League of Legends may not be the most graphically intense MOBA out there, but it is a game where every single second or “frame” counts. A lackluster FPS can cause you to miss critical skillshots, hinder your movements, and even make it difficult to secure game-changing objectives.

While you probably can’t do much about your hardware (though an upgrade could certainly help!), there are a few ways you can optimize your PC to ramp up your FPS in LoL.

Optimize In-Game Client Settings

Before anything else, you’ll want to jump into your client and take a close look at your in-game settings. Chances are, they’re poorly configured and aren’t optimized to bring out the best gameplay performance.

Here are a few tweaks you’ll want to make:

Lower video settings: The less visual load your GPU has to handle, the better your FPS will be. Set your graphics to “Increased Performance,” and adjust the Character Quality, Effects Quality, and Environment Quality settings to Very Low. You can also toggle off shadows and disable the “screenshake” feature. Screenshake can be beneficial because it provides a visual indicator of what’s happening around the map, but it has been known to cause FPS spikes.
Check the resolution: Double-check that the resolution is set to your monitor’s native resolution (or lower). A low resolution will boost your FPS as it’ll allow your GPU to process the visual information a lot quicker. However, this will noticeably affect the image quality and sharpness, and many players aren’t willing to sacrifice this visual clarity — experiment with the different resolutions and see which works for you best.
Hide eye candy: “Eye candy” refers to all the graphic effects that are purely present for aesthetics, (such as the lil’ critters and butterflies). Since they don’t add to your gameplay or give you a competitive edge, it’s worth switching them off.
Toggle off Anti-aliasing: Aniti-aliasing is a nifty feature that helps to smooth out visuals and prevent awkward, jagged edges. However, it does put your GPU under more load and can cause your FPS to take a hit. Since it won’t make or break your gameplay, it’s worth disabling this setting too.

You’ll also want to navigate to the “Interface” tab and toggle off HUD animations, fist bumps, and emote bubble display.

Update Your Graphics Driver

To get every advantage you can get in the Rift, your graphics card needs to be at its fullest potential — and that means keeping it up to date! An out-of-date graphics card won’t just wreak absolute havoc on your FPS; it can also cause screen flickering, stuttering, monitor ghosting, and crashing. Yeah. Not exactly the perfect virtual environment for competitive ranked play.

Virtually all major GPU manufacturers, including Nvidia, AMD, and Intel, release new driver versions regularly, and each update generally brings bug fixes and performance improvements.

You can use the Windows built-in service to automatically check for driver updates:

Go to “Device Manager” and then click on “Display Adapters.”
Right-click on your graphics card when it pops up, and then select “Update Driver.”
Run the “search automatically for updates” option.

If Windows doesn’t detect an update, you can double-check manually by comparing your current GPU version with the manufacturer’s latest driver files. The exact steps here will vary depending on your manufacturer, so you’ll want to check out their support website for further guidance.

Tackle Overheating

Look, while being toasty is definitely going to help Brand defeat his enemies, this logic sadly doesn’t apply to us mere mortals. Your PC needs to be kept cool to function properly. Improper heat management can cause a whole host of issues, from FPS drops and excessive fan noises to the nightmare-inducing blue screen o’ death.

Here are a few tips and tricks to keep temperatures low (and your frame rates up):

Use compressed air and a microfiber cloth to clear away dust and debris buildup
Examine all the fans and check that they’re working properly; upgrade if necessary
Reapply your thermal paste (advanced only — guide here)
Improve the airflow around your PC and keep it out of direct sunlight
Ensure your other drivers (and Windows itself) are up to date
If you’re using a laptop, invest in a high-quality laptop cooler

Close Background Processes

You’ll be surprised how many programs run in the background and put your rig under unnecessary, FPS-destroying load. Before you hop into a ranked game, take the time to clear up your background processes and give your GPU some much-needed relief.

Go to your “Task Manager” and close all the unnecessary apps and background processes that are hogging up your RAM.

Additional FPS-Boosting Tricks for LoL

If the measures above haven’t worked, don’t splurge on new hardware upgrades just yet. There are a few other FPS-boosting tricks you can try, including:

Overclock your GPU: This involves configuring your GPU to push it at a higher speed than the manufacturers intended it to be run at. While this does provide a performance boost, it can come with some risks (and you’ll definitely want to avoid overclocking if your PC has an inefficient cooling system).
Enable Game Mode: This is a built-in Windows feature that automatically optimizes your system for gaming. It essentially prevents system background activities, such as Windows update notifications, from running while you play.
Change Windows power plan: You can adjust your power plan settings to ensure Windows always prioritizes performance over everything else. Go to “Settings,” “System,” and then navigate to the “Power” option. Select “Best Performance” under “Power Mode.”

Unleashing Your Full Potential

Increasing your FPS in LoL won’t just give you a more immersive, entertaining gameplay experience; it’ll truly allow you to unleash your full potential and gain a competitive edge in your ranked games.

I hope at least one of the measures above has helped improve your FPS, but if you’re still having issues, then you’ll want to consider upgrading your parts or troubleshooting to determine if there’s an underlying issue at play.

Good luck on the Rift, and feel free to share your thoughts or any other awesome FPS-boosting tips in our Discord community!