A VPN does not lift an HWID ban: these are two different layers of blocking, and switching your IP address does not touch your computer's hardware identifiers at all. If the game keeps banning you after you turn on a VPN, the problem is not your network, it is your hardware, and that calls for a dedicated tool from the HWID Spoofer category, not another server to change your address.
At ForgeCheats we get the same question from players over and over: they bought a VPN subscription, picked up a fresh IP, logged in on the same PC, and got the ban screen again within minutes. The confusion makes sense, because both tools look like they solve the same task on the surface, hiding the user from the system. In reality they cover completely different layers of your digital footprint, one belongs to the network, the other to the physical hardware of the device. Below we break down what each ban type actually records, why a VPN is powerless against a hardware block, and how to figure out which one you are dealing with before you buy anything. In practice we check this on live test accounts on a regular basis: we turn on a VPN, switch region, and if the ban is already tied to the device serials, the block screen simply does not care about the connection status at all.
IP Bans vs HWID Bans: Two Different Layers of Game Protection
What an IP Ban Blocks and Why a VPN Solves It
An IP ban is tied to the network address your provider or mobile carrier assigns you. The game server or its anti-fraud system flags that address, sometimes an entire range, and refuses connections from it. As soon as the address changes, through a VPN, a new plan, or rebooting a router with a dynamic IP, the block lifts on its own, because it was never attached to the computer, only to the entry point into the network. For this scenario a VPN remains a standard, fully working fix: the service swaps the visible address, and the game sees a new client with a clean reputation. This kind of block is usually temporary and can even lift on its own within hours or days without any action from you, because providers regularly reissue dynamic addresses from a shared pool.
The same logic covers a few related, non-ban tasks: a VPN is useful for reaching a regional server, hiding your real IP from a hostile lobby, or simply keeping your home address off public matches. Those are legitimate reasons to keep a VPN running all the time, even if you have never actually hit a ban.
What an HWID Ban Actually Records
An HWID ban has nothing to do with the network at all, unlike the case above. HWID, hardware ID, is a set of hardware serials: the motherboard serial number, a disk identifier, the network card's MAC address, and a few more parameters combined into a fingerprint of that specific device. An anti-cheat such as EasyAntiCheat or BattlEye reads this fingerprint every time the game launches and checks it against its own blacklist. If the hash is listed, access is blocked no matter which account you use, which IP you connect from, or whether you reinstalled Windows, because the serials sit deeper than the operating system, in the firmware of the components themselves. Players sometimes confuse an HWID ban with ordinary cheat detection, but these are different mechanisms: detection blocks a specific process during a session, while an HWID ban blocks the device itself for an indefinite period.
This is exactly why the classic advice to wipe Windows and make a new account usually fails against an HWID ban. The Windows installer does not touch the disk serial at the controller level and does not change the network card's MAC address, so the anti-cheat sees the exact same set of identifiers after the reinstall as before it.
Why a VPN Does Not Fix This
A VPN operates at the network packet level: it encrypts traffic and swaps your visible address, but it never touches drivers or hardware. An HWID ban lives one floor down, the anti-cheat queries the motherboard and disk directly through system calls before your traffic ever reaches the VPN tunnel. That is why even an expensive, premium VPN with a spotless IP reputation will not change a single byte in your hardware serials, since these are two physically different mechanisms solving two different problems.
The actual fix here is different: a spoofer, which uses its own driver to rewrite the values the anti-cheat reads, and it has to load before the anti-cheat's own driver does, a step known as the boot order race. In our catalog, for example, ANCIENT performs a full rewrite of the serials and holds as a permanent fix from $4 a day, while SMG, the most budget-friendly option with a built-in trace cleaner, starts at about $2 a day.
When the Ban Is Combined: IP and HWID at Once
After several repeat bans on the same hardware, the system sometimes adds an IP range block on top of the hardware flag, and accounts created from that address get flagged before they even reach the game. That is a combined case, and only a pair of tools working together fixes it: a spoofer removes the hardware fingerprint, while a VPN or a new provider clears the network flag.
