Fortnite: How to Enable the Ping Overlay, Fix Bad Ping, & More

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If you're a Fortnite player but your game has been laggy recently, you might be wondering if there's a way to view your ping in real time as you play the game. Fortunately there is, and turning it on is extremely easy. In this article we'll go over how to enable the ping overlay, as well as detail what's a good ping for Fortnite, how to fix bad ping, and explain what ping is in the first place.

Enabling the Ping Overlay in Fortnite

How to Show Fortnite Ping

Open your Fortnite settings. You can do this by opening your profile and selecting the cogwheel button. These steps work for the PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and mobile versions of Fortnite.

Scroll over to Game UI. It's in the top bar, and has an icon that looks like a screen with objects on it. It's between the icon of a cogwheel and the icon of a cogwheel with a pointing hand.

Scroll down and enable Latency Debug Stats and Net Debug Stats. These options are near the bottom of the Game UI menu under the "HUD Options" header. Make sure both of these settings say On.

Join a match. Once you're in a game, you'll see ping information near the top of the screen.

Ideal Ping to Play Fortnite

The lowest possible ping is ideal for Fortnite. Under perfect conditions, the lowest possible ping you could have is 1ms. However, this isn't attainable for everyone, so a ping of 50ms or below is generally seen as being good. Ping between 50ms and 150ms can also be acceptable, but once you get a ping of over 150ms you will start noticing lag. However, you may notice the lag before you hit the threshold of 150ms.

Ways to Improve Fortnite Ping

Use an ethernet cable. Ethernet is a faster and more reliable connection than Wi-Fi. If possible, connect your computer or console to your router with a CAT5e or CAT6 ethernet cable. CAT5e and CAT6 are the two fastest categories of ethernet cables and are more than powerful enough to facilitate high internet speeds for gaming.

Restart your router. Sometimes, a simple router restart can fix seemingly random high ping issues. If you have a separate modem, restart that as well.

Set the correct Matchmaking Region. In your Fortnite settings, under the Game tab, make sure your Matchmaking Region is set to Auto, or select the region with the lowest ping. The ping for each region will be displayed next to each region in the list.

Disable Cosmetic Streaming in Fortnite (PC only). According to Epic Games, disabling Cosmetic Streaming can help decrease ping. To do this, follow these steps: Click the three dots under the Fortnite title in the Epic Games Launcher. Select Options. Check Pre-download Streamed Assets and click Apply to save your settings.

Cut down on your router's traffic. If you're running multiple programs that use the internet on your computer, or there are unused devices accessing the internet in your house (i.e. a smart TV that's turned on but not in use), close those programs or turn off those devices. This will free up more resources, and might improve your ping.

Try a different router. If you have access to another router, try plugging your ethernet cable into that one to see if your existing router is damaged or defective. You can also try plugging your cable right into the modem, if you have a separate unit.

Move your router. If you can't connect via ethernet and your router is in a spot where it can't evenly spread signal across your home, your device might have a hard time maintaining a decent Wi-Fi connection. Move your router to a central location in your home, ideally up high and in an area free from obstructions. If you live in a very large home, or you have obstructions such as brick walls in your house, you may want to consider investing in a mesh router system if you can't plug directly into ethernet.

Update your router. If your router is running outdated firmware, it can impact your connection. If you don't know how to update your router's firmware, check out [[1]] wikiHow article for an in-depth guide.

Switch to a different Wi-Fi band. If you have a dual-band router, try switching from 2.4 GHz to 5 GHz or vice versa. Check the ping in-game on both bands to see which one gives you the better connection.

Try using a VPN. If you live far away from an area with a Fortnite server, using a VPN may help decrease your ping. However, VPNs may not help lower ping at all and may increase it. This is because ping is all about routing, and if the VPN has the same routing problems as your Internet Service Provider (ISP), the VPN won't improve anything. However, if you don't have many other options, a VPN is worth a try.

What is ping, and how is it measured?

Ping measures latency. It's the length of time it takes a packet to travel from your computer to a server and back, and it's measured in milliseconds (ms). The higher your ping, the longer it took the packet to travel from your computer to the server, which can result in latency if the ping is high enough.