Known Lag Problems
These problems are reported by real players. If your region or ISP is listed, a network optimizer is likely to help.
Australia / Oceania
20–60ms to Oceania servers; 180–280ms to NA servers- Limited official server slots in Oceania region
- Many Australian players connect to NA or EU servers with 200–300ms ping due to server availability
- International submarine cable routing can add significant jitter
South America
80–150ms to SA servers; 150–250ms to NA servers- Limited SA official server selection forces many players onto NA servers
- ISP routing from southern SA to NA datacenters often suboptimal with 180–250ms ping
- Brazilian ISPs vary significantly in international routing quality
How to Fix It
Try these first — they're free and solve the problem for most people.
01 Check your actual ping in the server browser before joining
1. Open ARK: Survival Ascended 2. Go to Play > Join Game 3. The server browser shows ping for each server 4. Filter by your region and sort by ping 5. If nearby official servers show 150ms+, your ISP routing to that datacenter is suboptimal 6. Compare ping to official vs. community servers in the same region — if community servers ping lower, it confirms a routing issue to the specific datacenter
Diagnostic — confirms whether your high ping is a routing issue (fixable) or geographic distance (less fixable).
02 Switch from official servers to a well-managed community server
1. In the server browser, filter 'Unofficial PC Sessions' 2. Look for servers in your region with low ping AND low player count relative to capacity 3. Prioritize servers advertising dedicated hardware or high tick rate 4. A community server at 30 Hz with 20 players will feel dramatically smoother than an official server at 5 Hz with 70 players
Can eliminate the majority of perceived in-game lag. Server-side tick rate degradation causes more 'lag feel' than client ping in ARK.
03 Use Ethernet and disable WiFi
1. Connect PC directly to router with an Ethernet cable 2. In Windows Settings > Network & Internet, disable the WiFi adapter 3. Launch ARK and check ping in the HUD 4. ARK's heavy entity simulation (dinos, structures, spoil timers) makes it especially sensitive to packet loss from WiFi jitter
Eliminates WiFi-induced jitter and packet loss. Critical for stable raids where many entities are active.
04 Run traceroute to diagnose ISP routing problems
1. Join a server in ARK and note its IP from the server browser (or use ARKstatus.com to find server IPs) 2. Open Command Prompt: press Win+R, type cmd, press Enter 3. Run: tracert [server-ip] 4. Count the hops and look for large latency jumps between hops — these indicate ISP routing problems 5. If you see a jump of 30ms+ at a single hop, your ISP is routing suboptimally at that point
Identifies the exact point in the network path causing high ping. Confirms whether a network optimizer would help.
05 Choose a server geographically close to you
In the server browser, filter by ping. For North American players, NA-East servers from east coast ISPs should ping under 40ms; west coast 50–80ms. EU players should stick to EU Nitrado servers. Going cross-region adds 80–200ms minimum.
Baseline ping reduction of 100–200ms for players playing cross-region unnecessarily
General network tips (not ARK: Survival Ascended-specific)
06 Flush DNS and reset Windows network stack
1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator (right-click Start > Command Prompt (Admin)) 2. Run: ipconfig /flushdns 3. Run: netsh winsock reset 4. Run: netsh int ip reset 5. Restart your PC 6. Launch ARK and re-check server ping
Fixes routing issues caused by stale DNS or corrupted network state. Quick fix for sudden ping increases after a Windows update or network change.
07 Use in-game ping overlay
Press Tab to open console and type: stat fps. This shows FPS and server ping. Alternatively, the in-game HUD shows ping in the main menu after joining a server. Watch during base raids — ping spikes here indicate network congestion, not server tick lag.
Real-time diagnostic to distinguish network latency from server-side tick rate issues
08 Port forward 7777 UDP if hosting or experiencing NAT issues
On your router, forward port 7777 UDP and 7778 UDP to your gaming PC. If you are a client connecting to servers, a NAT type of Moderate or Open is sufficient. Strict NAT can cause connection instability on some configurations.
Fixes connection refusals or instability caused by NAT traversal failures
Still lagging? The problem is likely your ISP's routing to the game servers.
PingAim detects ARK: Survival Ascended automatically
No manual config. PingAim identifies ARK: Survival Ascended by process name and routes it through your fastest connection using a kernel-level WFP driver.