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Start with native output resolution, Shadow quality: Low, Fog quality: Low, Screen space AO: Off, and Texture quality: Medium. Leave upscaling at 1x while you test those targeted changes; only compare an available 1.5x mode if busy fights still miss your frame-time goal. This profile protects distant-target readability better than immediately shrinking the whole image, but it is a starting point rather than a guaranteed FPS increase.
The recommendations below are based on Valve’s setting descriptions and current Deadlock guides, not a controlled benchmark. Your result depends on the scene, hardware, renderer, frame cap and sync settings, so measure every change in a repeatable team-fight workload.
Recommended starting profile
Apply the following values first, then test before making further cuts. “Native” means the monitor’s selected desktop or panel resolution, not a lower internal render size.
| Setting | Starting value | Why start here | When to change it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Output resolution | Display-native resolution | Keeps distant geometry and enemy silhouettes readable. | Change only after targeted quality cuts fail to meet your frame-time target. |
| Refresh rate | Highest usable rate supported by the display | Provides the display’s available scan-out speed. | Lower it only for stability, power or compatibility; a monitor does not create rendered FPS. |
| Shadow quality | Low | Reduces shadow rendering quality, usually with a smaller visibility cost than reducing the whole image. | Return to Medium if shadow detail is important and you have headroom. |
| Fog quality | Low | Reduces volumetric-fog resolution. | Raise it if fog artifacts interfere with your visual preference and performance allows. |
| Screen space AO | Off | Removes soft contact-shadow shading for a leaner image. | Enable it only if the depth cue is worth the measured cost. |
| Texture quality | Medium | Preserves surface detail while avoiding an immediate video-memory reduction. | Try Low on a video-memory-constrained system after other tests. |
| Upscaling | 1x | Maintains full-resolution detail while you isolate cheaper settings. | Compare an exposed 1.5x mode if the GPU remains the limiting workload. |
| Bloom and Area lights | Optional reductions | Lower-priority visual cuts; the cited guide describes their costs as small. | Restore either effect if the visual trade-off is not worthwhile. |
| Depth of field | Personal preference | The current tooltip is described as having negligible cost and no gameplay-performance effect. | Disable it for a sharper presentation, not as an FPS fix. |
| NVIDIA Reflex | Enabled when available | A latency choice rather than an image-quality preset. | Test with your cap and synchronization setup. |
| VSync | Off if you accept tearing | Avoids the synchronization behavior that can add latency for some players. | Use a tear-free G-Sync/V-Sync route if that is your priority. |
These values follow the practical profile in Hone’s October 1, 2026 settings guide. Its author says the choices were derived from Valve’s English setting definitions and tooltips extracted by GameTracking on September 30, after the City Never Sleeps update, and explicitly notes that the profile was not benchmarked on a PC.
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Why native resolution should be your first move
Lowering output or render resolution reduces the number of pixels the GPU must shade, but pixel count alone does not tell you how much FPS will improve. Deadlock can be limited by CPU simulation, game-thread work, effects, memory bandwidth or a frame cap. If one of those is the bottleneck, making the image smaller may produce little change while making distant targets harder to read.
Keep the display output at its native resolution while you make targeted cuts to shadows, fog and ambient occlusion. This preserves the edge clarity that matters when identifying heroes, silhouettes and ability effects at range. If you eventually use upscaling, judge the resulting image in the same fight where you measured performance; a quiet lane or menu can hide the detail loss that becomes obvious during a crowded push.
How to apply the profile in Deadlock
- Open Deadlock’s video or graphics settings from the game menu.
- Set the output resolution to the panel’s native resolution and choose the display’s highest usable refresh rate.
- Set Shadow quality and Fog quality to Low.
- Switch Screen space AO to Off.
- Leave Texture quality at Medium.
- Set Upscaling to 1x. Do not change the renderer, frame cap or synchronization options during this first pass.
- Choose Bloom and Area lights according to preference; leave Depth of field at whichever value you prefer.
- Enable HUD Telemetry and configure it to show frame time and FPS always.
- Load a repeatable, warmed-up section with the type of busy fight that normally causes slowdowns. Record the result before changing another option.
Deadlock’s September 29, 2026 City Never Sleeps update added shareable settings codes and an instant video-settings preview. Use a code to apply a profile quickly, or use the preview to inspect a change before entering a match. Those features improve setup speed; they do not prove that any imported code is the best-performing configuration for your hardware.
