4 Ways To Fix Lagging & Stuttering in Dota 2

Setting the Appropriate Network Quality Option for you

Dota 2 does its best to allow everybody, regardless of their setups, devices, and internet connections to enjoy playing the game. Consequently, they provide two choices of Network Quality in Dota 2 to suit any player's needs.

Before anything else, make sure that before you matchmake, you have the option of selecting the best Dota 2 server for ranked matches. Also, make sure to input the Dota 2 command to show ping to ensure that it's an internet problem.

The first Network Quality option is for low-end networks. This option should be selected if you notice that you are experiencing packet loss. When the low-end network option is selected, it will slightly increase your latency, however, it improves overall smoothness when you are battling it out in your Dota 2 games.

The second Network Quality option is for high-end networks. This option should be selected by players who rarely have internet issues. Selecting the high-end network option should almost guarantee you a seamless Dota 2 gaming experience.

In order to choose the Network Quality option, follow these steps below:

First, click the settings button located on the top right of the Dota 2 Main Menu. You should be able to locate it on the left side of the large Dota 2 logo.

Next, you should click on the Options tab, as shown in the picture above. The Options tab is located between the Hotkeys and Social tabs.

On the next screen, you should be able to see the "To Advanced Options" button located at the bottom of the box. Click on it to advance.

Lastly, depending on your internet connection, choose the appropriate Network Quality option. As an easy rule of thumb, if you have packet loss, choose the low-end network option, else, always choose the high-end network option.

Closing All Unnecessary Applications on Your Device

If you experience constant lags or Dota 2 freezes/crashes while playing Dota 2, one reason that may explain it is the applications that are running in the background. Notable applications that may take up a lot of internet bandwidth are Discord and Google Chrome. Although Discord is the go-to app when you are playing with a duo, trio, or a full 5-stack team, you can usually shut down Google Chrome and all its tabs to attempt to reduce your lag.

Removing Cookies from Your Internet Browser(s)

As you browse the internet and enter various types of websites, you are bound to encounter internet cookies. Accumulatively these internet cookies can slow down your computer, thus causing you to lag when you play Dota 2.

Thankfully, there is a way for us to remove these internet cookies from time to time. Follow these steps to attempt to reduce the lag.

Firstly, open Google Chrome on your device. Without clicking anything else, locate the triple dot logo that can be found around the top of the Google Chrome window, right below the "X" button. Click this triple dot logo.

Next, locate the "More Tools" section, as shown in the image above. Hover above this choice.

If you hover above "More Tools", you should be able to get the same view as the picture above. If you do, click on "Clear Browsing History". This should redirect to another page.

If you have successfully followed all the steps, this should be the last page you will visit to clear the internet cookies. The default amount for clearing the browser data that is stored on your laptop is based on the last 24 hours. However, you have the choice of readjusting the duration, including all time (which is what we strongly recommend to do).

However, clearing all-time browser data will very likely require you to re-login to pages you frequently visit, which includes your email accounts (Gmail, Yahoo) and social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter). If you do not wish to go through the hassle or fear that you do not remember the passwords to all these accounts, you can immediately click "Clear Data".

Setting High Priority for Dota 2

If you are on Windows, it is possible for you to prioritize the Dota 2 game so that more power is provided by it. This allows Dota 2 to run smoother with less lag. Let's find out how you can set your computer to see Dota 2 with high priority.

First, press the Control, Alt, and Delete buttons at the same time (you may have heard this combination of buttons as Ctrl, Alt, and Del). This will allow you to see a list of options. Make sure to click the bottom choice -  Task Manager.

If you have followed the directions correctly, you should be able to see a window pop-up, similar to the one shown above.

On the Task Manager window, locate the Details tab and click it. You should see a very crowded list of applications.

From this list of applications, scroll all the way to dota2.exe (the list is alphabetically ordered). Once you have spotted dota2.exe, right-click it.

Lastly, from the list of options that appear, hover above Select Priority, and select High.

Following these methods should allow you to have a more enjoyable Dota 2 gaming experience. Now that you can play with accuracy, why not take a read at how game-changing items like the Nullifier can benefit your team, or find the best sites to buy Dota 2 items with crypto or PayPal to further enhance the battlefield visuals!