Valorant and its anti-cheat program, Vanguard, have been very diligent in eliminating cheaters that hope to abuse Valorant’s security. However, some cheaters slip in between the cracks, and Solista is a primary example of this phenomenon. Solista was banned from playing Valorant but only after achieving the coveted title of Radiant, which is comprised of the top-ranking players in the game. Although this is an example of RIOT’s Vanguard doing its job correctly, this incident brings up more questions regarding the ranked ladder’s competitive integrity.
The Proof
The first link here shows the actual banning of Solista by RIOT’s software. Before the spike is about to explode, the players are ejected from the game, and Vanguard’s cheater warning message pops up before notifying that Solista is banned. One can logically infer that this is one of the more egregious offenses to commit, resulting in a hardware IP ban, which is difficult to circumvent without some expertise in the software industry, a few hundred dollars for specialized programs, or buying a new setup.
The Aftermath
After this incident, Solista took to Twitter to announce that he plays Valorant by using his space bar as his fire button. This incident sparked a lot of controversies, but for the time being, RIOT is standing firm on their banning of the former Radiant.
Former Cloud9 CS:GO star Shroud has even chimed in before, acknowledging that Solista would go pro or get banned. Even more recently, TenZ harshly critiqued RIOT’s handling of the ranked ladder, citing that most professionals only climb when streaming and staying at Immortal is satisfactory.
