PING is the amount of time a game takes to recognize your gameplay. It directly affects lag time. If you’re experiencing high ping in Valorant, try the following tips to make it lower.

  1. Reset your router
  2. Close background applications
  3. Temporarily disable automatic updates
  4. Update your network drivers
  5. Flush DNS
  6. Use other DNS servers
  7. Change the game servers

Before we start troubleshooting, please restart your computer and your router to flush the buffer. Also, check that your internet speed is normal. (You can use Google Fiber to test your internet speed.) After that, proceed with the steps below.

1. Reset your router

A full internet cache can bog down your devices and cause you the high ping issue in Valorant. In this case, the first thing to do is reset your Wi-Fi router to clear cookies entirely.

To reset your Wi-Fi router:

  1. Keep your router plugged in.
  2. Find the Reset button, press and hold it for 30 seconds. (This button could be on the back or the bottom of your router.)
    How To Reset Your Router? - 192.168.1.1
  3. Release the button and wait for it to power back on.

If your router doesn’t have a reset button, you’ll need to do the reset on the configuration webpage. Here’s how to do it:

  1. In the Windows search box, type command prompt and hit Enter. Select Command Prompt from the searching results.
  2. Paste the following command line in the Command prompt and press the Enter key:
    ipconfig
  3. On the Default Gateway line, you’ll see your router’s IP address. Select and copy the address, and then paste it into any web browser’s search field, and hit Enter.
  4. Input your username and password to get access to the Configuration page.
  5. Go to System or System Tools. If you see Factory Defaults, select it and click the Restore or Reset button.
  6. Wait for the router to reboot.

Once done, check if the issue persists. If so, move on to the next tip.

2. Close background applications

Background applications can be hogging your network and bandwidth, resulting in the high ping and the more lag time in your Valorant . You can check your Task Manager for any bandwidth-consuming applications or programs. If there is, end the task.

To do so:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and X together and select Task Manager.
  2. Click the Network column to sort the tasks in order.
  3. Once you find out any application that is hogging your network, select it and click the End Task button.

Check if the problem is resolved. If not, try the next troubleshooting tip.

3. Temporarily disable automatic updates

Automatic updates for software and applications can use up a lot of bandwidth. Therefore, if you’re experiencing high ping in Valorant, consider temporarily disabling your updates so that they don’t affect your gameplay. You can enable them back later on.

However, you might need to disable the auto-update for every software or application manually. Here’s how to disable Windows Auto-update:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and I together to open Windows Settings.
  2. From the left sidebar, select Windows Update and click the Pause for 1 week button in the right section.
  3. If you wish to turn them back on manually after your gameplay, click Resume updates.

If pausing the automatic updates doesn’t work for you, read on and try the next method.

4. Update your network drivers

When you’re experiencing the high ping in Valorant, one of the first things you should do is to update your network driver, since an up-to-date network driver always ensures the lowest lag time and fewer bugs in your gameplay’s network connection.

To update your display card driver, here’s what you can do (please note that the following screenshots are taken on Windows 11, but the instructions work on Windows 10 as well):

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows key and X at the same time, select Device Manager.
  2. Double-click to expand the category Display adapters. Then right-click your graphic card driver and click Update driver (the name of the device can be different on your computer).
  3. Then click Search automatically for updated driver software.
  4. Wait for Windows to find the latest driver available for you.
  5. When the driver update is done, restart your computer for the change to take effect.
  6. Then check and see if the problem is fixed.

If Windows says that it’s already found the latest driver for you, so no newer drivers are found, then you should consider updating your network driver in a different way with the help of Driver Techie.

Its ever-growing driver database allows you to always have access to the latest device drivers that you need. More importantly, Driver Techie simplifies the driver update process, so all it takes is just 3 clicks (for Pro users), and all your drivers are updated.

To use Driver Techie to find you the latest drivers:

  1. Download and install Driver Techie, then launch it.
  2. Click Scan Now.
  3. After the scan, select all the drivers you need to update and click Update All. Then all your drivers will be updated automatically without you having to do anything else.

Please note that Update All is available for Pro subscribers only, otherwise, you can only manually update the driver one at a time. To see how to manually update the drivers one by one, please check this post.

If you’re a Pro user of Driver Techie, and need our technical support to help with the Valorant high ping problem, please feel free to contact <support@drivertechie.com>.

5. Flush DNS configuration

The built-up DNS cache can be another reason why you see the high ping in Valorant. In this case, try using the Command prompt to flush DNS and renew IP configuration.

Here’s what we can do:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and R together to invoke the Run prompt. Type cmd and press Shift, Ctrl, and Enter together to open Command Prompt with administrative permissions.
  2. Paste each of the following command lines at a time and press the Enter key to execute:
    ipconfig /flushdns
    ipconfig /registerdns
    ipconfig /release
    ipconfig /renew
    (Be aware of the blank space in each of the commands.)
  3. Restart your computer.

Check if the issue persists. If so, go through the next solution.

6. Use other DNS servers

Alternatively, you can use Google Public DNS to resolve the high ping issue. Google Public DNS is a free, global DNS resolution service to be used as your current DNS provider.

To do so:

  1. In the Windows search box, type View Network Connections and hit Enter on your keyboard.
  2. Right-click your network adapter and select Properties.
  3. Click Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and select Properties.
  4. Select Obtain an IP address automatically and Use the following DNS server Addresses. Input 8.8.8.8 in the Preferred DNS server address and then 8.8.4.4 in the Alternative DNS server address.
  5. Click OK and close the pages.
  6. Check if the issue persists.

If the high ping issue persists in Valorant, try the next method.

7. Change the game servers

Another thing to consider is the game server is too far away from you. It takes too long for your device and the game server to communicate so that you see the high ping in Valorant.

In this case, you need to check the server status first and then select the one with the lowest ping result.

Click here to check the game server’s ping.

Either way, you can use a VPN to change your IP address to somewhere else, which provides you with a better and more stable connection during peak hours.

Hopefully, one of the solutions above could help you with the high ping issue in Valorant. If you have any questions or ideas, please leave a comment below. And if you’re a Pro user of Driver Techie, and need our technical support, please feel free to contact <support@drivertechie.com>.