VALORANT Bans and Appeals: Behavior, Cheating and HWID

Riot publishes different VALORANT penalties for player behavior, cheating and hardware ID restrictions. An error or queue symptom does not identify which policy was applied to an account. Read the message, the affected game, any date and the source page for that category. The VALORANT comparison identifies the game covered in CheatsMatch's catalogue, but Riot's account-specific notice and support route control a sanction question.

Riot's Bans and Reports hub is a general navigation page with game tabs. Its League of Legends material is not a VALORANT ban policy. For VALORANT, use the game's penalty FAQ and cheating article, plus Riot's separate HWID FAQ where relevant. This distinction prevents an account sanction from being assigned a duration drawn from a different conduct category.

Sources: [1][2][3][4]

Riot's three cited policy pages address different conduct and access effects. The table shows their published scope as checked September 29, 2026. It is not a diagnostic result for an individual player. The game comparison directory supplies game context; Riot support supplies the account-specific answer.

Sources: [1][2][3]

Riot's VALORANT Penalties and Bans FAQ discusses AFK behavior, queue dodging and friendly fire. Its table includes warnings, XP denial, Rank Rating deduction, a teamplay restriction timer and a VALORANT game ban. The game-ban row spans 7 days to permanent. Riot says the chosen penalty depends on offense severity and behavior history; it does not promise that every player passes through each step in order.

This duration range belongs to the behavior FAQ. It does not set the minimum or maximum for cheating or HWID cases. A restriction timer is also not the same table row as a game ban. The game ban types guide explains why an account, game and device restriction should be read under its named publisher policy.

Sources: [1]

Riot's 2026 VALORANT cheating article says that cheating with unauthorized hardware or software that gives an unfair advantage leads to a permanent account ban. It separately says queueing with cheaters brings a 180-day ban. Those statements are part of the cheating article, not the conduct table about AFK or friendly fire. This page reports Riot's policy; it cannot identify why a particular account was penalized.

An appeal template cannot replace the notice or Riot's source. The article does not state that an ordinary cheating account ban is eligible for reversal, nor does it give a general success rate. If a player needs account-specific clarification, use Riot's support route. Do not infer a cheating finding from an unrelated error code or from someone else's ban story.

Sources: [2]

Riot's HWID FAQ says a hardware ID ban is different from a normal account ban. It restricts game access from the identified device, and Riot says a login attempt while the restriction is active results in VAN 152. The FAQ describes possible additional account consequences. It also says reinstalling a game or deleting the responsible account does not remove an HWID ban; this is a scope statement, not a troubleshooting instruction.

Riot says a player whose HWID ban followed negative behavior or suspected cheating can submit a player support request for re-evaluation. Riot explicitly says lifting the ban is possible but never guaranteed; certain threat cases are treated differently. That rule is specific to HWID cases. The HWID ban guide compares publisher definitions, but Riot's current FAQ controls a Riot restriction.

Sources: [3]

Riot's support pages link to Submit a Ticket. Use the affected Riot account and the sanction details shown in its notice. The ticket page is an official contact route; its dynamic form does not by itself establish that every account ban qualifies for appeal or that a decision will be reversed. Riot's HWID FAQ expressly offers re-evaluation for some HWID cases, while the cited behavior and cheating articles do not give an equivalent general reversal rule.

Keep the categories separate when describing the issue to support: behavior game ban, cheating account ban or HWID restriction. Riot's own source for the named sanction is more reliable than a third-party appeal template. There is no verified review-time estimate or appeal success rate in the cited pages.

Sources: [3][4][5]

Riot's VALORANT error-code page warns that its list is currently out of date because some errors display incorrectly. Its code 61 row says a player seeing a ban error should submit a ticket. Riot's HWID FAQ separately associates VAN 152 with an active HWID ban. Those references can guide which support page to read, but the warning prevents a confident account diagnosis from a code alone.

Do not assign a duration from the outdated code list. Read the current notice and Riot's sanction-specific policy. The code page's ticket route is useful for an unresolved message, not proof of appeal eligibility. Riot may update the list, so the source should be rechecked when the page is reviewed.

Sources: [3][6]

The Riot Vanguard guide provides system background. It does not determine an individual ban reason or appeal outcome. The guides directory lists other game-policy explainers. For this case, Riot's notice, policy and support ticket remain the authoritative route.

Sources: [4]