Helldivers 2 PC optimization guide: Best settings for optimal performance

Arrowhead Game Studios and PlayStation's latest title, Helldivers 2, faced a rather rocky launch on PC, with a myriad of issues plaguing the game's PC port. From server issues to using a kernel-level anti-cheat (nProtect), to a plethora of performance-related issues, owing to its Unreal Engine 4 base, Helldivers 2's PC release was far from ideal.

Fortunately, in the case of performance-related issues, it can be ironed out with a bit of tweaking. Much like any other recent PlayStation PC ports, Helldivers 2 comes with a rather robust suite of options giving you full control over how you want to tweak graphics and visuals on your PC, while also maintaining a steady performance.

Here's a comprehensive guide on how to optimize Helldivers 2 on PC, including optimized settings for best performance.

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Best and optimized settings for Helldivers 2 PC

The first thing to note before you start playing Helldivers 2 is that the game requires at least 6 GB of VRAM to work, even on 1080p. While the minimum system requirements state a GTX 1050ti as a baseline requirement, that takes upscaling (FSR) into account, with the internal resolution being far lower than 1080p.

Here are the minimum and recommended system requirements:

Minimum:

• OS: Windows 10
• Processor: Intel Core i7-4790K or AMD Ryzen 5 1500X
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 470
• Storage: 100 GB available space

Recommended:

• OS: Windows 10
• Processor: Intel Core i7-9700K or AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
• Memory: 16 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 or AMD Radeon RX 6600XT
• Storage: 100 GB available space
• Additional Notes: SSD Recommended

Additionally, it's best to install the game on a m.2 SSD instead of a traditional HDD. Since the game is built exclusively for the current-generation hardware, HDD might introduce stuttering and texture-popping due to lower streaming bandwidth.

The two most important factors that affect the game's performance on PC are Volumetrics and Shadow Quality. Additionally, the game also uses SSGI (Screen Space Global Illumination), which is quite taxing, especially on 6 GB or lower VRAM GPUs. As such, these are the settings you need to lower first in order to get a stable performance.

Here are the optimized settings that should give you a stable 60fps gameplay experience in Helldivers 2:

• Graphics preset: Custom
• Motion blur: Off or Default
• Depth of field: Default
• Bloom: Default
• Sharpness: Default
• Texture quality: Medium
• Object detail quality: High
• Render distance: Medium
• Shadow quality: Low
• Particle quality: Medium
• Reflection quality: Medium
• Space quality: High
• Ambient occlusion: On
• Screen-space global illumination: Off (Leave it on for GPUs with 8 GB or more VRAM)
• Vegetation and rubble density: Medium (This setting is CPU-dependant, cap it at medium for 6-core/12-threads CPU)
• Terrain quality: High
• Volumetric fog quality: Low
• Volumetric cloud quality: Low
• Lighting quality: High
• Anti-aliasing: On

You can also use the upscaling solutions to negate any instances of frame drops. However, at 1080p, do not go below the "Ultra Quality" preset, since doing so introduces image artifacts, making the game look significantly worse.