Playing League of Legends (LoL) requires fast reflexes and low latency for the best gaming experience. High ping or latency can cause lag, delayed reactions, and a poor gaming experience. Here’s how to display, monitor, and reduce ping latency in LoL for smooth, responsive gameplay.
Table of Contents
What is Ping and Why it Matters
Ping refers to the time it takes for data to travel between your computer and LoL’s game servers, measured in milliseconds (ms). The lower your ping, the faster the response time and less lag.
- <50ms – Excellent
- 50-100ms – Good
- 100-150ms – Playable
- 150+ms – Laggy
High ping over 150ms makes the game unplayable. You’ll experience delays, lag, rubberbanding, and unregistered attacks. Monitoring your ping helps diagnose connection issues.
Displaying Your Ping
LoL doesn’t show ping by default. To enable:
- In-game, press
CTRL+F
- Or open Settings > Hotkeys > Display and bind a hotkey to “Toggle FPS Display”
This shows your ping (ms) and frames-per-second (FPS) in the top-right corner while playing.
Checking Your Ping Before Playing
Websites like LOL Ping Checker and Game Server Ping display your ping to LoL servers before launching the game.
Run a test to each server to find the one with the lowest ping. This prevents launching the game only to find an unusable ping.
How to Reduce High Ping
Try these tips if your ping is consistently over 100ms:
1. Restart Your Router
Restarting your router resets the connection and clears up any network issues causing lag.
2. Use a Wired Internet Connection
Wifi is prone to interference and latency. Use an Ethernet cable for the most stable, lowest ping connection.
3. Close Background Apps
Streaming, downloads, or other network activity can hamper your bandwidth. Close other internet-using apps while playing LoL.
4. Update Network Drivers
Outdated drivers can affect network performance. Update to the latest for efficiency gains.
5. Switch Servers
Connecting to faraway servers inevitably causes lag due to distance. Choose the closest server for optimal ping.
6. Contact Your ISP
If you’ve tried the above and still have high ping, contact your ISP to troubleshoot your internet connection.
Using a Gaming VPN to Reduce Ping
Gaming VPNs like LagoFast and Mudfish route your traffic through optimized channels for lower latency. These services can significantly reduce ping for a better gaming experience.
Conclusion
Monitoring your ping is vital for a smooth LoL experience. Enable the ping display using hotkeys to keep an eye on latency issues. For consistent low ping, use a wired connection, gaming VPN, and choose nearby servers. With good ping habits, you’ll stay competitive and enjoy frustration-free LoL gameplay.
About the Author
John has over 10 years of experience in competitive online gaming. He has competed professionally in games like League of Legends, DOTA 2, Counterstrike, and Overwatch. He is passionate about helping gamers optimize their setups, internet connections, and in-game settings to improve performance, rank up faster, and most importantly – have more fun gaming.
In this comprehensive guide, John leveraged his extensive expertise in online gaming networking to help LoL players display, monitor, and reduce their ping for a smooth, lag-free experience. He provided actionable tips on enabling the in-game ping meter, pre-testing ping before launching the game, and troubleshooting high latency issues.
Follow John on Twitter @JohnGamerPro for more gaming tips and network optimization advice.