No, running a heart, a cat, or a comically oversized crosshair in Valorant will not get you banned. Riot built the entire crosshair code-sharing system into the game’s own Settings menu back in Patch 4.05 — it’s not a mod, it’s not something Vanguard is watching for, and it isn’t remotely in the same category as a wallhack or aimbot. The confusion makes sense: anything described as “importing a code” sounds like it could brush up against cheat territory. It doesn’t. Below are working codes for a cat, a heart, and one genuinely oversized “troll” crosshair, the mechanical reason each one takes its shape, and the one situation where you should swap back to something competitive before you queue.
The Short Answer: Fun Crosshair Codes Are Entirely Safe (Here’s the Mechanism)
Riot’s Vanguard anti-cheat is built around detecting cheat assets, unauthorized client-side modifications, and, on console, input-spoofing hardware — not settings strings [1]. A crosshair code never touches a game file, never runs an external process, and never leaves the Settings > Crosshair menu it was typed into. It’s the same category of data as your keybinds or your video resolution — cosmetic client configuration Riot itself generates and reads.
That’s a genuinely different category from full-screen overlay programs like Crosshair X, which render on top of the game from outside it. Whether those carry ban risk is murkier and varies by title and by developer stance — but that question doesn’t apply here. A native Valorant crosshair code is Riot’s own feature, introduced in Patch 4.05, which added “the ability to import and export different crosshair settings via auto-generated codes” directly in the Crosshair tab [2]. There’s no external program involved anywhere in the process.
There’s a reason Riot’s own Vanguard page reads more like a warning label than a technical manual: Riot deliberately withholds its exact detection signatures, stating it wants to keep cheat developers guessing rather than publish a checklist they can code around [1]. That secrecy is aimed at aimbots and wallhacks that need to read or write game memory in real time — a crosshair code is the opposite of that. It’s a static string you type once, Valorant parses it into a handful of stored numbers (color, dot size, line length, opacity), and nothing runs in the background afterward. Vanguard’s whole model is reactive — it bans after cheating is identified, not before — and there’s simply nothing in a settings string for it to identify [1].
Verified against Patch 4.05’s original implementation, current as of Patch 13.x (2026) — Riot hasn’t changed the underlying code format since introducing it.
Best Fun Crosshair Codes: Cat, Heart, and Oversized
Oversized and shape-based crosshairs also aren’t just a novelty anymore — they’ve become a recurring short-form-video trend on TikTok and YouTube Shorts, since an exaggerated crosshair actually reads at a glance on a small vertical phone screen in a way a tiny one-pixel competitive dot never will. That’s a legitimate reason to run one for a clip or a duo session, on top of the plain fact that they’re funny. I’ve watched a Discord voice call go quiet for a second after someone’s screen-share revealed a cat crosshair mid-clutch — the reaction is real, even though the shape itself changed nothing about how the round actually played out.
| Crosshair | Best for | Avoid if |
|---|---|---|
| Cat | Unranked matches, content clips, agent select screenshots | You’re tracking a fast-strafing enemy — the hidden inner lines remove your moving-target reference |
| Heart | Duo queue with friends, Valentine’s-style memes | You’re holding an angle where a clean read on a distant head matters |
| Oversized / Troll | Streaming for laughs, Deathmatch warmup | Literally any Ranked or Competitive round — it visually swallows the hitbox at range |
Cat Crosshair Code
0;P;c;4;h;0;d;1;z;3;f;0;m;1;0t;10;0l;0;0v;3;0g;1;0o;1;0a;1;0f;0;1t;9;1v;0;1g;1;1o;3;1a;1;1m;0;1f;0
The mechanism is straightforward once you read the values: a thick center dot (thickness 10) forms the face, the inner lines are set to zero length so they disappear entirely, and the outer lines are angled outward at length 3 to suggest ears and whiskers rather than a standard cross [3]. A second community variant swaps only the color value and holds the same line structure, which is a good sign the shape itself is stable rather than a one-off fluke [4].
Heart Crosshair Code
0;P;c;7;u;F97AC0FF;o;0.1;m;1;0t;5;0l;3;0o;1;0a;0.7;0f;0;1t;1;1l;5;1o;0;1a;0.7;1m;0;1f;0
Here the inner lines are short and thick (length 3, thickness 5) while the outer lines are long and thin (length 5, thickness 1) — that contrast is what draws the two lobes and the point of a heart instead of a symmetric plus sign [5]. This exact structure shows up independently on a second site with only the color code differing, which is a useful cross-check that it’s a genuine, tested configuration and not a broken paste job [6].
Oversized / Troll Crosshair Code
0;P;c;8;b;1;t;6;o;0.5;z;6;a;1;0t;10;0l;20;0v;20;0o;20;0a;1;0s;3;0e;3;1t;6;1l;10;1v;10;1o;12;1a;1;1s;3;1e;3;u;FF00CFFF;d;1;h;1;0g;0;1g;0;0f;1;1f;1;0m;1;1m;1;0b;1;1b;1;m;1
For comparison, top Radiant player TenZ runs inner line length 2 with outer lines disabled entirely, deliberately, to keep “a tight visual footprint that doesn’t obscure the target’s head hitbox” [8]. This code pushes line length to 20 and thickness to 10 — ten times TenZ’s inner-line length — which is exactly why it reads as a joke at a glance and why you’d never want it live in a real round.
