Like many online games, Call of Duty consistently grapples with the issue of cheaters who undermine the gaming experience, often causing frustration and driving players away from the franchise. Each CoD title has implemented unique measures to combat these problems. However, the introduction of the RICOCHET Anti-Cheat system marked a significant step forward.
While RICOCHET has contributed to reducing cheating in some cases, the issue remains prevalent, particularly during major seasonal updates, when games experience a spike in unauthorized activities. Understanding how this system works can be useful for players to protect their gameplay. Here’s a breakdown of how Call of Duty‘s RICOCHET Anti-Cheat operates and what to expect.
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How Does RICOCHET Anti-Cheat Work in Call of Duty?
Call of Duty‘s RICOCHET Anti-Cheat system employs server-side and client-side tools designed to analyze gameplay data and detect cheating irregularities, machine learning models to identify and address disruptive players, third-party hardware detections, and proactive mitigations to minimize the impact of cheaters. It has been implemented across all major titles, including Warzone, Vanguard, Modern Warfare II (2022), Modern Warfare III (2023), Warzone Mobile, and Black Ops 6.
On PC, RICOCHET utilizes a kernel-level driver that provides deep access to monitor and detect malicious software in each player’s system. Its kernel-level capabilities allow for real-time detection of cheating software, while ensuring it only operates during gameplay to protect user privacy.
What Features Does RICOCHET Anti-Cheat Offer?
Here are all the features that RICOCHET Anti-Cheat utilizes in Call of Duty games:
- Kernel-Level Driver: Employs a kernel-level driver that provides deep access to a player’s system while playing Call of Duty. This driver monitors software and applications interacting with the game to detect unauthorized tools or cheats.
- Real-Time Data Analysis: The system analyzes gameplay data in real-time to identify suspicious behavior. This includes detecting unusual aim patterns, movement inconsistencies, or the use of cheats such as wallhacks.
- Mitigation Tools: Incorporates mitigation measures designed to frustrate cheaters by disrupting their gameplay experience without impacting legitimate players.
- Frequent Updates: The software is continually updating to adapt to evolving cheat tools. Developers analyze emerging threats and apply patches or improvements to counter new exploits.
- Ban Waves: Cheaters identified are subjected to large-scale ban waves, ensuring their removal in bulk and discouraging repeat offenses. These waves are periodically announced to the community for transparency.
- Community Report System: Players can report suspected cheaters directly within the game, which improves RICOCHET’s detection capabilities and efficiently addresses specific cases.
- Detection and warning systems for playing with cheaters: Identifies accounts that frequently team up with a cheater and flags them for further investigation, helping to combat boosting and other forms of dishonest behavior.
- Detection and warning systems for spam reporting by accounts: When a player excessively uses the in-game report function against another user or employs an illegal cheat tool to mass-report someone, the system will consider these actions into a single valid report per player.
- Utilize cross-examination tools focused on streamlining the process of identifying and taking action against problematic accounts.
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All RICOCHET Anti-Cheat Mitigations Available In-Game
Call of Duty‘s RICOCHET Mitigation tools are designed to disrupt the gameplay experience of cheaters, neutralizing their ability to interfere with others. Once a cheater is detected, their in-game actions are actively disrupted, preventing them from negatively impacting other players while maintaining the integrity of the game. This proactive approach prioritizes protecting legitimate players from frustration and grants them an uninterrupted experience.
Here’s a list of all the RICOCHET mitigations available in the game as of 2025:
- Cloaking: Hides legitimate players from cheaters.
- Disarm: Removes weapons and any equipment from cheaters in-game.
- Damage Shield: Provides legitimate players infinite protection from cheaters’ damage.
- Hallucinations: Deploys false decoy characters that mimic the appearance, movement, and interactions of real players within the match, but are designed to be detectable only by cheaters, disorienting them.
- Splat: Disables the cheater’s parachute, causing them to fall uncontrollably to the ground as soon as they deploy into a match.
- Released
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October 25, 2024
- OpenCritic Rating
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Strong