Riot Games has updated Valorant’s Vanguard anti-cheat system in a way that has hit some cheating hardware far harder than a standard account ban. Reports from affected users indicate that certain DMA-based cheat setups were temporarily rendered unusable, turning expensive equipment into what Riot mocked as “a brand new $6k paperweight.”
The move has drawn attention because these setups are not cheap software hacks running in the background. They are physical devices and support hardware built to help cheaters bypass detection, and Riot’s latest response appears aimed at shutting down that entire method rather than only flagging the player.
How DMA cheating setups work
DMA, or Direct Memory Access, lets external hardware read and write system memory without going through the CPU in the usual way. That makes it useful for legitimate work such as debugging and cybersecurity research, but cheat makers have also used it to bypass anti-cheat systems.
In a typical setup, a DMA card is installed in the gaming PC and paired with modified firmware. A second machine, often a laptop or mini-PC, runs the cheat software and sends commands through the hardware chain, while a KMBox can mimic keyboard and mouse inputs so the actions look normal to the game.
That design helps cheat software stay outside the main computer’s normal software checks. It also explains why anti-cheat developers have had to move beyond simple scan-and-ban tactics and look at the hardware layer instead.
Riot’s response goes after the device layer
Riot has not publicly explained exactly how Vanguard stopped the DMA setups, but the prevailing theory points to tighter IOMMU enforcement. The IOMMU helps control how peripheral devices access memory, which makes it a logical place to block hardware abuse.
There are also reports that Vanguard now blocks DMA firmware trying to communicate over SATA or NVMe protocols. Those approaches are used by cheat developers to disguise a DMA card as a legitimate storage controller, making detection more difficult.
The result, at least for some users, is severe enough that the device stops functioning until the operating system is reinstalled. That does not appear to mean the hardware is permanently destroyed, but it does mean the setup is effectively unusable in its current form.
Riot also chose to taunt cheaters publicly
The company did not keep the issue quiet. On X, Riot’s anti-cheat lead Phillip Koskinas shared a screenshot and the company’s message read: “Congrats to the owners of a brand new $6k paperweight.”
The post quickly framed the update as more than a technical change. It became a public jab at cheaters who had invested heavily in hardware meant to bypass Valorant’s protections.
Reactions have been mixed. Some players praised Riot for taking a hard line against cheating, especially in a competitive game where hardware-based abuse can be difficult to catch. Others questioned whether kernel-level anti-cheat software itself creates new risks, with critics describing such deep system access as too intrusive.
Why the backlash keeps coming back
Vanguard has long been controversial because kernel-level access gives an anti-cheat system the highest level of privilege on a computer. Supporters see that as necessary for catching advanced cheats, while critics worry about security, stability, and the broader implications of software operating so close to the operating system.
The latest action shows how far the cheating scene has evolved, and why anti-cheat systems keep escalating in response. When cheats move from software tricks to dedicated hardware stacks, the fight shifts from account enforcement to the devices themselves.
For now, Riot’s message is clear: hardware built to evade Valorant’s anti-cheat can be targeted too, and expensive cheating rigs may end up as useless desk clutter if Vanguard detects them. The latest clash also shows that the arms race between anti-cheat developers and cheat makers is still being fought one hardware layer at a time.
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