Starter Pack: 3 Profiles Worth Saving Together
Valorant stores up to 15 crosshair profiles at once, so there’s no reason to pick just one of these [2]. The combination that actually works in practice:
- Cat as your default for Unrated and Deathmatch warmup — visible enough to be funny in a clip, but the hidden inner lines mean you won’t notice it costing you a warmup rep.
- Heart saved specifically for duo queue or agent-select screenshots with friends — it’s the one most people ask about after seeing it in someone else’s clip.
- Your existing competitive profile, renamed and locked — the actual point of the 15-slot limit is that switching costs nothing, so there’s no reason to overwrite the dot you’ve trained your muscle memory around just to try a joke crosshair for one match.
None of these conflict with each other — they’re separate saved profiles, not settings that compete for the same slot, so building this exact three-profile set costs you nothing beyond the ten seconds it takes to import two codes.
Every code above also has a color value baked in as an 8-digit hex string right after the u; marker — for example, the heart code’s F97AC0FF is a soft pink with full opacity. Swap that block for any other 8-digit hex code (the last two digits are the opacity channel, so keep them at FF for fully solid) and the shape stays identical while the color changes — a quick way to make the cat or heart match your agent’s color scheme or your team’s stream overlay without hunting for a whole new code.
How to Import Any Crosshair Code (Quick Start)
- Open Valorant and click the gear icon (Settings) top-right
- Go to the Crosshair tab
- Click the down-arrow “Import Profile Code” icon next to Crosshair Profile
- Paste the code exactly — Valorant rejects a code with a trailing space or line break, so backspace once until it ends on a number if Import fails [2]
- Click Import
- Name the new profile — you get up to 15 saved slots, so keep your competitive setup saved separately rather than overwriting it
Fun Crosshair vs. Competitive Crosshair: Who Should Actually Use These
If you’re brand new to the game and still learning the fundamentals, our Valorant beginner’s guide is the better starting point before you get into cosmetic tuning.
| Player type | What to do |
|---|---|
| New or casual player, Unrated / with friends | Run the fun crosshair. It’s cosmetic only and there’s zero competitive downside in modes that don’t matter for rank. |
| Ranked grinder / hardcore optimiser | Keep a separate competitive profile with a small static dot — see our Valorant crosshair settings for competitive pros for the exact configs top Radiant players run. |
| Anyone building a full settings sheet | A fun crosshair is one line in a bigger profile — check our Best Valorant Settings for PC guide for the rest of your setup. |
When not to use these: never queue Ranked or Competitive with an oversized or shape-heavy crosshair. The extra lines around center add real visual noise exactly where you need the cleanest possible read on a distant head hitbox — swap back before you queue, not after you notice you’re whiffing duels you used to win.
FAQ
Will a fun crosshair get me reported or banned?
No. Player reports flag an account for review, but Vanguard itself isn’t scanning for crosshair shape — it watches for unauthorized programs and modified game files, and a native code triggers neither [1]. The only way a crosshair setup could ever factor into a ban is pairing it with an actual third-party overlay tool that injects into the game process, which the built-in import feature never does.
Do cat or heart crosshairs actually hurt my aim?
For competitive play, mildly, yes — and it’s not paranoia. The hidden or heavily angled inner lines that create the shape remove the moving-target reference a standard crosshair gives you, so tracking a strafing enemy gets genuinely harder. That’s the real trade-off behind the Ranked rule above, not a vague “it just feels off” excuse.
Does a low Trust Factor make a fun crosshair riskier?
No. Trust Factor and report volume are matchmaking and review-priority inputs; a crosshair string isn’t a signal either system reads, based on how Riot itself describes what Vanguard checks [1].
Where exactly do I paste the code?
Settings > Crosshair tab > the down-arrow “Import Profile Code” icon next to Crosshair Profile — not the color or size sliders above it, which is the single most common place people get stuck [2].
Can teammates or enemies see my crosshair shape?
No, and this trips people up because Discord screen-shares and clips make it look shared. A crosshair code only changes what renders on your own client — every other player in the match, teammate or enemy, still sees their own crosshair settings and has no way to view yours in-game. The only way anyone else sees it is if you show them directly, the same way you’d show off a skin.
Sources
- [1] Vanguard x VALORANT — Riot Games
- [2] VALORANT Patch Notes 4.05 — Riot Games
- [3] Everything about the Cat Crosshair in VALORANT — The Spike
- [4] VALORANT Funny Crosshair Codes: 16 Crosshairs To Troll Your Teammates With — Hotspawn
- [5] How To Get A Heart Crosshair In VALORANT — The Spike
- [6] How to Get the Heart Crosshair in Valorant — TalkEsport
- [7] Unlock Codes for Funny VALORANT Crosshairs — Esports.net
- [8] TenZ’s VALORANT Crosshair Settings — Games.gg
I've been playing video games for over 20 years, spanning everything from early PC titles to modern open-world games. I started Switchblade Gaming to publish the kind of accurate, well-researched guides I always wanted to find — built on primary sources, tested in-game, and kept up to date after patches. I currently focus on Minecraft and Pokémon GO.