Network Lag During Throne and Liberty Sieges Kills Your Guild War Performance
In Throne and Liberty’s 50v50 siege battles, a 200ms ping spike during your morph transformation means you’re dead before the animation completes server-side. When 100+ players unleash abilities simultaneously during castle captures, network lag compounds with frame drops to create unplayable conditions where your inputs register 500-800ms after execution.
How to Check If You Have a Lag Problem
Enable the built-in performance monitor by pressing Ctrl + R in-game, or navigate to Settings > System > Show FPS/Ping and toggle it to “Always Show.” This displays your current FPS and ping in the top-right corner during gameplay.
Your ping to Throne and Liberty servers should stay below these thresholds:
- Excellent: 15-35ms (same region, fiber connection)
- Good: 35-60ms (regional servers, cable/DSL)
- Playable: 60-100ms (distant servers, acceptable for PvE)
- Problematic: 100ms+ (sieges become unresponsive, transformations delayed)
Test your connection during different activities. Open world exploration typically shows 40-50ms, but siege battles spike to 80-120ms due to server load. If your ping jumps above 150ms during combat or stays consistently over 100ms, you have a network routing problem.
Monitor packet loss by running ping -t [server-ip] in Command Prompt. Amazon Games uses the same infrastructure as New World, so test with NA East servers at approximately 184.72.110.0 range for reference. Packet loss above 1% during peak hours indicates ISP routing issues.
Distinguish between network lag and FPS drops: network lag affects input registration (you press a key, nothing happens for 200ms), while FPS lag creates visual stuttering but inputs still register. During massive siege battles, both occur simultaneously when your system can’t process the particle effects from 50+ transformation abilities.
DNS Server Optimization
Change your DNS servers to reduce lookup times for Throne and Liberty’s server connections. Windows routes through your ISP’s DNS by default, which adds 20-40ms to initial connections.
Press Windows + R, type ncpa.cpl, and press Enter. Right-click your network adapter and select Properties. Double-click Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4).
Select Use the following DNS server addresses and enter:
- Primary: 1.1.1.1 (Cloudflare)
- Secondary: 1.0.0.1 (Cloudflare backup)
Cloudflare consistently provides the lowest latency to Amazon’s infrastructure. Google DNS (8.8.8.8) works as an alternative but typically adds 5-10ms compared to Cloudflare for gaming connections.
After changing DNS, open Command Prompt as administrator and run:
- ipconfig /flushdns
- ipconfig /renew
Restart your router to clear its DNS cache. This change reduces initial connection time to Throne and Liberty servers from 150-200ms down to 80-100ms on first launch.
Port Forwarding and Firewall Configuration
Throne and Liberty requires specific ports open for optimal connection to Amazon’s servers. Router NAT translation adds 10-30ms when ports aren’t forwarded properly.
Access your router’s configuration page (typically 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1) and navigate to Port Forwarding or Virtual Servers. Create rules for:
TCP Ports:
- 443 (HTTPS/Game Data)
- 10000-10100 (Voice Chat/Guild Communication)
UDP Ports:
- 3478-3480 (Matchmaking/Server Discovery)
- 10000-10100 (Real-time Combat Data)
Point all port forwards to your PC’s internal IP address. Find this by running ipconfig in Command Prompt and noting the “IPv4 Address” under your network adapter.
In Windows Defender Firewall, create inbound and outbound rules for ThroneAndLiberty.exe. Navigate to Control Panel > System and Security > Windows Defender Firewall > Advanced Settings. Click Inbound Rules > New Rule, select Program, browse to your game installation (typically C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\ThroneAndLiberty\Binaries\Win64\ThroneAndLiberty.exe), and allow the connection.
Repeat for outbound rules. This prevents Windows from randomly blocking game packets during siege battles when network traffic spikes.
Quality of Service (QoS) Router Configuration
Configure router QoS to prioritize Throne and Liberty traffic over background downloads and streaming. Most routers include gaming modes, but manual configuration provides better results.
