It’s a bad day to be a cheater, as Activision has revealed that the team running the RICOCHET Anti-Cheat platform has stepped up its game. In an announcement, it was stated that RICOCHET now has the ability to detect players using ‘third-party hardware devices’, like the Cronus devices that essentially nullify recoil in Modern Warfare II and Warzone 2.0. Not only that, but RICHOCHET now has in-built features that quite literally make a cheater’s life a living hell.

If you’re cheating in Warzone 2.0, for example, and RICOCHET detects it, you’re in for a bad time. Let’s ignore the fact for a second that you’ll receive warnings and suspensions, which is, of course, totally deserved, and let’s take a look at what RICOCHET will do to ruin your game.

Activision has revealed that RICOCHET has three new features that are designed to protect legitimate players from cheaters. If there’s a cheater using a Cronus device or running a hacks package, then this is what they can expect to happen once they’re detected.

As the first of the ‘in-game mitigations’ that RICOCHET enforces, ‘Cloaking’ literally makes legitimate players totally invisible to cheaters. By doing this, the cheaters will have no targets to engage and they’ll be forced to leave the game, leaving everyone else – including the best Warzone players – free to enjoy their round.

It’s what it sounds like – if RICOCHET detects that a user is cheating, it’ll take their weapon clean out of their hands, leaving them unable to fight anyone. It’s one of the most annoying things that could happen to a cheater, as they’ll be able to see everyone, but won’t be able to engage them.

It’s likely to still be irritating for legitimate players, given the disruptive, on-screen effects, but Damage Shield prevents a cheater from actually harming legitimate players. It’s showcased in the below clip, and while it’s obviously helpful, Activision, Infinity Ward, Raven, or whoever is involved would do well to tone down the on-screen damage effects.

It was also confirmed in the blog post published by Activision that other behaviours will now also result in a penalty or suspension. For instance, account boosting to unlock weapons, attachments, and camos, deliberately glitching the game, or making use of exploits or griefing other players will all be detectable from here on out. Let’s say that a player has been ‘griefing’ other users in a game, they’ll receive a warning that says:

‘Griefing Warning: Your account has been reported for unsportsmanlike behaviour’

And it’ll go on to detail that persistent behaviour of this kind may result in a suspension or even an account reset.

This is a huge win for RICOCHET, especially if it’s correctly implemented. Now that the platform has the ability to detect Cronus hardware, for example, we’ll see many of the ‘suspicious’ streamers out there perhaps take a break from Warzone 2.0 or inexplicably become much worse at their game. It’s nothing but a good thing.

If you’re stuck in a ditch following RICOCHET’s breaking down of your cheats, you can always use our guide that’s designed to help you get better at Warzone.