Lower ping in Apex Legends
In Apex Legends, ping is the time your game data takes to reach the data centers and come back. EA's help article says a ping under 100 ms keeps the game running well, and under 50 ms is particularly good. Whether you get there depends on the data center you play on, the route between you and it, and your own connection. This page uses EA's help article and Respawn's 2021 deep dive into Apex's servers.
Where Apex Legends's servers are
Apex lets you pick the data center yourself. At the launch screen, before you select Continue, choose Data Center in the bottom left and select the location closest to where you are logged in from. EA explains that a data center far away can cause high ping and packet loss, because your data has to travel further.
If every data center shows high ping or packet loss, the cause may be on the game's side: EA says data centers can show both when lots of people are playing, or when the Apex servers have issues. Check the Apex Legends server status and @PlayApex before you change anything at home.
How to see your ping in Apex Legends
Apex has a Performance Display, added in Season 6. In 2021, Respawn's lead engineer wrote that it changed everything, because players could report exact numbers instead of a feeling that something was off.
- Open Settings and go to the Gameplay tab.
- Turn on Performance Display. It shows your frames per second, latency and packet loss.
- Respawn's 2021 deep dive adds that In and Out are the bandwidth the game is using, in kB/s, and that the display also shows packet choke.
- Before you report a shot that did not register, check the display. Respawn wrote that clips sent to them as hit registration problems often turn out to be latency problems.
What makes Apex Legends lag
A far data center. The first thing EA's guide checks is distance: a data center far from you adds ping and packet loss, so pick the nearest one.
The path between networks. In its 2021 deep dive, Respawn explained that your traffic starts on your internet provider's network, then crosses into the data center's network, sometimes over several handovers, and the reply often comes back by a different route. A weak link at any of those points loses packets: your game stops knowing what the players around you are doing, or the server stops knowing that you fired or moved.
Unsteady latency. The same post shared a network trace from one of Respawn's pro players: the best reading was 31 ms, but the worst passed 500 ms, and Respawn called the experience extremely bad because the connection swung by around 500 ms.
Wi-Fi and the home network. Asked why latency goes up and down, Respawn's first answer was Wi-Fi: if you play on it, there is little they can do; otherwise, it can be the server itself running slowly. EA's guide lists the home causes: many people on the same Wi-Fi, a wireless connection, lots of applications running in the background, and a router that is blocked or far away.
Ping differences between players. Respawn explained that Apex deliberately shares the effects of latency evenly rather than always favouring the lower ping. When two players round a corner, the one with lower ping sees the other first; being hit just after you reach cover is the same effect working the other way, and usually comes from the ping difference between you and the shooter.
Fixes worth trying first
- Play on a cable instead of Wi-Fi if you can. Wi-Fi adds delay and drops packets when the signal is busy or weak.
- Pause downloads, game updates, streams and cloud backups on your network while you play.
- Restart your router if your ping was fine before and suddenly is not.
Changing your DNS server does not lower your in-game ping: DNS only looks up addresses before the game connects.
How NitroPing helps
Your ping depends on the path your internet provider sends Apex Legends's traffic along, not only on the distance. NitroPing sends only Apex Legends's traffic through one of our relay servers over an encrypted tunnel, which can be a shorter, steadier path than your provider's default route. Everything else on your PC stays on your normal connection.
Pick Auto and NitroPing measures the relays from your PC and uses the one with the lowest latency, or pick a city and it stays there.
What it cannot do: shorten the physical distance to Apex Legends's servers, or fix Wi-Fi trouble or a connection that is already full. If your provider's route to the game is already good, the difference will be small.
Apex Legends ping questions
What is a good ping in Apex Legends?
EA's help article says ping is generally between 50 and 150 ms. Under 100 ms keeps the game running well, under 50 ms is particularly good, and above 100 ms you may start to feel lag.
How do I change my data center in Apex Legends?
At the launch screen, before selecting Continue, choose Data Center in the bottom left and pick the location closest to where you log in from. A distant data center adds ping and packet loss.
Why do I get shot after I am already behind cover?
Respawn's 2021 deep dive says this usually comes from the latency difference between you and the other player: their game was showing a moment in the past when they fired. Respawn wrote that this cannot be eliminated, only shared between players, so Apex spreads it evenly.
Does NitroPing work with Apex Legends?
Apex Legends is in NitroPing's game list: the app knows Apex's game program and routes only its traffic through the relay, while everything else stays on your normal connection.