In your router settings, locate QoS or Traffic Management. Enable QoS and set:
- Gaming Priority: Highest
- Streaming Priority: Medium
- File Downloads: Low
Create a device-specific rule for your gaming PC. Add your PC’s MAC address (found with ipconfig /all in Command Prompt) and assign it Gaming or Highest priority.
Set bandwidth limits: if you have 100 Mbps download, allocate 70 Mbps to your gaming PC and limit other devices to 30 Mbps total. This prevents your roommate’s Netflix stream from causing ping spikes during guild wars.
ASUS routers: Enable Adaptive QoS > Gaming Mode
Netgear routers: Gaming Dashboard > Gaming VPN > Game Accelerator
Linksys routers: Smart Wi-Fi Tools > Priority
Wired Connection vs WiFi Optimization
Use wired Ethernet for Throne and Liberty. WiFi adds 5-15ms of latency and creates packet loss during interference, which compounds during siege battles when every millisecond matters.
If you must use WiFi, optimize your connection:
Related: Game Lag Fix: Every Cause of In-Game Lag Solved for PC and Console
- Connect to 5GHz band only – less congested than 2.4GHz
- Set WiFi channel to 36, 40, 44, or 48 manually (avoid auto-selection)
- Position within 15 feet of router with direct line-of-sight
- Use 802.11ac or WiFi 6 – older standards add latency
Check WiFi interference using WiFi Analyzer apps. If you see 8+ networks on your channel, switch to a cleaner frequency. Microwave ovens and baby monitors operate on 2.4GHz and cause 100-200ms ping spikes every few seconds.
In Windows Network Settings, disable Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power for your network adapter. Power management causes brief disconnections that result in 500-1000ms lag spikes.
ISP Routing and Server Region Selection
Throne and Liberty uses Amazon’s infrastructure with servers in:
- NA East: Northern Virginia (us-east-1)
- NA West: Oregon (us-west-2)
- EU: Ireland (eu-west-1)
- Asia: Seoul (ap-northeast-2)
Your ISP might route traffic inefficiently. Comcast users often route to NA West through Chicago, adding 20-30ms. Spectrum routes to EU through New York instead of direct transatlantic cables.
Test routing with tracert [server-region]. Look for routes with 8+ hops or geographic backtracking. If you’re in California but your traffic routes to Colorado before reaching Oregon servers, contact your ISP.
In Throne and Liberty’s main menu, select Settings > Network > Server Region and manually choose the lowest ping option. Don’t use “Auto” – it sometimes selects based on population rather than latency.
Business internet connections (Comcast Business, Spectrum Business) often provide better routing than residential plans for the same physical location. The difference can be 20-40ms during peak hours.
MTU Size Optimization
Incorrect MTU size causes packet fragmentation, adding 10-50ms to each network transaction. Most connections default to 1500 MTU, but some ISPs require smaller values.
Test optimal MTU size by running ping tests:
ping -f -l 1472 google.com
If you receive “Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set,” reduce the number by 10 and test again:
ping -f -l 1462 google.com
Continue until pings succeed without fragmentation. Add 28 to your final working number (1462 + 28 = 1490 MTU).
Set MTU in Windows by opening Command Prompt as administrator:
netsh interface ipv4 set subinterface “Wi-Fi” mtu=1490 store=persistent
Replace “Wi-Fi” with “Ethernet” if using wired connection. Replace 1490 with your tested value.
Common optimal MTU sizes:
- Cable/DSL: 1500
- PPPoE connections: 1492
- VPN connections: 1436
- Satellite internet: 1400
Graphics Settings for Siege Performance
Navigate to Settings > Graphics and configure these specific settings to maintain 60+ FPS during 50v50 siege battles:
Shadow Quality: Low
Shadows from 100+ players cause massive GPU bottlenecks. Medium settings drop FPS from 80 to 35 during castle sieges. Low maintains 60+ FPS with minimal visual impact.
Effects Quality: Low
Critical setting for sieges. When 50 players simultaneously cast transformation abilities, particle effects create unplayable slideshow conditions on Medium/High. Low settings maintain smooth gameplay while keeping important visual cues like spell targeting.
