Known Lag Problems
These problems are reported by real players. If your region or ISP is listed, a network optimizer is likely to help.
South America
40-80ms on SA servers, 150-220ms if routed to NA- At launch, South American players were frequently routed to North American servers (150ms+) before SA-dedicated servers were confirmed stable
- Brazil ISPs (Claro, Vivo, TIM) have historically poor peering to AWS São Paulo compared to major US/EU exchanges
Oceania
30-60ms (Australia), 50-90ms (New Zealand)- OCE server availability was a concern at launch — community questioned whether dedicated OCE servers existed
- New Zealand players must route to Australian datacenters adding 20-40ms
South Asia / Middle East
60-120ms on correct server, 150-250ms if misrouted to EU- Players in India, Pakistan, and Middle East report being routed to EU or SEA servers rather than the Mumbai/Bahrain region
- Inconsistent auto-region selection forces manual override to get appropriate regional servers
What players commonly report
- Desync / deaths through cover (documented post-launch netcode issue, Embark-acknowledged)
- Hit registration inconsistency — shots not registering despite appearing to connect on client
- Server queue waits during major updates and season launches
- Auto server region selection routing players to wrong/high-ping regions
- Packet loss spikes during extraction (highest-stress moments)
How to Fix It
Try these first — they're free and solve the problem for most people.
01 Test all available server regions for your best connection
1. Go to Settings → Social → Server Region 2. The default is Automatic — override it manually 3. Test each region: North America, Europe, Asia, South America, Oceania 4. For each region, check your ping using the network overlay in a practice session 5. Note which region gives lowest and most stable ping 6. Set that as your permanent region
Your ISP routing may be better to a non-default region. Players between regions (e.g., East Coast US, Middle East) often find 20-40ms improvements by manually selecting the right region.
02 Switch from WiFi to wired Ethernet
1. Connect your PC to your router using an Ethernet cable 2. Open Windows Settings → Network & Internet → WiFi 3. Turn off WiFi, or go to Advanced Network Settings and disable the WiFi adapter entirely 4. Launch ARC Raiders and check the network overlay — ping should be lower and more stable
Eliminates WiFi-added jitter (2-15ms) and removes wireless packet loss. Jitter in particular makes ARC Raiders' desync issues feel worse — a stable wired connection is the single most impactful free change for wireless users.
03 Close background apps competing for bandwidth before a raid
1. Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) → Performance tab → click 'Open Resource Monitor' 2. Go to Network tab — see which processes are actively using bandwidth 3. Close or pause: cloud sync apps (OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive), streaming (Twitch, YouTube, Spotify), any active game downloads in Steam/Epic 4. On Windows 11: Settings → Windows Update → Pause Updates temporarily during play sessions
Prevents bandwidth saturation that causes in-game packet loss and ping spikes. Especially important during extraction sequences when a network spike is most costly.
General network tips (not ARC Raiders-specific)
04 Check your real in-game ping with the network overlay
1. Launch ARC Raiders and enter a match (or the main menu) 2. Press Esc to open the menu → go to Settings 3. Navigate to the Gameplay tab 4. Scroll down to find the Network/HUD section 5. Enable 'Network Latency' or 'Show Network Stats' 6. A small overlay will appear showing your current ping in ms 7. Watch it during a PvP fight or near an extraction point — if it spikes, your connection is the issue
Baseline diagnostic — tells you your actual ping to the server. If it's above 80ms consistently, or spikes heavily during action, your routing is suboptimal and fixable.
05 Flush DNS and reset your network stack
1. Right-click Start → 'Windows Terminal (Admin)' or 'Command Prompt (Admin)' 2. Run each command and press Enter: ipconfig /flushdns netsh winsock reset netsh int ip reset 3. Restart your PC 4. Re-test your ping with the network overlay
Fixes sudden ping increases that weren't present before. Clears stale DNS cache entries and resets the Windows network stack to a clean state.
06 Enable QoS on your router to prioritize game packets
1. Open your router admin panel (usually 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1) 2. Find QoS (Quality of Service) settings — usually under Advanced or Traffic Management 3. Add a rule to prioritize UDP traffic on ports 54597-54611 and 61736-61748 4. Alternatively, prioritize by device (your PC's MAC address) if your router supports it 5. Save and restart router
Ensures ARC Raiders UDP packets are not queued behind other traffic on your home network. Most impactful during peak evening hours when multiple devices are competing for bandwidth.
Regions with good connectivity
Players in these regions likely won't benefit much from a network optimizer.
- Western Europe — Amsterdam, Brussels, Helsinki datacenters with well-peered ISPs. Players in Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France typically see 15-40ms ping.
- North America (Eastern and Central US) — Multiple NA datacenters (Portland, Dallas, Baltimore, Omaha) cover the US well. Major US ISPs have strong AWS peering.
Still lagging? The problem is likely your ISP's routing to the game servers.
PingAim detects ARC Raiders automatically
No manual config. PingAim identifies ARC Raiders by process name and routes it through your fastest connection using a kernel-level WFP driver.