Lost Ark Best Settings For High FPS & Performance

Ever since Lost Ark’s Steam release on February 11th, 2022, it’s been lauded as one of the most successful MMOs to ever hit steam. Hitting a peak player (all-time) count of 1.3 Million on its release, it left games like Apex Legends and GTA 5 in the dust. After the hype settled down, I gave Lost Ark a chance. And to be honest, the game really justifies the hype. After putting in some hours, I’ve prepared the best Lost Ark settings guide. By optimizing several in-game settings, I was able to achieve a consistent performance with great visual quality.

Key Highlights

For smoother Lost Ark gameplay, your PC should have 16GB RAM, Intel core i5 CPU, and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050.
You can max out the graphics settings. This will enhance the FPS but will also sharpen the unwanted details that you would want to ignore.
If you have a good GPU, use DirectX 11 in DirectX settings otherwise select DirectX 9 settings to have better graphics.
The auto-Optimization setting is crucial to max out the FPS. Slide the pointer towards “prioritize performance” to enhance the FPS.
Always choose full-screen in ‘screen modes’ to have a better experience.
Screen Brightness plays an important role in graphics. It should not be too low or too high.
Crank the Texture Quality to the max and set the Shadow Quality to the lowest to get max FPS possible.
Enabling the Depth of Field in the game will add the bokeh effects to the game.

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How is Lost Ark’s Optimization?

Now Lost Ark may have gained a new audience on Steam, but with the bigger audience comes bigger demand for more FPS. And extracting more FPS from games is what I do best.

Lost Ark’s overall optimization isn’t too bad either. It’s relatively easy to run games with few quirks here and there. But, generally, I never had any major issues with it. Sure the game can lose frames when there’s too much happening on the screen at once, but it’s still not as bad as some of the other titles released this year.

So, I’ve concocted a delicious blend of the best Lost Ark settings that’ll keep your FPS high, and gameplay buttery smooth. Let’s get things rolling then, shall we?

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Lost Ark PC System Requirements

Now before we start tinkering with your in-game graphics settings, we have to find out whether your PC can handle the game or not. And for most people, the answer will probably be yes. Why? let’s find out.

Lost Ark Minimum PC System Requirements

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
Operating System: Windows 10 (64-bit only)
CPU: Intel i3 or AMD Ryzen 3
RAM: 8 GB RAM
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 / AMD HD6850
DirectX Version: 9.0c
Internet Connection: Broadband Internet connection
Storage Space: 50 GB available

Lost Ark Recommended PC System Requirements

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
Operating System: Windows 10 (64-bit only)
CPU: Intel i5 or AMD Ryzen 5
RAM: 16 GB RAM
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050
DirectX Version: 11
Internet Connection: Broadband Internet connection
Storage Space: 50 GB available

So as you can see, the system requirements for Lost Ark are quite low. So even with a 10-year-old GPU, you can definitely run this game. However, the goal is to achieve the highest possible FPS, and that’s what the best Lost Ark settings will achieve. So, let’s jump to the optimization part.

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Best Lost Ark Graphics Settings

Best Graphics Settings for Lost Ark — Best Lost Ark Graphics Settings

Lost Ark has a slew of graphics settings that help you tailor your gameplay to however you want. You can crank up settings all the way to max, but doing that not only give your FPS a hit but also put unnecessary details into the game that you don’t even notice during gameplay.

So, here are the best Lost Ark settings you should use to get the best performances and visuals out of your game.

Best Graphics Settings Lost Ark — Lost Ark Graphics Settings Part 1

DirectX Settings: Direct X 11

Select DirectX 11 in DirectX settings to have the smoothest and most stable experience in Lost Ark. Unless you’re running a very old GPU, you may select DirectX 9 but it will handicap your graphics capabilities.

Resolution: Your Display’s Native Resolution

Select your display’s native resolution here to have the best visual clarity and display scaling. Selecting any lower resolution here will ruin your game’s display scaling and also improve performance but make everything muddy.

Screen: Fullscreen

Fullscreen is the best screen mode to go with as it focuses your game allowing PC to focus resources on it better. In short, Fullscreen improves the performance and stability of Lost Ark while also enabling features like fullscreen G-Sync.

Force 21:9 Aspect Ratio: Depends on Your Gameplay

If you have a widescreen monitor, using the 21:9 Aspect Ratio is the best selection for you. It fully utilizes your wide-monitor array giving you a major competitive advantage in PvP. However, if you’re using a single display or a 16:9 Aspect Ratio monitor, you’ll get black bars both on top and bottom. It’ll limit your viewing but give you the same effect as a widescreen monitor.

