Getting terrible packet loss in Valorant matches - will using the best vpn for valorant actually fix this or just waste money?

Lemme save u $$$... VPN ain't fixing ur problem bro. Had identical issue last szn - turned out my ISP (Cox) was secretly throttling gaming traffic during peak hours. Called 6x, kept getting "we don't throttle" BS until finally threatening to switch providers. Magically fixed same day. They KNOW what they're doing. Document everything before calling

My teammate had EXACT same symptoms (Spectrum ISP). We literally tracked his ping spikes by the minute - 7PM-11PM every night, perfect connection all other times. VPN completely solved it. Don't listen to the anti-VPN crowd.. they work when ISP traffic shaping is the root cause. Still adds 5-10ms overhead but WAY better than random 300ms spikes

VPNs sometimes help because: 1) they encrypt traffic preventing ISP inspection/throttling and 2) can find less congested routes. HOWEVER - they introduce their own stability issues. Try running traceroute during packet loss, identify where hops are failing, THEN decide if VPN likely helps your specific bottleneck

everyone suggesting complicated fixes but nobody asking the obvious - u tried different ethernet cable yet? fixed my "impossible lagging" that had me ready to quit. $8 cable > $100+ in subscriptions. start simple THEN escalate

Riot support actually told me they're seeing massive increase in these exact complaints since last patch. Something changed server-side that's affecting specific ISPs/routes. They denied it was their problem for weeks until enough tickets piled up. Check the dev tracker - they're "investigating" now. VPN might be temp solution but wait for proper fix

bruh i stg u described my EXACT situation from last month!!! was about to yeet my pc out the window after getting one-tapped by iron players because my agent kept freezing. tried everything under the sun until my buddy let me test his SurfShark account which fixed it instantly. not saying it'll work for everyone but saved my mental + rank

Forget VPNs, your problem is almost definitely buffer bloat. Google a buffer bloat test - bet you'll score F grade during gaming sessions. Your router's buffer filling up during gameplay = massive ping spikes. Enable SQM QoS if router supports it or get router that does

Saw ur post history - u mentioned having Xfinity gigabit right? Their new "advanced security features" royally mess with Valorant specifically. Disable that garbage in ur account settings. They push it as "protection" but it's just DPI that breaks games. Source: happened to our entire 5-stack last month

Most ISPs implement network neutrality violations that specifically targets UDP gaming traffic during network congestion periods. This is why a VPN can sometimes help—it encapsulates your gaming packets inside encrypted TCP tunnels that bypass the traffic shaping algorithms

I work @ major ISP (won't say which). We absolutely throttle gaming traffic. It's not called "throttling" internally - it's "network optimization" or "traffic prioritization" but same result. VPNs work if they successfully disguise traffic type. We can't target what we can't identify. Sorry for truth but that's reality

Fix that worked for ME (not saying it's universal): Go to services.msc, find "BITS" and "Windows Update", set both to DISABLED, reboot, test game. Windows updates silently downloading in background = exact symptoms you described

Your troubleshooting steps sound comprehensive BUT did u try completely uninstalling GPU drivers using DDU then fresh install? Random packet loss/frame drops often blamed on network when actually GPU driver corruption. Fixed similar "network" problems for 3 different friends

Don't make same mistake I did - wasted $80 on ExpressVPN subscription that made everything 10x worse. Claimed they had "gamer optimized servers" but ping jumped from 45ms average to 95-120ms with constant drops. Switching providers doesn't fix problematic routing if VPN uses same backbone infrastructure

When did problems start? Immediately after Windows update? After hardware change? After Riot anti-cheat update? After ISP pushed firmware to your modem? Context matters. Shotgun approach to fixing just wastes time & money. My identical problems started after "silent" modem firmware update - rolling back modem fixed everything

Potential weird-but-real fix: Login to router, check connected devices, see if unknown/suspicious devices on network using bandwidth. Neighbor might be stealing wifi or IoT device gone rogue. Friend had IDENTICAL problems, found Ring doorbell silently uploading 24/7 causing massive congestion during game traffic spikes

Regional Valorant servers have different netcode stability - had this EXACT problem, it was server allocation issue not connection. Try using Valorant server picker tool (Google it) to force connect to different physical server cluster. My ping went up 5ms but stability became rock solid

just. play. something. else. valorant's netcode has been hot garbage since beta. they prioritize anti-cheat over player experience. why stress urself over fixing something that's fundamentally broken? the game doesn't respect ur time, why should u respect it with troubleshooting? not trolling, just practical advice after 2k+ hours wasted