Blog — Tag: gaming-tips

Valorant Shadow Bans Explained and How to Avoid Them

A Valorant shadow ban is one of the most frustrating experiences in competitive gaming because Riot never tells you it's happening. There's no popup, no email, no notification in your client. You're just quietly moved into a different matchmaking pool where the game becomes borderline unplayable. And the worst part? Most players don't even realize what's going on until they've suffered through days or even weeks of miserable games.

AdminMarch 23, 2026

Gaming

Valorant VAL 5 Error Code Ban and How to Fix It

You just got hit with a VAL 5 error in Valorant and you're staring at your screen wondering if you've been banned. Let's cut straight to it.

AdminMarch 23, 2026

Guides

How to Deal With a League of Legends HWID Ban?

You made a new Riot account, launched League of Legends, and before you even finished champion select in your first bot game, you saw that ban notification. Your hardware is flagged. Not just your account — your entire PC. That's a Vanguard HWID ban, and it's one of the most aggressive hardware bans in competitive gaming.

AdminMarch 19, 2026

Guides

VAN 152 Valorant: What It Means and How to Fix It

VAN 152 is a Riot Vanguard hardware ID ban on your PC, not a bug. Reinstalling will not clear it. What it means, how long it lasts, and your two options.

AdminMarch 19, 2026

Guides

Every Reason Vanguard Bans Players - A Tier List for Valorant and League of Legends

I've spent years deep in this ecosystem, scouring official Riot support pages, Reddit threads, Discord communities, and player forums. What I've compiled here is the most comprehensive tier list of every known reason Vanguard bans players, ranked by severity and likelihood.

AdminMarch 19, 2026

Gaming

Valorant Bans Waves - Updated for February 2026

Unlike instant bans that tip off cheat developers immediately, ban waves are delayed, coordinated purges where Riot bans thousands—or hundreds of thousands—of accounts simultaneously after silently detecting them over days or weeks.

AdminFebruary 6, 2026

Guides

Does Valorant Ban Your IP Address?

Discover why your entire household gets blocked, the VPN bypass that works instantly, and the critical warning: evading IP bans too aggressively triggers the VAN 152 hardware ban trap.

AdminJanuary 30, 2026

Guides

Valorant HWID Ban Duration - How Long Does It Last?

Wondering when your VAN 152 error will finally disappear? While standard Valorant HWID bans for cheating technically expires in a set amount of time, Riot tracks every account you create during that waiting period—and attempting to play during your sentence can extend your ban to a year or permanently.

AdminJanuary 30, 2026