For most ARC Raiders players, the best settings are built around a simple priority: keep your frame time stable, remove visual effects that interfere with target tracking, and make movement, communication, and item use easy to execute under pressure. Start with a high but comfortable FOV, disable Motion Blur and VSync, use the correct upscaler for your GPU, keep NVIDIA RTX Global Illumination on Static rather than a Dynamic preset, and turn on the detailed performance overlay while tuning. These recommendations apply to the current live build, Update 1.39.0, released July 28, 2026; its changes include improved water footstep audio and more distinct Dodge Roll sounds, making clear audio settings especially valuable during close encounters.
Best ARC Raiders Settings at a Glance
Use this as a reliable competitive baseline before making hardware-specific adjustments. Do not copy a “max FPS” setup blindly if it makes distant Raiders, loot, or ARC weak points too blurry to read.
| Category | Recommended Setting | Why It Helps |
|---|---|---|
| Field of View | 80 | Maximum peripheral awareness without relying on an altered config. |
| Window Mode | Exclusive Fullscreen if available and stable; otherwise Borderless Fullscreen | Use the mode that gives the smoothest frametimes and most reliable alt-tabbing on your PC. |
| VSync | Off | Reduces avoidable input delay. Use a frame cap instead if needed. |
| Motion Blur | Off | Keeps targets, cover edges, and threats clearer during turns and Dodge Rolls. |
| Upscaled Resolution | 100% | Preserves UI and image presentation at your display resolution. |
| Resolution Scaling | DLSS, FSR 3, or XeSS for your hardware | Lower internal rendering cost while retaining a usable image. |
| RTX Global Illumination | Static | Avoids the heavy cost of Dynamic ray-traced lighting. |
| View Distance | High | Useful for reading long lanes, movement, structures, and distant threats. |
| Shadows | Low | One of the strongest performance cuts with limited competitive downside. |
| Post-Processing | Low | Reduces visual clutter from effects such as bloom and lens flare. |
| Reflections | Low | Good FPS savings with little impact on combat information. |
| Foliage | Medium | Balances sightline clarity, environmental readability, and performance. |
| Night Mode | On with headphones | Helps make quieter combat cues easier to distinguish from loud effects. |
| Aim Assist | On for controller | Use the game’s intended controller support before changing sensitivity. |
Set Your Performance Target Before Lowering Everything
ARC Raiders is an extraction game, so consistent responsiveness matters more than an impressive peak FPS number in a quiet area. A stable frame rate makes it easier to track Raiders through cover, control recoil, hear a threat, Dodge Roll on reaction, and keep your camera under control when ARC attacks overlap with PvP.
First, enable the Detailed in-game performance overlay. It shows more than FPS: it identifies whether your limit is GPU, CPU - Render, or CPU - Game.
- GPU limited: Reduce Render Resolution through your upscaling mode first. Then lower Shadows, Effects, Reflections, Post-Processing, Global Illumination Resolution, and Dynamic RTX Global Illumination.
- CPU - Render limited: Lower settings that affect CPU rendering, particularly Shadows and View Distance. Closing background capture software, browser tabs, RGB suites, and unnecessary overlays can also help.
- CPU - Game limited: Lower graphics settings will not meaningfully solve the bottleneck. Keep your image quality readable, cap your FPS at a sustainable point, and avoid changing settings mid-raid.
The game’s own settings documentation notes that Dynamic RTX Global Illumination has a major GPU cost and a minor CPU-render cost, while Shadows also have a major GPU impact. That makes them the first two areas to test when performance drops in combat rather than in Speranza.
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Best Display and FPS Settings
Field of View: Use 80 Unless It Hurts Your Tracking
ARC Raiders allows a Field of View range from 60 to 80. Set it to 80 as the starting point. The wider view helps you catch a flanker, an overhead ARC, or a Raider crossing the edge of a lane without moving the camera first.
