Valorant has been dominating the first-person shooter scene in terms of viewership and popularity among top streamers ever since its closed beta was released. And, while everyone has been busy breaking down Valorant’s in-game mechanics, the developer team uploaded another dev diary update about the game’s netcode, 128-tick servers, and their independent ISP.

Technical Engineering Lead, David Straily, and Technical Director, Dave Heironymus illustrated that Riot Games is going to make sure Valorant is able to maintain a high level of competitive integrity, which is why they’re committed to giving players the “best network conditions in the industry with Riot Direct and 128-tick servers.”

Riot Games’ PoP points (Point of Presence)

First, they explained Riot Direct as the company’s way of providing players with an independent ISP, instead of having them go through multiple connections en route to a game server.

Riot Games’ Network Round Trip illustration


They then discussed the network roundtrip issues that occur when one player’s in-game information reaches the game servers before it gets to the second player. Valorant developers decided to fix this issue through the game’s 128-tick servers. These also give the game a better hit-registration system where all players are given the same fast and stable connection, which mitigates network round trip issues.

Valorant’s 128-tick server advantage

Both devs then asked players to send bug issues and feedback since they’re always looking to improve the game. They also stated that should expect more of these developer diaries in the future.

READ MORE: Watch Riot developers run circles around ex-CS:GO pros in a Valorant show match