A banwave is a batch of bans issued together instead of one at a time. Blizzard says it uses both batch and individual enforcement in WoW, and it has explained for StarCraft II that holding bans back and releasing them in waves tells cheat makers less about what was caught. So a quiet week after you start using something proves nothing. A recent example: on 23 August 2023 a wave hit rotation-bot users in the EU and NA on Retail and Classic, and the most commonly reported penalty was a permanent ban. A few days later a player on Blizzard's EU forum said thousands of HyperElk users had been banned that Wednesday. I found no published user count, so treat the thousands as one player's estimate.

WoW Botting Glossary: Unlocker, Offsets, HWID and More

What is a WoW unlocker?

An unlocker, or Lua unlocker, is a separate program that lets outside scripts call game functions that normal add-ons are locked out of. On its own it does nothing you'd notice. The rotation, bot or plugin you load through it makes the decisions. WardenGG, Daemonic, NilName and TCX are unlockers in this sense, and Project Sylvanas runs its own scripting platform with scripts and plugins built for it. WardenGGDaemonicTCXProject Sylvanas

Lua is the scripting language WoW's interface and add-ons run on, hence the name. People use unlocker, Lua unlocker and framework as if they meant the same thing, which doesn't help anyone. The longer explanation is in what a Lua unlocker is, and the Lua unlocker vs pixel bot guide covers the other route. WarcraftWoW UnlockersWoW Unlockers

What are protected functions?

Protected functions are the parts of WoW's scripting interface that only Blizzard's own secure code may call, mostly casting spells and choosing targets. Warcraft Wiki puts it plainly: a protected function can only be called successfully from a secure execution state. Anything an add-on or a /script line touches counts as tainted, so add-on code can't call them. Warcraft

The rule has been there since patch 2.0. It's the reason an add-on can tell you which button to press but can't press it for you: add-ons and macros still cast when you press a key, they just can't use logic to pick the spell or the target. Lifting that restriction for the scripts that run through it is the entire point of an unlocker. It's also why the ban reason players posted after the August 2023 rotation-bot wave read Unauthorized Cheat Programs. WarcraftUnbanster

What are offsets, and why do unlockers break after patches?

An offset is the location of a function or a piece of data inside the WoW client's memory. An unlocker needs those locations to work, and a new client build can move them, so an unlocker that relies on fixed addresses stops working until its developer ships an update. Even fail46's small 2012 unlocker used pattern scanning to find where to patch rather than trusting one set of addresses. GitHubWoW Unlockers

Dynamic offsets means the unlocker fetches the new locations itself instead of waiting for a manual patch. WardenGG works this way. Ordinary WoW patches are picked up instantly with no downtime, and testing has shown 100% uptime outside rare major patches. Large seasonal, pre-season and expansion changes can still need manual compatibility work. WardenGGWardenGG

Framework, rotation, routine and bot: what's the difference?

Framework is the slipperiest word in this list. Sellers use it for the unlocker itself (WardenGG and Daemonic both get called frameworks) and for a Lua library that sits on top of an unlocker and gives script writers ready-made building blocks, such as the public Bastion framework adapted for TCX. When a listing says framework, work out which of the two it means before you pay. TCXWoW Unlockers

A rotation, also called a routine or combat routine, is the code that picks your next ability. Murlocs and SYNQ sell rotations that run on named unlockers. Retail WoW now has a mild built-in version: Assisted Highlight points at the recommended damage ability, and the Single-Button Assistant casts it each time you press one key, with a short extra delay. Neither needs anything installed. MurlocSYNQBlizzard

A bot does a longer job with less of you involved: questing, gathering, grinding, fishing. PS Bot adds unattended play to Project Sylvanas and needs PS Base underneath it. SIN/SIO bundles its own unlocker. AKH does Retail gathering and needs a NilName licence bought separately. The bot vs rotation guide sorts out which one a given job needs. Project SylvanasGothamGothamWoW Unlockers

What is a pixel bot, and what does memory reading mean?

