How to Fix Packet Loss in Valorant: 2026 Guide

Ping and packet loss are different diseases. Ping is how long a packet takes to reach the server and come back; packet loss is the share of packets that never arrive at all. With high ping you see the world late; with loss you get teleported, shots do not register and the "Network Problem" icon lights up in the corner. Valorant servers run at a constant 128 tick, traffic travels over Riot's own Riot Direct network, and unlike CS2 there are no network variables to tweak: no console, no rate, no cl_interp. What you do have is a clear order of operations, from diagnosis to router ports.

How to see packet loss and ping in game

Two places. First, Settings → Video → Stats: enable Network Round Trip Time (that is ping in Riot's terminology) and Packet Loss as Text Only or Show Both to get the graph. Second, Settings → General → Other → Instability Indicators: four icons in the top-right corner that Riot describes like this:

• High Average Ping: round trip to the server is above normal. Warning: "a more delayed view of the world, increasing peekers' advantage"; Critical: ping is "approaching the unplayable range".
• Network Problem: "consistent, high rates of packet loss or brief disconnects". Critical means a long outage close to a disconnect.
• Low Client FPS: frame drops on your side; not the network, see the FPS guide.
• Low Server FPS: Riot's server is struggling; nothing you can do.

Riot does not publish the exact Warning/Critical thresholds, "they may vary per region or patch". The practical rule is simple: any packet loss above zero that lasts longer than a couple of seconds is a problem, and judge ping by the Network RTT graph: a flat line matters more than the absolute number, spikes (jitter) hurt more than a stable 60 ms. Enabling each counter is covered in the guide on showing FPS and ping.

Step 1: your problem or Riot's

Rule out the server first. Open status.riotgames.com, pick Valorant and your region: if there is an incident or maintenance, there is nothing to fix at home. The second sign is whether teammates in the same match complain too. If only you are lagging, install WinMTR (free ping + traceroute) and run a trace to any stable address during a match: it shows on which hop the loss starts, your router, your ISP or further out. Loss on the first or second hop is your flat; beyond that it is the operator.

Step 2: cable instead of Wi-Fi

Riot's official list starts exactly here: "if Wi-Fi is giving you trouble, try a wired connection, not only will it be faster, but it'll be more stable as well". Wi-Fi drops packets because of neighbouring networks, a microwave or a wall between the router and the PC, and no game setting cures that. If a cable is impossible: the 5 GHz band, router in line of sight, no repeaters. While you are at it, check that the cables are firmly plugged into the router, that is also a step in Riot's instructions, and it works more often than you would think.

Step 3: pick a server in the lobby

Server Select arrived in patch 1.10: in the lobby, above the Start button, there is a ping icon, hover it and you get the list of your region's servers with the current latency to each. Mark the closest ones as preferred and matchmaking will try to place you there, although it may pick another one to balance the queue. Servers can be changed by the party leader or a solo player; the shard (your account's region) cannot be changed this way, only an account transfer does that. Important: this fixes ping. If packets are lost at home, every server will look the same.

Step 4: Network Buffering

The only network setting Riot hands to the player: Network Buffering with Minimum, Moderate and Maximum levels. Riot describes it as a trade-off "between smoother movement and lower latency": the client holds a little more movement data to smooth over losses at the cost of a few milliseconds. On a stable connection keep Minimum. If enemies teleport while your ping is fine, try Moderate; Maximum is only a temporary measure on bad Wi-Fi, not something to play on permanently.

Step 5: DNS, IP and the built-in troubleshooter

Three items from Riot's official network troubleshooting guide:

1. Windows Network Troubleshooter: Settings → Network & Internet → Status → Network troubleshooter. Sometimes it finds and fixes the issue by itself.
2. Public DNS: Riot states outright that the ISP's DNS "isn't ideal for gaming" and recommends Google (8.8.8.8) or Cloudflare (1.1.1.1). Their caveat: some ISPs block third-party DNS, if you lose internet access, revert.
3. Renew your IP: admin command prompt: ipconfig /release, ipconfig /renew, ipconfig /flushdns. For a full stack reset, netsh winsock reset and netsh int ip reset plus a reboot; saved networks and static IPs will be wiped.

Check Windows updates too: Riot notes that connectivity fixes ship with them.

