Diagnose & fix
Marvel Rivals FPS boost: UE5 settings and DLSS/FSR guide
Reviewed July 2026
Enable DLSS Quality (RTX) or FSR Quality (other GPUs) first. Drop Lumen Global Illumination to the lowest your GPU can handle — the most expensive setting. Control VRAM with textures. Frame Generation adds latency in competitive — evaluate carefully. Neon optimizes Windows only and does not touch Marvel Rivals files.
Step by step
01 Marvel Rivals and Unreal Engine 5: why it's so demanding
Marvel Rivals runs on Unreal Engine 5 with Lumen (dynamic global illumination) and Nanite (virtualized geometry) active by default. Lumen recalculates light bounce in real time, which is computationally very expensive. Nanite handles very high-density polygon counts. In a 12-player hero shooter with multiple characters' ability effects active simultaneously, the result is considerable GPU load. It is more demanding than same-genre Unreal Engine 4 shooters.
02 DLSS, FSR and XeSS: start here
Marvel Rivals supports DLSS (NVIDIA RTX), FSR (AMD and compatible with other GPUs), and XeSS (Intel). If you have an RTX GPU, use DLSS Quality — it gives the best image reconstruction in motion for an action-heavy hero shooter. If you do not have RTX, FSR Quality or Balanced works well on almost any modern GPU. Enabling one of these scalers before lowering any other graphics setting is most efficient — you get real FPS gains with minimal quality loss at the Quality preset.
03 Frame Generation: the honest trade-off
DLSS 3 Frame Gen and FSR 3 Frame Gen are available in Marvel Rivals and can visually multiply the perceived FPS. The problem: generated frames do not respond to your controls, so they add input latency. In a competitive hero shooter where reacting fast matters, this can feel like a real delay. The honest recommendation: test it at a solid base FPS (above 60 real FPS), and if aiming feels like it lags behind, turn it off. It works better in casual play or single-player games. For Marvel Rivals competitive mode, consider it carefully before enabling.
04 VRAM: the real limit by your GPU
Marvel Rivals on High or Epic textures can use 8 GB of VRAM or more. If you have 4 GB of VRAM, high textures will cause stutters because the game pages textures between VRAM and system RAM. The graphics menu shows estimated VRAM usage — keep that number below 80-90% of your total VRAM. Drop texture quality to Medium or Low if you are near the limit. With 8 GB or more you can use High textures without concern.
05 Global Illumination (Lumen): the highest GPU-cost setting
Lumen Global Illumination is the highest GPU-cost setting in Marvel Rivals. Dropping it from Epic to Medium or Low reduces the light bounce calculation dramatically. Disabled switches to pre-baked lighting that looks different but runs significantly better on low- and mid-range GPUs. It is a noticeable visual change — shadows and ambient lighting look different — but the FPS gain is real and can be the difference between playable and unplayable on modest hardware.
06 Shadows: the second most expensive setting
Shadow quality in UE5 has multiple layers: contact shadows, virtual shadow maps and general shadow quality. Dropping shadow quality to Medium or Low reduces the shadow cascade calculation work. Contact Shadows at Low or disabled also helps. Unlike older engines, UE5 shadows are more complex and lowering them has a larger impact than in older engines.
07 Post-processing: bloom, depth of field and aberration
Post-processing effects in Marvel Rivals include Bloom (light glow), Depth of Field, Motion Blur and Chromatic Aberration. In a competitive shooter, all of these are purely aesthetic. Drop Post Process Quality to Low or disable each individually. Motion Blur in particular can make it harder to see fast-moving targets and has GPU cost — always turn it off in competitive games.
08 Anti-aliasing: TSR vs DLSS vs FSR
When you use DLSS or FSR as a scaler, anti-aliasing is handled by the scaler. Without a scaler, UE5 offers TSR (Temporal Super Resolution) as an AA option. TSR at Medium or High quality gives a clean image but has a GPU cost. TAA is lighter. At 1440p or 4K where there are enough base pixels, moderate temporal anti-aliasing or FXAA can be enough.
