Modern Warfare 2 pro shows off easy trick to avoid Ranked Play hackers

Nathan Warby
Modern Warfare 2 Ranked Play players calling in Killstreak

Modern Warfare 2 Ranked Play has been overrun with cheaters since it arrived in Season 2, and a pro player has revealed an easy trick to dodge hackers without losing Skill Rating.

The launch of Modern Warfare 2 Ranked Play has brought new life to Infinity Ward’s latest entry in the series. Since the competitive mode launched in Season 2, MW2 has seen a huge surge in popularity on Twitch, and millions of players have begun climbing the ranks.

However, the experience has been tainted slightly by the sheer number of hackers found in lobbies, sparking concerns over how the Warone 2 ranked mode will handle it later down the line.

Luckily, Modern Warfare 2 pro and Top 250 player Gabriel “Aroma” Hamshaw has shown off an easy trick to avoid Ranked Play matches with hackers without any penalties.

How to dodge hackers in Modern Warfare 2 Ranked Play

A Twitter post from Aroma revealed that if you recognize the name of a hacker in your match, you can leave by opening up the Lobby Channel in the menus and selecting ‘Leave Party.’ This can only be done once the lobby is full and the game is about to start.

Although Modern Warfare 2 Ranked Play doesn’t allow players to leave once they have been placed in a lobby, he explained that you can still back out as long as you act quickly.

We’ve included an easy step-by-step guide to avoiding hackers in Modern Warfare 2 Ranked Play below:

  • Wait until the lobby has the maximum of eight players.
  • Select ‘Channels’ in the top right corner of the screen, indicated by the headphones icon.
  • Press on the Lobby Channel.
  • Click on ‘Settings’ at the top of the screen, shown by the cog symbol.
  • Select ‘Leave Party’ followed by ‘Yes.’
  • You will now be back in the Ranked Play menus ready to search for a new game.

As shown by Aroma, this handy trick doesn’t inflict players with any loss in Skill Rating, or the usual suspension for quitting a match early. However, it does come with some drawbacks.

The first is that it requires you to recognize the gamertag of a hacker in the lobby, with no other way to tell if someone is cheating. Another issue is that it requires you to act fast, as there is only a window of a few seconds to leave successfully.

If you get the timing wrong then the Ranked Play match will begin and you’ll be forced to contend with the cheater as normal.

But it’s well worth keeping a mental note of any player you come across that’s using cheats, so that if their name pops up again you can quickly use this trick to leave.


For more on Modern Warfare 2, be sure to check out our other guides:

Best Modern Warfare 2 PC settings | Best Modern Warfare 2 controller settings | Best mouse and keyboard settings for Modern Warfare 2 | How to level up fast in Modern Warfare 2 | Best guns in Modern Warfare 2 | Best Assault Rifles in Modern Warfare 2 | When is the next Modern Warfare 2 & Warzone 2 Double XP event? | 10 most popular weapons in Modern Warfare 2 | Best audio settings for Modern Warfare 2

Image credit: Activision

About The Author

Nathan is a Senior Writer for CharlieIntel and Dexerto, primarily covering FIFA and Call of Duty, as well as general gaming news and guides. After leaving university with a degree in Sports Studies and a master's degree in Magazine Journalism, he took on a role as a local news reporter before moving into games media. You can contact Nathan by email at [email protected].