Fix High Ping and Latency Spikes in League of Legends
Source-checked · About 15 minutes
Answer
Show League's ping in a custom game and check Riot status for your region. Retest with downloads paused, VPN off, and Ethernet connected. If Ethernet or another trusted network fixes the spikes, the original connection is the problem. Video settings cannot lower ping; a distant region always adds delay.
Start a custom game. If ping is not shown, open Esc > Hotkeys > Display and assign Toggle FPS Display, then use that control. Record the normal ping, highest spike, region, and time while walking the same route for several minutes. Do not use an internet speed-test ping as a substitute for League's game-server ping.
2
Check the selected League region
Open Riot's League status page, select the region used by the account, and read any active incident. If Riot lists a regional service problem at the same time as the spikes, stop changing Windows and test again after the incident clears.
3
Remove traffic from the comparison
Pause game downloads, cloud backups, streams, and large transfers on the PC and other devices. Disconnect any VPN or proxy, then repeat the same custom-game route. If League's ping falls and stays steady, restore the paused activity one item at a time to find the competing traffic.
4
Compare Ethernet with Wi-Fi
Connect the PC directly to the router with Ethernet when possible and repeat the same route. If Ethernet is stable but Wi-Fi spikes, keep League on Ethernet or improve the Wi-Fi signal; changing League video quality will not repair that wireless path.
5
Restart only the failed network path
If every device on the home network is unstable, restart the modem or router and wait until its internet light is normal before retesting. If only this PC is affected, open Device Manager > Network adapters, identify the adapter in use, and install its current driver through Windows Update or the hardware maker.
6
Verify a stable match result
Success means the same custom-game route holds near the normal ping without repeated jumps or Reconnecting. If spikes remain on Ethernet while Riot status is clear, run Riot Repair Tool, choose League of Legends, and attach its ZIP to a ticket with the region, ISP, wired result, normal ping, spike ping, and timestamps.
If it does not work
If League's ping is low but the picture stutters, use the FPS guide; network changes do not improve frame rendering.
If the normal ping is always high on the account's region but never spikes, physical distance may be the main limit. Do not expect a router reset or VPN to remove that distance.
If only evening matches spike on both Ethernet and Wi-Fi while Riot status is clear, give the ISP the exact dates, times, and League region rather than repeating local resets.
ⓘ Sources and verification
Checked against official documentation on . Scope: League of Legends on Windows PC.
This page treats ping, packet loss, and jitter as network measurements. Low FPS is a different problem even when players describe both symptoms as lag.
