"A VPN lowers your ping" is the most popular and most controversial claim in any discussion of gaming VPNs. Some forums will sell you on the idea that a VPN always speeds up your game; others insist it always slows it down. The reality is more complicated: a VPN is useful in a few specific gaming scenarios and useless (or harmful) in all the rest.
Let's look at when a VPN genuinely helps gamers, how to set it up, and which mistakes to avoid.
When a VPN lowers ping
Counterintuitive, but real. Sometimes the route from your internet provider to the game server takes a "detour" — through several countries and suboptimal hubs. A VPN server can offer a more direct path.
Typical scenarios:
- Playing on Asian servers. If your provider has a poor route to Asia, a VPN server in Japan or Singapore can cut your ping by 30–80 ms.
- A congested international link. In the evening, when providers' international links are jammed, a VPN can sometimes route around the bottleneck via a different path.
- Provider traffic shaping. If your provider throttles certain types of traffic (some games get caught by this), a VPN protects the traffic and keeps the speed up.
To be clear: this isn't the rule, it's a rare scenario. In most games, a direct connection gives better ping than going through a VPN.
When a VPN increases ping
In 90% of cases, a VPN will add 10–50 ms to your ping. The reason is simple: your traffic now takes a detour through the VPN server. If you play on a server in the same country as your provider, a VPN is almost guaranteed to make things worse.
So: turn on a VPN for ping only when you have a specific reason, not "just in case". For shooters and MOBAs this is critical — 80 ms ping and 130 ms ping are two different games.
Protection against DDoS attacks
This is the strongest argument for using a VPN in games. In competitive play (especially for streamers), DDoS attacks are a real problem. An attacker finds out your IP during a match (through exposure in P2P games or social engineering), floods your connection with junk traffic, and your internet goes down for 5–30 minutes.
A VPN solves this: your real IP isn't visible to the game — only the VPN server is. The DDoS attack hits the VPN server, which has the infrastructure to repel it. Your connection stays clean.
Who needs this:
- Streamers on Twitch / YouTube.
- Players in competitive games with open lobbies.
- Players in "toxic" games (CS, Dota), where DDoS is part of the "culture."
For an ordinary player who keeps a low profile online, DDoS protection is overkill — but as a bonus that comes "free with the VPN," it's nice to have.
Access to regional servers and games
Some games launch in certain regions earlier than in others. Some online games have regional servers with different rules and matchmaking. A VPN handles both:
- Early access. A game releases in Australia 12 hours before Europe — a VPN with an Australian server and your Steam account let you play 12 hours before everyone else.
- Regional matchmaking. Want to play with Asian players instead of European ones? A VPN with a server in Asia switches your matchmaking region.
- Access to games unavailable in your country. Some games aren't sold in Russia due to sanctions. Buying through a VPN with a different IP solves the problem.
Game licenses and regional pricing
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A controversial but popular topic. Game prices on Steam, PSN and the Xbox Store vary widely between regions — sometimes by a factor of 2–3. Many people use a VPN to buy games in cheaper regions (historically Turkey and Argentina).
What you need to know:
- This violates the platforms' terms of service. Your account may be banned.
- Platforms have learned to catch these schemes — you need not just a VPN but also a local card or payment method.
- In 2022, Steam made regional arbitrage significantly harder.
Whether to do it or not is your call. Technically, a VPN is just one of the tools here.
Which VPN to choose for gaming
When choosing a VPN for gaming, consider three factors:
- Latency stability. What matters is not just average latency but also the absence of sharp spikes during a match.
- Connection method. It should add as little extra latency as possible. In VolnaLink, a suitable connection method is chosen automatically.
- Server location. Ideally, you should be able to pick a server close to the game server.
How to set up a VPN for gaming
After installing the VPN:
- Choose a server located as close as possible to the game server.
- VolnaLink offers the VLESS Reality, Trojan and Hysteria 2 protocols. The app automatically picks the right one, so there's no need to manually set up WireGuard, UDP or OpenVPN.
- If the app lets you route traffic from selected programs separately, send only the game through the VPN. Other apps can stay on a direct connection.
- Compare your latency before and after turning on the VPN. If it has gone up by 50 ms or more with the VPN, turn the VPN off for that game.
What else affects ping besides a VPN
Sometimes a problem blamed on the VPN actually lies elsewhere. Before you blame the VPN, check:
- Wi-Fi vs. cable. Wi-Fi adds an average of 5–15 ms to your ping, plus jitter. For competitive games, a cable is always better — it will make more of a difference than any VPN.
- An outdated network driver. On Windows, make sure your network card driver is up to date. This is especially true for gaming motherboards with Killer Networking, where the difference between an old and a new driver can be tens of milliseconds.
- Antivirus with traffic filtering. Deep packet inspection by an antivirus adds 5–20 ms to your ping. Add the game to the exclusions.
Often, the combination of "turn off what you don't need + switch to a cable" improves ping more than hunting for the optimal VPN server.
Console gaming through a VPN
On PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch, the VolnaLink app usually can't be installed directly. Connecting a console through a VPN is only possible with a compatible router.
Before setting it up, check whether your router supports a VolnaLink connection. If it does, set up the VPN on the router following the instructions for your specific model, then connect your console to it via Wi-Fi or cable.
In this case, the VPN will apply to all of the console's internet traffic, including games, updates and the store. If you run into problems with updates or store access after connecting, temporarily turn off the VPN on the router.
The bottom line
A VPN for gaming is a tool with a specific niche, not a universal boost. Get one if:
- You want protection from DDoS attacks (streamers, players in competitive games).
- You play on servers overseas and want to try to improve the route.
- You need access to regional games or servers.
If none of this applies to you, play without a VPN — you're not missing anything. For more on speed, see why a VPN is slow.