The trade-off is that targets appear smaller. If you play on a small 1080p display or struggle to control long-range shots, lower it slightly and compare 75 to 80 in the Practice Range. Keep the value that lets you acquire targets quickly without making them difficult to visually identify.
VSync, Frame Caps, and Frame Generation
Set VSync to Off. VSync can smooth tearing, but it can also add latency that is costly in a close-range firefight. If uncapped FPS causes uneven frametimes, heat, or disruptive fan noise, use the in-game Frame Rate Limit rather than VSync.
A practical cap should be a number your PC can hold through dense fights, weather effects, explosions, and busy extraction moments. If your system jumps between 120 and 180 FPS, a 120 FPS cap often feels better than chasing 180. If you are reliably below 60 FPS, prioritize a stable 60 before raising visual quality.
Use Frame Generation carefully. ARC Raiders supports AMD FSR 3 Frame Generation or NVIDIA DLSS Frame Generation depending on compatible hardware. NVIDIA’s option automatically enables Reflex Low Latency and disables VSync; 2X support begins with GeForce RTX 40-series GPUs, while 3X and 4X are available on RTX 50-series hardware.
- Mouse and keyboard: Leave Frame Generation off when your native rendered performance is already acceptable. Generated frames can make the display look smoother while not improving the input response of the real frames.
- Controller: Frame Generation can be a reasonable option when your base FPS is stable and you want a smoother image, but test it in active combat rather than the lobby.
- Any input method: Do not use Frame Generation to rescue an unstable, very low base frame rate. Fix the GPU bottleneck first with upscaling and quality settings.
Upscaling: Quality First, Then Balanced
Keep Upscaled Resolution at 100%. Then select the best supported scaling method for your GPU: NVIDIA DLSS on RTX hardware, AMD FSR 3 on Radeon hardware, or Intel XeSS on Intel Arc systems. The game also offers TSR and TAAU, but the GPU-vendor upscalers are the better first choice when available.
Use this decision rule:
- Start on Quality at 1080p or 1440p if your performance target is met.
- Switch to Balanced if GPU-limited fights fall below your target.
- Use Performance only if Balanced is still not enough.
- Avoid Ultra Performance unless your hardware needs it to hold a playable floor; distant movement and fine environmental detail become harder to read.
For NVIDIA users, the current settings menu includes CNN and Transformer DLSS models. CNN is the lighter option; Transformer aims for higher image quality but requires more GPU power. If your GPU headroom is slim, use CNN. If you have room to spare and notice shimmer or instability in vegetation and distant structures, compare Transformer in the same location and keep the clearer option.
Best Graphics Settings for Visibility
The best visibility settings do not mean putting every slider on Low. You need a clean image, but you also need enough texture, view distance, and anti-aliasing quality to identify a moving Raider, an ARC silhouette, a traversal route, or valuable loot at range.
| Setting | Competitive Baseline | Adjustment Rule |
|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA RTX Global Illumination | Static | Use Dynamic only for visual quality on a powerful GPU; it is not the efficient competitive choice. |
| View Distance | High | Lower only if CPU-render limited and testing confirms a gain. |
| Anti-Aliasing | Medium or High | Keep enough smoothing to prevent distracting shimmer; reduce only when using TSR or TAAU and GPU limited. |
| Shadows | Low | Raise only after your target FPS is secure. |
| Post-Processing | Low | Prioritizes a cleaner screen during movement and effects. |
| Texture | Medium | Use High if you have sufficient VRAM and no stutters. |
| Effects | Medium | Set Low when explosions and ARC encounters cause GPU drops. |
| Reflections | Low | Raise for visual preference, not combat advantage. |
| Foliage | Medium | Test Low if vegetation-heavy scenes are your main performance problem. | Global Illumination Resolution | Low | Efficient quality reduction when GPU limited. |
Motion Blur should be Off. It has no practical benefit for reading targets during fast camera movement, and it can make it harder to follow an enemy after a Dodge Roll, vault, or sudden shoulder swap.
