Over the course of the last year, Rocket League has been overrun by cheaters and bots while playing at the highest levels, which has created a very frustrating experience for a lot of players. Major members of the Rocket League community have shared their worry about an increase in the number of bots and DDoS attacks via Twitter, both of which have made it harder to practice and compete effectively.

Some of these cheaters even found their way into the professional scene, where according to many members of the community, "bot togglers" appeared during an RLCS Open Qualifier.

For more information, see the Bot Toggler Thread on X.

The presence of botters and DDoSers has become a major stain on the game, and many players felt that something needed to be done. Epic Games has now stepped in by adding its Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) system to Rocket League. Will this make Rocket League playable again? Today, we'll take a look at what EAC is, how it works, and how it could shape the future of Rocket League.

What is EAC?

An example of an anti-cheat software application is EAC (Easy Anti-Cheat). It is a service meant to identify cheating behaviours in an online game, and it is being utilized in a number of games, such as Fortnite, Fall Guys, Halo, and iRacing. EAC is capable of detecting unauthorised modifications made to game files and unauthorised third-party software and provides hardware-level bans to repeat offenders.

To effectively perform its functions, EAC relies on the combination of a kernel-level driver and user mode process which allows it to continuously monitor low-level activity within the operating system for potential indications of cheating while the actual game is being played. Some organisations and people may not be comfortable with the level of access granted to EAC by means of the kernel driver; however, proponents of EAC maintain that it is essential in order to effectively identify sophisticated methods of cheating that exist.

While users who enjoy using community created and maintained tools, such as BakkesMod, will not be permitted to use the tools while the games are in use, users will still have the ability to use community created and maintained tools in offline mode. Therefore, the same functionalities that exist in BakkesMod for LAN event play, training purposes, and review of gameplay would still exist when using those types of tools in offline mode.

Moreover, due to the recent implementation of the new StatsAPI feature provided by Rocket League, tournament organizers such as Frost, Nameless Esports, and Double Commit will be able to utilise the new feature to extract data from Rocket League games more efficiently than using previously available methods and also create more advanced broadcast overlays and tournament tools.

How will EAC Change Rocket League?

There is no doubt that EAC has already started to change how Rocket League is played. The biggest impact has been the improvement in the quality of matches at the highest levels of ranked play, above 2000 mmr. If you've seen ApparentlyJack (former Dignitas Pro) on YouTube or played at a high level yourself, you've surely seen the number of matches that contained bots in the lobby around 2000 mmr before EAC was introduced and how much less frequent they are now and how quickly suspicious accounts get dealt with.

EAC will also help protect the integrity of the games in the RLCS. With how many matches occur during the Open Qualifiers, there is no way that tournament admins can watch every single series; therefore, as soon as prize money started to become available earlier in the tournament format, it was only going to be a matter of time before botters would try their luck at qualifying and being in the Pro Scene, and even though there is no perfect anti cheat, EAC should make it much harder to do so.

There are tradeoffs, however, in that with EAC being added to the game, almost all forms of online modding (ex: bakkesmod) will be unavailable; therefore, things that the community has created, for the most part, will only be usable in offline scenarios. This will definitely be one of the biggest changes to adapt to in this new era of Rocket League.

What are the Pros of EAC?

The advantages of EAC are fairly straightforward: It works well in preventing cheating within most types of modern games. So far, the results in Rocket League have been positive, and players' level of enjoyment has increased as there is no longer the concern of bots, cheaters, or other forms of cheating ruining matches during high-level ranked play.

The development of the game can be accelerated because they will no longer have to constantly respond to their players' reports of cheating with EAC in place as it also consumes fewer resources than other forms of developing anti-cheat software; for example, EAC does not run 24/7, while Vanguard (Riot's anti-cheat) does run 24/7.

While EAC does provide an effective solution to preventing cheating in video games, it has limitations. There is a constant game of cat and mouse between the developers who develop detection methods for cheating and those who develop methods for cheating; thus, as new methods of detection are developed by the developer, those attempting to cheat will find a new method of cheating to continue exploiting the game's environment. Therefore, until all methods of cheating can be eliminated, EAC will provide developers the ability to combat cheats more effectively.

What are the Cons of EAC?

EAC will no longer support online modding for Rocket League. Some popular gameplay features provided by BakkesMod have already been added, including recording your MMR gain/loss after a game; however, users of the community-created MMR Change Feature will no longer have access to this tool and other features (e.g., custom training maps, custom vehicle/ball decals, etc.) created by the community over the years to improve their Rocket League experience.

Additionally, the use of EAC has raised concerns regarding player privacy and security. Because EAC operates using a kernel-level driver, it requires a high level of access to the player's system. Although this high level of access provides EAC with the ability to detect advanced hacks, it requires a considerable amount of trust on the part of the player. Even if the program has been deemed safe to use, there may be people who are hesitant to give any program this amount of access to their computer.

Security issues exist whenever kernel-level software is used. In December 2025, a vulnerability was discovered in EAC version 4.0, which was assigned a CVSS rating of 8.5 (on a scale of 0-10), indicating a potentially serious threat to the user's system security. Fortunately, the issue was patched in the new EAC updates, but the incident highlights the risks associated with a system-level software.

Finally, some players may experience higher CPU usage or reduced performance on lower-end systems which could create frustration for players who don’t always have access to the best equipment.

Conclusion

While it may be too soon to say with certainty if EAC is going to be a complete success, there’s been encouraging early results. Within Rocket League’s competitive scene there have been a lot of bots, cheaters, and other types of abuse; any significant reduction of these problems will be a major achievement for Rocket League and its community.

Although losing community based mods as well as having concerns about kernel-level software are valid downsides of EAC and many players will surely miss the flexibility provided by BakkesMod-type tools, Rocket League has taken many requests by players to incorporate some of these functionalities into the game.

With cheaters declining in numbers and Unreal Engine 6 approaching release, Rocket League should have a bright outlook ahead. Should the EAC update ultimately be successful, it may end up being considered one of the biggest updates for this game in many years to come.