It’s a victory, but there is a lot more to be done!

The battle between cheaters and anti-cheat software is often an ongoing process. VALORANT developer, Riot Games, however, has claimed victory in this battle providing some data to back their claims.

In the latest Riot Anti Cheat Update, Riot Games has claimed that the number of bans in VALORANT have been stable. This points to a process that is effective in weeding out unwanted accounts from the matchmaking system. Most of these bans have been preventative, which means Riot has been successful in removing matchmaking access to accounts before they can use their cheats.

VALORANT bans by type

Repeat offenders, those using multiple accounts to cheat on the same machine, remain the majority of bans. We’re continually working on ways to keep these cheaters permanently out of our ecosystem.

A chart highlighting the different types of bans shows a stable proportion between Hardware, System Detection as well as manual bans.

Does Riot's anti cheat work against 'undetectable cheats on social media'

There’s been an uptick in content that shows undetectable cheats on video streaming platforms as well as social media. Riot says these videos are usually pre-recorded and not live streams and are intended as advertisements. After all, cheat makers rely on advertising to sell their product. 

"The reality is that the overwhelming majority of “livestreams” are pre-recorded content. Cheat developers are counting on views and misleading people on social media, to advertise their product. While these cheats are banned swiftly, it’s enough gameplay time to record footage and recycle it as an advertising loop. Unsuspecting customers will take these videos at face value, buy the cheat, feel savvy for a moment, and then swiftly banned. The cheat developers get their sale regardless - oh - and no refunds."

So the next time you want to buy a cheat - and you really shouldn’t - it’s most likely a scam. Even if it works for a few days, Riot’s Anti-Cheat software is robust enough to probably ban your account in a few weeks. It’s just not worth it for a video game. 

How do cheaters try to evade Vanguard?

There’s a lot of information in the latest anti-cheat blog including a highlight of how cheaters are trying to evade Vanguard. Vanguard is Riot’s Anti-Cheat software which has been fairly successful in rooting out cheaters in the game.

Riot says DMA Attacks (which require hardware devices to work outside of VALORANT’s Vanguard) are more prevalent in higher ranks. The developers are taking extra steps to enforce proper security measures. 

Finally, as a part of enforcing stricter measures, Riot is also rolling out the Vanguard Restriction System. Players will be alerted of device changed needed to ensure competitive integrity. 

Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest VALORANT news and updates.