Players on the League of Legends’ South Korean servers have endured relentless DDoS attacks for several months. With one of the most prominent League teams in the world, T1, being affected and unable to practice and stream, Riot is making it their top priority to resolve these attacks.
Over the past year, the South Korean League servers have been volatile with many streamers and pro League players falling victim to DDoS attacks. After T1 begged Riot to “fulfill their responsibilities” and take action, Riot head Andre “Riot Meddler” van Roon revealed in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on June 9 that the team understands how frustrating the situation has become and that his team is “investigating what’s causing these latest problems.” The developers have been working closely with T1 as far back as the beginning of 2024 to find ways to mitigate DDoS attacks.
As DDoS attacks are a malicious way to overwhelm servers, Riot can’t reveal too much information on what the team has found by investigating these attacks or the plans and steps the devs will implement to mitigate and stop these attacks from occurring. This is because it would only incite further attempts and ensure the attackers can continue causing mayhem on the servers. Meddler’s post is simply a response meant to ease fans and inform players on the South Korean servers that Riot is aware of the DDoS attacks and is working to resolve the issue with T1.
But therein lies the problem for many players. They understand that T1 has suffered DDoS attacks for months and the team needs a safe space to practice and stream to fulfill their contractual obligations. Still, fans are wondering why the devs are only talking to T1 and what’s being done for everyone on the KR server because, as fans have pointed out, “KR players have been complaining for months about DDoS attacks,” and that these DDoS attacks “can easily switch to teammates in the same game” as the pros. A broader approach must be taken to address the root problem.
Unfortunately, we’re all on the outside looking in, so we can’t know how Riot is handling this situation or what the devs plan to do. However, it proves that these DDoS attacks are serious and that safety measures must be implemented not just on the KR servers but on every server.
With the LCK Summer Split starting on June 12, the prevalence of the DDoS attacks on the KR servers—and historically in the LCK—doesn’t bode well for T1 or the rest of the teams for this upcoming split.
