Does Ping Matter in Fortnite?

Does Fortnite ping matter? This is a measure of someone’s distance from the Fortnite servers. It’s not supposed to be the most important part of your skills in-game. But to a lot of players, it feels like Fortnite ping might be a major factor. It can affect how you take walls, build fights, it can decide games. Most players use zero ping connections, but does Fortnite ping actually matter? Can you play successfully without it?

The Fortnite Ping factor does effect more of the game than it maybe should. Players need to have ping at a decent level to be able to compete in Fortnite tournaments. Although, great skill can overpower it to a point. We have quite a few examples of the best Fortnite players competing in different regions, beating out top pros with high ping.

How much does ping matter in Fortnite and how can you get the best chances in-game?

Does Ping Matter in Fortnite?

Ping does matter in Fortnite, sometimes. It definitely makes a difference to players at some level of competition. Both on the low end, and the high.

If you’re playing pubs without much care, then you probably won’t notice if your ping moves around too much. It doesn’t hurt to use the best Fortnite settings and try to keep things under control. But you probably won’t have too many problems if you don’t have zero ping.

On the other hand, the highest level of Fortnite does need low ping. If you’re competing in FNCS winner lobbies, then Fortnite ping will be a bigger factor. At this level the small difference that ping makes does matter quite a bit. However, it isn’t the only factor.

Players have won tournaments on 50+ ping plying on different regions. Granted, these were the best Fortnite players in the world in smaller tournaments. Literally Peterbot managed it. But it still shows it can be overpowered. You just have to be the best.

For most players, ping will matter unless you’re up against players massively below your skill level. Or playing at a level where ping isn’t as important because no one uses more exact gameplay and building mechanics.

What is Ping in Fortnite?

Ping might be important at the high level, but what is it? Ping in any online esports title, is the measure of how far you are from the server. It essentially is the time measurement for how long your game takes to communicate with the sever.

It pings the Fortnite servers, and comes back. Ping is just the neat and tidy measurement that’s become universal.

Fortnite ping is how quickly you communicate with the Epic Games server locations. It will vary depending on some factors. There are different servers in use for normal pubs and tournaments for example, so ping can vary a little bit.

Ping is important in Fortnite for how quickly your actions show up in game. It’s most important in build and box fights. If you have a higher ping than an opponent, unless they mess up by a factor equal to the difference between you, you’ll never take their wall or build slot.

This makes a big difference to performance in Fortnite. You can’t take walls, you can’t take fights. If you’re frequently in these types of fights which come down to the wire, your Fortnite ping could end up deciding if you win or lose. It’s why some players have to abandon their pro hopes once they’re too far away from the server.

What’s a Good Ping in Fortnite?

What makes a good ping? The number can get pretty high. When deliberately trying to get a high ping, players have discovered it goes extremely high, and makes the game completely unplayable. What’s a good Fortnite ping though?

0 is obviously best. It’s tricky though. Unless you happen to live in a very small number of places, you won’t get 0 ping. But most players will be fine within a certain range. This is roughly what it looks like:

• Under 10 – Good ping. Good enough to play against the best
• 10-20 – Rough for tournament play, but fine otherwise.
• 20-50 – Getting rough for high level play outside of tournaments, can be a real struggle.
• 50+ – Expect lag and bugs with server communication.

How to Get Low Ping in Fortnite

Having a ping too high can cause terrible problems in Fortnite, but how can you lower it? There are a few factors. The biggest is just where you are. Physical distance means it takes longer to communicate to the Fortnite server. Nothing can really get around this, but if you’re in the middle section we can cut it down. There are quite a few other actions which impact it too.

These are the other things to keep in mind if you’re looking to minimize your Fortnite ping:

• Internet Connection Quality – The physical quality of your connection, how your ISP runs things, can have an effect.
• Wired – A wired connection is considerably better for Fortnite ping. Wireless introduces big delays before the server connection leaves your house.
• Network Usage – A freed up network is much better for ping. That’s why some players install dedicated lines.
• VPNs – These give privacy… by re-routing your entire connection to a different location. It’s a big increase on your ping.