We’ve all been there: you’re mid-clutch teamfight, lined up the perfect Yasuo ultimate to wipe the enemy backline, and suddenly your screen freezes for 3 seconds. When it loads back, your entire team is dead, the Nexus is falling, and your ping counter is glowing bright red at 300+. High ping doesn’t just ruin your fun—it can tank your ranked climb and make even casual ARAM matches feel like a chore. If you’re tired of losing fights you should win because of lag, this guide breaks down exactly how to decrease ping in League of Legends with fixes that work for both PC and laptop players.
First: Diagnose the Root Cause of Your High LoL Ping
Before you start tweaking settings or buying new hardware, you need to figure out why your ping is high in the first place. Ping measures the time it takes for data to travel from your device to Riot’s game servers and back, so issues can stem from your local setup, your internet service provider, or even Riot’s own infrastructure.
The first step is always to rule out server-side issues. Always check for ongoing server maintenance or outages first before you change anything on your device. If Riot’s servers are down for your region, no fix on your end will make a difference, and you’ll just waste time troubleshooting a problem you can’t solve. You can find Riot’s official server status page linked on their support site for quick checks.
If servers are running normally, run a quick ping test to your regional LoL server to see if your connection is consistently high or spiking randomly. Consistent high ping usually points to a slow internet plan or routing issue, while random spikes are almost always caused by bandwidth hogs on your local network or device. That makes it way easier to pick the right fixes for your specific issue.
How to Decrease Ping in League of Legends With Quick Network Fixes
90% of high ping issues in LoL come down to network problems, not in-game settings, so start here for the fastest results. The single most effective fix you can try right now is switching from Wi-Fi to a wired ethernet connection. Wi-Fi is prone to interference from walls, microwaves, Bluetooth devices, and even your neighbor’s Wi-Fi network, all of which cause random lag spikes. I used to struggle with 200+ ping on Wi-Fi back when I lived in a cramped apartment, and switching to a $10 ethernet cable cut my ping down to 30ms overnight.
Wired connections can cut your ping by 20-50ms instantly for most users, so it’s worth the small investment if you play regularly. If you can’t run an ethernet cable to your setup, adjust your Wi-Fi to reduce interference: move your router closer to your device, remove large obstacles between them, and switch to the 5GHz Wi-Fi band instead of the slower, more crowded 2.4GHz band.
Next, get rid of any unnecessary bandwidth hogs on your network. Even small background apps can eat up enough bandwidth to cause ping spikes mid-match. You can use Task Manager to see which apps are using your network bandwidth in real time, so you can close the ones you don’t need before you queue up for a match. Try these quick 2-minute fixes first to rule out simple issues:
- Unplug your router and modem for 30 seconds, then plug them back in to reset your connection
- Disconnect any other devices (phones, smart TVs, gaming consoles) from your network while playing
- Turn off any VPN or proxy services unless you’re using one specifically optimized for gaming
- Make sure your router firmware is up to date to fix known performance bugs
If you try all these fixes and you still see consistent high ping, you might want to reach out to your ISP to check for outages or routing issues in your area. In some cases, they can adjust your connection path to Riot’s servers to cut down on latency for free.
In-Game and Device Settings That Cut Ping and Input Delay
Once your network is running smoothly, you can tweak a few settings to make sure your device isn’t causing unnecessary latency. A lot of players don’t realize that low FPS or overworked hardware can make your ping feel higher than it actually is, because your device can’t process incoming server data fast enough. Low Spec Mode is the first setting to toggle on if you’re on a lower-end laptop or PC. It reduces the load on your CPU and GPU by simplifying in-game graphics, so your device can prioritize sending and receiving game data instead of rendering fancy particle effects.
You should also disable a few non-essential in-game features that run in the background and pull extra data from Riot’s servers. Turn off HUD animations, friend presence notifications, and in-game event pop-ups if you don’t need them. These small features might not seem like a big deal, but they can cause tiny, frequent ping spikes that add up to missed skill shots and slow reaction times during fights.
Next, turn off any unnecessary overlays running on your device. Steam overlay, Nvidia GeForce Experience overlay, and even the default Riot Client overlay all eat up CPU and network resources, even if you don’t actively use them. You can leave voice chat overlays on if you rely on them for team communication, but turn off any others you don’t use regularly. For Windows users, you can also disable automatic background updates and set your network to “private” mode to reduce unwanted background network traffic while you play.
When to Use a Gaming VPN for Lower LoL Ping
A lot of players assume VPNs always make ping higher, but that’s not always the case. There are two specific scenarios where a gaming VPN can actually reduce your LoL ping significantly: if your ISP is throttling gaming traffic, or if your ISP is routing your connection through a slow, indirect path to Riot’s servers. ISPs sometimes throttle bandwidth for online games during peak usage hours to reduce network congestion, and a VPN hides your traffic so they can’t single it out for throttling.
You should only use a VPN with servers located near your regional LoL server, otherwise you’ll end up with higher ping instead of lower. Look for a gaming-specific VPN that advertises low latency and no data caps, because free VPNs almost always have slow speeds, data limits, and extra overhead that will make your lag worse. Before you sign up for a paid plan, most VPNs offer a 7-day free trial so you can test if it actually lowers your ping before you spend any money.
There are a few downsides to keep in mind before you use a VPN for LoL. If you connect to a server in a different region, you might get locked out of your account or face longer queue times, since Riot restricts cross-region play in most cases. You should also double-check Riot’s terms of service for your region, as some areas prohibit VPN use for online games. If you’ve tried every other fix on this list and still have high ping, a gaming VPN is a low-risk option to test out.
At the end of the day, you don’t need fancy tech to fix high ping in LoL. Most of the time, a simple ethernet cable or closing a few background apps is all it takes to get your ping down to a playable level. Take the time to test each fix one by one instead of changing 10 settings at once, so you can tell exactly what’s making the difference for your setup. Once you learn how to decrease ping in League of Legends, you’ll be able to focus on hitting your skill shots and climbing ranks instead of worrying about lag ruining your matches.