Riot bans over 200 VALORANT cheaters in small ban wave

VALORANT players can breathe a little easier today. VALORANT’s anti-cheat system Vanguard detected a new pixel bot cheat and hardware banned over 200 players late last night. 

Cheating is a huge problem in almost every video game. Players will use an exploit or external software to gain an unfair advantage over other players and ruin the experience for everyone in the game. Riot Games is no stranger to this phenomena and has taken steps to prevent cheaters from ruining VALORANT. 

Riot banned thousands of players during the VALORANT closed beta for using various cheating software. It also introduced its new anti-cheat system, Vanguard, which now auto bans suspected cheaters. 

Vanguard is already working to prevent cheaters from ruining the VALORANT experience since over 200 users were banned last night. Vanguard detected a new pixel bot cheat that allowed players to lock onto enemies with ease. The players who were detected using the cheat have reportedly received hardware bans, which means any account they create on their computer will be instantly banned. 

A player with access to a private Discord where the cheating software is sold provided screengrabs of the cheater’s reactions to being banned. Various cheaters were angry about the cheat being detected and preventing them from playing VALORANT. Others claim their summer is now ruined because they can no longer cheat in the game. They probably should have thought about this before cheating in the game in the first place, however. 

Vanguard did receive some criticism for being overbearing when it was first released, but it seems to be doing its job. VALORANT players can expect most cheaters to be banned quickly and quietly before they can ruin the game.