Normally, you will hear about two types of bans:
1. Character ban, which is believed to be applied if you quit online sessions too frequently. In theory, you can lift it via Way of White Circlet[darksouls3.wikidot.com].
2. Account penalty, also known as "softban" or "shadow ban" because it puts you on a "shadow server" with other penalized people. Applied if the game detects invalid data or code injections on your save, flags your whole steam account. According to Bandai Namco, it is guaranteed to be lifted once. Usually penalties are given out on Tuesday-Wednesday night every week.

However, that is not the case. "Softbans" aren't applied in DS3 under any circumstances. Yes, it means that Way of White Circlet is completely useless.

The only type of ban that exists in DS3 is account penalty. Usually people get penalized for installing different mods or using Cheat Engine incorrectly (we will cover that later). It can be lifted ONLY by messaging Bandai Namco, as it has no time limitations.

It's very simple. Just change your Steam language to English[www.makeuseof.com] and launch the game. "Penalized" message appears only in the English version, for some reason.

There are 3 options.

1. Appeal

• Reach to Bamco official site[service-en.bandainamcoent.eu] and read the instructions.
  
  Important note - you are not limited to just one unban. Yes, first is guaranteed by Bamco policy, but there is no reason you can't get unbanned again. There are many known instances of people getting unbanned for more than 5 times from the same account.
  
  
• Write a letter after clicking the "Contact Us" button at the bottom of the page. I will leave a draft in a separate section, you can just copy+paste and it will work. You don't need to know what are you banned for and state the exact reason in your letter because Bamco customer support doesn't know what you are banned for either. The only thing they can (supposedly) look up is when you got banned, so be careful about lying when you deleted your saves in case you want them to lift the ban asap.
  
  
  
  
• You MUST delete your save data. Don't try to transfer it via SaveMerge because, most likely, you'll get banned again. Preferably do it on the day you get the [PENALIZED] notification: if you mention this in your appeal, you'll get unbanned sooner.

2. Family share

Create a new Steam account, add it to your family library and play DS3 from that account.


However, keep in mind that amount of family members that can join per year is limited. You won't be able to dodge like that endlessly.
Also, you can't transfer saves from your main account because saves are flagged too.

Not an advertisement: I used Proton Mail service for creating new Steam accounts, very handy. It's completely free and doesn't require any personal data to register.



3. Ban bypass with Cheat Engine.

There is a cheat that allows you to connect to other players even while being penalized:
it is by far the best option out of all 3, however, costs some money.
DM on Steam or Discord (restorsky) for more details.

• Don't download save files from other people. There is a chance of these people being irresponsible and not removing the account signature or just having invalid data. If you want to make builds quickly, just use Cheat Engine.
  
  
• If you are using Cheat Engine, use it only for build creation. Don't edit stats directly and don't spawn DLC spells from DLCs you don't own.
  
  
• Install mods with caution. Some of them, like Archthrones[archthrones.com], have their own servers and don't require you to go offline. However, that is not the case for the vast majority.

As at 2024, everything that doesn't inject any foreign code into the game. This includes:

• Picking up items from other players; item bans were removed in 2020.
  
  
• Using Cheat Engine for build creation.
  
  
• Using texture mods such as UXM and iGP11.
  
  
• Using .dll mods such as Honest Merchant or Wex Dust.

Hi. I have a problem. About X days ago, I was banned by the anti-cheat system. I experimented with builds in offline mode, and used extraneous software. I'm really sorry about that. I was not going to spoil the game for others. I am writing to request unban for my account. I’m not going to use third-party software in the future, and I deleted all my save data as soon as I got the notification. Thanks in advance.
- PC
- https://gtm.you1.cn/id/X