A pixel bot reads the game off your screen and presses keys for you. It doesn't hook into the game client. GGLoader advertises exactly that: no injection, no memory access, no unlocker, with several screen-capture and input modes. That's one less product to buy and keep updated. It doesn't make the software invisible, because files, timing and input patterns can still give it away. GGLoaderWoW Unlockers

Memory reading means a program pulls the game's data straight out of the client's RAM rather than off the screen. Blizzard's anti-cheat client, Warden, looks the other way: it scans a small part of the code of running processes, all of them and not only the game, and compares what it finds with known cheat programs. WoW's terms of use include consent to those scans. En

What are HWIDs and HWID spoofers?

HWID is short for hardware ID: identifiers taken from parts such as the motherboard, CPU and drives that together fingerprint one computer. Unlocker sellers use them for licensing. Lunar ties licences, session limits and bans to hardware IDs, and its terms say that opening a payment dispute before contacting support gets you a permanent HWID ban from Lunar. WardenGG's launcher page says licence, IP and hardware identifiers are used to verify sessions. IntorqaLunarLunarWardenGG

A spoofer is software that changes or masks those identifiers so one computer looks like a new one. Its job is dodging hardware bans, which is different from an account ban. If a seller tells you to run a spoofer alongside their product, that tells you they expect your hardware to be flagged at some point. I'd take that into account. Intorqa

What is TPM 2.0, and which unlockers need it?

A TPM (Trusted Platform Module) is a tamper-resistant security chip. Microsoft describes it as generating, storing and limiting the use of cryptographic keys, and as able to authenticate the device with a unique RSA key burned into the chip. Windows 10 and 11 initialise and take ownership of it automatically. Microsoft

WardenGG needs TPM 2.0 enabled, on Windows 10 22H2 or Windows 11 22H2 through 25H2 today. macOS and Linux clients are coming soon, and one subscription will cover all three platforms for life once they ship. Check that TPM is switched on in your BIOS before you apply, since EU and US applicants pay a one-time EUR 100 entry fee. WardenGG

What is a banwave?

A banwave is a batch of bans issued together instead of one at a time. Blizzard says it uses both batch and individual enforcement in WoW, and it has explained for StarCraft II that holding bans back and releasing them in waves tells cheat makers less about what was caught. So a quiet week after you start using something proves nothing. BlizzardBlizzard

A recent example: on 23 August 2023 a wave hit rotation-bot users in the EU and NA on Retail and Classic, and the most commonly reported penalty was a permanent ban. A few days later a player on Blizzard's EU forum said thousands of HyperElk users had been banned that Wednesday. I found no published user count, so treat the thousands as one player's estimate. UnbansterBlizzard

What do detection vector and build leak mean?

A detection vector is whatever signal gave the software away: a file pattern, something observed in the client, or activity the server logged. Sellers like to announce that a vector has been fixed. Ask which one, which builds were affected and from what date, because without those details the announcement can't be checked. WoW Unlockers

A build leak means a private release, download or source code reached people it wasn't meant for. It's a common explanation after a wave and sometimes the right one. But a leak doesn't say how accounts were identified, and shipping a fresh build can't clear flags already sitting on accounts that used the old one. WoW Unlockers

What is a reseller key, and what counts as a session?

A reseller key is a licence for someone else's product, sold by a shop such as Halenir, Gotham or Flawless. The shop sits between you and the developer, and it can't get you past an application requirement. Baneto showed the risk in 2020: its developer ended a reseller relationship over a disputed EUR 300 debt and that reseller's sessions were switched off. He said PayPal refunded the buyers and they then bought direct. Community reportWoW UnlockersWardenGG

A session is one game client the licence lets you run at the same time, and prices scale with it. Daemonic charges USD 25 for 30 days on one session, rising to USD 215 for twenty. TCX charges a monthly base for one session plus a monthly fee for each extra one. If you run more than one character at once, count sessions before you compare prices. DaemonicDaemonicTCX