There’s no worse feeling than logging into your PC ready to queue for ranked with your friend group, only to be greeted by a crawling Valorant update progress bar that says it’ll take 45 minutes to finish. Most players write slow updates off as an unavoidable annoyance from Riot’s servers, but that’s rarely the case. Most of the time, the slowdown comes from easy-to-fix issues on your end, and this guide covers exactly how to make Valorant update faster with simple, no-cost steps that work for every Windows PC and laptop.
How to Make Valorant Update Faster: First Checks to Do Before Tweaking Settings
Before you dive into changing client or router settings, it’s important to rule out simple, obvious issues first that cause 60% of slow Valorant update reports. Start by running a quick speed test to confirm your internet is running at the speed you pay for from your provider. If your download speed is lower than 10Mbps, that’s almost certainly the root of your problem, not the Riot Client.
Restart your router first if your speed test shows slower than expected speeds, this fixes temporary glitches that throttle your connection more often than you’d think. You should also check Riot’s server status page to confirm there are no ongoing outages or maintenance for the Valorant download servers in your region. If servers are down, no amount of setting tweaks will speed up your update, so you’re better off grabbing a snack while you wait for Riot to fix the issue.
Another quick check: make sure no other device on your network is using a ton of bandwidth right now. If your roommate is streaming 4K Netflix or downloading a 100GB game on their console, that will eat up most of your available download speed, leaving very little for your Valorant update. Ask them to pause their activity for 10 minutes, or schedule your updates for off-peak hours when fewer people are using the network.
Optimize Your Riot Client Settings for Faster Downloads
The Riot Client has a few hidden settings that accidentally get enabled all the time that slow down Valorant updates dramatically. The first thing to check is the download limit toggle, which many players turn on when they’re using a metered connection and forget to turn off later. To find it, open your Riot Client settings, navigate to the “Downloads” tab, and make sure the box next to “Limit download speed” is unchecked.
Close all other Riot Client processes running in the background – if you have League of Legends or another Riot game open at the same time, the client will split your available bandwidth between all running games, slowing down your Valorant update significantly. You should also close any streaming apps, cloud backup tools, or other game launchers running in the background while you update, to give Valorant full access to your download speed.
If you’re on a laptop, make sure it’s plugged in while you run the update. Most laptops throttle download and processing speeds when running on battery power to save charge, which can double the time it takes to download and install a Valorant update. You should also turn off Windows’ metered connection setting for your current network, as Windows will intentionally limit download speeds for all apps when metered connection is enabled to avoid using too much data.
Network Tweaks That Cut Valorant Update Download Times
If you’ve ruled out basic issues and optimized your Riot Client settings, these simple network tweaks will help you squeeze every last bit of speed out of your connection for faster Valorant updates. Most of these take less than 2 minutes to implement, and you don’t need any advanced tech knowledge to do them:
- Use a wired ethernet connection instead of Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi interference from walls, other devices, or neighboring networks can cut your real download speed by 30% or more, even if you pay for gigabit internet. A cheap ethernet cable will give you a stable, unfiltered connection to your router that eliminates this interference entirely.
- Enable QoS (Quality of Service) on your router: This setting lets you prioritize traffic from the Riot Client over less important activity on your network, like smart TV updates or social media scrolling on other devices. You can find this setting in your router’s admin panel, and most modern routers have a dedicated “gaming priority” toggle that makes this even easier.
- Flush your DNS cache: Corrupted DNS records can force your Riot Client to connect to slow, faraway download servers instead of the closest, fastest one available in your region. Flushing your cache takes 30 seconds, and will force your client to re-scan for the best possible server for your update.
If you can’t use a wired connection, switch to the 5GHz Wi-Fi band instead of the more common 2.4GHz band. The 5GHz band is faster over short distances, and has far less interference from other devices, which can give you a 20-50% speed boost for your update. You should also avoid using VPNs during updates, unless you’re sure your VPN server is located very close to Riot’s download servers for your region. Most free VPNs will slow down your download speed by 50% or more because of the extra routing step, and some even throttle download speeds intentionally for free users.
Common Fixes for Persistently Slow Valorant Updates
If you’ve tried all the steps above and your Valorant update is still moving at a crawl, these less common fixes will solve almost all remaining slow update issues. The first thing to try is clearing your Riot Client cache, as old corrupted cached files can cause download conflicts that slow down updates even when your internet speed is fine.
Clear your Riot Client cache by fully closing the client (make sure it’s not running in the system tray), navigating to your Riot Games install folder (usually in Program Files on Windows), opening the Valorant folder, and deleting the “Downloads” and “Temp” folders inside. When you restart the client, it will automatically re-scan for the update and start downloading at full speed without the conflicting cached files.
Another common issue is insufficient hard drive space. If you have less than 10GB of free space on the drive where Valorant is installed, your PC can’t unpack and install the update files properly, which makes the update drag on for ages even after the download is complete. Delete any unused games, old files, or apps to free up space, and you’ll see both download and install times improve dramatically.
If you’re still using an HDD to store Valorant, upgrading to an SSD is one of the best long-term investments you can make for faster updates and better game performance overall. SSDs are up to 10x faster than HDDs for reading and writing files, so they cut update install times by 70% or more, and make the game load far faster when you’re jumping into a match. You should also avoid downloading any third-party “Valorant speed booster” apps, as most of these are either useless, contain malware, or modify Riot Client files in ways that can get your account permanently banned.
Slow Valorant updates don’t have to be a regular part of your gaming routine, and most of the fixes take just a few minutes to implement without any paid tools or advanced tech skills. Next time you’re stuck staring at a crawling progress bar when you want to play, run through the steps we covered in this guide, and you’ll be queued up for your next match in a fraction of the usual time. Learning how to make Valorant update faster will save you hours of waiting over the course of a year, so you can spend more time playing and less time staring at loading screens.
