Ping vs FPS: What's the Difference and Which Matters?
Players often confuse ping and FPS when they say “lag.” Both affect your experience, but they are completely different things. Knowing which one is the problem is the first step to fixing it.
What Is Ping?
Ping (latency) is the communication time between your computer and the game server, measured in milliseconds (ms). It is a network metric.
- High ping → your commands reach the server late, your champion reacts slowly, you get “rubber-banding.”
- Depends on your internet connection and distance to the server.
You can test your ping with the measurement tool.
What Is FPS?
FPS (frames per second) is how smoothly your screen is drawn. It is a hardware/graphics metric.
- Low FPS → choppy, stuttering image, like a “slideshow.”
- Depends on your graphics card, CPU and game settings.
Quick Comparison
| Ping | FPS | |
|---|---|---|
| Measures | Network latency (ms) | Image smoothness (frames/s) |
| Good value | Low (<60 ms) | High (>60 FPS) |
| Depends on | Internet, server distance | GPU, CPU, settings |
| Symptom | Slow reaction, teleporting | Stutter, choppiness |
Which Should I Fix?
- If your champion reacts late / teleports → ping problem. See the guide on lowering ping.
- If the image stutters / is choppy → FPS problem. Lower graphics settings, update drivers.
Both can happen at once. First run your ping test to rule out the network side.