If you’ve played League of Legends for long enough, then you’ve probably experienced lag at some point. Lag is a terrible thing and can ruin games for everyone on your team.
If someone has lag on your team, then the chances are they won’t be able to do their role and end up costing you the game. If you have a laggy jungler then you’re probably not going to get any ganks or help in lane.
With League of Legends lag being such a huge problem for gamers, how exactly can you fix it?
There are many reasons why players experience League of Legends lag which we will be covering later on, but for now you just need to know that it can be fixed.
Before we can look at how to fix lag in League of Legends we first need to understand what it is.
League of Legends lag comes in many forms but can be split into 2 main categories, PC lag and internet lag. PC lag is the type of lag where your game freezes every few seconds and becomes very unresponsive. If you get this type of lag then the chances there are some serious problems with your computer and you either don’t have enough RAM, a broken graphics card or just an old computer in general. The simplest fix for this is to buy or upgrade your PC.
As expensive as this might seem, luckily this isn’t the most common type of lag so it’s unlikely to be your computer.
The other type of lag is known as internet lag and is by far the most common problem. After all, most LoL players have fast expensive computers so they obviously can’t be the problem. Your internet connection on the other hand can be very temperamental, and the slightest thing can cause it to go haywire.
When we talk about internet lag we are specifically talking about high ping in game. Have you ever looked up to see your 30ms ping has suddenly jumped to over 1000ms? This can happen due to a number reasons; maybe someone else on the network is using your internet? Maybe your modem is out of date or your internet cable has been damaged?
There are plenty of reasons why you could be getting high ping and lag, but we’ll cover the most common reasons and how to fix them next.
Now we know what lag is and how it is caused, you probably want to know how to fix it. We’ve got our best PC experts together to explain how you can simply fix any League of Legends with a helpful checklist. Here are some easy steps on how you can stop lagging and stop letting your team down.
The number one reason why players experience lag in League of Legends is due to downloading something while playing. Most of the time they don’t even realise they are doing it. Before joining any game make sure you have completely stopped downloading anything such as torrents, music or movies. If you have a download on in the background, it will steal your internet bandwidth and cause your ping to skyrocket. Always make sure nothing is downloading while playing.
It’s also important to turn off any automatic updates that might decide to take place while you are in game. This can be things such as anti-virus software, other game clients such as Steam, Origin and Battlenet.
If you live with other people in your house that have access to your internet then they could also be downloading without you even knowing. The only way to really get around this is to tell them not to use the internet at a certain time or to invest in a new modem which we will cover later on.
Not all internet connections are the same and some are mch better than others. In the world of internet connections, the 2 main types are copper and fiber. Copper internet uses telephone cables that are shared with telephones and go directly to your house. The benefits of copper at that they are much cheaper and already installed to almost every house. The downsides however are that they aren’t that reliable and can cause problems if you live far away from the exchange.
This is where fiber comes in. Unlike copper wires, fibres uses small fiber optic cables which send light down the wire. Instead of using vibrations like copper, light can travel much faster and further, therefore lower ping and less lag!
If you happen to have copper internet and take gaming seriously then you should consider upgrading to fiber and kiss goodbye to lag. If you do have fiber internet and are still experiencing lag then the chances are it’s something else causing the problem.
Your internet connection will only be as good as your hardware. If you think about it, if you have a 100mb connection but only a 10mb modem then you’ll be capped at 10mb. With this is mind it’s important to make sure your hardware is up to scratch or else you could have some serious problems. The first thing you need to check is that your modem and router are up to date. New modems and routers will be able to support up to 1000mbs which should be enough internets for anyone! These new modems and routers also come with special features which allow users to prioritise important internet traffic on their network.
This means if you’re sharing internet with your family you can easily prioritise your gaming traffic over their boring normal YouTube traffic. If you already have a new modem/router or are looking to buy a new one, then make sure it has the quality of service (QoS) option enabled. By following the instructions in the manual you’ll be able to prioritise your PC and gaming traffic to make sure you get the bulk of the connection. Any leftovers will be used by others on the network which is just what you want!
Depending on where you are playing from in the world you might have naturally high ping and lag for a reason. If you’re from Hawaii and are trying to play on the US servers then your ping is probably going to be around 100ms while others playing in America will have 40ms. Your distance from the servers and the quality of the internet connections leading to your house are likely to be the reason for your high ping. It’s very unlikely you’ll be able to reduce your ping down to the low 20’s but by using a gaming VPN you should be able to significantly improve your ping.
A VPN stands for virtual private network and is a special internet connection that is basically a direct line to the gaming server. By reducing the amount of hops and redirects, it can significantly reduce your ping. With the ability to improve your ping by up to 55%, Killping offers an excellent gaming VPN service.
Couldn't find a fix for your lag problems? Check our dedicated how to fix your ping guide
