We all know the value of high FPS with Best looking Graphics, especially for a game like Dota 2. In this guide, I will go over the best settings that can balance FPS with great visual quality. This will enable you to enjoy the game at good frame rates. And if you have cosmetics, or want to be in a great graphical environment, these settings will enable you to do so.
I would recommend that you check the minimum system specs for the game itself. I will list that below. Also, cross-reference with the Specs I used to test the game to get a better idea about how it will run for your system. Without taking any more time, let’s take a look…
Best PC Graphics Settings for Dota 2 (FPS Boost)
| RESOLUTION | Use My Monitor’s Current Resolution |
| OPTIONS | Direct3D 11 (-dx11), recommended |
| RENDERING | Use Advanced Settings |
| Animate Portrait | On |
| Additive Light Pass | On |
| World Lighting | On |
| Ambient Occlusion | Off |
| Normal Maps | Off |
| Ambient Creatures | Off |
| Ambient Cloth Simulation | Off |
| Grass | Off |
| Anti-Aliasing | Off |
| Specular | Off |
| Specular and Light Blooms | Off |
| High-Quality Water | Off |
| Atmospheric Fog/ Caustics | Off |
| High-Quality Dashboard | On |
| Vsync | Off |
| Tree Wind | Off |
| Compute Shaders | Off |
| Texture Quality | High |
| Effects Quality | High |
| Shadow Quality | Low |
| Game Screen Render Quality | 100% |
| Maximum Frames Per Second Allowed | 145 (For 144Hz Monitors) |
System Requirements for Dota 2
MINIMUM (WINDOWS)
- OS: Windows 7 or newer
- Processor: Dual-core from Intel or AMD at 2.8 GHz
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: nVidia GeForce 8600/9600GT, ATI/AMD Radeon HD2600/3600
- DirectX: Version 9.0c
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 15 GB available space
- Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
MINIMUM (Mac OS X)
- OS: OS X Mavericks 10.9 or newer
- Processor: Dual-core from Intel
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: Nvidia 320M or higher, or Radeon HD 2400 or higher, or Intel HD 3000 or higher
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 15 GB available space
MINIMUM (Steam OS+Linux)
- OS: Ubuntu 12.04 or newer
- Processor: Dual-core from Intel or AMD at 2.8 GHz
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: nVidia Geforce 8600/9600GT (Driver v331), AMD HD 2xxx-4xxx (Driver mesa 10.5.9), AMD HD 5xxx+ (Driver mesa 10.5.9 or Catalyst 15.7), Intel HD 3000 (Driver mesa 10.6)
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 15 GB available space
- Sound Card: OpenAL Compatible Sound Card
Source: Steam
My System Specifications
| Operating System | Windows 10 64-Bit |
| Processor | Ryzen 5 3600 |
| Graphics Card | NVIDIA GTX 1660 6GB |
| Memory | 16GB DDR4 RAM (2400 MHz) |
| Storage | 1TB HDD 7200RPM |
Note that this can vary depending on your system. According to your specs you can alter the settings which I will discuss in details, below.
FPS Results and Tips
The Average FPS I get with the above setup and settings is 130 – 140. Depending on your system specs you can expect similar performance. With a few additional launch commands, you can optimize this even more. If you want me to list down the NVIDIA or AMD control panel settings, let me know down in the comments below. Usually i prefer to not mess around with them and stick to in-game settings and a couple of launch options.
If you are running on a lower-end system, say, a 1050TI/1060, i3 8100, or I5 8th Gen, you can dial down the Texture and Effects to Low. This will boost your performance even more.
Server/Network Lag Possibility
On very rare occasions, even with the best setups, a lot of us face lags. This is mainly due to the server being bad, NAT Issues, or simply, your internet connection not performing well. In these exceptions you may want to look into that before doing any of the settings shown. I will be making a separate performance guide which will discuss how you can improve the Dota 2 gaming performance by tweaking some system settings.
This guide is mainly focussed on what to do inside the game and with the game launcher itself.
Conclusion
To Conclude, I would say that over the years, the performance aspect of Dota 2 has become more demanding. You need to keep yourself up to date with all the changes and do the needed settings properly. I hope this guide has helped you in some way or the other.
Your thoughts are always welcome via the comments below. Thanks for visiting and I will see you with more Dota 2 content. Ciao!