion or need a break from the pressure of ranked play.
Smurfing — a Solution to Your Ranked Headaches?
A smurf account in League of Legends is an account that is played by someone who is much higher ranked than the actual account level. Players smurf for a variety of different reasons. Some players just want to have a carefree gaming experience without risking their main account's rank. Others want to play with friends who are at lower ranks.
Why Players Smurf
Smurfing has been a part of LoL culture since the early days of the game and for good reason. Here are some of the most common reasons players smurf:
- To relax: High-ranked play can be very stressful. Sometimes you just want to play the game without the pressure of losing LP on your main account.
- To practice a new champion: If you are trying to learn a new champion, doing so in a high ranked game can be risky. Having a smurf account to learn champions in lower ranked games can be very beneficial.
- To play with friends: If you have a friend who is in a lower rank than you, having a smurf account allows you to play with them without the rank barrier.
The Safety Concerns
With all of the reasons to smurf, there is also the question of safety. Riot Games has made attempts to crack down on smurfing in the past with varying success. Smurfing is technically against Riot's terms of service (ToS), but in practice, bans specifically for smurfing alone remain rare.
The most common risk associated with smurfing is that your smurf account could be banned if you are reported often for intentionally losing, or if you are botting to level up the account. Both of these actions are against the game's terms of service and could result in a ban.
Riot's Anti-Smurf Crackdown: 2023 and 2024
It's worth understanding the current landscape. Riot significantly stepped up their approach to smurfing starting in 2023. They rolled out improved automatic rank placement algorithms designed to fast-track high-MMR players through the lower ranks much more quickly — meaning smurf accounts spend less time dominating before being placed at an appropriate level. This doesn't make smurfing impossible, but it does mean your smurf won't sit in Bronze for 100 games the way it might have a few years ago.
More significantly, Riot launched Vanguard anti-cheat for League of Legends in 2024 (Vanguard had already been running in Valorant since 2020). Vanguard operates at the kernel level, giving Riot significantly greater visibility into hardware identifiers and account linking. Its primary target is cheaters and botters, but the same detection infrastructure increases Riot's ability to identify accounts with suspicious histories.
The practical takeaway: a pre-leveled smurf account purchased from a reputable seller, used normally and without toxic behavior, remains low risk. Accounts that get banned are typically those with botted level-up histories, linked to third-party software, or flagged for intentional feeding. Play legitimately and your risk stays minimal — but it is no longer zero in the way it was pre-2023.
How to Smurf Safely
To keep your smurf account safe, there are some things you can do. First and foremost, make sure to play the game as you normally would. If you are trying to win, then you are not at risk of getting reported for intentionally feeding.
Also, if you are purchasing a LoL smurf account, make sure to buy it from a reliable seller. A reputable seller will sell you an account that is safe and ready to use in ranked games.
To sum things up, smurfing is a common practice in League of Legends and is relatively safe if done correctly. If you are thinking about smurfing, purchase a smurf account from a reliable seller and play the game as you normally would. Enjoy the experience!