Are you suffering from lag spikes in Call of Duty? Games such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone are built on reaction times and split-second decisions. What this means is that if you start to experience lag consistently during your games, you'll likely lose most gunfights and quickly be sent to the Gulag after a humiliating death.
With a new mid-season update releasing for Modern Warfare, more and more players will jump into the 200-man lobbies, putting a strain on both Infinity Ward's servers and your ping.
If this regularly occurs to you, then the chances are that you are suffering from some hefty connection problems.
READ MORE: How to uninstall Modern Warfare's campaign
If you want to fix these connection issues and get back to winning games of Warzone, here are some tips that may help.
How To Fix Lag Spikes in Call of Duty
If you are struggling to deal with lag spikes, there are plenty of potential steps you can take to mitigate the problem. Here are our preferred solutions.
Check the System Requirements
If Warzone consistently stutters and lags on your PC, it may be because your build doesn't meet the recommended requirements to run Warzone. Here are the minimum requirements for Warzone, as put forward by Activision:
- OS: Windows 7 64-Bit (SP1) or Windows 10 64-Bit
- CPU: Intel Core i3-4340 or AMD FX-6300
- RAM: 8GB RAM
- HDD: 175GB HD space
- Video: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 / GeForce GTX 1650 or Radeon HD 7950
- DirectX: Requires DirectX 12 compatible system
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
READ MORE:Fortnite: How to fix textures not loading in
Lower your Graphics Settings
Even if your PC passes the minimum requirements for Warzone, it may struggle to run the game at the highest settings.
Consistent lag may be a result of your graphics setting being too high, so adjusting them downwards could ease some of the issues.
We'd recommend turning off Tesselation, Motion Blur, Weapon Motion and Depth of Field, as well as setting your Texture Resolution and Particle Quality at a low level if your PC is struggling to run Warzone without any lag.
Use a wired internet connection to fix lag spikes in Call of Duty
If you play on PS4, Xbox, or have a pretty powerful PC, the chances are that your connection problems are caused by internet issues.
Ethernet cables use a direct connection to your router to ensure any connection issues stemming from the distance between your console and the router do not affect your internet stability. This in turn can lead to significantly reducing lag spikes in Call of Duty.
READ MORE: Warzone Error Code Pilum: How To Fix Call of Duty ‘Purchase Error’ on Xbox
If you don't have an ethernet cable on hand, even just moving your console or setup closer to your WiFi router should help to quash any stability issues that may cause lag.
Run a speed test
It's worth checking to make sure that you are actually getting the speeds you should be from your isp. If you are finding that you are consistently getting slower speeds than expected, it's worth contacting your service provider for additional help.
Beyond this, think about how many apps and devices are jostling for bandwidth on your network. Try to minimise how busy the network is. Ultimately, the more traffic that's on your network, the higher your chances of experiencing lag. So perhaps avoid downloading that 4K movie while you're trying to play COD. You can also close any background programs that you aren't using.
Wait for Infinity Ward servers to work
As Warzone is such a popular Battle Royale game, especially when new updates drop, its servers often get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of players trying to connect at once.
Unfortunately, if this happens the only thing you can do is wait.
However, to make sure you aren't waiting in vain or alone in experiencing these problems, you can check the server status of Call of Duty to see if it's only you facing connection issues.
READ MORE: Warzone Mic Not Working: How To Fix Call of Duty Voice Chat Issues
Activision is better than most other game developers in showing its players the status of its servers. On its support website, you can check to server status of all its recent games (from Warzone to Black Ops II) and filter it by your platform. Activision also keeps a list of the most recent confirmed outages in its games.
READ MORE: Best tech for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone
However, if you want a more immediate answer, DownDetector will give you a snapshot of how many other players are experiencing issues with Call of Duty. The website keeps track of how many players are having issues, and if there is a spike in complaints when you check, the chances are that Call of Duty is having wider problems outside your control.