How to Fix High Ping in Valorant

How to fix high ping in Valorant might not be your connection's fault.

Spanning just over a month within its closed beta state, Valorant continues to achieve worldwide buzz as the next up-and-coming esport juggernaut. As the game is continually rolled out across more regional servers, players have been experiencing ping issues, leading to unfavorable circumstances.

Within online multiplayer games, ping is a measurable figure of the network latency that a player's client has with the game server. Every time a player moves, shoots, or completes any other action, their client sends a message to Valorant's servers. The regional server then registers these commands and sends another message to all the other players' clients. In turn, this displays these actions on all other player's screens. The lower the ping, the less latency will exist, thus leading to less lag.

How to Fix High Ping in Valorant

However, on the contrary, when ping is high, players often experience rubber-banding and lag that results in unplayable game conditions. In the beta's latest developer update, Valorant's technical director Dave Heironymus addressed the recent latency issues affecting the game's players:

"The biggest problem is the same one hitting everyone else: there’s massive amounts of internet traffic and players are coming in from many, many different ISPs." Additionally, Heironymus mentioned Riot's collaboration with and understanding of how internet service providers are dealing with the uptick in network traffic as well. This has caused ISPs to load balance connections wherever they can.

Alongside server expansion, Valorant's large number of incoming connections can in part thank social distancing regulations as more people infiltrate internet traffic than ever before.

So, while a massive influx of internet connections might not be in the your total control, there are a few steps you can take on your own end to remedy high ping issues. These include, but are not limited to:

• Playing on a wired Ethernet connection, instead of a wireless one
• Revamping router settings for gaming needs
• Upgrading your internet plan via your service provider
• Limiting the number of household items connected to your network

These are just a few examples of at-home fixes you can take to alleviate your in-game ping and get back to an enjoyable Valorant experience.