If the server rewinds too far in the attacker’s favor, the target gets hit even after they’ve already taken cover.
Why The server rewinds a long way to check hits for a high-ping attacker → Effect On the target’s screen, they were already behind cover → On screen “I got shot behind a wall,” high-ping players have the advantage
Cap the rewind (e.g., 200–250 ms), for attackers with higher ping rewind only up to the cap and let them lead their shots for the rest.
On the graph
Outliers only · Rewind time per hit (by attacker ping)
Where to look
Server hit log with the rewind time for each hit, attacker RTT, and the server time the target entered cover. In a development build, draw the rewound hitboxes on screen (sv_showlagcompensation in the Source engine)
Confirmed if
Hits in “I got shot behind a wall” reports come mostly from attackers with long rewind times, and rewind time grows with attacker ping with no cap
Ruled out if
Behind-the-wall hits also show up on hits with short rewind times: hitbox or collision check problem. If the target has high ping, their own movement reached the server late
Check with
Game server or client logs and metrics
Learn more
Rewound hit checks follow “favor the shooter.” A “favor the target” exception has also been proposed: skip the rewind if the target had already reached safety on their own screen.
Sources
Peeking into VALORANT's NetcodeRiot Games Without a rewind cap, a player with 500 ms latency could land hits 0.5 s after the target took cover, so a cap is set
Source SDK 2013: player_lagcompensation.cppValve Source engine rewind cap sv_maxunlag defaults to 1 second (maximum 1 second); sv_showlagcompensation draws the rewound hitboxes on screen