Riot Asks VALORANT Champions Shanghai Players to Use Wired Mice After Technical Problems

Riot Games has asked players at VALORANT Champions Shanghai to temporarily use wired mice after repeated input problems were traced to metal components in the tournament's custom stage desks.

The request is a temporary measure while Riot replaces the desks with versions made from different materials. The organizer says it understands that changing peripherals can affect professional players who rely heavily on familiar equipment and muscle memory.

Mouse and input issues affected several matches during the opening days of Champions Shanghai, leading to technical pauses while Riot investigated the cause.

On September 26, Riot said its technical team had traced the problem to conductivity issues created by materials used in the desks. Global Head of VALORANT Esports Leo Faria later clarified that specific metal components in the desk construction were causing the interference.

Riot applied a temporary fix, and Faria said the desks were already being completely rebuilt. He reported that day three passed without further issues, but interference later returned, prompting Riot's October 1 request for wired mouse connections while the replacement desks are completed.

Until those replacements are ready, players have been asked to use wired mouse connections to reduce the risk of further interference. Riot said many competitors had already made that switch before the wider request was issued.

For professional players, switching from a familiar wireless setup is not necessarily a minor change.

Riot acknowledged that peripheral settings are an important part of competitive performance and that years of muscle memory can be built around a particular mouse and setup. The company has therefore described the wired connection as a temporary workaround rather than a permanent change to tournament equipment rules.

Riot has not given an exact completion date for the replacement desks, but says it expects the permanent solution to be in place within the next few days. The longer-term fix is the desk replacement itself, removing the metal components Riot identified as the source of the interference rather than requiring competitors to permanently change how they play.

The technical problem became particularly significant during FUT Esports' match against 100 Thieves. During round two on Split, FUT's Yusuf "xeus" Doğan Gözgen suffered an input failure and was unable to fire during a two-versus-one situation. Play continued and the round was not immediately rolled back.

Riot later reviewed the incident and said the round should have been replayed, accepting responsibility for the incorrect ruling. The tournament organizer nevertheless allowed the final 2-0 result for 100 Thieves to stand.

Riot said the result would stand because other available options would overturn a victory by a team that competed under the same conditions and was not responsible for the ruling error.

That incident increased the urgency around fixing the equipment rather than simply managing individual technical pauses as they happened. Riot is now replacing the desks completely while the temporary wired-mouse request remains in place for Champions Shanghai.