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Which setting to lower next
Shadow quality
Shadows are a sensible first reduction because Low lowers their rendering quality without shrinking every object and texture. Watch the same fight for lost grounding cues or distracting shadow changes. If you can no longer read terrain or character placement comfortably, restore Medium and test a different setting.
Fog quality
Fog quality controls volumetric-fog resolution. Low can reduce the cost of fog-heavy scenes while leaving the game’s output resolution intact. Compare an area with the same fog density rather than judging from a clear room.
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Screen space AO
Turning Screen space AO Off removes soft contact shadows where objects meet surfaces. The image may look flatter, but silhouettes and textures remain at the same output resolution. Re-enable it only if the depth cue is valuable and your repeated test shows enough headroom.
Texture quality
Texture resolution consumes video memory. Medium is therefore a compromise, not a promise that every GPU will be comfortable. On a constrained system, Low may prevent memory pressure or streaming problems, but lowering textures is not an automatic FPS win. If frame time barely changes and the image is already soft, return to Medium.
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Bloom and Area lights
These are optional, lower-priority cuts. The cited guide characterizes their costs as small, so they should follow the targeted changes above. Disable one at a time and keep it disabled only if the visual reduction is acceptable.
Depth of field
The current tooltip is described as negligible cost with no gameplay-performance effect. Choose it for presentation or clarity, not as a performance lever.
Understanding Deadlock upscaling
Upscaling renders internally at a lower resolution and reconstructs the image for your selected output. It can reduce GPU work, but it trades away fine detail and may make distant targets or thin effects less distinct. Start at 1x so that you know what the native image looks like, then compare only modes exposed by your system.
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The 1.5x and 2x labels in the cited guide are expressed as output-to-input scaling examples. For a 1920 × 1080 output, its geometry calculations are:
| Guide notation | Ideal internal size at 1080p output | Internal pixels as a share of 1920 × 1080 | What the number means |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.5x | 1280 × 720 | 44.44% | A lower internal image reconstructed to 1080p; this is a pixel calculation, not an observed FPS result. |
| 2x | 960 × 540 | 25% | An even lower internal image with a larger clarity trade-off; again, no FPS increase is established. |
Actual internal dimensions can be rounded by the game or upscaler. NVIDIA DLSS requires a GeForce RTX GPU according to the cited guide, and you should use only modes that Deadlock actually exposes on your system. If 1.5x makes the image blurry without solving the measured frame-time problem, return to 1x and restore detail instead of spending more clarity for no verified benefit.
How to test changes so the result is meaningful
Use a controlled comparison rather than a single FPS number from an unpredictable match.
- Warm up the game by entering the same replay section, practice area or repeatable route. Include the team-fight workload that causes the slowdown.
- Keep the hero, camera path, output resolution, renderer, frame cap and sync state identical for every run.
- Enable HUD Telemetry so frame time and FPS remain visible.
- Record a baseline run, then change exactly one setting.
- Repeat the same route and compare both the average feel and the worst recent frame time.
- Check readability of distant targets, particle-heavy effects and terrain contact shadows before keeping the change.
Valve’s tooltip, as reported by Hone, defines frame time as the worst recent frame time and FPS as a current average. These readings are not an exported 1% low, so use them as repeatable in-game indicators rather than laboratory statistics. A binding frame cap can also mask differences: if the cap is holding every run to the same ceiling, a setting may be reducing headroom without changing the displayed average.
Diagnosing a small or nonexistent FPS change
Check whether the cap is binding
Temporarily compare the workload under the same cap and then, if safe for your testing, under an uncapped or higher cap. If the result changes only when the cap is removed, the cap—not the graphics option—was limiting the reported FPS. Choose a sustainable cap afterward rather than leaving the game uncapped by default.
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Do not assume a resolution change proves a CPU limit
If 1x and a lower internal scale perform similarly, that observation alone does not identify the bottleneck. Recheck that the cap, renderer, scene and sync state were identical, then compare a targeted effect setting such as shadows or fog. A CPU, memory or synchronization limit can all flatten the response to a resolution change.