Do not rely on modified configuration files, unintended FOV changes, or third-party visibility exploits. Apart from the fair-play risk, these can break after updates and produce a distorted image that hurts your actual target tracking. Use the in-game options, then tune your monitor brightness and contrast conservatively. Crushing blacks or overexposing the picture may make one dark interior easier to see while erasing detail elsewhere.
Audio Settings That Improve Awareness
Audio is part of your visibility in ARC Raiders. Footsteps, gunfire, ARC movement, explosives, and nearby players using proximity voice can tell you more than a brief sightline. Update 1.39.0 improved footstep audio in water and added more distinct Dodge Roll sounds, so it is worth revisiting your mix after the patch.
- Output Mode: Stereo / Headphones when using a headset.
- Night Mode: On. It compresses the mix so loud effects are less overwhelming and quieter information is easier to hear.
- Effects Volume: Keep high. This is your critical combat-information channel.
- Music During Gameplay: Turn off or reduce substantially if it masks cues for you.
- Party Voice Chat: Set high enough to understand calls without drowning out the game.
- Proximity Voice Chat: Keep enabled if you want to negotiate, deceive, warn, or identify nearby Raiders. Use push-to-talk if you do not want accidental background noise broadcast to strangers.
Do not assume every sound is an enemy. Water footsteps, a Dodge Roll, distant ARC activity, and another team’s fight can create strong but misleading urgency. Pause, identify the direction, and decide whether the sound is a threat, an opportunity to rotate, or a fight to avoid.
Best Mouse and Keyboard Controls
ARC Raiders does not have a universal “best sensitivity.” Your aim needs to stay controlled while tracking a target in third person, clearing corners, managing recoil, and quickly turning toward an ARC or Raider approaching from behind.
Start with horizontal and vertical sensitivity at the same relative level. Keep Zoom Sensitivity Multiplier and Scoped Zoom Sensitivity Multiplier at their defaults until your hip-fire camera feels consistent. Change one variable at a time in the Practice Range, then validate it during real Topside engagements.
Prioritize binds that let you move without giving up camera control:
- Dodge Roll: Keep it on a key you can reach instantly without moving your hand off WASD. The default Left Alt works for some players, but a mouse side button can be more dependable.
- Shoulder Swap: Keep this readily available. Third-person peeking is much safer when you can swap shoulders instead of exposing your body from the wrong side of cover.
- Ping: Put it on an immediate input. Fast pings are more useful than long verbal explanations during a chaotic fight.
- Items and healing: Use a bind that does not force you to stop moving. Practice the sequence before risking a valuable kit.
- Push-to-talk: Separate Party Voice Chat and Proximity Voice Chat binds so a private squad call never becomes an accidental public broadcast.
ARC Raiders supports hold and toggle behavior for several actions. Hold-to-aim is usually the safer choice for reactive combat, while sprint and crouch behavior should follow what lets you keep movement clean. The correct option is the one that prevents accidental crouches, missed rolls, or unwanted sprinting when you need to hear the environment.
Controller Settings and Console Priorities
Controller players should leave Aim Assist enabled, then establish a sensitivity that keeps fine aim stable before increasing turn speed. Raising sensitivity too quickly is a common mistake: you may turn faster, but lose the ability to hold a moving Raider in the center of the screen.
Use the Practice Range to find the highest sensitivity at which you can smoothly track both a near target and a distant target without constantly correcting past them. Once your base sensitivity works, adjust zoom sensitivity only if aiming feels too slow or too twitchy relative to hip fire.
The controller-specific Interact / Reload Behaviour setting is also important in an extraction shooter. Prioritize Interact is the default and is generally safer when a door, loot point, revive target, or extraction interaction is the immediate priority. If you frequently lose fights because a reload does not trigger when expected, test Prioritize Reload instead—but do so after learning how the chosen tap-and-hold behavior handles overlapping actions.
