How to fix ‘required dependencies’ error code in LoL

Another day, another issue with Riot Vanguard.

Arcanist Kog'Maw smiles a wide tongue-filled smile at three small pink pixies speaking to him from a flower in League of Legends.
Image via Riot Games

Now that League of Legends requires Vanguard—Riot Games’ anti-cheat software—to play, you may encounter some strange error codes when booting up the game.

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The “required dependencies” error code originally cropped up in VALORANT, but it looks like the issue now plagues Riot’s MOBA. If you want to get back on the Rift, here’s how you can fix the “we couldn’t install required dependencies” error code in League of Legends.

How to fix League of Legends ‘required dependencies’ error code

Battle Queen Fiora stands to attention with her fencing sword while in marble armor at a League of Legends parade.
Even a battle queen can lack the required dependencies. Image via Riot Games

This error code typically pops up when there’s an issue with League or Vanguard’s installations, so don’t worry about checking server statuses. Here are the steps you can take to try to rectify the problem.

1) Restart the game and your computer

Before jumping to drastic fixes, you could always try restarting League and your computer to see if that removes the error code. While this fix may seem cliché, it’s important to try the easiest options.

If the error code persists after restarting both your PC and the game, then it’s time to move on to different fixes.

2) Repair League of Legends

By heading into the settings on the right-hand side of your Riot Client, you can access a portion of the menu dedicated to League. From here, click the “repair” button at the bottom of the League settings.

This scans your download of League and ensures none of the files were incorrectly updated or installed. Once the repair is completed, try opening the game.

3) Reinstall Vanguard

This issue could be caused by a faulty Vanguard installation, so deleting the anti-cheat system will cause the launcher to reinstall it.

  1. Open your start menu and search “Control Panel.”
  2. Click “Uninstall a program” in the Programs section of the Control Panel.
  3. Search for Riot Vanguard, right-click, and choose uninstall.
  4. Restart your PC.
  5. Open League, and the Riot Games launcher will prompt you to reinstall Vanguard.

4) Turn off antivirus

If the problem persists after completing the aforementioned steps, then your anti-virus may be blocking League and Vanguard from fully installing. You can head into your anti-virus settings to allow the Riot Games launcher, League, and Vanguard through the program’s firewall.

After whitelisting everything, try launching the game.

5) Submit a ticket

If the error persists after completing all of these steps, then you may need to create a ticket on Riot Games’ support website. When writing your ticket, remember to include all the methods you used to try to fix the problem so the support agent can better diagnose the issue.

Author
Image of John Wildermuth
John Wildermuth
John is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles and wields a degree in English. He is constantly staying up to date on the latest and greatest games, and has been writing about gaming for over a year now. When he is not playing games, he can be found reading sci-fi and fantasy books or working on ceramics.