The Blog & Ground Truth.
Over 1,146 days in live Valorant lobbies produce stories that don't fit into spreadsheets. Here is the unredacted truth behind the bans, the tools, the anti-cheat clearance, and the psychology of the lobbies.
Trying This Will Ban Your PC
Why public skin checkers steal login tokens and trigger permanent Vanguard HWID bans, the truth about the Valstats Watcher, and how Riot helped clear this research.
Why Vanguard Doesn't Ban Me
Why reading passive public telemetry does not trigger kernel anti-cheat. The non-technical explanation for normal players.
“I'm Reporting You.” Cool.
Angry players file automated third-party exploit tickets every match. Why automated ban hammers never trigger against passive read-only telemetry.
How to Troll in Valorant Like Me
Weapon skin guessing was a tactical pre-round reaction probe. How psychological escalation uncovers authentic Riot Gun Buddy stories before round timers expire.
Why My Clips Feature More Girls
Acoustic telemetry data: fundamental vocal pitch inflections (+14.2 dB surge) and social algorithm retention data behind female lobby participants.
Why I Explain Everything In-Game
When teammates question the buddy, explaining the three-year research live defuses suspicion, protects match focus, and turns sceptics into archive contributors.
The Project That Never Dies
Four TikTok bans, multiple account strikes, and years of lobby reports. Why an anonymized archive of 500+ human stories cannot be cancelled by social platforms.
Why I Declined Five Gun Buddies
Riot developers offered to grant me the buddy five separate times in matches. Why accepting would have corrupted the statistical integrity of the entire study.
Banned 4 Times on TikTok
How automated AI moderation bots repeatedly killed accounts for showing internal client telemetry, and the decision to permanently uncouple from algorithmic platforms.
Want to Make a Video? Read This First
Guidelines, macro statistics, and the strict zero-software policy for YouTubers and creators covering the Riot Gun Buddy research.
The Valorant Watcher
How community telemetry feeds the archive, how the background watcher works without overlays, and how to safely contribute match data.
How I Collaborate with VALSTATS
The division of labor with lead developer ryleq, managing research papers on reports.valstats.site, and Discord community stewardship.