The Tool Desk
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The best starting preset for most PCs
The settings below prioritize readable hero movement and reliable combat frame times. Apply them first, then tune one option at a time in an actual busy fight.
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| Setting | Recommended starting point | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Output resolution | Native monitor resolution | Preserves the sharpest image when your system can sustain its target frame rate. |
| Refresh rate | Highest usable rate supported by the display and connection | Allows smoother presentation when the PC can render enough frames. |
| Display mode | Fullscreen for competitive play; borderless for convenience | Fullscreen is a sensible competitive baseline, while evidence is mixed on whether it changes FPS versus borderless. |
| Anti-aliasing | Low or Off/FXAA | Reduces softness and GPU cost compared with heavier anti-aliasing. |
| Ambient occlusion | SSAO and distance-field AO off | These are cosmetic shading effects; Settings For Games estimates a roughly 5–8% GPU performance cost, not a universal benchmark. |
| Motion blur | Off | Prevents fast movement and combat effects from smearing. |
| Depth of field | Off | Keeps the whole combat scene legible instead of deliberately blurring areas outside a focus plane. |
| Shadows and fog | Low when frame times are unstable | They can be restored individually if testing shows enough headroom. |
| Bloom and post-processing | Off or low | Removes bright cosmetic effects that can obscure silhouettes and consume GPU time. |
| Textures | Highest level that fits your VRAM | Texture quality is primarily a video-memory decision, not an automatic reduction for every GPU. |
| Resolution scale | 100% or native | Best clarity when performance permits. |
| Upscaling | Off initially; enable only to protect sustained fight FPS | Lower scale can recover performance but makes the image less detailed. |
Settings For Games describes the ambient-occlusion estimate as a guide figure, and the low shadow, low fog, disabled bloom and disabled depth-of-field combination published on the official forum is a player configuration rather than a controlled test. Treat both as useful clues, not guarantees.
Choose a frame-rate target before changing image quality
A high-refresh monitor does not create frames. It can display a smoother result only when the game and PC produce frames quickly enough. Select the highest refresh rate your monitor, cable and operating-system configuration can use, then choose a target that remains achievable in the most demanding fights rather than only in an empty area.
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Why sustained FPS matters more than a peak number
Deadlock can feel smooth in the practice area and still hitch when several heroes, abilities, particles and structures appear together. A stable lower target is usually easier to play than a high average with severe drops. Watch the frame-time behavior during a full team fight, a crowded lane and a large ability exchange.
When a 144Hz display helps
A 144Hz display is a reasonable upgrade for players whose systems can sustain a corresponding frame rate. It improves the presentation of motion that the PC is already rendering; it does not increase the game’s FPS by itself. If your fight-time performance is well below that range, resolve the bottleneck first instead of expecting a monitor change to fix stutter.
Resolution, scaling and display mode
Use native resolution when possible
Native output resolution keeps text, silhouettes and animation details at the display’s intended pixel mapping. Hone’s current settings guidance recommends native output and the highest usable refresh rate. If native resolution prevents a stable fight-time target, reduce resolution scale or use an upscaler only as much as necessary.
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Understand the resolution-scale trade-off
Resolution scale changes how many pixels the game renders before the final image is presented. At 100%, the internal image matches the selected output resolution. A lower value can improve GPU headroom, but fine details and distant targets become less defined. An official-forum example uses a 74.6% viewport scale as one low-performance configuration; that is an example of how far one player reduced the scale, not a recommended universal number.
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Fullscreen or borderless?
Use exclusive fullscreen as the first competitive test if you want the simplest path to a dedicated game display. Borderless is useful for fast switching between applications. Settings For Games reports that one competitive guide favors exclusive fullscreen while another finds no meaningful FPS difference compared with borderless. Keep whichever mode is stable and convenient on your system; do not assume the label alone determines performance.