Players who reset their identity often across several games at once usually find REPORTED with its SEED system more convenient, it changes the identifier for 25 plus games in one click, from $29 for 14 days. If the need is a one off, for a single session, the temporary options such as the Crooked Arms lineup for Arena Breakout, Delta Force and PUBG work well, where the spoofer launches after the cheat itself and resets on reboot, from $4 to $5 a day. Combining these with a VPN is not overkill if you genuinely have a double flag: it is two independent switches, not one tool kept as a spare. One more nuance worth remembering: neither a spoofer nor a VPN lifts a ban issued over player reports against your account, that kind of block lives at the account level and only gets cleared through a support appeal, not through any technical tool.
How to Tell Which Ban You Have Before You Buy
Before paying for a spoofer or renewing a VPN, it is worth spending five minutes on a simple check. It needs no special software, just access to the same PC and a second, throwaway account.
- Create a new account on the same PC without a VPN and without a spoofer, then try to log in. An instant ban on a completely clean profile almost always means an HWID block, not an account specific issue.
- Turn on a VPN on the old, already banned account and try again. If access comes back, you have a classic IP ban, and HWID has nothing to do with it.
- If neither a new account nor a VPN alone helps, test both factors together, a new account plus a VPN. Access appearing only in that combination is a clear sign of an IP plus HWID stack.
- Read the ban message itself in the launcher or in the support email. Wording like hardware ban, device ban or permanent ban almost always points to the hardware layer, while IP restricted or network ban points to the network one.
- If the support conversation mentions reports from other players or a manual moderator review, it is most likely an account level rule violation rather than a hardware block, and neither a spoofer nor a VPN will help there, only an appeal.
At ForgeCheats we usually recommend exactly this sequence of checks before buying anything, it takes less time than dealing with a refund for a tool that simply does not match your ban type.
What to Do Next: Picking the Right Tool
If the diagnostic points to a hardware block, only a spoofer from the HWID Spoofer catalog on ForgeCheats settles it: permanent options like ANCIENT or BC for long term use on one PC, temporary ones like the Crooked Arms lineup for single game sessions, and REPORTED for players who switch between several titles on a regular basis.
If your bigger concern is not the ban itself but how to avoid burning your main account while testing a new cheat in general, we have a separate guide on exactly that: account isolation when testing a cheat. It walks through separating your main and test profiles before the first launch.
Not sure which ban type you are actually dealing with? Describe the symptoms in our Telegram (200+ members) or Discord (637+ members), and the team will point you to the right option in the catalog for your specific case.
Frequently Asked Questions About VPN and HWID Bans
Does a free VPN help against an HWID ban?
No, there is no difference between a free and a paid VPN here, because both only work with the network address. An HWID ban is tied to hardware serials that a VPN simply cannot see or change, regardless of subscription price or how many servers the provider offers.
Can I use a VPN and a spoofer together?
Yes, and it is a common working combination, not overkill. A spoofer removes the hardware flag, while a VPN separately handles network tasks: changing region, hiding your real IP, or clearing a range block in a combined ban case. Every option in our catalog of current HWID spoofers works fine alongside a VPN.
Does reinstalling Windows remove an HWID ban?
Usually not. The motherboard serial number, the disk identifier at the controller level, and the network card's MAC address live in the firmware of the components, not in operating system files, so a clean Windows install does not change them and the anti-cheat recognizes the same hardware.
How long does an HWID ban last?
In most cases it is permanent, unlike a temporary ban on a specific account for breaking the rules. As long as the serials the anti-cheat checks are not changed by a spoofer, the block stays active on that hardware indefinitely, no matter how much time passes since the ban.
How can I tell the ban type fast without buying a spoofer?
The quickest method is the test from the diagnostic section above, a new account on the same PC, no VPN. If the ban lands instantly, it is almost certainly HWID rather than a network or account issue, and there is no need to spend more time experimenting.
