Riot Games has traditionally taken a hardline stance against players who try to cheat the Valorant ranks system – especially those who display game-ruining behaviour. Of those behaviours, cheating is particularly deserving of punitive measures. However, some players think that, by intentionally queuing with cheaters, they can avoid punishment as they didn’t directly use the cheats.
Well, Riot’s head of anti-cheat, Matt ‘RiotK3o’ Paoletti, has today revealed that many players who intentionally teamed up with such players – known as ‘bussers’ for riding the boosting bus – have been targeted in a recent ban wave.
According to RiotK3o, this is an ongoing effort, as he points towards January’s anti-cheat update blog. Within the blog, specific mention is made of players who look “to bask in the ill-gotten gains of cheaters by teaming with them – knowing that the cheater would get banned after a few games, but they would get to reap the rewards.”
Of course, it can be difficult to ascertain whether or not a player has queued with a cheater on purpose, or if it is an innocent case of a player wanting to go again because they were impressed by their apparent skill. To help prevent incorrect judgements, RiotK3o says “specialised reviewers”, including himself, are deployed to look at each case.
We’ve recently pushed another boosting wave for players who have queued with cheaters. It’s an action which we’ve previously done and committed to – https://t.co/4vD1FezJQK This is meant to target repeat and continual offenders – if you feel that it’s unjust, please write Support
— Matt Paoletti (@RiotK3o) September 29, 2021
Indeed, this latest update should serve as a warning to those tempted to cheat second-hand that Riot will eventually catch up to them. If you are one such individual, we instead recommend you take a look at our guide on how to get better at Valorant. It’s far more rewarding to earn the MMR yourself, we promise.