An HWID ban in Valorant is harsher than bans in most other multiplayer shooters, because Riot Vanguard ties the block not to an account or an IP address but to the physical hardware of the machine, and the fingerprint includes data from the TPM module, something EAC and BattlEye in other games usually don't touch. That's why reinstalling Windows, changing a network card's MAC address, or registering a new Riot ID doesn't lift the ban: Vanguard recognizes the machine by a combination of a dozen identifiers, not by one parameter that's easy to swap.
Below we break down exactly what Vanguard's hardware fingerprint is built from, why TPM became its key element in 2026, and what actually lowers the risk when the cheat software has no built-in spoofer. Working options for Valorant with prices and undetected status on the current patch are collected on the Valorant cheats page, and the context below accounts for the mandatory Vanguard Pre-Check (TPM 2.0, Secure Boot, VBS, HVCI, IOMMU) and the Vanguard On-Demand mode Riot launched on June 24, 2026.
What Vanguard's hardware fingerprint is built from
Our specialists tested Vanguard's behavior on several machines and confirm: the anti-cheat builds a composite fingerprint from drive serial numbers at the firmware level (not the volume ID, which resets on formatting), motherboard UUID, CPU ID, RAM module serials, network interface MAC addresses, EDID data from connected monitors, and peripheral parameters like keyboard and mouse. Each of these identifiers can be spoofed individually, but Vanguard uses not one signal but their overlapping set, so changing two or three parameters doesn't lift the ban.
The TPM module: the main difference from EAC and BattlEye
The key detail specific to Valorant is that Vanguard reads TPM module data and folds it into the overall fingerprint. In most other popular titles running EAC or BattlEye, TPM barely participates in fingerprinting: the chips are physically soldered to the motherboard (or implemented via fTPM in the CPU firmware) and don't reset with an OS reinstall or a drive swap. With the mandatory Vanguard Pre-Check, which verifies that TPM 2.0, Secure Boot, VBS, and HVCI are enabled before the client even starts, Riot gained an anchor that doesn't change alongside the rest of the hardware when someone tries to refresh the fingerprint.
Why VPN and a new account don't help
A VPN is useless here in principle, because an HWID ban isn't tied to an IP address: it's not a block by geolocation or subnet, it's a lock to a specific set of hardware identifiers. Registering a new Riot ID doesn't help either: as long as the same hardware sits behind the client, Vanguard matches the new account to the old fingerprint via TPM, drive serials, and motherboard UUID and bans it again, often within the first few matches. In practice this makes an HWID ban in Valorant close to permanent for anyone not ready to physically swap components.
Even Riot doesn't promise 100% protection
Riot's own position is telling here: Valorant's anti-cheat lead Phillip Koskinas has openly admitted that even the best hardware fingerprinting in the industry doesn't keep a determined cheater out of the game forever, the game is free-to-play, the barrier to entry is almost zero, and there's no such thing as a truly permanent ban, sooner or later a persistent offender finds a way back in. That's not a reason to treat an HWID ban as a formality, it's an honest admission that Vanguard's job isn't to eliminate cheating but to raise its cost and stretch it out over time: new hardware, or a significant chunk of it, costs money, and getting caught again on the same pattern of behavior resets the clock with harsher consequences.
A confidence threshold instead of an exact match
An important technical nuance we've verified in practice: Vanguard doesn't need a 100% match between the new fingerprint and the old one to hand out a repeat ban. The system works on accumulated confidence: every matching identifier (drive, motherboard, TPM, MAC address, monitor EDID) adds weight, and once the sum crosses an internal threshold, the machine gets flagged as the same one, even if part of the components were actually replaced. That's where the harshness comes from: community reports suggest a first offense usually locks the account for roughly 120 days, while a repeat catch on the same hardware combo pushes the term up to a permanent block.
South Korea deserves a separate mention: there Riot verifies players through a government social security number (KSSN), and an HWID ban there is effectively tied not to hardware but to a person's legal identity. A new account and a new computer don't help at all, bypassing the verification is only possible with a new KSSN, which is practically impossible. It's the harshest regional example of how far a ban-to-identity link can go, rather than a ban-to-device one.
