Overwatch 2 Cheater Reaches Champion Without Being Banned By Blizzard

Cheating in Overwatch 2 has become less of an anomaly and more of an expectation, as the game has been dealing with cheaters for quite some time. Despite Blizzard's efforts to crack down on them through ban waves and reports, cheaters continue to thrive. One such cheater has even managed to reach Champion rank without being caught.

If you're interested in learning more about this particular player and Blizzard's overall approach to combating cheating, keep reading. We'll explore the background of this high-ranking cheater, how they evaded detection, and how the developers are tackling the issue of cheating in Overwatch 2.

Overwatch 2 Cheater Reaches Champion Without Being Banned By Blizzard

From crashing servers with game-breaking hacks to "Ximming" (where console players use a mouse and keyboard without detection), cheaters have been rampant in the Overwatch community. Despite Blizzard's best efforts—including banning over 500,000 accounts and 40,000 accounts that intentionally team up with cheaters—these bad actors continue to thrive.

The current rank 1 support on Asia servers is a hard locker and still somehow isn't banned after 140+ games played pic.twitter.com/i7XMJ64yKc

— kraandop (@kraandopOW) September 7, 2024

In a recent livestream by Overwatch 2 streamer Kraandop, a cheater had seemingly climbed to rank one on the Asian ranked leaderboard and remained unbanned. During the stream, pro player KSAA asked Kraandop to review a match replay involving the number one-ranked Support player in Asia.

Upon watching, it was clear that the red team’s Baptiste was blatantly using aim-lock cheats against KSAA’s team. This wasn’t just any match either; it was high-level, ranging from Grandmaster 3 to Champion 5. The cheater’s career profile showed an astonishing rise from Diamond 1 to Champion 5 between Season 11 and the current Season 12.

Kraandop later queued with the alleged cheater, who initially claimed to be a fan but went silent when confronted about cheating. In response, Kraandop and the other players in the match agreed to force a draw to prevent the cheater from gaining any Elo. At the time of writing, the cheater remains unbanned, underscoring the persistent issue of cheaters slipping through the cracks, despite Blizzard’s efforts.

This situation highlights the current struggle Blizzard faces with the sheer volume of cheaters. While players can report them and hope Blizzard acts, cheaters will likely remain a presence in our favorite games. With any luck, Blizzard’s Defense Matrix Initiative will make a more significant impact in curbing the number of active cheaters, but until then, players must stay vigilant, report what they see, and hope to purge the aim-locking, botting cheaters from high-ranked Overwatch 2 matches.