As in every competitive multiplayer game, having a good connection is a must if you want an enjoyable gaming experience. So if you have been facing War Thunder ping spikes during your battles, we'll show you 7 ways to fix your high ping in War Thunder. But before that, you must first know how to show your ping in War Thunder.
Method #1: Check the War Thunder Server Status
Before trying the following methods, you must check the War Thunder game server status to be sure if these War Thunder ping spikes are happening because of problems on your end. Sometimes the game servers are down due to regular maintenance. You can check the game server status on the Official War Thunder News page, and if you want to know more, check out the War Thunder Official Twitter page.
Method #2: Reboot your Router and Modem
One of the most effective ways of solving several issues related to your internet connection speed is to reboot your router and modem devices. Doing this can also fix lag spikes in any War Thunder game server, keeping a good ping time and stabilizing your gaming performance. For this method to work correctly, you need to do a proper power cycle on your devices, or else you'll need to reboot your devices multiple times. Here's a step-by-step guide to how to do this power cycle:
- Unplug both your modem and router from the power source.
- Wait approximately 20 seconds, and plug just the modem back into its power source.
- Wait 90 seconds more, and now plug the router back into its power source.
- Wait for all green lights to be on before testing your connection.
- Now, go back to the game to see if your ping has improved.
If you keep suffering from poor internet speed, you should contact your internet service provider to see if these network latency issues are occurring because of problems on their end. If the problem is not on their end, you should consider changing your router or modem devices.
Method #3: Use an Ethernet Cable
In most cases, it is impossible to use a wired internet connection due to physical barriers in your home, but if that is not your case, and you have the choice of switching from a wifi connection to a wired connection, do this change immediately. Wireless connections are more likely to suffer sudden high ping spikes and other internet connection issues, including high ping in online games such as War Thunder. So if you want to maintain a strong internet connection, use a wired internet connection. After making this change, go back to War Thunder and test if your internet connection is working. If not, you must check if your cable is indeed working.
The price of the ethernet cable can differ, but this doesn't interfere with the connection quality. You are good to go with basically any network wire that can work.
Method #4: Close Background Apps
Another great way of getting a low ping in the War Thunder game server is limiting your network data usage by closing apps consuming your bandwidth while you play. So if you want to reduce your War Thunder ping, end all the background apps you are not currently using. On Windows, you can see the list of apps running in the background in the task manager. Just follow this simple guide to know how to close these apps:
- Right-click on the Taskbar, and click on Task Manager.
- Click on the Network column. It will show the apps in descending order. The ones with the most bandwidth usage will be first on the list.
- Select the apps that you want to dismiss and click on End task.
Method #5: Update your Network Drivers
In general, gamers always remember to keep their graphics driver regularly updated, but they forget to also update their network drivers. So be sure to install the latest network driver version if you have been dealing with War Thunder lag spikes. Every Windows version has a tool that automatically searches for the drivers on the internet. Follow this simple guide to learn how you can update your network drivers:
- Go to the Windows search bar, search for Device Manager, and press Enter.
- Click on Network adapters to collapse the list, and right-click on the first option.
- Click on Update driver, and choose the Search Automatically for drivers option.
- The system will see if you are using the latest version of your Network driver. If not, it will download and install the latest free version of the driver.
Method #6: Configure the Windows Update Delivery Settings
A simple way to get a lower ping while playing War Thunder is changing the Windows Update Settings default configuration. The system's standard settings allow Windows to update automatically, and these updates can happen at any moment, even while you play War Thunder. Here's a simple guide on how you can change this configuration:
- Go to the Windows search bar, search for Windows Update Delivery Settings, and press Enter.
- Click on Advanced options.
- Mark the Percentage of measured bandwidth, and mark the first square that limits the bandwidth usage for downloading updates in the background.
- Put the percentage bar on 10% or less. This configuration will limit bandwidth usage and improve your Ping in War Thunder.
Method #7: Open Ports on Your Router for War Thunder
Routers usually don't allow incoming network requests from unknown sources. The design is this way to protect your network data centers from possible network attacks. But this feature can also restrict your data center from receiving game files and causing packet loss from the War Thunder game servers. Opening these ports can be complicated, so pay attention to the following step-by-step guide to learn how to open these router ports:
- Before anything, you need to know your router's IP address and your PC's IP address. You can display both using the Command Prompt.
- Go to the Windows search bar, search for cmd, and hit Enter.
- Now in the Command Prompt, type the command ipconfig and press Enter. The router's IP address will be displayed next to Default Gateway, and the PC's IP address will be displayed next to the internet protocol version 4, the IPv4 Address.
- Go to your browser and enter the router's IP address in the address bar.
- The router program will probably ask you to log in with your Username and Pbuttword, do that to advance.
- Now, this next step will vary depending on your router, but try to find the Port Forwarding option.
- In the Port Forwarding section, first, enable both TCP and UDP in the protocol field and put your PC's IP address in the Internal IP field.
- Put on both External Port and Internal Port all the War Thunder TCP/UDP ports, and restart your router (In some router programs you'll have to put it one at a time):
- PC: TCP: 5222, 6881, 7800-7802, 7850-7854, 8090, 20443, 27022-27042, 33333 / UDP: 3478-3480, 20010-24500
Want to know other ways to improve your gaming experience while playing War Thunder? Then check out our article on how you can improve your FPS in War Thunder, and if you want to know the best ways to display your FPS while playing any game, check out our article on how you can show your FPS in War Thunder. Now, if you want more tips about fixing High Ping in general, check out one of our related articles on how you can fix High Ping in World of Tanks, Albion Online, Escape From Tarkov, Rainbow Six Siege, DayZ, Genshin Impact, Team Fortress 2, and Dead by Daylight.
If you're interested in ways to legitimately get golden eagles for free, we have an article about that as well!