Better League of Legends Connectivity
League of Legends (simply referred to as ‘League’ or ‘LoL’), is a multiplayer online game of an extremely competitive nature. Backed by a thriving Esports scene with a world championship and a global ranking system, League players exceeded 180 million in 2023. Unsurprisingly, there is a highly engaged community of LoL players and fans.
With any popular game, comes competitive gamers looking for any advantage they can get. Historically for League players, issues such as laggy servers and buggy software were detrimental to player performance. But developer Riot Games has dedicated resources to resolving these recently with new releases and patches. Today, sluggish online gaming for League players is attributable to Internet services and networks, and the location of game host servers.
Internet lag, high latency, connection drops plus other issues, can be unpredictable and very frustrating for keen gamers. These don’t just affect LoL gamers either. There is much online debate about where the fastest Internet speeds in the world are, to support multiplayer online gaming needs. However, high speed download or uploads does not necessarily guarantee smooth and fast gaming experience. For the best online gaming experience, keen gamers need to understand how to deal with connectivity problems and fix them, where possible.
It’s not a big deal for amateur League players if the game lags or an Internet connection causes buffering for a few seconds. However, League of Legends has become a prominent part of the Esports world, with international championships, companies investing millions, and teams from around the globe competing for big prizes. Moreover, the esports betting League of Legends platforms provide tournament information in real-time, allowing users to place live bets online with detailed scoring and team data.
As you might gather, there’s a lot more at stake, when it comes to extremely popular games such as League of Legends! Connectivity issues can pose a significant problem for players and enthusiasts. In the below content, we have compiled some steps to enhance the League of Legends connectivity and enjoy an unparalleled gaming experience.
Assess Current Internet Service
A network assessment is a good first step towards smooth gameplay. It can help identify performance degradation and network vulnerabilities, while uncovering opportunities for network optimization. At a basic level, it can be as simple as seeing if you have adequate bandwidth and Internet service speed to support fast online game play.
Various online tools are available for these purposes, including Paessler PRTG, BetterStack Uptime, SolarWinds Ping Monitor, PingPlotter, etc. They all share helpful features of real-time monitoring for network performance, alerts for network congestion, memory usage, historical data analysis, and more features to ID potential bottlenecks.
Optimizing Network Setup
Switch to a Wired Network
Gamers are advised to switch to a wired network instead of using WiFi or wireless, which can be prone to more interference. A wired connection guarantees efficient bandwidth and fast data transfer and minimizes the chances of interference. With 10GB/s connections possible, Ethernet is the optimal method for transmitting powerful signals directly to a device, ensuring balanced connectivity and low latency.
Router Position
The simple position of a router can have a significant impact on the speed and stability of connectivity. Routers should be placed in a central location within a gaming area to maximize signal strength and ensure faster speeds. Additionally, elevating the router by placing it on a shelf or table can enhance Wi-Fi signals, preventing them from being absorbed by the ground. It’s worth noting that other electronic devices can interfere with Wi-Fi signals and generate electrical noise, leading to slower speeds and reduced network performance. Physical barriers such as glass, walls and especially metal beams or structures can also degrade signal strength.
Enable Quality of Service (QoS)
QoS is a network management technique that allows users to allocate Internet bandwidth to specific types of online traffic rather than distributing it evenly across all traffic. Gamers can prioritize gaming over web surfing, file transfers, and other activities. It’s worth noting that while QoS is a router feature, it isn’t available on all routers. High-end routers are more likely to support this capability, while consumer-grade routers typically lack this feature.
Port Forwarding For League of Legends
Port forwarding, or port mapping, allows remote gaming devices to access specific applications within a private network. Port forwarding ensures efficient gameplay, as it increases the speed and stability of the network, fixes latency issues, resolves lag, reduces ping, and can minimize the possibility of sudden disconnections.
Minimize Lag and Interference
Lag is the time needed for data to travel from a sender to a receiver, while latency is affected by bandwidth, routing, peering and more. To reduce latency, gamers can look at network speeds and bandwidth allocation. Traceroutes show network problems which may be slowing your personal connection down, like how many ‘hops’ your connection takes to reach a website or destination;
Explore Gaming VPNs
This may not apply to all League of Legends gamers. However, VPN advantages for gaming can be significant. A VPN enables gamers to access game servers in regions different from their own, allowing them to stay up to date with updates that may not have been released in their physical region. Additionally, League of Legends is restricted in certain countries for political reasons. In such cases, gamers in those locations can use a reliable VPN to access the game.
Stay Up to Date
Updates from game developers aim to address issues that hinder or interupt smooth gameplay. The developers of League of Legends strongly recommend updating the game client whenever a new update is released. These updates fix bugs, optimize performance, and introduce new game features.
Note that updates are not limited to the game itself. Gamers should ensure their router firmware is current. Users can benefit from advanced security patches that protect against malware and bugs via firmware updates. Additionally, firmware updates may provide encryption and VPN support as additional features.
However and most importantly – a strong, reliable network connection should form the foundation for efficient, stress-free online gameplay. Combined with the above tips, this can maximize gaming experience, whilst minimizing lag, disconnections and malware.