Use the workload that actually stutters
A quiet menu is a poor test for team-fight stutter. Repeat the crowded fight, effect burst or fog-heavy area where the problem occurs. If the stutter appears only there, keep the test focused on that workload and avoid optimizing for an unrelated scene.
Frame caps, Reflex, VSync and tearing
There is no universal Deadlock frame cap or universal DX11-versus-Vulkan winner established by the cited material. Pick a cap that your system can sustain in the heaviest repeatable fight and that suits your display’s refresh rate. A stable lower cap can feel better than a fluctuating number that repeatedly hits a CPU or GPU limit.
NVIDIA Reflex, when available, is primarily a latency setting. The practical guide recommends Enabled, but the useful result depends on your cap and synchronization choices. VSync Off is appropriate if you accept tearing. Players with active NVIDIA G-Sync who want tear-free presentation can follow a separate G-Sync/V-Sync/Reflex route, then verify effective FPS instead of copying a universal cap. Keep these variables fixed while testing image-quality settings; changing them at the same time makes the comparison uninterpretable.
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GPU-limited during effects or fights
Keep native output resolution, lower shadows and fog, turn Screen space AO Off, and test an exposed 1.5x upscaler only after those changes. Lower Bloom or Area lights if their visual cost is acceptable. Texture quality should move to Low only when video-memory pressure is a plausible issue or Medium still fails after measurement.
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Targets are hard to read at distance
Return to native output and 1x upscaling first. Restore Texture quality or Shadow quality if those reductions removed useful shape or grounding cues. Avoid lowering the entire image merely because a menu preset offers it.
Team fights stutter but average FPS looks acceptable
Use worst recent frame time in the same warmed-up fight, not just the headline average. Keep the frame cap and sync state unchanged, then test shadows, fog and ambient occlusion one at a time. If none changes the repeatable spike, the cause may be outside these graphics toggles; the available guides do not provide a universal fix or a measured hardware diagnosis.
The image is blurry after tuning
Move up from 2x to 1.5x or back to 1x, then restore the last detail setting you lowered. A performance change that cannot be seen in the relevant fight is not useful if it costs target readability.
Settings codes and preview tools
The City Never Sleeps update’s shareable settings codes let you copy a configuration without manually entering every value. The instant video-settings preview lets you inspect visual changes immediately. Treat both as convenience features: import a code, verify every option against your own profile, and run the same telemetry comparison. A code does not carry a guarantee about your GPU, display, renderer or preferred latency behavior.
Should you use a config file instead of the menu?
Use the in-game menu as the first step. The material reviewed here supports menu settings, telemetry and the new code/preview workflow; it does not establish a particular config-file command, hidden launch option or universal competitive configuration. A file edit that changes several variables at once also makes it harder to identify which change helped. If you do use an external configuration later, document the original values and change one variable per test so you can recover a readable baseline.
What current guides and Valve updates actually establish
The Hone guide was published October 1, 2026 and explicitly presents its profile as tooltip-supported guidance rather than PC benchmarking. The Deadlock Handbook page, updated October 6, 2026 and checked against the October 5 patch, likewise describes its hardware presets as starting points rather than benchmarks. It recommends retaining native resolution, trying Quality upscaling when GPU-limited, and reducing shadows and particles for busy fights. That page also says Valve has not published official system requirements; this is a statement from the third-party guide, not an independently verified Valve requirements page.
Valve’s September 29 City Never Sleeps page is the primary source for settings codes and the instant preview. A January 30, 2026 Valve developer update records patch history but does not establish a current best-settings profile or benchmark. No named Deadlock FPS benchmark or measured universal percentage increase is provided by these sources, so any profile promising a fixed number of extra frames would overstate the evidence.
Quick Recap
Practical checklist
- Native output resolution and the display’s highest usable refresh rate selected.
- Shadow quality Low and Fog quality Low tested in the real problem scene.
- Screen space AO Off compared against On for both frame time and depth cues.
- Texture quality left at Medium unless video-memory constraints justify Low.
- Upscaling held at 1x until targeted cuts are measured; 1.5x tested only if needed.
- HUD Telemetry showing FPS and frame time, with the same warmed-up route each run.
- Hero, camera, renderer, frame cap and sync state unchanged between comparisons.
- Reflex, VSync and any G-Sync route selected for your latency and tearing preference, not as a promised FPS boost.
- Imported settings codes checked manually and validated in your own fight workload.
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