Valorant is banning in-game cheaters at a record rate
A Vanguard anti-cheat team member at Riot games has revealed that Valorant has hit a new record for cheating player bans.
Competitive FPS games have seen a great rise in popularity. From the Counter-Strike series to Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, countless players try their hand at climbing their favorite game’s ranks. But things can get infuriatingly unfair when cheaters are involved.
Valorant is one of the many popular competitive FPS games with a potential cheating problem. That doesn’t mean steps aren’t being taken to take care of this. A new statement from a representative of the Vanguard anti-cheat reveals a record-high number of cheaters were recently banned.
Vanguard hits new record of Valorant cheating player bans
A member of the Vanguard development team claims that Valorant’s Vanguard anti-cheat banned or suspended around seven players every minute from January 10 to 13.
As the new year came around, the number of cheaters in Valorant soared to new heights. Many Valorant players voiced their concerns across social media, asking whether the kernel-level anti-cheat was doing its job.
According to a post by Phillip “mirageofpenguins” Koskinas, the current head of anti-cheat for Riot Games, the number of cheaters spiked around the holiday season. Koskinas believes the increase in cheaters was because the holidays meant Riot froze shipping new cheating detection techniques. Many employees were on break, and activity from the anti-cheat team was thusly reduced.
The holiday’s conclusion saw the team eventually return and crack down on the increase in cheaters. According to the post, the number of cheaters in Valorant is below 1% of accounts globally. The number is expected to stay low for “the next several months,” with plans to schedule surprise updates that take effect between prolonged breaks.
Which region has the most cheaters in Valorant?
According to the post by Koskinas, Brazil had the most Valorant cheaters in January 2025.
For a short time, 10% of every ranked match in Valorant’s Brazilian server reportedly had at least one cheater. This was apparently largely thanks to a regional rise in pixelbots, or colorbots. Pixelbots automatically identify enemy outlines before adjusting the player’s in-game direction to turn toward it, making it easier to react more quickly than can enemy players.
While these cheats aren’t as advantageous as wallhacks or aimbots, they still give players an unfair advantage. Fortunately, Koskinas assures players that detecting this software is fairly simple and most such cheaters have already been dealt with.
Valorant to introduce new ranked rollback system
Starting from Valorant 2025 Act 2, every cheating ban will be accompanied by the losing team regaining its lost Rank Rating points in a new ranked rollback system.
Each player affected by a cheater will reportedly regain their lost RR. This means that a player who loses against a team with a cheater will break even in terms of RR when that cheater gets banned. Unintentionally playing alongside a cheater and winning won’t affect a player’s rank at all. However, those who intentionally queue with cheaters might be banned if a cheater is detected.
While players still won’t recover their lost time and energy, at least this rank rollback feature will ensure they don’t lose RR for dropping an unfair match.
Hannan Mundia is a lifelong gamer. Don’t believe us? Just ask him. But don’t ask how many hours he’s spent playing. He’s been gaming since the age of three, and much of his live revolves around video games and the video game industry. Whether it’s a classic Legend of Zelda game from Nintendo, the newest Bethesda RPG, or something else entirely, you can bet that Hannan is ready and willing to play it.
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