Guides/Games
League of Legends FPS drops: what to check
League of Legends runs on almost anything, yet many players see big drops in team fights. The game leans on the processor and memory far more than on the graphics card, so the fixes look different from other games.
1. Frame rate cap and V-Sync#
Press Esc in a game, open Video. Frame Rate Cap limits your FPS; set it to your monitor's refresh rate or the next step above. Wait for Vertical Sync adds input delay; turn it off unless you see tearing that bothers you.
2. Team fights#
Drops in team fights come from many champions and effects at once. Effects Quality and Shadow Quality cost the most there. Character and environment quality matter less.
3. Processor and memory#
Because League depends on a single fast processor core, memory speed matters: RAM without its XMP/EXPO profile or in single channel costs a noticeable share of frames. Check XMP or EXPO and dual channel.
4. Close the client during games#
The League client keeps running during a match. In the client's settings you can choose to close it while in game, which frees memory and processor time on weaker PCs.
Check the setup first#
These cost frames in every game and show no error, so they're worth a minute before you touch any game setting:
- Monitor in the graphics card, not the motherboard: how to tell the ports apart.
- Refresh rate set to the monitor's maximum in Windows: how to check.
- RAM at its rated speed (XMP or EXPO on): check in 30 seconds.
- RAM in dual channel: how to check.
- Game on an SSD, not a hard drive: why it matters.
- Laptop: play plugged in, set Settings → System → Power & battery → Power mode to Best performance, and under Settings → System → Display → Graphics set the game to High performance so it runs on the dedicated graphics card.
Questions#
Why does League of Legends drop FPS in team fights?
What should my frame rate cap be in League?
Frametide's scan checks your PC for setup problems like this one and tells you how many it found (Basic, €12.99 once). Premium (€26.99 once) shows which ones and how to fix them. Frametide measures FPS, 1% and 0.1% lows and stutters per minute in your own game with PresentMon, before and after a change, so you don't have to guess (Premium).