Raids, coordinated waves of fresh accounts joining to spam, slur, or ping, hit even small servers. The good news: a 4-layer defense usually stops 99% of them.
Layer 1, Account-age gate
Don't let accounts younger than 7 days post anywhere except a verification channel. Configure via Wick or Discord's built-in Community → Safety Setup → Member Verification.
Layer 2, Verification bot
Wick, Captcha.bot, or similar, force new members to solve a captcha before they get the @verified role. Drops 90% of bot-driven raids.
Layer 3, Slowmode by default
Set slowmode to 5 seconds in #general. Raiders trying to spam will visibly choke; legitimate members barely notice.
Layer 4, Role-lock NSFW + voice
NSFW channels and voice channels should require a role that takes 10+ minutes of activity to earn. Raiders rarely stick around long enough.
When a raid happens
- Enable server-wide pause (Discord's built-in panic button).
- Bump slowmode to 30s on every public channel.
- Run
!massban [account-age:<1d]if your moderation bot supports it. - After: file a Trust & Safety report at https://dis.gd/report.
Recovery
- Audit the audit log for any actions taken during the raid.
- Reassure members in #announcements.
- Don't over-correct, relax slowmode within 24 hours so legitimate activity doesn't suffer.