Riot boots 1,600 VALORANT cheaters in another ban wave

More cheaters have been kicked out of Riot Games’ tactical shooter.

VALORANT has banned an additional 1,600 accounts just one week after its previous ban wave numbering close to 9.000 cheaters, according to Riot’s anti-cheat data engineer Phillip Koskinas.

While Riot’s anti-cheat detector, Vanguard, has been a source of controversy for its intrusiveness and disruption of essential programs. Meant to be a powerful shield for VALORANT, Vanguard caused issues like frame drops and even blocking out a user’s hardware.

Even professionals weren’t spared. CS:GO pro Mixwell was flagged when he plugged his phone into the computer, which was apparently reason enough for Vanguard to kick Mixwell out of the game.

But at least it seems to be doing its actual job well.

And Riot has decided that the trade-off has been worth it, as VALORANT continues to mercilessly terminate fraudsters who attempt to undermine the competitive integrity of the game, even while the tactical shooter remains in closed beta.

Related: Welcome to the new age: Why esports teams and pro players are so willing to hop on the VALORANT hype train

Vanguard says it possesses “consistently evolving detection methods.” Should the tool detect a cheater, Vanguard will boot all players from the lobby and ban the individual responsible immediately.