GCSAnti-Cheat Guides
In plain EnglishThese are simple guides to the anti-cheat systems that protect popular games - what each one does and how hard it is to get past. Pick a game to read its guide. Every game is defended differently. The anti-cheat decides which kind of cheat can survive there, and how a ban behaves. These guides are plain-English, per-game deep dives. Each one covers what the anti-cheat actually does, whether a ban sticks to your hardware, how aggressive detection is, and what kind of build lasts. For a quick one-line lookup across every game, use the anti-cheat database.
- Counter-Strike 2VACA user-mode system that is lenient on paper but increasingly backed by server-side VACnet and VAC Live - which is exactly why build quality matters more than ever in CS2.
- ValorantVanguardThe most aggressive consumer anti-cheat in gaming: a boot-start kernel driver with HWID bans. Treat Valorant as the hardest mainstream game to cheat in safely.
- FortniteEasy Anti-CheatA kernel anti-cheat (EAC, with BattlEye as a second option) that issues HWID bans - but detection lands in waves, so build hygiene beats luck.
- Apex LegendsEasy Anti-CheatKernel-level EAC with HWID bans and a reputation for big, periodic ban waves - private builds and a legit playstyle are what last.
- RustEasy Anti-CheatKernel EAC with game bans (not HWID) plus Facepunch’s famously brutal, no-warning ban waves - the cheat can be fine and you still get swept.
- Escape from TarkovBattlEyeKernel BattlEye with HWID bans, in a high-stakes extraction game where loot and radar cheats are the meta - and where bans hit hardware.
- Call of DutyRicochetKernel Ricochet with HWID bans plus active server-side mitigations like cloaking and damage shields - Warzone and Black Ops 6 are a serious target.
- Marvel RivalsAnti-Cheat ExpertNetEase’s kernel-level ACE with HWID bans - a newer hero shooter that is policed harder than its launch hype suggested.
- DayZBattlEyeKernel BattlEye but with game bans rather than HWID, on a survival game where server admins do as much policing as the anti-cheat.
- Dead by DaylightEasy Anti-CheatKernel EAC but with account bans and a forgiving track record - one of the lower-risk asymmetric games to cheat in, if you avoid the obvious.
- The FinalsEasy Anti-CheatKernel EAC with account bans on a fast, destructible arena shooter - medium risk where a private build and a legit playstyle go a long way.
- DeadlockVACValve’s user-mode VAC plus custom checks on an invite-era MOBA-shooter - low client-detection risk, with behaviour and reports the main danger.
Pick a game, then check the build
First, find out what a title runs. It may be a user-mode system like VAC, or a kernel anti-cheat like Vanguard, Easy Anti-Cheat, BattlEye or Ricochet. Then match it to the right kind of cheat. Use the cheat finder to get a shortlist, compare options side by side, and read the glossary if any term is unfamiliar. Already banned? An HWID spoofer resets the hardware fingerprint the kernel systems record.