VAN 152 is Valorant's hardware-ban error — it means Riot's anti-cheat, Vanguard, has flagged your whole PC, not just your account. That distinction is the most important thing to grasp before you do anything: creating a new account on the same machine will not help, because the penalty is attached to your hardware, not your login.
This guide covers what VAN 152 really is, how long it lasts, what genuinely clears it, and the popular myth that a quick ID change makes it vanish.
Quick reference: VAN 152 at a glance
| Question | Short answer |
|---|---|
| What it is | A hardware (HWID) ban issued by Vanguard |
| Scope | The entire PC — every Riot account on it |
| Typical duration | About 4 months; severe cases can stretch toward a year |
| Does a new account fix it? | No — the ban follows the hardware |
| Can you appeal? | Yes, through Valorant Support |
What VAN 152 actually means
Vanguard runs in kernel mode, which lets it read identifiers far below the level a normal program can reach. When it issues a HWID ban, it ties the penalty to a fingerprint built from firmware-level values — things like your SMBIOS UUID, motherboard serial, and TPM data. Because those values are burned into the hardware itself, signing in with a different Riot account on the same PC simply produces the same fingerprint, and VAN 152 appears again.
If you want the deeper picture of how Vanguard reads your machine, our Vanguard deep dive walks through the kernel driver and what it inspects at boot.
How VAN 152 differs from a normal ban
A standard account ban locks one login. A hardware ban locks the device. That is also what separates it from an IP ban — your router and Wi-Fi are not the target here, the components inside your case are. We break that distinction down further in HWID ban vs IP ban.
How long does a VAN 152 ban last
Riot's support material points to roughly four months as the standard length. Treat that as a guideline, not a guarantee: history and severity can push some cases toward a year. There is no countdown timer shown in-client, so the practical answer is "wait and test." For how this compares across other games, see how long game bans last.
Why "just spoof your HWID" usually fails against Vanguard
This is where honesty matters more than marketing. Vanguard reads firmware-resident identifiers through the kernel and ACPI — SMBIOS UUID, motherboard serial, BIOS data, and CPU information. Tools that change Windows-level identifiers operate in user mode: they can change the registry MachineGuid, NTFS volume serials, and network MAC addresses, but they do not alter the firmware values Vanguard relies on.
Vanguard is the strictest mainstream anti-cheat for exactly this reason. So changing Windows IDs alone will not lift a VAN 152, and you should be skeptical of anyone promising a guaranteed Valorant unban — that promise cannot be honestly made for a kernel anti-cheat that reads firmware.
What actually clears VAN 152
- Wait it out. For most players the ~4-month window expires and access returns on the same hardware.
- Appeal if it's wrong. Mistakes do happen; our guide on appealing a game ban shows how to present a clean case, and anti-cheat false positives explains how innocent software gets flagged in the first place.
- Replace firmware-bound hardware. Swapping the motherboard (and the parts tied to it) changes the fingerprint Vanguard reads — effective, but expensive and rarely worth it for a temporary ban.
FAQ
Does making a new account fix VAN 152?
No. The ban is on the hardware fingerprint, so any new Riot account on the same PC is flagged almost immediately.
Will reinstalling Windows remove VAN 152?
No. A clean Windows install removes software, not the firmware identifiers Vanguard reads. The same machine reports the same fingerprint.
Can I appeal a VAN 152 ban?
Yes. Valorant Support is the correct channel. Appeals are reviewed skeptically, so a calm, factual explanation with any supporting evidence gives you the best odds.
Does changing my HWID remove a Vanguard ban?
Not on its own. User-mode ID changes don't touch the firmware values Vanguard reads via the kernel, so they cannot reliably clear VAN 152.
The takeaway
VAN 152 is a hardware ban, which means it ignores new accounts and clean Windows installs alike. The realistic options are to wait out the roughly four-month period, appeal if the detection was genuinely wrong, or replace the firmware-bound hardware. Anyone telling you a one-click HWID change will instantly defeat Vanguard is overselling — the value of changing Windows-level identifiers is real for many situations, but a kernel anti-cheat reading firmware is the hardest case there is.