09 Effects and particles in teamfights
Effects quality controls ability particles per hero. With 12 players active in teamfights, particle accumulation can be the FPS-limiting factor on lower-end GPUs. Dropping Effects Quality to Medium or Low reduces this load spike. Foliage density and vegetation quality settings also affect the environment — lower these to minimum on maps with heavy environmental detail if you need FPS.
10 Display mode and frame limiter
Marvel Rivals should run in exclusive fullscreen for the lowest input lag. Borderless adds Windows compositor overhead. For the FPS limiter: cap at double your refresh rate (without VRR) or exactly at your refresh rate (with VRR active) to stabilize frame times. Running uncapped makes the GPU work at full power all the time, which can cause thermal throttling that drops FPS mid-match.
11 How Neon helps on the Windows side
Neon does not touch Marvel Rivals files or inject anything into the game process. It works on the Windows side: manages background services and processes competing for CPU and GPU resources that Marvel Rivals needs, verifies the power plan is correct, detects if XMP/EXPO is off (RAM bandwidth matters in UE5 games with heavy streaming), and if Resizable BAR is available but not enabled. Every change is logged and reversible.
Highest-impact settings in Marvel Rivals
| Setting | Recommended | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| DLSS / FSR / XeSS | Quality | High FPS |
| Global Illumination (Lumen) | Low/Disabled | Very high GPU |
| Shadow Quality | Medium/Low | High GPU |
| Texture Quality | Per VRAM | VRAM |
| Post Process Quality | Low | Medium GPU |
| Motion Blur | Off | GPU + visibility |
Common questions
- Should I use DLSS or FSR in Marvel Rivals?
- If you have an NVIDIA RTX card, use DLSS Quality first — it gives the best image reconstruction in motion. If you have an AMD or older GPU, FSR Quality or Balanced works well and supports nearly any GPU. Both are real tools with genuine FPS improvements; start on the Quality preset to keep the image close to native resolution.
- Should I enable Frame Generation in Marvel Rivals?
- Frame Generation in Marvel Rivals (available via DLSS 3 and FSR 3) inserts generated frames between real frames to make motion feel smoother. It adds input latency because the generated frames do not respond to your controls. In a competitive hero shooter where reaction time matters, Frame Generation can feel unresponsive. Test it at a solid base FPS above 60 before deciding. If you play more casually, the smoothness improvement may outweigh the latency cost.
- Why does Marvel Rivals drop FPS so much in team fights?
- Marvel Rivals runs on Unreal Engine 5 with Lumen global illumination and Nanite geometry by default. These are computationally expensive. In team fights with 12 players and their ability effects active simultaneously, the GPU and CPU face a combined load spike. Reducing Shadow Quality, disabling or downgrading Global Illumination, and lowering Post Process Quality are the most effective steps.
- How much VRAM does Marvel Rivals need?
- Marvel Rivals on High or Epic textures can use 8 GB of VRAM or more. On a GPU with 4-6 GB of VRAM, running High textures will cause the game to page textures to system RAM, producing stutters. Drop Texture Quality to Medium or Low to stay within your VRAM budget. The game shows VRAM usage in the graphics menu — keep it below 80-90% of your card's total to avoid streaming stutters.
Where Neon helps
Neon works on the Windows side and never touches Marvel Rivals files or process.
- Manages background processes competing for CPU and GPU — especially relevant in UE5 where both resources face simultaneous pressure.
- Detects if XMP/EXPO is off and if Resizable BAR is available but not enabled — two improvements with direct impact on UE5 games.
- Verifies the power plan and logs every change reversibly. No invented FPS numbers.
Unsure between DLSS and FSR? Read the honest comparison of FSR vs DLSS. Play other UE5 shooters? See Arc Raiders FPS boost and Warzone FPS boost. Also Apex Legends FPS boost for another hero shooter.