Summary
- A used CPU allegedly triggered an instant Valorant ban because of a blacklisted CPU serial.
- A Redditor claims their motherboard and drive were also blacklisted after using the CPU.
- Riot says bans are game-specific, last up to four months, and don't add other PC components to the blacklist.
Buying second-hand hardware is smart if you want to keep costs down, but video game anti-cheat mechanisms are getting so advanced that they can sometimes blacklist specific components from confirmed cheaters.
Someone reportedly discovered this the hard way when they bought a second-hand CPU, installed it in their PC, and were immediately banned from Valorant when they booted the game. However, Riot Games has pointed out significant holes in this claim from a single Reddit user, saying that's not how its kernel-level Vanguard anti-cheat system works.
A used CPU resulted in a Valorant ban, claims the Redditor
They say the rest of their PC's hardware was blacklisted from the game as a result
VideoCardz spotted a post from Reddit user After-Cartoonist-196 on theGerman PCBaumeister subreddit regarding the Valorant ban claim. In the post, After-Cartoonist-196 says they purchased a used CPU, but it came with an unwanted surprise when they tried to play Riot's Valorant (the post is machine-translated from German):
I recently bought a used Ryzen 7 5800x3d from classifieds. The CPU works perfectly and hasn't caused any problems so far.
Yesterday I started playing Valorant and was immediately kicked out, which I found strange because Valorant played perfectly fine with my previous CPU.
When I contacted Riot, they informed me that my CPU ID/serial number is blacklisted in the Vanguard system because it was banned on August 12th due to a hardware ban, apparently because the previous owner used it to cheat in Valorant.
After-Cartoonist-196 then claims they spoke to Riot and learned that they were banned for using a confirmed cheater's CPU, and that the rest of their hardware was also blacklisted, including their PC's motherboard and hard drive.
Reports of second-hand hardware carrying a Valorant ban aren't entirely new. For example, a somewhat dubious claim from 2021 describes a similar situation. However, all three posts, including this latest instance, are based on one Reddit user's report, so approach them with skepticism.
Riot Games says bans don't include additional hardware and that they only last four months at maximum
The company calls the Reddit user's claims "pretty unlikely"
XDA contacted Riot Games, and Sabrina Ajeep, the company's Head of Global PR and Communications, pointed us to a Twitter post from Phillip Koskinas, the studio's Head of Anti-cheat. In the post, he clarified that hardware bans last at most four months, and that Riot Games does not ban the rest of a PC's components when it spots hardware that's been blacklisted.
So while After-Cartoonist-196 could have indeed been automatically banned, according to Riot, Valorant's anti-cheat system doesn't ban additional PC hardware components and is game-specific.
When asked whether there was any proof this had happened, Koskinas said he couldn't find the support ticket the Reddit user says they made about the issue, but that such a thing happening was "pretty unlikely."
With this in mind, if the Reddit user's story is accurate, they'd need to wait until December at most for the ban to be lifted. After that, they should have full access to the game again.