Discord Moderation Commands: Complete Reference (Slowmode, Warn, Ban, Kick, Timeout)

Jump to a specific command: Slowmode, Warn, Timeout, Kick, Ban. The full escalation order is at the bottom.

For automated moderation that applies these commands without you watching chat, see our Discord moderation bot builder or best Discord moderation bots blog post.

Every Discord server with more than a hundred members runs into the same problem: bad actors. Spam, harassment, raids, trolling, off-topic floods. The five commands in this guide — slowmode, warn, timeout, kick, ban — are how you handle them. Use them in the wrong order or skip steps and you either ban people you shouldn't, or let problems escalate until your server feels unsafe.

The right mental model is escalation. Each command is one step stronger than the last. Always start at the lowest necessary level. Skip to ban only for unambiguous violations (slurs, doxxing, NSFW in SFW channels, raids).

What it does: Limits how often each member can send a message in a channel. Set it to 5 seconds and members must wait 5 seconds between messages.

When to use:

• Chat is moving too fast to follow (40+ messages per minute)
• A heated argument is escalating and you want to slow it down without picking sides
• During a raid or spam wave as a holding measure before bans

How to enable it:

• Right-click the channel → Edit Channel → Overview → Slowmode → pick a duration (5s, 10s, 30s, 1min, 5min, etc.)
• Or via a mod bot: /slowmode set <duration> works in most bots including VibeBot

What slowmode is NOT: A replacement for actual moderation. Slowmode buys you time; it doesn't fix the underlying problem. If a single user is the issue, timeout or kick them — don't punish the whole channel with a 30-second slowmode.

Pro tip: Slowmode survives across messages from the same user but resets for different users. So if you set 10s slowmode in a 200-user channel, you can still get 200 messages per 10 seconds — one from each user. For raid mitigation, that's not enough — you also need anti-raid auto-mod.

What it does: Logs a warning against a member's record. Discord itself has no native warn command — every "warn" you see is provided by a moderation bot (Dyno, MEE6, Carl-bot, VibeBot). The bot keeps a count of how many warns each user has received and can auto-escalate based on the total.

When to use:

• First-time minor offense (one off-topic post, mild rule violation, accidental ping spam)
• The member is plausibly going to course-correct after being told the rules
• You want a paper trail before escalating

Standard syntax across bots: /warn @user reason or !warn @user reason. The reason is REQUIRED. Vague "warn" with no reason is unenforceable later when the user asks "what did I do?".

Auto-escalation: Most bots let you set thresholds — e.g., "2 warns = timeout 1h, 3 warns = timeout 1 day, 4 warns = kick, 5 warns = ban." Set these once and your bot handles the escalation for you. Don't manually re-warn the same user three times in a row; the bot's counter is supposed to do that.

Common mistake: Treating a warn like a personal scolding. The warn IS the formal action. Don't follow up with a paragraph in DMs explaining how disappointed you are. State the rule, issue the warn, move on.

What it does: Prevents the member from sending messages, reacting, or joining voice channels for a configurable duration (1 minute to 28 days). Replaces the older "muted role" hack most servers used pre-2022.

When to use:

• Member ignores a warn and keeps doing the thing
• Heated argument that needs a forced cool-down
• Minor harassment that doesn't warrant a kick yet

Native Discord command: Right-click member → Timeout → pick duration. No bot required (Discord added this in 2022).

Bot syntax: /timeout @user 1h or /mute @user 30m reason. Same mechanic, just exposed through the bot.

Standard escalation pattern:

• 1st timeout: 5 minutes (cool-down)
• 2nd timeout: 1 hour
• 3rd timeout: 24 hours
• 4th: kick
• 5th: ban

This is the "5 strikes" pattern most moderation bots default to. Adjust based on your server's tolerance.

Why timeout > old muted role:

• Built into Discord, no role-permission hack required
• Auto-expires (the muted role required manually removing it)
• Works across all channels by default
• Can't be circumvented by leaving and rejoining

What it does: Removes the member from the server. They can rejoin if they still have an invite link. Their messages stay; their roles are wiped.

When to use:

• Member has 3+ warns / 2+ timeouts and is still problematic
• A persistent rule-breaker who isn't quite ban-worthy
• Mistake or accidental join that you want to undo cleanly without a ban record

Bot syntax: /kick @user reason (Discord-native) or !kick @user reason (older bots).

Permissions required: "Kick Members" permission. Your role must be ABOVE the member's highest role.

Important difference from ban: Kicked members CAN rejoin if they have or get a new invite link. This makes kick useful as a "stop participating but you're not banned forever" middle ground. If the user rejoins and keeps offending, the next step is ban.

Don't kick for:

• First-time minor offenses (warn first)
• Cool-down purposes (use timeout)
• Members you actually want gone permanently (use ban)

What it does: Permanently removes the member from the server AND prevents them from rejoining. Their messages can optionally be purged (last 1 hour, 1 day, or 7 days of their messages). Banned users cannot be invited back unless you unban them.

When to use:

• Repeat offender (5+ warns / 3+ timeouts / multiple kicks)
• Single unambiguous violation: slurs, doxxing, threats, NSFW in SFW context, raid behavior
• Bots / spam accounts / known bad actors from other servers

Bot syntax: /ban @user reason or !ban @user reason [days_to_delete].

Permissions required: "Ban Members" permission. Your role must be ABOVE the member's highest role.

Message deletion options: When banning, Discord asks how many days of the user's messages to delete (0, 1, 7). Default = 0. For spam/raid accounts, pick 7 to clean up their trail. For legit-user-gone-wrong, pick 0 — their old messages might still be useful context.

Ban appeals: If your server is large enough to get reasonable ban appeals, set up an appeal form. Most appeals are denied; the few that succeed maintain community trust. VibeBot has a ban appeal builder for this.

The DM problem: Banned users get a DM from Discord saying they were banned. They can NOT respond to the DM (your DMs are typically closed to non-friends). They will try to contact you on other platforms. This is normal.

The standard escalation pattern, in order, from gentlest to harshest:

1. Slowmode the channel — if the problem is volume, not a specific user.
2. Warn the user — formal first strike, logged for the future.
3. Timeout 5min-1h — forced cool-down for repeat or escalating behavior.
4. Timeout 24h — last warning, basically.
5. Kick — "you're not welcome to participate right now but not banned."
6. Ban — permanent removal.

Skip directly to ban only for: slurs, doxxing, NSFW in SFW channels, real-world threats, raid behavior, NSFW images sent to minors. These are no-warn-required offenses.

Don't punch down: if you're a moderator with the Manage Messages permission, don't use your power to win arguments. The escalation ladder exists so you don't have to make case-by-case judgement calls every time.

If you're manually running these commands more than 10 times a day, you're doing it the slow way. Every moderation bot (including VibeBot's moderation builder) supports auto-escalation:

• Auto-warn on banned keyword detection
• Auto-timeout on N warns within X hours
• Auto-kick on N timeouts within X days
• Auto-ban on slur detection, raid pattern, or N rule violations in a row

Set thresholds once. The bot handles the rest. Your mod team only intervenes for judgement calls and appeals. This is the difference between a 1,000-member server that feels safe and a 1,000-member server that constantly has drama.

For specific bots:

• VibeBot: moderation builder — describe the rules in plain English, bot writes the auto-mod
• Dyno: /automod setup wizard
• Carl-bot: !automod plus role-react escalation
• MEE6: auto-mod menu in dashboard (premium for full features)

See best Discord moderation bots for a full comparison.