Gaijin catches cheaters in War Thunder through three channels at once: a report from another player, a manual server replay review, and an automatic match against BattlEye or Viking signatures. In December 2024 the anti-cheat got a full overhaul, and in that single month alone 7106 accounts were banned for rule violations. Since then a player report is often the first trigger for a check, while the replay review decides whether it was a real cheat or just a lucky shot at a good distance.
We at ForgeCheats regularly test software against both protection systems and see how a ban wave looks from the inside: which features draw the most reports, which patch catches which signature, and how fast moderators respond to a report from Simulator Battles compared with Arcade Battles. Current working options with price and status are collected on the War Thunder cheats page, where you can also see which patch and mode each product was tested against BattlEye and Viking on.
How Gaijin reviews cheating reports: the replay decides everything
The report system in War Thunder works as a chain, not a single click. A player sends a report through the in-game menu against a suspicious opponent, and the match recording goes into a review queue. What decides the outcome is not the reporter's opinion but what the server actually recorded: hit accuracy through cover, reaction speed to a target outside render range, aim behavior at distances where a normal player misses more often than they hit.
How to send a report and what happens next
After an in-game report, a Gaijin moderator pulls up the match in the review system and checks the player's actions against the server logs. Part of the reports get closed by automation almost instantly: if the behavior matches a known BattlEye or Viking signature, the ban is confirmed without manual review. The rest are reviewed by an actual person, especially in borderline cases like a lucky hit streak in Simulator Battles, where accuracy is already above average due to manual aiming without markers.
Why the server replay is checked, not the local one
A local replay is built from client-side data: it shows what the player saw on their own screen, and it is not hard to distort, trim, or assemble selectively from the best moments. The server replay on the official warthunder.com site holds something different: real coordinates, hits, and timings recorded by the server at the moment of battle, with no way to fake them on the client side. That's why, when reviewing a disputed report, a moderator pulls up the server version of the recording rather than whatever the reporter or the accused player submitted themselves.
The difference between Arcade, Realistic, and Simulator Battles when reviewing reports
The suspicion threshold is different for each mode and for each of the three combat domains: aviation, ground vehicles, and navy. In Arcade Battles, the aim markers and simplified physics already boost player accuracy on their own, so a single accuracy complaint there almost never leads to a ban without a matching signature. In Realistic and especially Simulator Battles, manual aiming, realistic ballistics, and the lack of hints make abnormal accuracy far more noticeable, which is why reports from there more often get taken for manual review instead of being closed automatically.
The difference between domains is noticeable too. In air combat, reports usually concern instant turret swings onto a target behind a cloud or outside the cockpit view; in ground combat, attention goes to a crew module hit through the hull with no direct line of sight; in the navy domain, moderators look at abnormally precise shots at maximum range while the ship is rolling. That is why products with ESP for a specific vehicle type, like highlighting tank modules, get tested separately for each domain rather than with one general check.
Why player reports still matter when Viking and BattlEye automation exists
Signature-based protection only catches what already made it into the database: a specific injection pattern, a known render function hook, a familiar memory structure of a cheating process. Software that holds an undetected status on the current patch has, by definition, not left that kind of trace yet, so the BattlEye and Viking combo does not see it yet. That's where a human comes in: a report on a player with suspicious stats triggers a server replay review that can catch abnormal behavior even without a matching signature. From what we've seen, some of the bans on newer versions of private software in War Thunder come from manual report reviews rather than automation, feeding into the signature database only later, for the next detection wave.
BattlEye and Viking: automation works before a report even arrives
Since December 2024, War Thunder has been protected by a combination of two systems. BattlEye runs at the kernel level, replaced the previous EAC, and hands out permanent hardware bans. Viking operates in user space right inside the game client: it does not require administrator rights, is obfuscated, and encrypts the data it collects, so it flags unusual hooks and injects before anyone has even filed a complaint about the player. We covered the technical side of this pairing separately: how the Viking and BattlEye dual protection works in War Thunder and what exactly each system sees on the client. A cheat that gets caught in the very first replay sooner or later gets caught by automation too, which is why an undetected status on a specific patch means more than any promise in a product description.
