Data Analysis
Reviewed and published by trentmaziarz, April 22, 2026. Discovered and drafted by our automated research pipeline.
Riot Games uses deep reinforcement learning to help game designers analyze and test game balance in Legends of Runeterra before content is released to players, giving designers a tool to predict whether new cards or mechanics will be overpowered or underpowered.
Details
Riot trained a reinforcement learning agent that plays Legends of Runeterra against itself at scale to discover which decks and cards are consistently dominant or weak, producing balance scores that became part of game designers' key performance indicators. The agent's predicted balance scores were found to match design intuition and correctly predicted which decks were strongest, with directional alignment confirmed against live player data. This was Riot's first major productionized use of deep reinforcement learning for game balance and has since been extended to additional game titles.
Products affected
Legends of Runeterra
Sources & Evidence
News Article
Cite this record
Trace Foundation. (2026). Riot Games: Riot Games uses deep reinforcement learning to help game designers analyze and test game balance in Legends of Runeterra before content is released to players, giving designers a tool to predict whether new cards or mechanics will be overpowered or underpowered (data as of 2026-04-22) [Data set record]. AI Trace. https://www.aitrace.org/r/practice/b4351981-c321-403e-bc25-438f5af776c7. Accessed September 11, 2026.
- Stable link
- https://www.aitrace.org/r/practice/b4351981-c321-403e-bc25-438f5af776c7
- Data as of
- April 22, 2026
- Last verified
- April 22, 2026
Other practices by Riot Games
Customer SvcRiot Games deployed Blitzcrank Bot, an automated ticket-handling system for its Player Support operation, which classifies incoming support tickets and provides automated responses — particularly for account recovery requests — allowing players to opt out and request a human agent.ModerationRiot Games deployed an automated text evaluation system across League of Legends, VALORANT, and Wild Rift in November 2022 that uses machine learning models to assess player-reported chat messages and apply penalties such as mutes and bans for harmful, offensive, or inappropriate content.ProductivityRiot Games announced it is researching the application of generative AI to augment game development pipelines and player experiences, with a dedicated Technology Research team that prototypes tools using large language models and content generation models for use by game teams.
Have evidence about Riot Games's AI practices? Submit a report.
Report a Sighting →