View Distance: Medium
High view distance loads unnecessary geometry during siege battles. Medium provides sufficient range to spot approaching enemies while reducing CPU load by 15-20%.
Post Processing: Low
Motion blur and depth of field effects interfere with tracking multiple targets during PvP. Low settings improve visual clarity and add 10-15 FPS.
Texture Quality: High
Keep this high if you have 8GB+ VRAM. Textures don’t significantly impact performance but low settings make enemy player identification difficult during chaotic battles.
Anti-Aliasing: FXAA
TAA creates ghosting during fast camera movement. FXAA provides clean edges with minimal performance cost.
DLSS and FSR Configuration
If you have an RTX GPU, enable DLSS: Quality mode. This typically increases FPS by 25-40% during siege battles while maintaining visual fidelity for spotting distant enemies.
DLSS modes for different scenarios:
Still lagging after trying everything?
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- Quality: 4K gaming, siege battles (best visual quality)
- Balanced: 1440p, general gameplay
- Performance: 1080p, older RTX cards (3060/3070)
- Ultra Performance: Last resort for RTX 2060
For AMD GPUs, enable FSR 2.0: Quality. FSR provides similar performance benefits but slightly less visual quality than DLSS. Avoid FSR 1.0 if 2.0 is available – the image quality difference is substantial.
Never use DLSS/FSR with V-Sync enabled. The combination creates input lag that makes precise targeting impossible during PvP combat.
Nvidia Reflex and Input Lag Reduction
Enable Nvidia Reflex: On + Boost if available in graphics settings. This reduces input lag by 10-20ms, crucial for competitive PvP where reaction time determines survival.
Reflex works by:
- Reducing GPU render queue depth
- Synchronizing CPU and GPU frame timing
- Prioritizing input processing over background tasks
The “Boost” option increases GPU clocks slightly for additional latency reduction. Enable it unless you’re hitting thermal limits (85°C+).
In Nvidia Control Panel, also set:
- Low Latency Mode: Ultra
- Power Management: Prefer Maximum Performance
- Vertical Sync: Off
These settings reduce input lag from 45-60ms down to 25-35ms, making abilities feel more responsive during combat.
V-Sync and Frame Rate Settings
Disable V-Sync in both game settings and graphics drivers. V-Sync adds 16-33ms of input lag depending on your monitor’s refresh rate, making precise timing impossible during PvP encounters.
Set Frame Rate Limit to match your monitor:
- 60Hz monitor: Limit to 60 FPS
- 144Hz monitor: Limit to 144 FPS
- 240Hz monitor: Limit to 240 FPS
Unlimited frame rates cause GPU power fluctuations that create micro-stuttering. Capping at your monitor’s refresh rate provides consistent frame pacing.
If your FPS drops below 60 during sieges, enable Adaptive V-Sync in Nvidia Control Panel or Enhanced Sync for AMD. These technologies only activate when FPS exceeds refresh rate, avoiding input lag penalties.
Related: Wuthering Waves Lag Fix: How to Lower Ping and Fix Stuttering
Related: Lethal Company Lag Fix: How to Fix Host Lag and Disconnects
System Optimization
Graphics Driver Updates
Install the latest GPU drivers specifically optimized for Throne and Liberty. NVIDIA releases Game Ready drivers for major MMO launches that improve performance by 10-15%.
For NVIDIA GPUs, download drivers from nvidia.com, not Windows Update. Select Custom Installation and check Perform clean installation to remove conflicting files from previous versions.
For AMD GPUs, use AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition. Enable Radeon Anti-Lag and Radeon Boost for competitive gaming. Set Texture Filtering Quality to Performance for additional FPS in crowded areas.
Avoid beta drivers unless they specifically mention Throne and Liberty fixes. Beta drivers often cause stability issues during long siege battles.
