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
100-250ms to most matched players- All South American players are in the global matchmaking pool with no regional separation
- Frequently matched with North American and European players across 100-200ms latency gaps
- No dedicated South American matchmaking region means P2P sessions commonly cross the Atlantic or Pacific
Oceania
150-300ms to most matched players- No dedicated Oceania matchmaking pool — Australian players join the global pool
- Most sessions connect to North American or European hosts with 150-300ms base latency
- Invasions are particularly problematic due to no lag compensation
What players commonly report
- Teleporting invaders due to P2P lag and no lag compensation
- Host advantage in PvP — being invaded from a distant region
- No built-in ping display to diagnose connection quality
- Cross-continental matchmaking in the global pool
- Laggers using their bad connection as a weapon in invasions
How to Fix It
Try these first — they're free and solve the problem for most people.
01 Use a wired Ethernet connection instead of WiFi
1. Connect your PC directly to your router with an Ethernet cable 2. Disable WiFi on your PC (Settings > Network > WiFi > Off) to ensure the game uses Ethernet 3. Relaunch Dark Souls III
WiFi adds 5-20ms of variable latency and introduces jitter (inconsistent delay). In P2P play, jitter causes phantom teleporting and erratic hitboxes. Ethernet eliminates this entirely.
02 Set cross-region matchmaking based on your goal
1. In Dark Souls III, go to System > Network 2. Set 'Cross-region play' to ON if you want maximum matchmaking pool size (faster summoning) 3. Set it to OFF if you want to reduce the chance of matching with geographically distant players
The global matchmaking pool mixes all non-Japanese players regardless of geography. Turning off cross-region may reduce your pool to fewer players but those you do match with are more likely to be nearby.
03 Improve NAT type for better P2P connectivity
1. Open your router admin page (typically 192.168.1.1) 2. Navigate to Port Forwarding 3. Forward UDP ports 4380, 27000-27031, 27036 to your PC's local IP 4. Forward TCP ports 27015-27030, 27036-27037 to your PC's local IP 5. Save and reboot your router 6. In Steam: Settings > In-Home Streaming > Advanced > confirm connection type
Strict or moderate NAT can prevent direct P2P connections, forcing traffic through Steam relay servers and adding 30-100ms. Open NAT allows direct connections and lowers latency.
General network tips (not Dark Souls III-specific)
04 Check your P2P ping with DS3ConnectionInfo
1. Download DS3ConnectionInfo from GitHub (github.com/tremwil/DS3ConnectionInfo) 2. Launch Dark Souls III and go online 3. Run DS3ConnectionInfo alongside the game 4. The app shows the actual ping to each connected player (host, phantoms, invaders) in real time 5. Use this to identify which sessions are high-latency before committing to a co-op run or duel
The only way to see actual P2P latency to other players in Dark Souls III. The game has no built-in ping display. This tells you whether lag is coming from your end or theirs.
Regions with good connectivity
Players in these regions likely won't benefit much from a network optimizer.
- Western Europe — Dense player population means short geographic distances to most matched players; still P2P but typical latency is 20-80ms within region
- Eastern United States — High player density, relatively short hops to most North American and Atlantic European matches
- Japan — Separate matchmaking pool with a dedicated Japanese playerbase; intra-Japan sessions have very low latency
Still lagging? The problem is likely your ISP's routing to the game servers.
PingAim detects Dark Souls III automatically
No manual config. PingAim identifies Dark Souls III by process name and routes it through your fastest connection using a kernel-level WFP driver.