It shouldn't feel like this. You’ve got an RTX 4080, a processor that could simulate the weather, and yet, swinging through Tokyo 2099 feels like wading through digital molasses. The frame pacing stutters. The GPU usage spikes for no apparent reason. Honestly, Marvel Rivals poor optimization has become the primary talking point in every Discord server and Reddit thread since the game hit the public. It's a gorgeous hero shooter, sure, but the "NetEase special" polish is currently lacking under the hood.
People are frustrated. When you're playing a competitive shooter where milliseconds determine whether you land Spider-Man’s combo or die to a Punisher turret, performance isn't just a luxury. It's the whole game. Currently, the gap between the "recommended" specs and the actual on-screen experience is massive.
The Unreal Engine 5 Struggle is Real
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: Unreal Engine 5. It is a beast of an engine, capable of incredible lighting and destructible environments. We see it in the way the Yggsgard statues crumble or how the lighting shifts when Doctor Strange opens a portal. But UE5 is notoriously difficult to optimize for mid-range hardware. Marvel Rivals poor optimization stems largely from how the game handles Lumen and Nanite—technologies that look great but eat frames for breakfast.
Many players report that even on "Low" settings, the base engine overhead is just too high. It’s weird. You’d think turning everything down would give you a 200 FPS cushion, but the gains are surprisingly marginal. This suggests a CPU bottleneck or a deep-seated issue with how the game handles draw calls during heavy combat.
When 12 players are all popping ultimates at once, the engine has to track a staggering amount of data. Iron Man’s beams, Groot’s walls, and Scarlet Witch’s chaos magic all create a particle effect nightmare. If the game isn't culling those effects properly, your hardware just chokes. It’s not just you; it’s a systemic issue with how the game's assets are being streamed in real-time.
Stuttering, Shaders, and the Dreaded Frame Drops
Have you noticed that the first match of the day feels worse than the fifth? That’s likely shader compilation stutter. It’s the bane of modern PC gaming. In its current state, Marvel Rivals doesn't seem to pre-compile shaders effectively in the background or during the initial launch. So, the first time Venom jumps on your head, your GPU has to figure out how to render that specific interaction on the fly. Result? A massive hitch.
- The VRAM Leak: Some users on the Steam forums have pointed out that over long sessions, the game's memory usage crawls upward. This is a classic sign of a memory leak.
- Physics Overload: Because the environments are so destructible, the physics engine is constantly working. Every broken pillar is a new set of objects the game has to track.
- Network Interpolation: Sometimes what looks like a frame drop is actually "micro-stuttering" caused by the server-client relationship. If the netcode isn't smooth, the visuals won't be either.
The sheer inconsistency is what kills the vibe. One minute you're at a smooth 144 FPS, and the next, you're dipping into the 50s because Hela decided to throw a few swords. That 90-frame swing is jarring. It ruins muscle memory. It makes the game feel "heavy."
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Why "Medium" Settings are a Trap
Usually, in a shooter, "Medium" is the sweet spot. Not here. In Marvel Rivals, the jump between Low and Medium often triggers extra post-processing effects that the optimization hasn't quite refined yet.
I’ve spent hours tweaking settings on different builds—from an aging 1080 Ti to a modern 40-series card. The results are consistently inconsistent. On older cards, the game is almost unplayable in its current build without aggressive upscaling. Even then, the image quality gets so blurry you can barely tell if you're looking at Magneto or a metallic blob.
NetEase has a history here. They make ambitious games, but the PC ports often take a backseat to the mobile-first architecture or just need a year of "live service" patching to feel right. We saw similar complaints with some of their previous titles. They tend to prioritize "features" and "roster" over the nitty-gritty of frame time stability.
Is it Actually Unplayable?
No, "unplayable" is a strong word. If you have a top-tier rig, you can brute-force your way through Marvel Rivals poor optimization by sheer power. But that's a bad excuse for a game that wants to be an eSports titan. If you want to compete with Overwatch 2 or Valorant, you need to run on a potato.