Remove visual effects that hide movement
Motion blur
Set motion blur to off. Deadlock’s fights involve rapid dashes, jumps, camera turns and ability effects. Blur blends those frames and can make it harder to follow a hero’s direction or read the start of an animation.
Depth of field
Set depth of field to off. The effect intentionally softens parts of the scene outside a focus area, which is the opposite of what you want when tracking multiple threats. The official-forum configuration sets it false, and competitive configurations in the researched guides also disable motion blur.
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Bloom
Turn bloom off or keep it low. Bloom spreads bright light around effects and can wash out edges. The official-forum example disables bloom and uses low fog and shadow quality. If you prefer the game’s visual style, re-enable bloom after confirming that silhouettes remain clear in fights.
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Anti-aliasing
Start with Low or Off/FXAA. Heavier anti-aliasing can smooth jagged edges, but the comparative Settings For Games guide reports that it can soften motion and consume additional GPU time. If thin geometry shimmers at native resolution and you have spare performance, raise anti-aliasing one step and test rather than changing several effects together.
Reduce cosmetic GPU work in the right order
Ambient occlusion
Disable SSAO and distance-field ambient occlusion first when GPU usage is high. Settings For Games estimates that these effects cost approximately 5–8% of GPU performance while mainly adding contact shading. The estimate belongs to that guide’s comparison and should not be read as a result measured on every GPU or game build.
Shadows and fog
Lower shadows and fog before sacrificing native resolution if clarity is your priority. Shadows add depth but can be expensive in scenes with many objects. Fog can reduce contrast at distance and may obscure movement. Set both low while troubleshooting unstable frame times, then raise one at a time if the frame-time graph remains healthy.
Post-processing
Use low post-processing when you need a predictable baseline. Post-processing is a collection of image effects rather than a single visual feature, so its impact depends on the current build and hardware. Disable the most distracting individual effects first, especially blur, depth of field and bloom.
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- up to 180Hz Refresh Rate: Pushing beyond the standard 144Hz, 165Hz gives gamers an edge in visibility as frames transition instantly, leaving behind no blurred images.
- IPS Panel: The IPS (In-Plane Switching) panel cannot be beat when it comes to consistently delivering top color performance and sharp visibility from multiple viewing angles.
- AMD FreeSync: With FreeSync, gamers now enjoy smooth video and seamless on the spot movement through their fast paced games. FreeSync is an AMD technology that nearly eliminates tearing and stuttering due to differences between a graphics card's frame rate and a monitor's refresh rate.
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Textures are mainly a VRAM decision
Do not automatically set textures low with every other option. Deadlock Handbook explains that texture quality primarily consumes video memory rather than raw GPU compute power. If your graphics card has enough VRAM, higher textures can preserve surface detail with little effect on core rendering speed.
Keep textures high when memory is comfortable
Use the highest texture level that does not produce VRAM pressure, asset pop-in or stutter. This lets you lower shadows, fog and post-processing while retaining readable environmental and character detail.
Lower textures when stutter points to memory pressure
If frame pacing worsens as you move through the map, if new areas cause pauses, or if the game behaves better after lowering textures, test the next lower texture level. Change only textures first so you can tell whether memory pressure was the cause. A lower texture setting cannot repair a CPU bottleneck or a poorly paced frame queue.
Three practical profiles
These profiles translate the baseline into starting combinations. They are not official Valve presets and should be validated on your own system.
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| Profile | Use it when | Suggested combination |
|---|---|---|
| Clarity-first | Your PC sustains the target rate at native resolution | Native resolution and 100% scale; highest usable refresh rate; fullscreen or stable borderless; Low or Off/FXAA; AO off; motion blur and depth of field off; textures as high as VRAM allows; shadows, fog, bloom and post-processing raised only after fight testing. |
| Balanced | You see occasional drops in busy fights | Keep native output; use low shadows and fog, AO off, bloom off or low, anti-aliasing low, blur and depth of field off; retain high textures if VRAM is comfortable; use 100% scale unless the fight target still fails. |
| Performance recovery | Native resolution cannot hold a stable fight-time target | Keep blur, depth of field and AO off; lower shadows, fog, bloom, post-processing and anti-aliasing; reduce resolution scale or enable an upscaler gradually. The 74.6% viewport-scale example shows a possible low-performance configuration, not a required endpoint. |
How to tune Deadlock without chasing placebo gains
- Record your starting point. Note resolution, scale, refresh rate, display mode, textures and each effect before changing anything. This gives you a known way back.