Background Application Management
Close bandwidth-intensive applications before launching Throne and Liberty:
- Steam downloads – Pause in Downloads section
- Windows Update – Set connection as metered to prevent automatic downloads
- OneDrive/Google Drive sync – Pause syncing during gameplay
- Spotify/music streaming – Use offline mode or downloaded playlists
- Browser tabs – YouTube and social media consume 5-15 Mbps
In Task Manager, end these processes that consume CPU cycles during gameplay:
- Skype – Uses CPU for audio processing even when idle
- Adobe updaters – Check for updates during gameplay
- RGB software – Corsair iCUE, Razer Synapse (except for gaming profiles)
- Cryptocurrency miners – Disable completely during gaming sessions
Windows Power Plan Optimization
Set Windows to High Performance power plan to prevent CPU throttling during intense siege battles. Navigate to Control Panel > Power Options and select High performance.
For laptops, this reduces battery life but prevents thermal throttling that causes FPS drops from 60 to 30 during extended gameplay sessions.
In advanced power settings, configure:
- Minimum processor state: 100%
- Maximum processor state: 100%
- PCI Express Link State Power Management: Off
- USB selective suspend: Disabled
These settings prevent Windows from downclocking your CPU during combat, maintaining consistent performance during 30+ minute siege battles.
Process Priority and CPU Affinity
Increase Throne and Liberty’s process priority to ensure CPU resources during system multitasking. Launch the game, open Task Manager, find ThroneAndLiberty.exe under the Details tab, right-click and set Priority: High.
Don’t use “Realtime” priority – this can cause system instability by preventing essential Windows processes from running.
For CPUs with 8+ cores, set CPU affinity to use cores 0-7, leaving cores 8+ available for background processes. Right-click the game process, select Set Affinity, and uncheck CPU 8-15 (or higher depending on your processor).
This prevents Windows from moving the game process between CPU cores, reducing latency spikes during ability casting.
Windows Game Mode and Focus Assist
Enable Windows Game Mode by pressing Windows + G to open Game Bar, then click the settings gear and toggle Game Mode: On.
Game Mode provides:
- CPU priority for the active game
- Background process limitation
- Windows Update deferral during gameplay
- Defender scan scheduling avoidance
Enable Focus Assist during gameplay to prevent notification popups that cause brief framerate stutters. Set it to Alarms Only to maintain critical system alerts while blocking social media and email notifications.
Overlay and Recording Software
Disable overlays that aren’t essential for gameplay:
- Discord Overlay: Settings > Game Overlay > Enable in-game overlay (Off)
- Steam Overlay: Steam > Settings > In-Game > Enable Steam Overlay (Unchecked)
- GeForce Experience: Settings > General > In-Game Overlay (Off)
- Xbox Game Bar: Windows Settings > Gaming > Game Bar (Off)
Each overlay consumes 2-5 FPS and can cause micro-stuttering during intense combat. Keep only essential overlays like MSI Afterburner for monitoring temperatures during long sessions.
If recording gameplay, use NVIDIA ShadowPlay or AMD ReLive instead of OBS. Hardware encoding has minimal performance impact (1-3 FPS) compared to software encoding (10-20 FPS loss).
Advanced Configuration and Optimization
Engine.ini Configuration File Tweaks
Navigate to %AppData%\Local\ThroneAndLiberty\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor\ and edit Engine.ini with Notepad. Add these lines to improve performance during large-scale battles:
[Core.System]
Paths=../../../Engine/Content
Paths=%GAMEDIR%Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Runtime/Synthesis/Content
[/Script/Engine.RendererSettings]
r.DefaultFeature.Bloom=False
r.DefaultFeature.AmbientOcclusion=False
r.DefaultFeature.MotionBlur=False
r.ViewDistanceScale=0.8
[SystemSettings]
AudioQualityLevel=0
sg.EffectsQuality=1
sg.PostProcessQuality=0
sg.ShadowQuality=0
These settings disable resource-intensive visual effects that provide minimal gameplay benefit during competitive PvP scenarios.
