With “Elden Ring” receiving its first free update on Dec. 7 and winning Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2022, more players are going to flock to “the Lands Between.” Where there are Tarnished, there is blood, and an influx in players will likely mean an influx in PvP invaders – for players who have enabled such functionality, anyway.
In a game like “Elden Ring,” where combat relies so heavily on timing your attacks, counters, guards, and parries, even the most minor degree of lag can have life-ending consequences for your Tarnished character. The Colosseum update lets you take on your friends (or online strangers) in one-on-one duels, team fights, and multiplayer free-for-alls.
If you suffer from lag when playing “Elden Ring” online, your network connection might be the culprit. Follow our guide below to alleviate any lag problems you encounter in “the Lands Between.”
What Is Lag?
Lag is the delay between user input and the server accomplishing the task required by the input. When video games are concerned, this means there is a delay between the time when you, the player, press a button and when your on-screen character does whatever you just told them to do. The more fast-paced the game is, the more lag can mess with a fun gaming experience.
In the online gaming world, the best way to reduce lag is to reduce your ping time, which measures how long it takes the information to leave your machine, bounce off the game server, and head back to your machine – usually measured in milliseconds. The higher the ping is, the higher the lag.
You Forget How to Parry Attacks
OK, you probably didn’t forget how to parry attacks, but anyone who’s played a significant amount of “Elden Ring” knows that this skill takes a little time to master. Once you’ve mastered it, it becomes second nature, but because of how important it is to time your controller inputs correctly, lag can turn a well-timed parry into a regrettable PvP death.
If hardwiring your gaming device to your modem is out of the question, you can move your device closer to your router or your router closer to your device. Either way, you want to reduce the amount of space between your router and your gaming device because the signals from your router will get to your gaming device more quickly if they don’t have to travel as far.
Status Effect Build-ups Spike
If you’ve been playing “Elden Ring” since its release in February, you already know that the bleed effect can catch you off-guard. If you use weapons like Eleonora’s Poleblade or Rivers of Blood, then you actively count on how quickly the bleed status effect builds, because your playstyle revolves around making enemies and PvP invaders alike hemorrhage as quickly as possible.
If you start to notice big jumps in your status effect bars, though, lag might be the culprit. Try turning your router off, waiting a few minutes, and turning it back on. If there was a bug present in your previous connection, establishing a new connection to your network could squish it.
Make sure you leave your router off for five to 10 minutes before reconnecting.
Projectiles Stop and Go
The Oracle Envoy enemies you find in Leyndell can be a pain to deal with, but it’s an even bigger pain when a PvP invader ruins your day with their Envoy’s Horn weapon and Oracular Bubble skill. Normally, these bubbles are pretty easy to dodge, but if you’re dealing with a subpar connection, they can freeze one moment and be right upon you when your frame rate stabilizes.
When you can’t dodge enemy projectiles, you have determined that it’s lag throwing you off and not your own abilities, and you haven’t plugged your gaming rig into your modem, try running an Ethernet cable from your gaming device to your modem. A hardwired connection is faster and more stable than a wireless connection, meaning you’ll both reduce lag and increase download speeds – especially helpful if you’re downloading the latest Colosseum update. Gamers paying for fiber-optic and cable internet will want to make sure to invest in Ethernet cables with the appropriate rating for all that bandwidth they’re paying for.
Your Mounted Combat Attacks Suffer
Mounted combat in “Elden Ring” isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but few players can deny that Torrent, your spectral goat-horse mount, is useful. Hit-and-run combat on horseback requires some precision timing, and nothing is more frustrating than charging up for a high-damage move only to, thanks to the wonders of lag, time your attack wrong and miss.
If you can’t hardwire your gaming device to your modem and can’t move your router to a more suitable position, you can try a Wi-Fi repeater or mesh network. A Wi-Fi repeater takes your original Wi-Fi signal and rebroadcasts it from a second point in your home, helping get rid of “blind spots.” Believe it or not, using a Wi-Fi repeater is one of the easiest ways to work around a slow wireless connection.
Mesh networks produce a result similar to Wi-Fi repeaters but with a key difference. A Wi-Fi repeater creates a second copy of your original network, while a mesh network creates one cohesive wireless network with multiple access points throughout your home. Since “Elden Ring” is most commonly played on gaming consoles or PCs that sit in the same place, disconnecting and reconnecting your Wi-Fi extender’s network is rarely a problem. Steam Deck users, however, will likely benefit more from a mesh network.