- Pick a repeatable stress test. Use a busy fight, a crowded lane or a practice scenario that reproduces the same effects. Deadlock Handbook specifically warns that average or idle FPS can hide combat frame-time drops.
- Change one setting. Disable AO, blur or depth of field first because they improve clarity and can remove unnecessary work without reducing output resolution.
- Play through the same stress case. Judge sustained smoothness, camera feel, animation readability and hitching, not a brief peak FPS number.
- Lower the next expensive visual group. Test shadows, fog, bloom, post-processing and anti-aliasing individually or in that order when the GPU remains overloaded.
- Protect resolution as long as possible. If fight-time performance still falls below your target, lower scale or enable an upscaler in small steps. Stop when the image becomes harder to read than the original problem.
- Check textures separately. Lower them only when symptoms suggest VRAM pressure or streaming stutter rather than simply because other settings are low.
- Re-test after every major change. A setting that helps an empty map may hurt a particle-heavy battle, so use the demanding case for the final decision.
Troubleshooting common symptoms
The game looks blurry while FPS is fine
- Confirm output resolution is native and resolution scale is 100%.
- Check that an upscaler has not been enabled unintentionally.
- Use Low or Off/FXAA instead of a heavier anti-aliasing mode.
- Disable motion blur and depth of field, then compare a moving fight rather than a static screenshot.
FPS is high, but fights feel uneven
- Test in a crowded fight instead of relying on the average counter.
- Lower shadows, fog, bloom and post-processing one at a time.
- Confirm the monitor is actually set to its selected high refresh rate in the operating system and game.
- Try the other display mode if fullscreen or borderless produces inconsistent frame pacing on your system.
Movement is hard to follow
- Turn off motion blur and depth of field.
- Disable SSAO and distance-field AO if dark contact shading is obscuring edges.
- Lower bloom and fog to improve silhouette contrast.
- Keep native resolution or restore scale before increasing decorative effects.
New areas cause pauses or hitching
- Test a lower texture level to reduce video-memory pressure.
- Keep the resolution scale unchanged during this test so the cause is isolated.
- If lowering textures does not help, test shadows and post-processing separately; a memory symptom and a GPU-load symptom require different fixes.
Recheck settings after Deadlock updates
Deadlock is actively updated, so a setting that behaved one way last month may need to be checked again after a major patch. Valve’s City Never Sleeps notes describe instant video-change preview and markers for default values, which make it easier to identify changed options. February 2025 map-rework notes also document animation and performance changes.
Valve’s February 25, 2025 patch notes state: “Camera movement between crouching and standing is smoother and quicker.” Changes like this can alter how motion feels even when your graphics settings are unchanged. After an update, inspect the video menu, verify your resolution and refresh rate, and repeat the same busy-fight test before assuming a new hitch or visual difference is a hardware problem.
What is—and is not—officially established
There is no publisher-authored table that proves one universal graphics preset for every PC. Deadlock Handbook notes that Valve has not published official PC requirements, while the available settings pages are community or editorial configurations. The recommendations here therefore work as informed baselines: they identify sensible priorities, but your GPU, CPU, VRAM capacity, monitor and current game build determine the final values.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesWhen two guides disagree about fullscreen versus borderless, or when an effect’s cost changes between builds, prefer the option that produces stable frame times and clear silhouettes in your own repeatable fight test. Keep a simple record of the values that work so a future patch can be evaluated quickly.
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