The following guide has been created to give you a full understanding of FPS in Dota 2. We will answer four important questions; what a good FPS is, how high it can go in the game, how to check it and how to increase it. We hope you enjoy!
What is a Good FPS for Dota 2?
Generally speaking most people would argue that anything above 40 FPS is good in Dota 2. However, what is considered good is a subjective thing and it all depends on your particular needs. To give you a better idea of what different FPS values will give you in Dota 2, check below.
- 0 – 20 FPS: Stick to Microsoft’s Minesweeper. Dota 2 will be unplayable with all the lag.
- 20 – 30 FPS: Might be enough to enjoy the game casually, though it will be a bit choppy.
- 30 – 40 FPS: Acceptable values and a high enough FPS to have a good time.
- 40 – 60 FPS: This will give you a smooth experience without any lag whatsoever.
- 60 – 100 FPS: Professional level where you get a small advantage over those who have lower FPS.
- 100+ FPS: The movement of objects and the game in its entirety will look smoother, but unless you can react incredibly fast you will not gain any further advantage over your opponents.
As you may or may not already know, you need a monitor with high HZ to take advantage of high FPS in Dota 2. For instance, a 60 HZ monitor cannot make use of 100 FPS.
How High Can the FPS Go in Dota 2?
You can set it to as high as you like. However, if you’re changing it in the game by going to video settings you will find that the maximum value is 240. This can easily be bypassed though by adding a simple extension to the launch options in Steam. Here’s a step-by-step guide to how you do it:
- Launch Steam and head over to library
- Right click on Dota 2 and select properties
- Click the button that says set launch options
- Now enter the following: +fps_max #
# = the maximum FPS you would like. For instance, +fps_max 400 would give the game a maximum FPS of 400.
How to Check the FPS in Dota 2
There are two quick ways to display the FPS in Dota 2. You can either do it from the general options in the game or by adding an extension to the launch options in Steam.
If you’re doing it in game, go to settings then options then advanced options and then click the box that says display network information. This will show you your FPS as well as ping once you’re in a game.
Displaying the FPS through the launch options of steam you need to add the following extension to Dota 2: +cl_showfps 1. This is done by right clicking on Dota 2 in your Steam library and then selecting properties followed by set launch options.
Note that it is possible to have your FPS displayed with both of these settings simultaneously activated as the FPS will appear on different sides of your screen. However, there is probably little reason for it.
Increasing Your FPS in Dota 2
Unless you’re open to the option of upgrading your computer hardware, which is the obvious way of increasing FPS in any game, there are two alternatives that you can use to possibly boost your FPS in Dota 2.
You can close down programs running in the background and change program priority in the windows task manager, and you can change your graphic settings in the game.
Let’s start with the most efficient alternative that everyone can benefit from.
Changing Graphics in Dota 2 to Boost FPS
The simple answer to how the FPS in Dota 2 can be increased through the in-game video options is turning all of your graphic settings to low. The lower the graphics, the higher the FPS will be.
A more tailor-made answer is, however, to only change specific settings to get the FPS that you’re looking for while also maintaining a good looking game as lowering everything can make it very ugly.
To give you an idea of which settings you should change and not change we have listed several graphic options below and explained how these impact your FPS and the game experience.
| GRAPHICAL SETTING | EFFECT ON FPS (%) | CHANGES IN GRAPHICS | IMPACT ON GAME EXPERIENCE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anti-Aliasing | 10 – 13 | Things look a bit more pixelated if turned off | Medium |
| Specular and Light Blooms | 10 | Objects look a bit brighter and shinier when turned on | Small |
| High Quality Water | 15* | Water looks brighter and more detailed when turned on | Small |
| Atmospheric Fog | 6 – 8 | Areas where you don’t have vision look a tiny bit better if turned on | Very Small |
| Animate Portrait | 5 | This makes the portrait of your hero animated as opposed to a static image | Very Small |
| Additive Light Pass | 10 | Heroes and creeps look much brighter and highlighted when turned on | Medium |
| World Lighting | 5 – 15 | Some objects will light up a tiny bit when turned on | Very Small |
| Ambient Occlusion | 12 – 15 | Shadows are darker and buildings in shade are more realistic when turned on | Small |
| Ambient Creatures | 5 | This adds a few critters when turned on such as butterflies, birds and squirrels making the game feel more alive | Very Small |
| Game Screen Render Quality | Up to 50** | The lower the setting the more blurry the game will look. At 40% or lower it’s a big difference and at 70% or higher a small one. | Very small – Big |
| Shadow Quality | 15 – 20 | If set to low no shadows are shown, making the game look blend | Big |
| Texture Quality | 8 – 12 | Things look a lot sharper and less pixelated when set on high | Medium |
* Note that the FPS increase or decrease from High Water Quality is only noticeable when you’re actually viewing the water.
** Game Screen Render Quality is a slider with a value from 1% – 100%. Changes in FPS depend on the setting that you choose.
If you ask us how FPS is best increased in Dota 2…
Then we would say turning off Atmospheric Fog, World Lightning, Animate Portrait and Ambient Creatures is the way to go as these have the least impact on visuals. If this is not enough to achieve the FPS that you’re looking for, turn off Specular and Light Blooms as well and High Quality Water.
If you’re still not happy with the FPS that you’re getting, change Shadow Quality to medium (refrain from setting it to low unless you absolutely have to) and Game Screen Render Quality to 80% (lower value than this and the game will become noticeably blurry).
Using the Windows Task Manager to Boost FPS
To boost your FPS with the windows task manager you first of all want to set Dota 2 to a high priority so that most process power is used for the game and less for other programs. Here’s a quick guide to how you do it:
- First of all launch Dota 2
- Open up the task manager by pressing [ctrl] + [alt] + [delete]
- Navigate to the tab that says process
- Right click on Dota 2, select set priority and choose high
As an alternative or complement to the above, you can also use the task manager to shut down programs that you aren’t using, which are utilizing CPU and RAM power. To do this, simply right click on the program and choose the option that says end task.
Do note that both of these changes are redundant unless your computer is not already running at maximum CPU and RAM utilization. If it isn’t, there is nothing to gain from closing down programs or changing priority for Dota 2. Your computer is already doing what it can to give you the best gaming experience.
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