Vanguard, EAC, BattlEye, Ricochet: Anti-Cheats Explained
Which games use which anti-cheat, what kernel-level means in plain words, where server checks and reports fit in, and why no tool can promise zero risk.
You do not need to be an engineer to understand what you are up against. A rough map is enough to make better decisions.
Every competitive game today ships with some form of anti-cheat. They differ in how deep they go, when they run and what they look for. This is a plain-language overview of the ones that matter for the games Titan covers. It is not a how-to; it is the background that makes product pages and patch days easier to understand.
Three layers of protection
Most modern games protect themselves in more than one way at once.
On your PC
A program that runs next to the game and watches what else is running, what touches the game's memory and whether game files were changed.
On the game's servers
The server sees what every player does. It can notice statistics that do not look human: reactions that are always too fast, aim that is always too precise, information a player should not have had.
Other players
Reports and replay reviews. A player who looks obviously impossible gets reported, and reports can trigger closer checks.
The first layer gets the most attention, but the other two are why tool settings matter as much as the tool itself.
What "kernel-level" means
Windows has layers of permission. Normal programs, including the game, run with limited rights. The kernel is the core of the system and can see everything.
A kernel-level anti-cheat installs a driver that runs at that core level. It can watch the system with the same authority Windows itself has. That is why these anti-cheats are considered the hardest environment for any third-party tool, and why tools for those games are rebuilt so often.
The main systems
Riot Vanguard
Used by League of Legends and Valorant. Vanguard is kernel-level and starts when Windows starts, not when the game opens. It is the reason some League scripts in our store come with a companion. For PV LoL Script that companion is our Vanguard Bypass; Hanbot LoL Script instead splits the work across two PCs with the Vanguard Emulator. The product page always says what is required.
Vanguard also shows its own error codes, often called Van codes. Some point to a setup problem on your PC, some to a restriction on the account or the machine.
Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC)
Widely used across many titles, including survival games like Rust. EAC also has kernel components and is updated frequently.
BattlEye
Common in military and survival shooters such as PUBG and DayZ. Like EAC, it has kernel-level parts and pushes regular updates.
Ricochet
Activision's anti-cheat for Call of Duty titles. It combines a kernel driver with heavy server-side analysis.
Account bans and hardware bans
An account ban locks one account. A hardware ban, often called an HWID ban, goes further: it recognises the machine, so a fresh account on the same PC is blocked too. Several of the anti-cheats above can issue hardware bans.
That is the problem spoofers exist for. Our HWID Spoofer and One Click Spoofer product pages list which anti-cheats each one covers.
Why no tool can promise zero risk
Anti-cheats change without warning. Server-side checks look at behaviour, not at software. Reports come from real people. None of that is under any tool maker's control.
What a responsible provider can do is keep tools current, pause them the moment something changes and say so openly. That is what the status page is for. Anyone promising you can never be banned is not being straight with you.
What this means for you
- Read the requirements on the product page, especially companion tools.
- Check the status page after every game patch.
- Keep your settings believable; our article on thinking about risk explains why.
- Follow the setup guide exactly, in order.