Branch mispredictions on modern pipelined CPUs cost 15 to 20 clock cycles. Branchless code uses arithmetic bitwise operations or ternary expressions that compile to CMOV instructions instead of jmp/je branches.

For example: int maxVal = (a > b) ? a : b; compiles to a single cmp followed by cmovg on x86_64, eliminating branch misprediction penalties completely.

Branchless algorithms on sorted data or random game entity flags boost throughput tremendously in tight loops.