Steam Launch Options
In Steam, right-click Throne and Liberty, select Properties, and add these launch options:
-USEALLAVAILABLECORES -malloc=system -force-feature-level-11-0
Parameter explanations:
- -USEALLAVAILABLECORES: Forces the game to utilize all CPU cores for better siege performance
- -malloc=system: Uses Windows memory allocation instead of UE4’s default, reducing memory fragmentation
- -force-feature-level-11-0: Ensures DirectX 11 compatibility, preventing shader compilation stutters
For systems with 16GB+ RAM, add -high to run the game at high process priority automatically.
EasyAntiCheat Exclusion
Add Throne and Liberty’s EasyAntiCheat files to Windows Defender exclusions to prevent real-time scanning from causing hitches during gameplay.
In Windows Security, navigate to Virus & threat protection > Manage settings > Add or remove exclusions. Add these folder exclusions:
- C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\ThroneAndLiberty\
- C:\Program Files (x86)\EasyAntiCheat\
- %AppData%\Local\ThroneAndLiberty\
This prevents Windows Defender from scanning game files during runtime, eliminating 100-200ms stutters that occur when loading new areas or abilities.
Registry Optimization
Press Windows + R, type regedit, and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters.
Create these DWORD values for network optimization:
- TcpAckFrequency: 1
- TCPNoDelay: 1
- TcpDelAckTicks: 0
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Multimedia\SystemProfile and set:
- NetworkThrottlingIndex: FFFFFFFF (hexadecimal)
- SystemResponsiveness: 0
These registry modifications reduce network buffering and prioritize real-time data transmission, reducing input lag by 5-10ms for competitive gameplay.
Still lagging after trying everything?
WTFast reroutes your game traffic through optimized servers — cutting ping by 30-50% for most players.
Frequently Asked Questions
What ping is acceptable for Throne and Liberty PvP and sieges?
For competitive PvP, maintain ping below 60ms to ensure transformation abilities register properly server-side. Siege battles become difficult above 80ms due to delayed input recognition when 50+ players are casting simultaneously. If your ping consistently exceeds 100ms, consider switching to a closer server region or contacting your ISP about routing optimization. Players with 120ms+ ping will experience delayed morph transformations that often result in death before the ability completes.
Why do my graphics settings reset after game updates?
Throne and Liberty patches sometimes overwrite the Engine.ini and GameUserSettings.ini files in your saved config directory. After major updates, verify your settings in Settings > Graphics and re-apply custom configuration file tweaks if necessary. Steam’s “Verify integrity of game files” feature also restores default settings, so backup your config files in %AppData%\Local\ThroneAndLiberty\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor\ before running verification. Always check Shadow Quality and Effects Quality first since these most dramatically impact siege performance.
Should I use a VPN or gaming proxy service for better ping?
VPNs typically increase ping by 20-50ms due to additional routing hops, but can help if your ISP has poor routing to Amazon’s servers. Test your connection without VPN first using tracert to identify routing problems. If you see more than 10 hops or geographic backtracking (East Coast traffic routing through Chicago to reach Virginia servers), a VPN might provide better routing. Never use free VPN services for gaming as they often have bandwidth limitations and unstable connections that cause packet loss during crucial siege moments.
How much RAM and what storage type does Throne and Liberty need for optimal performance?
16GB RAM is the minimum for smooth gameplay, but 32GB prevents stuttering during massive siege battles when the game loads textures for 100+ player models simultaneously. An SSD is mandatory – the game’s open world streaming system causes 2-5 second freezes on traditional hard drives when entering new zones. NVMe SSDs provide faster loading but won’t improve frame rates once areas are loaded. If using 16GB RAM, close all non-essential background applications before siege battles to prevent Windows from using virtual memory on slower storage.
Why does my FPS drop specifically during transformation abilities?
Transformation effects in Throne and Liberty create intensive particle systems and model swapping that stress both GPU and CPU. When multiple players transform simultaneously during sieges, particle effects compound exponentially causing FPS drops from 80 to 20-30. Set Effects Quality to Low in graphics settings to minimize particle density while maintaining essential visual information. DLSS or FSR in Quality mode helps maintain frame rates during these intensive moments. Players with GTX 1060 or equivalent older GPUs should avoid Medium/High effects settings entirely during siege participation.