Common mistakes when trying to lift an HWID ban
Reports from our community show the same pattern over and over: people clean the registry with special utilities, change the volume serial through third-party tools, or swap the network card, and the ban stays right where it was. The reason is simple: none of these actions touch TPM or change the motherboard UUID, and those two parameters are exactly what Vanguard checks first. Trying to run the client inside a virtual machine doesn't work either, for a different reason: Vanguard Pre-Check detects virtualization itself and blocks launch before you even reach a match, so even the theoretical possibility of spoofing is gone there. The only thing that actually changes the outcome is physically replacing key components (the drive, a board with TPM) or a driver-level solution, and no product in the ForgeCheats Valorant catalog currently offers one.
What to pick for Valorant for this task
The ForgeCheats catalog currently has no Valorant cheat with a built-in HWID spoofer, and that applies to all ten listings, including the flagship MEMEZ FULL and COVCHEG. We don't promise customers something the product doesn't have, and we say so directly: since the hardware fingerprint stays untouched, lowering risk isn't about resetting it, it comes down to two things that actually work, careful legit settings in the software itself and choosing solutions that don't reach into the game process's memory or create statistical anomalies in a match.
- For visual map awareness without aim-pattern risk: an external ESP with no aiming, such as COVCHEG from 329 rubles, which reads data without injection and has no aimbot, no triggerbot, and no radar, so it doesn't stand out statistically by headshot rate.
- For anyone who needs an aimbot: keep the FOV minimal, turn on smoothing, and don't aim through walls even when the information is available, otherwise anomalous accuracy stats become a reason for a manual review from Riot on their own.
- For budget-testing features: it's easier to start with lighter builds in the lineup like MEMEZ LITE, to gauge how a specific build behaves on your hardware before moving up to the full-featured versions.
- For ranked matches with a stream running: look toward external solutions marked streamproof, such as UNNAMED, which don't get picked up in screen capture and don't leave traces in recordings for moderators to review.
- For lowering risk at the anti-cheat level itself: factor in Vanguard Pre-Check requirements and the On-Demand mode, we covered the DMA-reader block via forced IOMMU and how the on-demand driver works in a separate article about blocking DMA through IOMMU, that's the second hardware barrier Vanguard added in 2026 alongside TPM fingerprinting.
Current undetected status, real prices, and a feature comparison across every Valorant listing, including COVCHEG, MEMEZ, and UNNAMED, are collected on the Valorant cheats → page, the list gets updated after every major patch and Vanguard update, not once a quarter.
If you're not sure which option fits your scenario (solo ranked, streamed customs, or just map recon), ask our community: Telegram (200+ members) and Discord (637+ members) answer fast and to the point.
Frequently asked questions about Valorant cheats
Can you lift an HWID ban in Valorant by swapping one computer part?
No, because Vanguard cross-checks several identifiers at once: TPM, motherboard UUID, drive and RAM serials, MAC addresses. Swapping one component almost always leaves enough matches for re-identification. At ForgeCheats we test cheat software with this in mind and don't recommend relying on replacing a single part.
Does reinstalling Windows help against an HWID ban in Valorant?
On its own it doesn't help: a reinstall changes the drive's volume ID, not its firmware-level serial, and doesn't touch TPM, motherboard UUID, or MAC address at all. Vanguard sees the same hardware and links the fresh install to the old fingerprint.
Is an HWID ban in Valorant different from bans in other games?
Yes, noticeably: where EAC or BattlEye usually rely more on drive serials and network addresses, Vanguard additionally folds TPM module data into the fingerprint, and that chip is physically anchored to the motherboard. That makes a ban in Valorant harsher and keeps a player out of matches longer than with most other custom cheats.
Do ForgeCheats' Valorant cheats have a built-in spoofer?
No, none of the ten listings in the catalog currently have a built-in HWID spoofer, including COVCHEG and MEMEZ FULL. We say this directly on the Valorant cheats page so we don't set false expectations, and we recommend offsetting that with legit settings and external solutions that don't inject into memory.
What should you do if your account already got an HWID ban in Valorant?
There aren't many practical options: a new Riot ID on the same hardware will almost certainly catch a repeat ban, and in Korea the KSSN verification rules out a bypass almost entirely. The realistic path, if you keep playing on that system, is a pause and a switch to legit settings to avoid a repeat violation on the next attempt.
How long does an HWID ban last in Valorant?
Based on community experience and our own observations, a first offense usually locks access for roughly 120 days, not forever right away. But every following catch on the same hardware combo increases the term, and in practice it climbs to a permanent block that can't be lifted without replacing a significant part of the components.
