Cover-Credits:
Valorant has multiple network instability indicators that show up to let you know the game is not working as intended. While some of the indicators let you know when you have packet loss or high average ping, there is also a low server FPS indicator that indicates it affects ALL players connected in the game. This is an issue that occurs at the server-end and you cannot do much about it.
Fixing low server FPS in Valorant
The low server FPS icon has two thresholds. The first is the “Warning” icon which means that you will start to see inconsistencies between your actions and how the server resolves them. The second is the “Critical” state which leads to severe inconsistencies between your actions and how the server processes them. Your abilities may feel out of sync and everyone around you may be moving at a much lower framerate.
Riot Games tries to maintain a 128-tick rate. In layman’s terms, the tick rate of a server determines how often information is updated. A higher tick-rate usually leads to a more responsive experience. For comparison, Apex Legends has a 20 tick-rate while CS:GO can have a 60 or 128 tick-rate depending on which server you are playing on. Sometimes, the tick rate goes down tremendously due to server issues and you will have a laggy experience in Valorant despite being on a stable internet connection.
To identify if you have low server FPS in Valorant, here’s what you can do:
Turn on incoming/outgoing packet loss graphs in-game. High-quality wireless and most wired connections should have near-zero packet loss at all times.
Try restarting your router or switching to a wired connection if possible.
Try enabling the network buffering setting to reduce Valorant’s demands on your network.
Investigate router diagnostics, and review packet loss information. (Your ISP support can help with this)
If you are still facing issues, it means that Riot Games’ servers are acting up and you can simply play later or hop onto a different server to see if you have a better experience. It is strongly recommended to enable Network Buffering in Valorant from the game’s settings menu as it can help a lot with any kind of network issues.