Step 6: firewall and ports

If Valorant cannot connect or the connection keeps dropping, Riot advises making sure the firewall allows VALORANT and Vanguard and the router is not cutting the required ports. Riot's official port forwarding table:

Service	Protocol	Ports
Valorant game client	UDP	7000–8000, 8180–8181
Voice chat	TCP	any 50 ports within 1024–65000
Voice NA and EU	UDP	27016–27024
Voice AP and SE	UDP	54000–54012
Installer and master server	TCP	8393–8400
PVP.Net	TCP	2099, 5222, 5223
HTTP / HTTPS	TCP	80, 443
Spectator mode	TCP/UDP	8088

Forwarding is done on the router page (its address is the Default Gateway from ipconfig) under Port Forwarding / Virtual Servers / NAT; the internal IP is your IPv4 from the same command. Riot warns separately: port triggering is not port forwarding. Gameplay itself runs over UDP 7000–8000, that range is what matters for packet loss; the rest is login, chat and downloads.

Step 7: the router and everything between you and Riot

• VPN and proxy, off. Riot's official position: "these can cause issues with your connection and should only be used if 100% necessary". "Gaming VPNs" add an extra hop; the rare cases where a VPN helps are bad routing at a specific ISP, not the rule.
• Router firmware: update it; old consumer firmware drops packets under load.
• QoS: if someone at home torrents or streams 4K, give the gaming PC priority.
• Reboot the router and modem: trivial, but it clears stuck NAT tables.
• If WinMTR shows loss on the ISP side, call support with the trace results; that cannot be fixed at home.

What does not work

• rate, cl_interp, cl_updaterate. Valorant has no console and no network variables: Riot keeps routing and netcode parameters on its side (anycast addresses and "cold-potato" routing inside Riot Direct). Every "network config" for Valorant is made up.
• Disabling Nagle's algorithm (TcpAckFrequency). That registry tweak affects TCP, while Valorant's game traffic is UDP. At most your login gets slightly faster.
• Changing region. Playing on another shard is only possible after a paid account transfer, and it will not save you from loss at home.
• Removing Vanguard. The game will not start without it. Anti-cheat conflicts with network drivers or VPNs happen, but they are the exception, not the typical cause of loss.

Connection error codes

Riot does not publish an official registry of codes, so the readings below come from community experience, and the exact banner text is always best looked up in Riot support. VAL 5: cannot reach Riot's servers (network, firewall or maintenance); VAL 7 and VAL 29: "error connecting to the platform", most often a firewall block or a Vanguard failure, less often an account restriction; VAL 59: a login queue failure, fixed by restarting the client. For any of them, check status.riotgames.com first, then the firewall exceptions.

Step-by-step order

1. Enable Network RTT and Packet Loss in Stats, instability indicators in General.
2. Check status.riotgames.com and your teammates; WinMTR, where packets are being lost.
3. Cable instead of Wi-Fi, cables seated firmly, reboot the router.
4. Pick the closest servers in the lobby.
5. Network Buffering: Minimum, Moderate if enemies teleport.
6. Google/Cloudflare DNS, IP renewal, Windows troubleshooter.
7. Firewall exceptions for VALORANT and Vanguard, port forwarding per the table if needed.
8. VPN/proxy off, router firmware updated, QoS configured.

The same problem in the other game, how to fix packet loss in CS2: there, unlike Valorant, some of the settings are exposed through the console. With a stable connection the rest is in-game setup: the eDPI calculator converts a sensitivity to your own DPI.

Frequently asked questions

Why is packet loss high when my internet is fast?

Loss does not depend on the speed of your plan. The usual culprits are Wi-Fi interference, an old cable, an overloaded router or an ISP node. Riot advises starting with a wired connection and checking the cables.

What does the Network Problem icon in the corner mean?

In Riot's words, "consistent, high rates of packet loss or brief disconnects". At the Critical level it is a long outage after which a disconnect is possible.

Does a VPN help with ping in Valorant?

As a rule, no: a VPN adds an extra hop, and Riot recommends disabling VPNs and proxies when troubleshooting connections. It can only help with bad routing at a specific ISP.

What tick rate do Valorant servers run at?

128 ticks per second for all live matches, Riot confirms this both in the instability indicators article and in its netcode tech blog.

Will changing the server in the lobby remove packet loss?

No. Server selection lowers ping through a shorter route, but if packets are lost at home or at your ISP, they will be lost on any server.

Sources

Official Riot pages: Troubleshooting Your Network Connection, How to Set Up Port Forwarding, Server Select, Game and Network Instability Basics, the tech blogs Peeking into VALORANT's Netcode and Leveling up networking (Riot Direct), server status, status.riotgames.com.