RICOCHET makes "legit players" invisible to cheaters in Warzone

Call of Duty: Warzone's Ricochet anti-cheat will troll cheaters by making non-cheating players appear invisible.

First Published February 20, 2022, 15:23

RICOCHET makes "legit players" invisible to cheaters in Warzone

The surge in reports of hacking in Call of Duty: Warzone and Vanguard has prompted an ingenious solution by developer Activision. Following a recent update, the Ricochet anti-cheat system will grief cheating players by disabling their ability to deal damage and turning non-cheating players invisible.

This latest move marks Activision's attempt to deter players from using cheat software and comprises their ongoing commitment to foster a fair, competitive gameplay environment for all. The developers note that this is just one of many mitigation methods, with more expected to go live soon.

Warzone nerfs cheaters by making legit players invisible

In a Twitter post on 19th February, famous Call of Duty reporter ModernWarzone noted that Ricochet "seems to have another trick up its sleeve" in its effort to combat the recent surge in cheating.

RICOCHET seems to have another trick up it’s sleeve to combat cheaters in #Warzone 👀

The anticheat appears to be making “legit” players completely invisible to confirmed cheaters as you can see in this video. pic.twitter.com/T5H53HL8Bs
— ModernWarzone (@ModernWarzone) February 19, 2022

"The anti-cheat appears to be making 'legit' players completely invisible to confirmed cheaters," they added. Indeed, this can be seen in the video uploaded, which swiftly sparked intense rage and frustration from the cheater using aimbot.

The cheater can be seen on a rooftop, and after attempting to gun down an enemy player, the victim seemingly vanishes into thin air. Unable to see the player, the cheater immediately gets eliminated from the match.

Thanks to YouTuber JustLawly, we also get to see another video clip of the same cheater getting trolled in a different match.

In a separate Twitter post, ModernWarzone recounted being told that Ricochet would appropriate other methods to deter cheaters.

"[I] have been told for a while that RICOCHET is just getting started and that there would be more and more progressive waves of action and new methods to deter cheaters in Warzone. [I] didn't wanna say anything until we saw some evidence of it for ourselves. It's nice to see it evolve," the tweet read.

Ricochet to add Damage Shield to deter cheating in Warzone

According to a progress report on 18th February, Activision explained that Warzone would also introduce a new "Damage Shield" feature to prevent cheating players from inflicting damage to players.

"Since the RICOCHET Anti-Cheat kernel level driver rolled out on PC, #Warzone saw a significant drop of in-game cheat reporting while bringing cheating within Warzone to an all-time low."

Check out the latest progress report from #TeamRICOCHET: https://t.co/XSNB8poAyh pic.twitter.com/F4j9rXBhfr
— Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) February 18, 2022

"When the server detects a cheater is tampering with the game in real-time, it disables the cheater's ability to inflict critical damage on other players. This mitigation leaves the cheater vulnerable to real players and allows Team Ricochet to collect information about a cheater's system," the update read.

Activision says that the Damage Shield buff is currently being tested and will deploy globally. It's otherwise great to see innovative solutions for Ricochet, especially given continued thwarted efforts to rid cheaters and hackers from lobbies.

ricochet anti-cheat kernel level driver warzone damage shield — The Ricochet anti-cheat has brought cheating to an all-time low in Warzone. (Picture: Activision)

Indeed, accepting the reality that it would be impossible to keep these undesirables out, nerfing cheaters this way essentially voids the reason players opt to use cheats in the first place -- while pissing them off at the same time. It's a win-win.

Interestingly, the report never mentioned the invisibility feature, which leads us to believe that there will likely be other mitigation strategies to be revealed in the future.

Read more: Best Owen Gun loadout for Warzone Pacific Season 2

Featured image courtesy of Activision.

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RICOCHET makes "legit players" invisible to cheaters in Warzone

Warzone nerfs cheaters by making legit players invisible

Ricochet to add Damage Shield to deter cheating in Warzone