What Is Ping? How to Reduce Ping and Packet Loss in Games

The complaint of "my ping is high" often refers to three separate issues at once: latency, jitter, and loss. Distinguishing which one you are experiencing is the first step to choosing the right solution. This article defines the terms, shows how to measure them in Windows, and lists the solutions recommended by game companies on their own support pages.

What do ping, jitter, and packet loss mean?

Riot Games' connection troubleshooting guide defines the three terms as follows:

• Latency (ping): The time it takes for data packets to reach the game server from your computer. It is measured in milliseconds (ms), and lower is better.
• Jitter: The variation in latency over time. The goal is to be as close to 0 ms as possible. If ping fluctuates between 40 and 120 ms, even if the average is low, the game will feel "choppy."
• Packet loss: Data packets failing to reach your computer or the server entirely. The goal is to be as close to 0 percent as possible. Characters teleporting or shifting around in a game can be a sign of loss or jitter.

In the same guide, Riot notes that these issues can only come from three sources: the game's servers, your internet service provider, and your own device, software, and environment. When looking for a solution, you first need to figure out which side the issue is on.

How to measure ping?

The ping command in Windows

Open Command Prompt or PowerShell. According to Microsoft's ping documentation, the command sends ICMP echo requests to the target and shows the round-trip time for each response. It sends 4 requests by default; increase the count for a more meaningful sample:

ping -n 30 google.com

The "Lost" value in the results shows the percentage of loss, while the minimum, maximum, and average times show jitter. If the difference between the minimum and maximum is large, jitter is high.

To figure out whether the problem is inside your home or outside, ping your modem first. You can find your modem's address on the "Default Gateway" line in the output of the ipconfig command:

ipconfig
ping -n 30 192.168.1.1

The address here is just an example; type the address from your own output. On a wired connection, pinging the modem is usually very low and loss-free. If you experience loss or high jitter even to the modem, the issue is on your home network: the cable, Wi-Fi, or the modem itself. If you get clean results to the modem but poor results to external addresses, the issue is outside.

To monitor for a longer period, the -t switch sends continuous pings. According to Microsoft documentation, CTRL+BREAK shows statistics, and CTRL+C stops the command.

Seeing the route with tracert and pathping

tracert lists the routers packets pass through on their way to the destination in order and shows the round-trip time for each hop. The -d switch skips resolving address names and speeds up the result:

tracert -d google.com

Seeing asterisks (*) on some lines does not always mean there is a problem. According to Microsoft, some routers do not respond to expired packets and become invisible in tracert. If subsequent hops respond normally, the route is working.

To see at which point packet loss occurs, Microsoft recommends the pathping command. pathping sends a large number of requests to each router over a period of time; 100 requests to each by default. The result arrives after a duration that varies depending on the number of hops, for example, about a minute and a half.

pathping -n google.com

Microsoft's interpretation note is important. Loss seen on connection lines (indicated by a vertical bar) points to congestion along the path. Loss on a router's own line indicates that device might be busy; in Microsoft's example, this loss does not affect the router's ability to forward other traffic.

The game's built-in network statistics

The ping command uses ICMP, whereas games connect to their own servers using their own protocols. Therefore, the ping to google.com is not the same as the latency to the game server. Many online games have a network statistics screen in their settings that displays latency, jitter, and loss. To confirm the issue, the most reliable measurement is the values you see on this screen in the game during a match.

Solutions for high ping and packet loss

Switch to a wired connection

Riot recommends switching to a wired (Ethernet) connection if possible, noting that wireless connections are vulnerable to interference in the environment and from other radio signals. Riot's VALORANT support page also states that a wired connection is more stable. If a cable is connected, check that both ends are plugged in all the way.

If you must use wireless, choose the 5 GHz band

According to Intel's comparison, 2.4 GHz offers a longer range but lower speeds, while 5 GHz offers higher speeds. The 2.4 GHz band is more crowded because it is shared with devices like microwaves and Bluetooth. The downside of 5 GHz is that it has a harder time passing through obstacles like walls and floors. If you are in a room close to the modem, 5 GHz usually yields better results; in distant rooms, 2.4 GHz may be more stable.

Close background bandwidth hogs

Riot states that Discord, Spotify, Hamachi, video streams, torrent clients, and ongoing downloads can place a load on your connection. Game updates, cloud backups, and high-resolution videos watched on other devices on the same network have the same effect. Pause these before a match.

Choose the right server region

Ping is directly affected by the distance the data travels. Microsoft's tracert documentation also lists the distance between hops among the factors affecting network latency. If your game allows you to choose a region, select the one geographically closest to you. If you connect to a distant region to play with friends over there, no setting will completely eliminate high ping.

Restart your modem and update its firmware

Blizzard's connection troubleshooting page lists restarting network devices as one of the first steps. Blizzard also notes that outdated modem and router firmware as well as old network card drivers can cause issues with complex game connections. Get updates from the device manufacturer's website.

What is QoS and does it help?

QoS (Quality of Service) allows a router to prioritize traffic and send important items first. According to Netgear's explanation, QoS on home routers is "best effort" based; the entirety of the bandwidth is not reserved for high-priority services.

QoS helps when your home connection is saturated: it can ensure game packets are sent first while someone is downloading a large file. When your connection is idle or the problem is outside the home, QoS does not lower latency because it does not change the distance to the server or your ISP's path. The name and location of the setting vary depending on the router brand.

Common beliefs about VPNs and DNS

Do VPNs lower ping?

A VPN sends your traffic first to a VPN server, and from there to the game server. This changes the path packets take. If your ISP's route to the game server is very convoluted, a different path can rarely be shorter. However, an extra stop is introduced in between; the result can be good or bad depending on your connection and the location of the VPN server.

Riot asks that you do not use VPNs or proxies when connecting to the game server. They state that a VPN should only be used in very specific situations, such as testing a connection route when recommended by Riot's technical support team. Blizzard also recommends removing VPNs while troubleshooting. If you want to try a VPN, do not guess the result—compare it by measuring with the game's network statistics.

Does changing your DNS lower ping?

No. DNS is the system that translates domain names into IP addresses; as Cloudflare's explanation puts it, it works like the phonebook of the internet. Once your computer learns a server's address once, game packets go directly to that IP address. The DNS server is not on this path; therefore, it does not affect latency during a match.

Microsoft's ping documentation also makes this distinction: if pinging the IP address succeeds but pinging the name fails, the problem is not with the connection, but with name resolution. Steps like flushing the DNS cache or using a different DNS server are valid on Riot and Blizzard support pages. These steps can resolve issues related to name resolution, such as failing to connect to the server entirely. However, once the connection is established, game packets do not pass through DNS, so it does not change the latency you measure during a match.

If the problem is not on your end

If you are on a wired connection, background applications are closed, and the ping to the modem is clean, but you still experience high ping or loss in the game, the issue might be with your ISP or the game's servers. First, check the game's official server status page. If the issue persists, record the pathping output and the times the issue occurs, and forward them to your ISP. Concrete measurements make it easier for support teams to find the issue.

Last updated: October 9, 2026. Sources: Microsoft Learn ping, tracert, and pathping documentation; Riot Games League of Legends and VALORANT connection troubleshooting pages; Blizzard connection troubleshooting page; Intel 2.4/5/6 GHz comparison; Netgear QoS explanation; Cloudflare DNS explanation. If you are setting up a community for the game you play with your friends, our guide on creating a Discord server for a gaming community might also come in handy.