Riot’s April Statement on Dodging, Inting, and AFKing in League

Riot has recently released an April statement regarding their progress towards non-competitive practices in their flagship game League of Legends.  

About half a year ago, Riot promised to release monthly updates in an attempt to be held accountable for the toxic behaviors in LoL. Although the company started strong with the trend, their last update was in November of 2020. However, this update looks to hammer down some unsavory practices that could abuse LP gains.

Inting

Inting (Intentionally Feeding) is arguably the most difficult penalty for Riot to punish accurately. A 4v5 with an AFK is not the ideal situation, but it is a manageable one. Inters turn games into a 4v6 because one of your teammates is actively working against you and your allies. Riot has stated that they are making slow progress towards this aspect, citing false positives as the primary issue for their detection system.

Dodging

As Riot has stated, dodging a game has become commonplace in every tier to preserve LP. This problem is exacerbated at the highest tier of play, where Grandmaster and Challenger players may have to spend up to an hour in the queue before being placed on Summoner’s Rift. Riot has added a third tier of penalties that deter repeated daily dodges but does nothing to prevent the occasional, casual dodger.

Existing Tiers (unchanged)

• 1st dodge in 24 hours: 6 min lockout (15 for ARAM) and -3 LP in ranked
• 2nd dodge in 24 hours: 30 min lockout and -10 LP in ranked
• 3rd dodge in 24 hours: 12-hour lockout and -10 LP in ranked

AFK

Nothing is worse than having to play a 4v5 because a teammate condemns the game to a loss. Although accidents and emergencies occur, Riot states that these situations are incredibly rare, and has drastically increased penalties for AFKing in games. The most notable restriction is the 14-day lockout at the 3rd tier of AFKing, effectively disabling an account for two weeks.

Revised Tiers

• 1st AFK: 5 min lockout -> 5 min lockout and auto-loss 
• 2nd AFK: 10 mi lockout -> 30 min lockout and auto-loss
• 3rd AFK: 15 min lockout -> 14 day lockout and auto-loss

Escalating LP Penalty

• Tier 1: -2 LP
• Tier 2: -3 LP
• Tier 3: -5 LP
• Tier 4: -6LP
• Tier 5: -8LP