Marvel Rivals FPS Drops: How to Find the Cause and Fix It

Run the game's own Performance Test first

Since the May 30, 2025 update the PC version has a Performance Test, which the patch notes say you reach through Display in Settings. It runs a stress test on your GPU, CPU and other hardware to identify performance bottlenecks. The August 8, 2025 update added graphics settings recommendations based on the test results.

Start here because it answers the question that decides everything else: is your frame rate limited by the graphics card, the processor, or something else? If the test says the GPU is the bottleneck, the settings and upscaling sections below will help most. If it points at the CPU, lowering resolution or upscaling does less, and background programs and the frame cap matter more. Take its recommendations as a starting point, play a few matches, and adjust from there.

It's also worth comparing your system to the published specs. The minimum on the Steam store page and NetEase's FAQ is Windows 10 64-bit (1909 or newer), an Intel Core i5-6600K or AMD Ryzen 5 1600X, 16 GB of RAM and an NVIDIA GTX 1060, AMD RX 580 or Intel Arc A380. The recommended tier is an Intel Core i5-10400 or AMD Ryzen 5 5600X with an RTX 2060 (Super), RX 5700-XT or Arc A750. Both tiers recommend an SSD. Near the minimum, frame drops in busy fights are expected, and lower settings are the main remedy.

Stutter versus low FPS: shader preloading

Two different problems get called FPS drops. One is a frame rate that stays low all the time. The other is stutter: brief hitches while the average still looks fine. On PC, a common cause of the second is shaders compiling, and the patch history explains how the game handles that.

With the August 8, 2025 update NetEase removed the mandatory wait for shader compilation on first launch. Essential global shaders now preload in the background after an install or update. The patch notes add a warning worth taking seriously: preload speed depends on your GPU, and entering a match before preloading completes may cause stuttering, network lag, rendering errors or crashes. The August 21, 2025 update made preloading faster on multi-threaded CPUs and added automatic re-preloading when your local GPU shader cache becomes invalid. In practice, after a patch or a driver update, give the game some time at the main menu before your first match.

There is also an experimental launcher option from the April 11, 2025 update, Switch Shader Compilation Mode. With it on, shaders compile only on the first launch after a new game version or graphics driver update, which NetEase says can significantly reduce memory usage and in-game stuttering, especially on systems with 16 GB of RAM or less. The same notes warn that CPUs with fewer threads using AMD FSR 3 frame generation may see occasional extra stutters with it on.

Cap your frame rate, especially on a laptop

Since the August 21, 2025 update the FPS cap accepts custom values, so you are no longer limited to preset steps. NetEase's laptop guide gives the menu path: Menu, then Options, then Display Settings, then Frame Rate Limit. Its reasoning is about heat: playing with an unlocked frame rate for long stretches can overheat a laptop, and the resulting thermal throttling of the CPU and GPU reduces performance.

The same logic is a reasonable approach on a desktop. A cap set a little below what your machine holds in heavy fights gives a steadier experience than a high average that swings, and it lowers heat and power draw. If you use frame generation (next section), DLSS 4.5's Auto mode does a version of this for you by targeting your monitor's refresh rate.

The rest of NetEase's laptop advice: enable discrete-graphics direct mode if your laptop supports it, switch on the manufacturer's Game or Performance mode, keep the vents unobstructed, and consider a cooling pad or external fan. The exact steps depend on the laptop maker, and the guide says to check their instructions.

Upscaling and frame generation: what the game supports

Upscalers render the game at a lower internal resolution and rebuild a sharper image, which usually costs less GPU time than rendering natively. Frame generation inserts generated frames between rendered ones. The patch history shows which versions the game supports and when they arrived.

Intel: XeSS 2 with Xe Frame Generation and Xe Low Latency arrived on January 10, 2025. On September 11, 2026, XeSS 3 Frame Generation was added; on compatible Intel graphics cards it can insert up to three generated frames between two rendered frames, alongside Xe Low Latency (XeLL) to reduce input lag.

NVIDIA: DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation for GeForce RTX 50 Series cards arrived on February 21, 2025, generating up to three additional frames per rendered frame. On June 12, 2026, DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution went live with two model presets: Performance mode uses the older CNN model to raise frame rates, and Quality mode uses the second-generation transformer model for finer detail and fewer artifacts. The same patch allowed up to 6x Multi Frame Generation on RTX 50 cards. On June 25, 2026, DLSS 4.5 Frame Generation gained an Auto mode that adjusts the frame generation target to your monitor's refresh rate.

AMD: the February 21, 2025 patch fixed FSR 3 Frame Generation frame pacing, and on April 11, 2025 AMD FSR 4 was added for Radeon RX 9000 series cards only.

Frame generation raises the displayed frame rate, but it does not add rendered frames, so it is not a cure for a CPU bottleneck. If the Performance Test points at your processor, the frame cap and background programs are the better levers.

Which graphics settings exist to turn down

Rather than guessing at setting names, here are the ones the patch notes document. The January 10, 2025 update added an Off option for Anti-Aliasing, Global Illumination and Reflection Quality, and a Performance option for Model Detail. The August 8, 2025 update tied in-game UI animation detail to your Effects Detail setting, so lowering effects also simplifies UI animation. The Performance Test's recommendations, added in the same update, are the quickest way to decide which of these to lower on your machine.

Change one setting at a time and play a full match before judging it, because heavy effects show up most in six-versus-six fights, not on an empty map. If you are short on storage or bandwidth rather than frames, the May 7, 2026 High/Low-Resolution Resource Pack feature lets Steam players untick the HD texture DLC (right-click the game, Properties, DLC tab) to use the smaller low-resolution pack. NetEase says this reduces install size and may reduce visual fidelity; it does not describe a frame rate effect, so don't treat it as an FPS setting.

Drivers and Windows graphics preference

NetEase's Common Technical Issues FAQ has a direct answer for frequent stuttering on hardware that meets the requirements, and it has two steps.

Step one: reinstall the latest driver for your graphics card, using the clean installation mode. NetEase's launch-period FAQ names the options: clean installation for NVIDIA and factory reset for AMD. Download from the vendor (links below) and restart afterwards.

Step two: set the game to high performance in Windows. Go to Windows Settings, then System, then Display, then Graphics. Under the custom options for applications, click Add Application, then Browse, find Marvel.exe in your game folder, add it, and select the high-performance option. On a laptop with both integrated and dedicated graphics, this keeps the game on the dedicated GPU.

If drops began right after a driver update, try rolling back to the previous version you know worked. That is a general troubleshooting step rather than something in NetEase's guides. Also close programs you don't need while you play, particularly anything recording, streaming or downloading, since they compete for the same hardware.

Drops that only happen in certain fights

Some FPS drops are bugs, not settings, and the developers patch them. A documented example is the December 18, 2025 fix for Blade: using the Blade of Khonshu - Eclipse Edge Team-Up ability could cause extended frame rate drops until that patch. If your drops always follow one hero, ability or map, and nothing above changes them, check the latest patch notes, which we summarize at marvel rivals patch notes, before tearing your settings apart.

Separate the symptom from network lag too. If the picture stays smooth but enemies teleport and your shots land late, that is a connection problem, covered at marvel rivals lag spikes fix. If the game closes or freezes rather than slowing down, go to fix marvel rivals random crashes, which also covers NetEase's shader-cache reset for NVIDIA cards. More fixes are collected on the guides hub.