How can I completely uninstall Valorant from my PC?

Hi! You’re right to double-check because Valorant isn’t like most games. If you just uninstall Valorant, Riot Vanguard (the anti-cheat) often stays behind. The correct way is to go into Windows Settings → Apps & Features, find Riot Vanguard, and uninstall it first. Once Vanguard is removed, then uninstall Valorant the same way. If you try it the other way around, you’ll get an error since Valorant needs Vanguard to be installed. After both are gone, restart your computer just to clear things up. I had the same concern when I quit the game a few months ago—Vanguard was still running in the background after I thought I removed everything. Once I properly uninstalled Vanguard first, the problem was solved. So, short version: uninstall Vanguard → uninstall Valorant → restart PC. That’ll give you a clean system without lingering files.

The trick is uninstalling Vanguard before Valorant. If you skip that, Valorant won’t even let you remove it. Once Vanguard is gone, Valorant uninstalls normally. Some folks also clear leftover files in C:\Program Files\Riot Games. I did this myself when Valorant started hogging resources, and my PC finally ran smoother. Don’t forget the restart afterward—it helps wipe out services that Vanguard runs in the background.

Uninstall Valorant through Windows settings doesn’t work unless you remove Vanguard first. Once both are gone, you can optionally delete Riot Games’ leftover folders manually. It’s a two-step process, not a one-click uninstall.

I uninstalled Valorant last year. What worked: uninstall Riot Vanguard first via Windows settings, then uninstall Valorant. Restart, then check your Program Files folder. If any Riot folders remain, just delete them manually. That left my PC totally clean.