Valorant players claim they're being DDoS'd mid-game, as patch 12.10 descends into bug fiesta

Valorant Patch 12.10 has been anything but a smooth ride. Between the return of Cypher's Spycam gun bug and fake Breeze boxes, it's been a while since I've seen this many major bugs in Riot Games' shooter. However, the update's biggest issue may be more sinister in scope, as players are running into unscrupulous opponents who, judging from the footage shared, appear to be utilizing some form of networking exploit to gain an advantage.

As reported by 'Haydn' on X, we can see multiple clips where, shortly after the opposing Gekko dies, their team begins to experience severe rubber-banding. The pattern quickly becomes clear, and we can see from the attached tracker screenshot that the offending player is clocking up massive win-rates, despite paltry personal performances. Though there's no way to prove this is a conscious attempt to cheat, it's incredibly suspicious.

X users 'kentaro' and 'shin' have also run into the same squad, with similar results. By the looks of things, it's a full stack taking part. It's currently unclear if this is an isolated issue in the FPS game, or if others can take advantage of this exploit. I've reached out to Riot for clarification, and will report back if I learn anything more.

Ouais @RiotSupportFR @VALORANTfr je viens report le plus grand bug abuse que j'ai pu rencontrer

Y'a l'un des joueurs qui peut faire un ddos général sur l'ensemble de la game quand il veut et l'enlever quand il le veut
Preuve à l'appui avec les vidéos (c'est arrivé sur 20round) pic.twitter.com/Ik208JTEsb

- Haydn (@Haydnbl) June 4, 2026

This whole thing reminds me of the good ol' days of peer-to-peer hosting, back when you couldn't get through a Gears of War 2 game without someone lag switching. Of course, Valorant utilizes dedicated servers, so it's surprising to see a similar phenomenon taking place. Hopefully, whatever is happening here isn't widely replicable, otherwise Riot could end up with yet another patch 12.10 headache.

Valorant's latest update, as minor in scope as it's been, has seen a slew of bugs pop up. The aforementioned Cypher and Breeze bugs have necessitated putting both in time out - Cypher's back now, but Breeze remains out of action until patch 12.11. Elsewhere, I've seen Vyse's Arc Rose letting her peep enemies in smokes, players getting stuck inside each other, and Lotus' doors refusing to open (even if you ask really nicely). Valorant this week celebrated its sixth birthday, but it's certainly not been its happiest one.