Known Lag Problems
These problems are reported by real players. If your region or ISP is listed, a network optimizer is likely to help.
Southeast Asia / Oceania
200-400ms to NA/EU hosts- No dedicated servers means players must find hosts in their region via the lobby — very few active hosts outside NA/EU peak hours
- Connecting to NA or EU hosts results in 200–400ms ping which causes noticeable rubber-banding
What players commonly report
- High ping / rubber-banding when host is in a different continent
- Connection failures when host hasn't forwarded port 27016
- Lag spikes during combat-heavy scenes (many enemies + spell effects)
- Host upload speed bottlenecking all connected players
How to Fix It
Try these first — they're free and solve the problem for most people.
01 Check your ping to the host in the lobby
1. Open Grim Dawn and go to the Multiplayer lobby (Main Menu → Multiplayer → Join Game) 2. Browse the session list — each session shows a Ping column on the right 3. Sessions showing a number (e.g. 45ms) are nearby hosts 4. Sessions showing '---' are distant hosts — expect 150ms+ and possible lag 5. Sort by ping to find the lowest-latency session available 6. During a session there is no live in-game ping overlay — the lobby ping value is the only pre-join indicator
Doesn't fix anything, but shows you which hosts are geographically close before you commit to joining. If all sessions show '---', your region has few active hosts — consider asking friends to host or joining a Grim Dawn Discord to find nearby players.
02 Use a wired Ethernet connection when hosting
1. Plug an Ethernet cable directly from your PC to your router or modem 2. In Windows, go to Settings → Network → disable WiFi to force the wired connection 3. Alternatively, use PingAim to force Grim Dawn to use the Ethernet interface specifically 4. Verify you're on Ethernet by checking Windows network status (should show 'Ethernet' not 'Wi-Fi')
Critical for hosts, important for clients. WiFi adds jitter and variable latency that gets multiplied across all connected players. A wired host means more consistent upload speeds and lower variance — clients will experience fewer random lag spikes.
03 Close bandwidth-heavy background applications
1. Before launching a co-op session, check Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) → Performance → Ethernet/WiFi 2. Look for applications using significant upload bandwidth (cloud backup, torrents, Windows Update, game downloads) 3. Pause or close them before the session 4. On Windows 11: Settings → Windows Update → Pause updates for 1 week during gaming sessions 5. If you use Steam for downloading games, pause any active downloads in the Steam client
Since Grim Dawn is P2P, your upload speed directly affects every client in your session when you're the host. Even 1–2 Mbps consumed by a background app can cause perceptible lag spikes for all players during intense combat with many enemies.
General network tips (not Grim Dawn-specific)
04 Forward port 27016 if you're hosting
1. Open your router's admin panel (usually 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1) 2. Find Port Forwarding / Virtual Servers section 3. Add a new rule: Port 27016, Protocol: TCP and UDP, IP: your PC's local IP 4. Save and restart the router 5. Alternatively, enable UPnP in the router settings if you don't want to configure manually 6. Test by hosting a session and having a friend try to join
Fixes connection refusal errors for incoming players. Without open ports or UPnP, players outside your network may fail to connect or experience high packet loss. The host's port setup affects every client in the session.
05 Disable virtual network adapters in Device Manager
1. Press Win+X → Device Manager 2. Expand 'Network adapters' 3. Look for VPN adapters, virtual machines (VMware, VirtualBox, Hyper-V), or any adapter you're not actively using 4. Right-click each virtual adapter → Disable device 5. Restart Grim Dawn 6. Note: Disabling Hyper-V adapters may require restarting Windows features
Grim Dawn's P2P code can get confused by multiple network adapters and route traffic through the wrong one — particularly virtual adapters from VPNs or VM software. Disabling unused adapters forces the game onto your real connection. PingAim solves this more precisely by letting you explicitly select the interface.
Regions with good connectivity
Players in these regions likely won't benefit much from a network optimizer.
- North America / Western Europe — Largest player base means more hosts visible in the lobby at any time, lower typical ping to available sessions
Still lagging? The problem is likely your ISP's routing to the game servers.
PingAim detects Grim Dawn automatically
No manual config. PingAim identifies Grim Dawn by process name and routes it through your fastest connection using a kernel-level WFP driver.