New Valorant server update makes high-ping demons less annoying

News

Good news for most, but possibly bad news for some.

In a skill-based competitive game like Valorant, there’s nothing more frustrating than when the game itself lets you down rather than your own input. This is unfortunately often the case in Valorant when playing against high-ping players, but a server code change included in this week’s update should help resolve the issue.

The update addresses adjusting the “max server rewind limit” to a lower value, which Riot Games software developer Kevin Lee says is currently set too high:

“When we launched the game, the maximum rewind value was set at 200ms based on what we considered acceptable network conditions (taking into account some additional input/processing latency) to play Valorant. Based on player data since launch, we have determined that this value is too high for the network conditions most of you are experiencing.“

What exactly does rewind do in Valorant?

“When a player fires a shot, it takes some time for the input to reach the server. To avoid having to lead your shots, Valorant implements server rewinding. When the server determines the outcome of a shot, it rewinds the characters’ positions around the bullet to match their positions at the time the shot was originally fired. Finding the right limit for a maximum rewind amount is important to reduce instances where someone feels they need to lead shots or that they can still be shot after safely repositioning themselves.“

If you’ve ever experienced a death in Valorant after moving behind cover, the rewind mechanic was probably to blame. It essentially makes the game more playable for high-ping players, but worse for those who don’t have nearby servers. That could make Valorant a tricky game in regions like South Africa, where the most profitable servers are thousands of miles away.

Here’s an overview of the changes, broken down as part of the broader patch 6.02 notes (which you can read in full here):

• Maximum server rewind limit reduced from 200ms to 140ms.
  • If you only play in games where everyone’s ping is low, you shouldn’t even notice this change. In other cases, the effects of this change will be subtle, and most of you won’t notice the difference. That being said, we expect the following changes in game patterns:
    • Playing against high ping players should feel less like getting shot after ducking behind cover from a previously fired bullet
    • Players playing with high ping may experience hit registration inaccuracies

• These behaviors already exist in Valorant, but we’re shifting the needle for what we consider less generous as “high ping.” We hope this change reduces the frustration players experience when playing against high-ping players and further minimizes the impact of network conditions on gameplay.

Elsewhere in today’s patch notes, there is mention of a “potential” fix for one of the most annoying bugs affecting KAY/O.