What to choose for War Thunder for this task
Since a ban is built on a combination of reports and automation, the sensible approach is to lower your visibility in replays and avoid drawing attention with aggressive features where you don't need them. Different products in our catalog fit different scenarios, and here is what is worth looking at based on actual testing rather than marketing copy on the page. We check not only antivirus detection but also how a given product's settings look in a server replay during a disputed review.
- Precise aim without drawing extra attention in replays: ARCANE PRO combines aim and tank ESP, starts from 5 dollars a day, holds undetected status, and our specialists check the product regularly after every patch and keep the config aligned with the current BattlEye build.
- Recon and positioning on a budget: MEMEZ, starting from 300 rubles, gives you ESP features without aggressive aim, behaves more quietly, and less often ends up in a manual report review even in Simulator Battles.
- Want aggressive features and understand the risk: SMG, from 400 rubles, states right in its product description a high ban risk on features like arcade steering and the ballistic sight; that is an honest warning from the developer, and it's worth accounting for when setting up your private profile for your play style.
- First look at the format without a big investment: the catalog also has more affordable loaders starting from 80 rubles to get started, with the full list of prices and statuses on the War Thunder cheats page, updated along with the game's patches.
You don't have to piece together the full picture for every product by hand: the War Thunder cheats → page collects current options with price, undetected status, and a comparison across combat modes. The list gets updated after every major War Thunder patch and every BattlEye or Viking update, so the status shown on the page reflects the real current state rather than a check from six months ago. It also shows which combat domain (aviation, ground vehicles, navy) each product was last tested for.
If you're unsure which product fits your play style: aviation, ground vehicles, or navy, ask our community. Telegram (200+ members) and Discord (637+ members) answer fast and without the marketing pitch, including questions about compatibility with a specific mode and client build.
Frequently asked questions about War Thunder cheats
What does Gaijin check when a player sends a cheating report?
A moderator pulls up the server replay of the match on warthunder.com and checks the player's actions against the server logs, not against what's visible in the reporter's own recording. If the behavior matches a BattlEye or Viking signature, the ban gets confirmed automatically; in every other case, the review is done manually, and a decision can take anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days depending on the queue load.
Do you get a notification if your report got a cheater banned?
Yes, if a report leads to a ban, the game shows a notification on your next login as a pop-up window and also adds an entry to the System notifications tab in your account's message section. This is a confirmed mechanism built into the game client itself, not a forum rumor or community guess. The notification goes specifically to the person who filed the report, not to everyone who was in the match.
How is a local replay different from a server replay when reviewing a report?
A local replay is built from client-side data and may not reflect what actually happened on the server, so it is not accepted as standalone evidence during review. The server replay on warthunder.com stores what actually happened on the server at the moment of battle, and that is exactly what moderators pull up when reviewing disputed situations between players.
How many players get banned for cheating in War Thunder per month?
In December 2024, when Gaijin strengthened protection with the BattlEye and Viking combo, 7106 accounts got banned for rule violations in a single month. Exact figures aren't published every month, but based on what we've observed, ban waves happen regularly after major patches, when the signature databases of both systems get updated. In some weeks right after a patch, the ban count runs several times above the usual background level, then settles back down until the next client update.
Can a moderator mistake high skill for cheating?
The server replay exists for this reason: it shows not just the final stats but the full sequence of actions during a match, including aiming before a target appears in render range and reactions to opponents behind cover. A good player in Simulator Battles shows high accuracy consistently and predictably, while cheat behavior usually gives itself away through sudden jumps, like an instant snap onto a target the player could not have seen given the laws of physics. ForgeCheats tests its catalog with exactly this kind of review in mind, not just whether an antivirus flags it.
What happens if a ban does get confirmed?
The final penalty for a confirmed cheat in War Thunder goes beyond a regular account ban: the system ties the block to the computer's hardware. We covered the mechanics of this separately: the War Thunder HWID ban and ways to recover access. Current working options for this situation are also collected in the War Thunder cheats catalog.
