League of Legends High Ping: Causes & Fixes That Work

Why Your Ping Is High in League of Legends

Before you start changing settings at random, you need to know what’s actually causing your high ping. In League of Legends, anything above 80ms starts to feel sluggish. Above 120ms and you’re dying to things you should have dodged. Above 200ms and you’re basically playing a slideshow.

The main culprits are almost always one of these: your routing path to Riot’s servers is inefficient, your local network is congested, background apps are eating your bandwidth, your network hardware is outdated, or there’s a problem on Riot’s end. Let’s go through each one with specific fixes.

Step 1: Check If the Problem Is on Riot’s End

Before touching anything on your PC, go to status.riotgames.com and check the server status for your region. If there’s an active incident, nothing you do locally will fix it — you just have to wait.

Also run a quick ping test to Riot’s actual server IPs. For NA servers, open Command Prompt and type:

ping 104.160.131.3 -n 20

You want to see average reply times under 50ms if you’re in the eastern US, under 80ms if you’re on the west coast. If you’re getting consistent 150ms+ replies here, the problem is between your ISP and Riot — routing and VPN fixes later in this article will help.

Step 2: Use a Wired Connection Instead of Wi-Fi

This is not optional if you’re serious about ping. Wi-Fi adds latency, introduces packet loss, and fluctuates constantly. A direct Ethernet connection to your router will typically drop your ping by 10–30ms and eliminate the inconsistency that makes Wi-Fi genuinely unplayable at high elo.

If running a cable isn’t possible, use a Wi-Fi 6 adapter on the 5GHz band, not 2.4GHz. The 2.4GHz band is congested and slow. In your Wi-Fi settings on Windows, connect specifically to your router’s 5GHz network (it usually shows as a separate SSID ending in “_5G”).

Step 3: Close Background Applications Eating Bandwidth

Open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc), click the Network column to sort by usage. Kill anything consuming bandwidth while you play. Common offenders:

Discord — video calls or screen sharing can eat 5–15 Mbps. Switch to voice-only.
Steam, Epic, Battle.net — set all to “pause downloads” or disable auto-updates during gaming hours.
Windows Update — go to Settings > Windows Update > Advanced Options and set Active Hours to cover your gaming schedule.
OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive — pause syncing before you queue up.
Chrome or Edge — these background processes can trigger network calls even when minimized.

You only need about 5 Mbps to play League with no issues, but those background apps introduce latency spikes, not just bandwidth usage — that’s what kills you mid-teamfight.

Step 4: Change Your DNS Server

Your ISP’s default DNS servers are often slow and overloaded. Switching to faster DNS reduces the time it takes to resolve server addresses and can meaningfully lower connection setup times.

Go to Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network Connections. Right-click your active adapter, select Properties, click Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4), then Properties again. Set:

Preferred DNS: 1.1.1.1 (Cloudflare)
Alternate DNS: 8.8.8.8 (Google)

Alternatively use 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1 for Cloudflare’s full pair. After changing, open Command Prompt and run ipconfig /flushdns to clear the old cache.

Step 5: Flush DNS and Reset Your Network Stack

Run Command Prompt as Administrator and execute these commands one at a time:

netsh winsock reset
netsh int ip reset
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /renew

Restart your PC after. This clears corrupted network configurations that accumulate over time and can cause intermittent ping spikes without any obvious reason.

Step 6: Adjust Your Router’s QoS Settings

Quality of Service (QoS) lets your router prioritize gaming traffic over everything else on your network. Log into your router admin panel — usually at 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 — and look for QoS settings.

If your router supports it, add your PC’s local IP address as a high-priority device, or specifically prioritize traffic on port 5000 UDP (League of Legends game data) and port 8393 TCP (client communications).

Routers like the ASUS RT-AX88U and Netgear Nighthawk RAX80 have built-in Adaptive QoS features that handle this automatically when you select “Gaming” as your priority profile.

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Step 7: Disable Windows Auto-Tuning

Windows has a feature called Receive Window Auto-Tuning that can interfere with gaming connections. Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run:

netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled

If this hurts your connection (you’ll notice within a gaming session), revert with:

netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=normal

This fix helps some connections significantly and makes no difference for others — test it for a session before committing.

Step 8: Update or Roll Back Your Network Adapter Driver

A bad driver update can spike ping consistently. Go to Device Manager > Network Adapters, right-click your Ethernet or Wi-Fi adapter, and check driver properties. If your ping problems started recently and coincide with a Windows update, click Roll Back Driver. If you haven’t updated recently, go to your adapter manufacturer’s website (Intel, Realtek, Killer) and download the latest driver directly — not through Windows Update.

Killer Network adapters in particular (common in MSI and Alienware laptops) have a history of causing League ping spikes. Disabling Killer Intelligence in the Killer Control Center, or switching to the standard Intel driver, has fixed this for a large number of players.

Step 9: Change the League of Legends Server Region If You’re on the Wrong One

If you’re playing on NA servers from Europe, or EUW from Southeast Asia, your baseline ping will always be high — 150ms to 300ms+ with no fix possible outside of moving. Make sure you’re on the correct regional server for your location in the League client under Settings > General > Server.

For players in areas with no close server — like parts of South America on NA, or Oceania players connecting to SEA — your best option is routing optimization, which is covered in the next section.

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Step 10: Check Your In-Game Network Settings

In League of Legends, go to Settings > Video and make sure you’re not running at uncapped framerate if your PC can’t sustain it — constant GPU strain can cause CPU bottlenecks that indirectly affect network processing. Cap your FPS to a stable number your PC can always hit: 144, 120, or 60.

