Valorant Masters London to Introduce Lips on Desks and Light Bars to Counter Clutch Cheating
Valorant Masters London will implement new anti-cheating measures designed to prevent players from gaining unfair competitive advantages during high-pressure clutch situations. The Riot Games esports team, led by Global Head of Valorant Esports Leo Faria, announced that the tournament will feature physical barriers known as “lips on desks” alongside light bars positioned on player stations.
These measures directly address a documented integrity issue in professional Valorant competition: players observing opponents’ hands and physical movements to determine whether they are defusing the spike or taking other in-game actions they shouldn’t be aware of. By obscuring sightlines between opposing players, the physical barriers prevent this form of information gathering.
The complaint was brought to light by Nikita “Derke” Sirmitev, a veteran player for Team Vitality, who highlighted on social media that players have exploited this loophole on multiple occasions this year and in previous seasons. Derke specifically noted instances where players used hand movements and body language to glean tactical information during clutch rounds—situations where only one or two players remain alive and the stakes are highest.
Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Commissioner Faria confirmed that these anti-cheating measures will not be limited to the Masters London event. Instead, they will become standard implementation across all VCT splits starting in Stage 2, signaling a systematic commitment to competitive integrity across the entire professional circuit.
This development reflects the esports industry’s ongoing efforts to maintain fair play in competitive gaming, particularly in tactical shooters where information control is crucial to strategic decision-making. The introduction of these physical safeguards represents a clear policy shift toward stricter integrity protocols in professional Valorant competition.