Seasoned Warzone players know that hacking has been an issue with the game since it was launched. The addition of cross-play added millions of PC players to the community, and Infinity Ward was not prepared to deal with the hordes of hackers and smurf accounts. Almost a year after the game's release, and there is still no anti-cheat in the game. Infnfinity Ward has made several statements on the subject, but hackers still roam Verdansk. There is only so much that legitimate players can do to counter a hacker.
Hackers are becoming smarter with time and there are a number of ways to hide subtle cheats. However, not every good player is cheating and there are a number of ways players may seem suspicious but be a legitimate opponent. Experienced players can identify whether an opponent is actually cheating, and players should diligently spectate before reporting opposing players.
11 Real Method: Aimbot
Aimbot is the most infamous hack in the game. Most hackers have their aim down sight setting on headshots only and can kill players at the theoretical time to kill of every gun. Aimbot is usually the easiest hack to identify and hackers that use it can get thirty kills without trying. There are ways to hide it, however, and not all cheaters are naive enough to enable headshots only. For example, sophisticated hacks can be set to center mass instead of only headshots. It is much more difficult to tell if someone is cheating when they are hitting body shots. Another issue is the fact that these players can toggle their cheats on and off with the click of a key. Without a kill cam, there is not way to know if players were killed by a cheater or good player.
10 Misconception: Stopping Power and Precision
There are great Warzone players in almost every lobby, and they have incredible aim. Players should not assume that every time they are out gunned that the opponent is cheating. In fact, most of the players are not. There are strategies to beat better players, and the community should try to get better at the game instead of pointing the finger after every death.
Players with above average aim and stopping power can down enemies in an instant. Players should look to see if the enemy has an orange highlight over their ammo count in the kill cam before assuming that the opponent is hacking.
9 Real Method: Wall Hacks
Another common hack allows players to see enemies through walls. There are different variations of the hack, but most show all the enemy players on the map as red figures. Hackers can position themselves wherever they want and catch the unsuspecting players off guard. If coupled with aimbot, wall hackers are essentially invincible. Unless they are killed by a lucky headshot or air strike, the hackers will kill everyone in the lobby. Wall hacks are slightly harder to spot if the player using them is cleverly. By popping UAVs and not following players through walls, hackers can get away with cheating.
8 Misconception: Advanced UAVs, Dead Silence, And Elite Headsets
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Just because a player knows where enemies are on the map does not mean they are cheating. Advanced UAVs can spot ghosted players outside of a certain range, and a large number of players have heartbeat sensors.Similarly, dead silence allows players to move around buildings freely and listen for the location of enemy players. Professionals and competent players have the best headsets on the market and can use cues to identify exactly where an enemy is.
6 Real Method: Cronus Max
While technically not a hack, the Cronus allows players to artificially control recoil patterns. Instead of having to control recoil and aim, the Cronus can be programmed to keep recoil centered and make aiming much easier. The Cronus is even more difficult to detect than wall hacks because skilled players can control recoil and have precise aim. If a good player has Cronus, they will be as incredible at aiming as some of the best players in the world.
5 Misconception: Players With 20 Kills Are Cheating
Dominant Warzone players can get high kill games without hacking or getting into easy lobbies. The simple explanation is that there will always be a better player in the game. Top players lose gunfights all the time, and even casual players can get 20 kill games if the stars align. Ultimately, getting a lot of kills in Warzone involves a number of factors, and many of the players having incredible games are not cheating.
4 Real Method: Permanent UAV
The permanent UAV is by far the most difficult hack to detect. Players that do not want to get caught can continuously buy and pop UAVs and enemies will have no idea that they are cheating. There is one way to detect someone who is using a permanent UAV. If the player can identify where enemies are that have ghost, they might be using a permanent UAV. The most suspicious occurrences are when a ghosted player is killed by an enemy that knows their exact location in a building. Without sound or visual cues, it is impossible to know exactly where a ghosted player is. Many professionals have been accused of using this hack because of their amazing awareness in-game.
3 Misconception: Frames, Ping, and Hertz
Unfortunately, players using old generation consoles are at a disadvantage. The PS4 and Xbox One are capped at 30 frames per second, which is half of what players on the PS5 and Xbox Series X have. PC players can easily get more than 100 fps, and Warzone players will lose gunfights because opponents see more and can react faster in real-time. Similarly, players with bad connections will have trouble competing with players that have 30 ping or less. De-syncing and bullet registration delay are common for players that do not have the best connection. Additionally, players that are using a 60-hertz monitor will not have the same reaction speed as players that have a 144-hertz setup. Most opponents are not cheating, they just have better equipment.
2 Real Method: Bot Lobbies
With the advent of Warzone SBMM, streamers and professionals are being accused of finding ways to get into bot lobbies. There are a variety of ways to get into low skilled lobbies. The easiest way for players to do this is to use a second account that is low level, and have the second account leave before the match is queued. Players have also been using Warzone SBMM to judge the skill of a lobby in real-time. Players can leave gold to diamond lobbies and restart the search for a match. The catch 22 of this tactic is that Warzone SBMM tracks the difficulty of each player's lobbies. Someone with a 1.5 K/D or higher should not be getting into Bronze lobbies on a regular basis. There are also special routers that can alter regions or combat the SBMM algorithm to make lobbies easier.
1 Misconception: Reverse Boosting and SBMM
Because of the way skill based matchmaking works, trio and quad lobbies will sometimes give higher skilled players easier opponents. The SBMM system has been analyzed in detail by prominent Youtubers and content creators. Even players with a 5.0 or higher K/D will come up against players that are sub 1.0 K/D at some point. By looking at the past thirty or so games a player has queued into, it is clear whether that player was doing something fishy to get better lobbies. Players with a 1.5 K/D or higher should not be getting into more than a few bronze games in a session. Also, the SBMM algorithm takes into account the average K/D of each a team. Players that have friends with lower K/Ds will benefit by having more inexperienced players in their lobbies.