On PlayStation and Xbox, do not chase PC-only graphics tweaks. Focus on the options you can control: disable Motion Blur, use the highest comfortable FOV, enable Night Mode with a headset, configure aim sensitivity deliberately, and avoid open-mic proximity chat unless you intend to use it.
Crosshair and HUD Settings Worth Changing
ARC Raiders provides extensive crosshair customization in Accessibility. A visible crosshair is especially useful in bright outdoor areas, dim interiors, water reflections, and effects-heavy ARC fights.
- Enable Override Crosshair Shape if the default cross does not stand out for you.
- Add a small center dot if it helps you maintain a reference point while moving.
- Use a high-contrast color such as cyan, bright green, or pink, then add a dark outline.
- Keep crosshair opacity high enough to remain visible, but avoid an oversized shape that hides a distant target.
- Leave Move Crosshair When Line of Fire Is Blocked enabled. It shows where your shot will actually land when cover blocks the weapon, which matters when shoulder peeking or firing from behind cluttered terrain.
- Keep Show Reload Progress and Show Damage Direction on. Both provide actionable information without needing to look away from the fight.
Three Ready-to-Use Settings Profiles
Competitive PC Profile
- FOV 80
- VSync Off
- Frame Generation Off unless you have strong base FPS and prefer controller play
- DLSS/FSR/XeSS Quality, then Balanced if needed
- RTX Global Illumination Static
- View Distance High
- Shadows Low
- Post-Processing Low
- Textures Medium
- Effects Medium
- Reflections Low
- Foliage Medium
- Global Illumination Resolution Low
- Motion Blur Off
- Night Mode On
Low-End PC Profile
- FOV 75 to 80, depending on image clarity
- Use Balanced first, then Performance upscaling if needed
- RTX Global Illumination Static
- Shadows, Post-Processing, Reflections, Effects, and Global Illumination Resolution Low
- Textures Low or Medium depending on VRAM and stutters
- View Distance Medium before reducing it further
- Set a stable in-game frame cap rather than leaving FPS uncapped
- Keep Motion Blur Off and Night Mode On
Quality-and-Clarity PC Profile
- FOV 80
- DLSS/FSR/XeSS Quality or native-quality anti-aliasing if your performance is already stable
- View Distance High
- Textures High if VRAM usage remains stable
- Effects Medium or High
- Shadows Medium
- Reflections Medium
- Keep Dynamic RTX Global Illumination off unless you are intentionally prioritizing visuals over competitive performance
- Cap FPS at a value your system can maintain in real raids
Settings Mistakes That Cost Extractions
- Changing settings during an active raid: Some options can cause shader preloading or a hitch. Tune in Speranza or the Practice Range, then restart the game if the image or performance behaves inconsistently.
- Using Ultra Performance scaling too early: A higher FPS counter does not help if enemies and environmental details become too unstable to see.
- Setting every slider to Low: Extremely low View Distance, textures, and anti-aliasing can make target recognition worse even when average FPS rises.
- Confusing generated FPS with lower latency: Frame Generation improves perceived smoothness, but it is not a substitute for solid base performance.
- Ignoring audio: A clean image cannot compensate for missing footsteps, water movement, a Dodge Roll, or a nearby player speaking through proximity chat.
- Copying another player’s sensitivity: Sensitivity depends on screen size, mouse DPI, controller comfort, seating position, and whether you prioritize close or long-range fights.
Final Recommendation
Build your ARC Raiders settings around consistency: FOV 80, Motion Blur Off, VSync Off, Static RTX Global Illumination, High View Distance, Low Shadows and Post-Processing, and the upscaler that keeps the image clear at your target FPS. Then enable Night Mode, configure a visible crosshair, and make Dodge Roll, Shoulder Swap, ping, and voice controls effortless.
After each major update, retest your settings instead of assuming an old preset is still ideal. The latest official ARC Raiders Update 1.39.0 patch notes confirm ongoing audio, stability, UI, and gameplay changes, while the game remains available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S with cross-platform social play.