Under Settings > Interface, turn off unnecessary overlays. While these don’t directly affect ping, removing system load keeps your network stack running cleanly.

When Free Fixes Aren’t Enough: The Routing Problem

Here’s the thing most guides don’t tell you: even if your internet connection is fast and your local setup is perfect, you can still have high ping in League of Legends because of how your data travels to Riot’s servers.

Your ISP routes your traffic through multiple hops across different networks to reach Riot’s data centers. That path isn’t optimized for gaming — it’s optimized for cost. You might be in Dallas and your packets are bouncing through Chicago, New York, and then to the NA server in Oregon. Every unnecessary hop adds latency.

This is the exact problem a gaming VPN like WTFast solves. WTFast uses a dedicated network of servers specifically optimized for gaming traffic, finding the fastest route from your location to Riot’s servers and cutting out the junk hops your ISP sends you through.

Players routinely report drops from 180ms to 90ms using WTFast on League of Legends — not because their internet got faster, but because the route got smarter. If you’ve done everything in this guide and you’re still sitting at 100ms+ when you should be at 50ms, routing is your problem.

Start your WTFast free trial here — no payment required upfront. Run it alongside League for a few sessions and compare your ping before and after. The difference on a poorly routed connection is immediately obvious.

Quick Reference: Target Ping Numbers for League of Legends

Under 40ms — Excellent. No perceptible input delay.
40–80ms — Good. Playable at any rank.
80–120ms — Noticeable but manageable. Fix it before climbing.
120–200ms — Significant disadvantage. Skill shots and dashes will feel wrong.
200ms+ — Genuinely unplayable at any competitive level.

Summary: Fix Order That Works

Check Riot server status first
Switch to wired Ethernet
Close bandwidth-hogging background apps
Change DNS to 1.1.1.1 / 8.8.8.8
Flush DNS and reset network stack
Enable QoS on your router
Disable Windows Auto-Tuning
Update or roll back your network adapter driver
Confirm you’re on the correct regional server
Use WTFast if routing is the remaining problem

If you’re still experiencing high ping after trying these League-specific solutions, the issue likely stems from your network setup — our High Ping Fix Guide walks through systematic troubleshooting steps that work across all games.

If you’re still experiencing issues after trying these League-specific solutions, our comprehensive game lag fix guide covers additional troubleshooting methods that work across all online games.

Many of the advanced network optimization techniques we’ve covered here also apply to other competitive games, and if you play Call of Duty, you’ll find that our Warzone high ping fix guide uses similar methods to achieve those crucial low-latency connections.

Many of these network optimization techniques work across different games, so if you also play battle royales, the strategies in our Fortnite lag fix guide can help reduce ping there too.

If you’re also experiencing similar network issues in Riot’s tactical shooter, our Valorant high ping fix guide covers additional network optimization techniques that work across both games.

If you’re dealing with similar connection issues in other battle royale games, the troubleshooting steps in our Apex Legends lag fix guide often work just as well for League of Legends since many connectivity problems share the same root causes.

Many of these network optimization techniques also work wonders for other competitive games, and I’ve seen players drop their Rocket League ping below 50ms using the same DNS and router tweaks we just covered.

If you’re experiencing similar performance issues in other games, our Minecraft lag troubleshooting guide covers many of the same network optimization techniques that can help improve your overall gaming experience.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why is my League of Legends ping suddenly high when my internet is fine?

Sudden ping spikes in League while your general internet seems normal usually point to a routing issue, a bad driver update, or a background process consuming bandwidth. Run the ping test to Riot’s server IPs in Command Prompt, flush your DNS, and check Task Manager for any unexpected network usage. If the issue started after a Windows update, rolling back your network adapter driver is the first specific fix to try.

What is a good ping for League of Legends?

Anything under 80ms is good and won’t hold you back at any rank. Under 40ms is ideal and means near-zero perceptible delay. Between 80–120ms you’ll notice slight sluggishness on fast mechanics like Zed combos or Lee Sin Q chains. Above 120ms, the game starts to feel consistently wrong and you’ll lose trades you should win purely because of delayed inputs.

Does a VPN help with high ping in League of Legends?

A regular VPN usually makes ping worse because it adds an encryption layer and reroutes traffic inefficiently. A gaming-specific network optimizer like WTFast is different — it’s designed specifically to find the lowest-latency path to game servers, not to encrypt your browsing. For players with a routing problem between their ISP and Riot’s servers, WTFast consistently lowers ping. For players with a local network issue, fix that first.

Why do I have high ping only in League of Legends but not in other games?

Different games use different server locations and routing paths. You might have a smooth path to Valve’s servers for CS2 but a congested path to Riot’s NA servers in Oregon. This is almost always a routing issue specific to how your ISP reaches Riot’s network. The fix is routing optimization — either contact your ISP to report the routing problem or use WTFast to bypass your ISP’s inefficient path.

How do I fix packet loss in League of Legends?

Packet loss in League shows up as abilities not firing, movement stuttering, and the game freezing then snapping forward. First, switch to a wired connection — Wi-Fi is the most common packet loss source. Then test your connection with WinMTR (free tool) running a trace to Riot’s server IPs to identify exactly which hop is dropping packets. If the loss is at your router, reboot it and update firmware. If it’s mid-route at an ISP node, that requires either an ISP complaint or using WTFast to route around the problem node entirely.

League of Legends High Ping: Causes and Fixes That Actually Work