Gaming Ping Simulator & Analyzer

Looking for the full breakdown on fixing your network? Head back to our Ultimate Network Optimization Guide.

What is Ping in Gaming?

Ping (or latency) is the amount of time it takes for a packet of data to travel from your computer or console to the game server and back again. It is measured in milliseconds (ms). Because it's a measure of time, lower is always better.

When you press a button to shoot, jump, or move, that action isn't instantaneous on the server. Your device has to tell the server what you did, and the server has to tell you the result. The time that takes is your ping.

The Ping Tiers Explained

Excellent (< 20ms)

This is LAN-like territory. If your ping is consistently under 20ms, you have a massive advantage in competitive shooters like CS:GO, Valorant, and fighting games. You will rarely experience "peeker's advantage" working against you, and your shots will register exactly when you click.

How to get it: You generally need a Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) connection, a hardwired Ethernet setup, and you must live relatively close (within a few hundred miles) of the game server data center.

Good (20ms - 50ms)

This is where the vast majority of competitive gamers sit. At this tier, the game feels responsive, smooth, and fair. You might occasionally lose a 50/50 gunfight to someone with 5ms ping, but overall, your latency is not holding you back from reaching the highest ranks.

If you're in this tier on WiFi, consider switching to an Ethernet cable. It might not lower your average ping significantly, but it will prevent it from spiking into the next tier during intense moments.

Playable (50ms - 100ms)

This tier is totally fine for casual gaming, MMOs, and strategy games. However, in fast-paced shooters or fighting games, you will start to notice a slight "floaty" feeling. You might die behind cover (because on the server, you hadn't reached cover yet), and your hit registration might feel slightly delayed.

If you're consistently in this tier, check your background downloads, ensure no one else on the network is streaming 4K video, and seriously consider utilizing QoS on your router (see our Router Settings Guide).

Laggy (> 100ms)

At over 100ms, competitive gaming becomes frustrating. You are dealing with a full tenth of a second of delay. In games where time-to-kill (TTK) is often around 200-300ms, you are essentially dead before you even see the enemy on your screen.

This high latency is usually caused by physical distance to the server. If you live in Europe and try to play on US West servers, your ping will physically never be below 100ms due to the speed of light through fiber optic cables. If you are playing on local servers and still see these numbers, you need to use our Interactive Lag Troubleshooter immediately.

Server Regions and Latency

The speed of light in fiber optic cables limits how fast data can travel. As a rough rule of thumb, every 60 miles (100km) of physical distance adds about 1ms of round-trip ping time. That's assuming perfect routing, which never happens.

Because of this physical limitation, selecting the right server region is the easiest way to lower your ping. Always choose the server geographically closest to you. If a game offers "US East" and "US West," and you live in Chicago, US East will almost certainly provide better ping. Some games, like Valorant, offer highly specific servers (e.g., "Illinois" or "Texas") to ensure the lowest possible latency for regional players.

To further optimize your connection to these servers, ensure your ports are open. Check out our Port Forwarding Guide for specific game setups.