Lock Cursor: Depends on Your Requirement

Lock Cursor is a great option, especially if you have a multi-monitor setup and find yourself clicking out of the main game by accident. Enabling lock cursors to lock your mouse point within the game’s display restricts its movement. This prevents accidental clicks outside the game’s display and avoids accidents game minimizing accidents or other problems.

Screen Brightness: Depends on Your Requirement

Set the screen brightness according to your display. Setting brightness too low or too high can ruin your experience. Best set it to 50% first and then lower or increase it according to your taste.

All (Graphics Preset): Custom

We don’t need to select any particular graphics preset as we’ll be fine-tuning each setting. So set All (graphics preset) to custom.

Texture Quality: Very High

Texture Quality is an important setting that much taxing either in Lost Ark. It helps sharpen and add detail to the NPCs and environment. Setting it to Very High seems to be the best option here.

Shadow Quality: Low

Shadow Quality is one of the most performance taxing settings in Lost Ark. It cuts down your frames by almost 10% (depending on your GPU) and doesn’t add much value to your gameplay either. Sure most gamers have the capability to can crank it up to very high. But if you want the best FPS possible without much visuals degradation, best leave Shadows low.

Character Quality: Medium

Character Quality will either improve your character’s look or reduce it to save FPS. Since your character will always be the center point of your camera, it has a permanent effect on your performance depending on what you select here. Setting Character Quality to low or medium will net you the best FPS in Lost Ark. The best part is that you won’t even notice much difference.

Particle Quality: Low

Particle Quality is another one of those taxing settings that really doesn’t add much value to your gameplay. I’d suggest turning it to low to enjoy Lost Ark in high FPS.

Antialiasing: High

Antialiasing has a major role in how your game’s textures look and feel. Jagged edges really ruin the overall look of the game hence turning antialiasing to high seems to be the best option here. It has a slight hit on your performance, sure, but it’s definitely worth it.

Better Depth of Field: Enabled

Depth of Field doesn’t have much effect on your performance but makes your game aesthetically pleasing. Best enable Better Depth of Field setting to add bokeh effects in Lost Ark.

Indirect Shadows: Enabled

Indirect Shadow isn’t a costly setting that adds subtle shadows in-game that bounce off from objects. Best Enable Indirect Shadows for a nice aesthetic shadows effect in Lost Ark.

Auto Optimization: Slide to Prioritize Performance

This is one of the best Lost Ark settings that will give you a major boost in performance. Drag the slider towards Prioritize Performance to let Lost Ark prioritize FPS over graphics quality. This will slightly degrade your in-game graphics quality but give you a decent boost in FPS.

Post Processing FX Advanced Settings: All Off

Bloom, Distortion, Flaire, and Motion Blur might not be heavy on your hardware, but they add unnecessarily aesthetic effects to your gameplay. These effects only negatively affect your Lost Ark and should be disabled for good measure. If you prefer some of the effects, you can surely turn them on without worrying much about performance impact.

HUD Size Adjustment: 100% or lower

It’s totally up to you what size you want the Heads-Up Display to be. For most people, 100% is great but if you have a large or small monitor, your preference may vary.

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Ready to Conquer Lost Ark with these Best Settings?

Lost Ark is no doubt here to stay, and it’s a major success in the PC gaming scene. This probably means the developers will most likely be upgrading the game with a better API i.e. DX12, graphics effects like RTX, DLSS & FSR support, and much more.

So, it’s best to be ready for anything and this guide will also update with the game. So stay tuned for that. But for now, I hope you have a great time battling mythical creatures and other players in Lost Ark; And for everything gaming, stick with Exputer.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I make Lost Ark run better?

You can follow this guide and make changes accordingly to enhance Lost Ark’s performance significantly.

Can I choose DX9 instead of DX11 in Lost Ark graphics settings?

Yes, you can choose DX9 instead of DX11 in Lost Ark graphics settings. However, DX9 is a much older Microsoft API and you’ll have a better time running the game on DX11. However, if you’re GPU doesn’t support DX11, then go for DX9 for sure.

Does Lost Ark have Ray Tracing or DLSS/FSR yet?

No, Lost Ark does not contain any modern graphical settings like Ray Tracing or DLSS/FSR. However, as the game grows, the developers will likely add them to the game.

Is Lost Ark gameplay like Diablo or Path of Exile?

Lost Ark is a free-to-play MMO that has gameplay elements similar to Diablo or Path of Exile. However, they also differ greatly from each other in terms of themes, story, combat mechanics, and loot system.

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