League of Legends Black Screen During Loading? 8 Fixes to Try

If League of Legends goes black during loading, start with the checks that cannot damage your setup: look for a Riot service incident, restart the client and PC, then test your connection. If the match window opens but stays black, work through overlays, firewall permissions, graphics drivers, and Riot Client’s repair tool. Reinstall only after the simpler fixes fail.

A black screen is a symptom, not a diagnosis. It can appear while the client hands off to the game, while the game is loading assets, or when the game window fails to render. Riot’s current loading-screen troubleshooting guide addresses connection, background software, firewall, driver, and game-file causes. The steps below combine that guidance with Riot’s separate instructions for launch-time black screens.

Image note: The interface pictures are illustrative examples, not live screenshots. Menu names and layouts can vary by Windows version, graphics card, and Riot Client update. They do not show your current service status or prove that a fix was tested on a particular PC.

Use the symptom to choose where to start

These are troubleshooting clues, not guaranteed diagnoses. If your match has already started, force-closing the game can disconnect you; give it a short chance to recover before ending its process.

8 fixes for a League of Legends black screen

1. Check Riot’s service status

Open Riot Games Service Status, select League of Legends, and choose the region where you play. Look for an active incident affecting login, the game client, or match services. If Riot reports an outage, wait for service to recover and check the status page again; reinstalling the game will not resolve a server-side incident.

2. Close the Riot Client and restart your PC

Exit League and the Riot Client from their menus if they still respond. If a window is frozen, open Task Manager with Ctrl + Shift + Esc and end only the unresponsive League game or Riot Client process. Do not stop Windows services or Vanguard components as a general black-screen fix. Restart Windows, open Riot Client again, and test once. A full restart clears temporary processes that can keep the game from opening cleanly.

3. Test a wired connection

If the loading screen stalls or you hear game audio while the screen does not progress, connect the PC to the router with Ethernet if possible, then try again. If Ethernet is unavailable, move closer to the Wi-Fi access point and pause large downloads, streams, and cloud backups. Temporarily turn off a VPN or proxy for the test; Riot lists VPNs and proxies among connection troubleshooting checks. Restore them afterward if they were not the cause.

4. Temporarily disable game overlays

Turn off one overlay at a time, fully close its app, and relaunch League. Riot’s overlay guide covers Discord, NVIDIA’s in-game overlay, AMD ReLive, Overwolf, Razer tools, and Xbox Game DVR. For Discord, open User Settings, choose Overlay, and switch off “Enable in-game overlay”; for other apps, follow the current instructions from that app’s maker or Riot’s guide. If the black screen disappears, re-enable overlays one by one to identify the conflict.

See Riot’s current League of Legends overlay instructions for app-specific menus.

5. Allow Riot and League through your firewall

A firewall or security suite can block the client from communicating with Riot’s servers. Update the security software first. If the issue continues, use Riot’s firewall guide to add the required Riot Client, League, and Vanguard executables to its allowed-app list. Installation paths can differ if you chose a custom folder, so use the paths shown in Riot’s guide as a reference.

Do not leave your firewall disabled. If you briefly disable it for a controlled test, turn it back on immediately afterward. On a work or school PC, ask the administrator to review firewall rules instead of changing managed security settings yourself.

6. Update the graphics driver and Windows

Install a graphics driver from the GPU maker or, for a laptop, from the computer maker if it supplies a customized driver. Riot’s graphics-driver guide explains how to identify the GPU with dxdiag and find updates for NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel hardware. Also install pending Windows updates and restart if requested. Avoid third-party driver download sites and do not use a driver-cleanup utility as the first step.

If your PC is below Riot’s current League of Legends system requirements, a software change may not resolve the rendering problem.

7. Run Riot Client’s full repair

Sign in to Riot Client, click the profile icon, open Settings, choose League of Legends, and select Repair. Follow the prompts and let the scan finish before launching the game. Riot says its full repair tool can replace missing or corrupted files. If the repair button is unavailable or the scan fails, use Riot’s full repair instructions for the latest route.

8. Reinstall League, then send logs if needed

If the game still opens to a black screen after repair, uninstall League from Windows Settings > Apps > Installed apps, close Riot Client first, restart Windows, and install the game again from Riot’s official site. Riot’s uninstall and reinstall guide includes the current steps. A clean reinstall can replace damaged game files, but it is a larger change and is not guaranteed to solve a driver, network, or service issue.

If the reinstall does not help, run the Riot Repair Tool, select League of Legends, and attach the resulting ZIP file to a Player Support ticket. Include when the black screen appears, whether audio continues, your Windows version, graphics-card model, and which steps you tried. Those details help support distinguish a launch failure from a loading or connection issue.

Optional Windows test: isolate a background-service conflict

If the steps above fail, Riot also recommends a clean boot to check whether background software is interfering. Follow Riot’s clean-boot instructions: press Windows + R, enter msconfig, open Services, check Hide all Microsoft services, and select Disable All. Riot’s instructions specifically say to find and re-enable vgc before applying the change and restarting. Test League once, then restore normal startup using Microsoft’s clean-boot guide. Skip this test on a managed computer or if you are unsure how to restore startup settings.

Mac users: use the macOS-specific steps

The numbered Windows menu paths above do not apply to macOS. Riot’s Mac game-crash guide includes launch-time black screens and recommends checking system requirements, restarting, updating macOS, closing background apps, trying Safe Mode, and reinstalling only if earlier checks fail. For a Mac stuck on a loading screen, use Riot’s platform-specific loading-screen instructions as well.

Frequently asked questions

Can a connection problem cause a League loading screen to stay black?

It can prevent a match from completing its load, although a network fault is only one possible cause. Check Riot’s service status, try Ethernet, and review the official connection guide before resetting network settings.

Should I delete Riot folders from AppData?

Not as an early step. Start with Riot Client’s repair. If Riot support recommends a clean uninstall, follow its exact guide and preserve anything you want to keep: Riot notes that the League of Legends folder in Documents contains game replays.

What if the black screen appears after a patch?

Check the service status, restart the client, update the graphics driver, and run the full repair. If Riot has posted an incident or a patch-specific notice, follow that notice instead of applying unrelated Windows tweaks.

Official support references

• Riot: Troubleshoot PC Game Crashes, including launch-time black screens
• Riot: Stuck on Loading Screen for Windows and Mac
• Riot Games Service Status