What is a Shadowban in Warzone?

As Warzone is a free-to-play game, the game is constantly in the fight against cheaters, and shadowbans are a key tool in combating these hackers. Here’s everything you need to know about shadowban, including what it means and how to know if you’re affected by it.

Warzone players will agree that there is nothing more frustrating than parachuting into Urzikstan in the hopes of scoring a victory, only to discover that a cheater is in their game. Whether they use wallhacks or an aimbot, you’re at an instant disadvantage.

Although the RICOCHET anti-cheat has several measures to counter Warzone cheaters, such as detecting Cronus, making enemies invisible, removing their weapons and reducing their damage, among many countermeasures, Activision still uses the shadowban to help their efforts to stop cheaters from ruining games.

Here’s everything you need to know about shadowban, including how it works and how to tell whether or not your account is impacted.

Warzone player map Urzikstan — Activision

It’s easy to find out if you’ve been banned in Warzone.

What does Shadowban mean in Warzone?

When a player is suspected of cheating, they are then quickly shadowbanned in Warzone and can no longer play in normal lobbies with the rest of the game’s community while Activision reviews their account. Instead, he is placed in special games filled with other suspected cheaters.

If a player is reported multiple times in a short period of time, whether for playing particularly well, exploiting a glitch, or any other reason, their account may be reviewed and shadowbanned.

Shadowbans typically last one or two weeks, and once completed, the account will either be un-shadowbaned or permanently banned depending on Activision’s decision.

Unfortunately, since Warzone is free-to-play, once cheaters realize what happened to them, many of them simply create new accounts. Nonetheless, shadowban is a useful tool to remove them from the regular player base in a lobby full of potential cheaters.

Can you be Shadowban in Warzone?

Yes, an average player, not a cheater, can be shadowbanned in Warzone. Several streamers have already been shadowbanned before being cleared, and it happens all the time to regular players too.

Of course, if you cheat and get caught by RICOCHET, don’t expect the shadowban to be lifted. Instead, your account will be permanently banned once reviewed.

Call of Duty account status — Activision

You can check your shadowban status through Activision Support.

How do you know if you are Shadowban in Warzone?

When shadowbanned in Warzone, the initial indicator is a high ping reaching 200 and a long wait when searching for a match.

If you think you have been shadowbanned, you can visit the Appeal Ban section of Activision Support. Here you will be told if your account is “Under review” . Here is all you need to do:

Visit the Activision Support Ban Appeal page
Log in with your Activision account
Click ‘Accept and continue’
The screen will tell you if there is no Ban detected, if your Account is Under Review or Permanently Banned

If you think you’ve been wrongly shadowbanned, it’s mostly a matter of waiting. Once Activision reviews your account and makes a decision, you can either continue playing normally or your account will be banned completely and you will need to submit an appeal through this page.