Right now, Marvel Rivals doesn't run on a potato. It barely runs on a medium-sized baked potato.
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There is also the issue of "Visual Clutter." This isn't strictly an optimization issue in terms of code, but it is one for the human eye. The screen becomes so busy with neon effects that it places an even higher load on the GPU's transparency rendering. When the engine struggles to layer all those transparent effects, the frame rate tanks. It’s a double whammy: you can’t see what’s happening, and your PC is screaming.
The Upscaling Dilemma
DLSS, FSR, and XeSS are supposed to be the saviors of modern gaming. In Marvel Rivals, they are basically mandatory.
- DLSS (Nvidia): This is your best bet. If you have an RTX card, turn it on "Quality" or "Balanced." It helps, but it doesn't fix the underlying CPU stutters.
- FSR (AMD): It works, but it can introduce some nasty shimmering on the edges of character models, especially with thin objects like Spider-Man’s webs.
- Intel XeSS: Surprisingly decent, but again, it’s a band-aid on a broken leg.
Using upscaling to fix a poorly optimized game is a trend we all hate, but for now, it's the only way to get a stable 60 FPS on mid-range gear. It shouldn't be this way. A hero shooter should be snappy. It should be light. It should be fast.
Looking Forward: Can NetEase Fix It?
The good news is that we are still in the relatively early stages of the game's life cycle. NetEase has been surprisingly vocal about taking feedback. They know the optimization is a sticking point. They’ve already pushed out minor patches targeting "stability," though the community consensus is that they haven't moved the needle much yet.
Optimization isn't a "one and done" button. It’s a grueling process of profiling code, reducing draw calls, and simplifying meshes without losing the art style. They need to look at how they handle "Instanced Rendering" for those destructible environments. They need to fix the shader cache issues so the game doesn't stutter every time a new hero enters the fray.
If they don't fix it, the game will die. It's that simple. Players will tolerate bugs. They will tolerate a slightly imbalanced meta. They will not tolerate a game that feels like a slideshow during a team fight.
Actionable Steps to Boost Your FPS Right Now
Since we can't rewrite the game's code, we have to work with what we've got. If you're struggling, try these specific changes. Don't just hit "Low" and hope for the best; some settings have a much higher impact than others.
Kill the Shadows: Shadows are the primary FPS killer in Marvel Rivals. Set them to Low. You won't miss them in the heat of battle, and your GPU will thank you.
Lower the Effects Quality: This controls the transparency and particle count. Since the game is 90% particles, dropping this to Low or Medium is the single biggest gain you can make.
Reflex and Low Latency: If you have an Nvidia card, make sure "Reflex Low Latency" is set to On + Boost. This won't necessarily increase your frames, but it will make the game feel more responsive, which helps mask the feeling of poor optimization.
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Limit Your Frame Rate: This sounds counterintuitive. Why limit frames? Because it prevents the wild swings. If your PC can do 90 FPS but drops to 40, you’re better off capping the game at 60 FPS. It creates a much smoother, more predictable experience for your eyes and your hands.
Update Your Drivers: This is basic, but for Unreal Engine 5 games, Nvidia and AMD often release "Game Ready" drivers that include specific optimizations for shader compilation. Don't skip these.
Check Your Background Apps: Marvel Rivals is a CPU hog. If you have Chrome open with 20 tabs or a heavy recording software running, close them. You need every cycle your processor can give.
Ultimately, the ball is in NetEase's court. We have a game with a fantastic art style, a great roster, and genuine "fun factor" that is being held back by technical debt. Until a major engine-level patch arrives, the community will have to keep tweaking and hoping. Optimization isn't just about making the game run; it's about making the game playable for everyone, not just the 1% with liquid-cooled rigs. Keep an eye on the official patch notes for mentions of "rendering pipeline improvements" or "vram management"—those are the magic words we're all waiting for.