This section takes a close look at the graphical options in Elden Ring, and their effects on the game’s performance.
The “performance impact” in each subsection below is the measured difference in average FPS between playing the game with all settings at their highest and turning only the setting in question down to the lowest (or off) while leaving all others untouched.
Unfortunately, Elden Ring is natively capped at 60 FPS. So, the percentages listed below may underestimate the impact of certain settings, as the frame rate will continue to be 60 regardless of how much higher than that would be possible if the frame rate was unlocked. As a result, these percentages should not be used to compare to similar percentages in our other games guides—although they should still be useful for comparing settings between each other in this guide.
It is also worth pointing out that the performance impact is not necessarily cumulative. So if disabling one setting increases FPS by 10% and disabling another increases FPS by 10%, disabling both would not be expect to increase performance by 20%. Instead, the increase would likely be somewhere from 12-18% total.
Graphics Presets / Overall Quality
Elden Ring comes with four basic quality presets: Low, Medium, High, and Maximum. These are great if you don’t want to spend a large amount of time tweaking different settings.
Performance impact: ~35% between Low and Maximum
Drag the bar to compare Graphics Preset on Low and Maximum.
Texture Quality
Right out of the gate, this is a setting that, from our testing, appears to simply be broken. Turning it all the way up or all the way down makes no noticeable difference to the textures in the game. And accordingly, this setting (often an impactful one in other games) makes no difference to the game's performance. We looked at buildings; we looked at natural environments; we looked at character equipment. Still no discernible difference.
In the screenshots below, for example, ignore the raindrops and notice how there is not a single pockmark out of place on the rocks between the two settings levels (the small movement of the character between the shots resulted from having to quit out of the game in order to apply this particular setting).
Performance impact: No noticeable difference
Drag the bar to compare Texture Quality on Low and Maximum.
Antialiasing Quality
Antialiasing smooths out jaggedness on the edges of objects. In the screenshots below, the difference is most visible on the edge of the statue where it's backlit by the sky. This setting is less important at resolutions above 1080p.
Performance impact: ~5% between Off and High
Drag the bar to compare Antialiasing Quality Off and on High.
SSAO
Screen space ambient occlusion (SSAO) is a feature that calculates the interaction between light sources and objects/circumstances that partially block light sources. In the screenshots below, notice how turning it on causes the game to create naturally shaded areas on the inside of the character's shield, and on the differently angled faces of the rocks.
Performance impact: ~3% between Off and Maximum
Drag the bar to compare SSAO Off and on Maximum.
Depth of Field
The depth of field effect blurs distant objects in order to more accurately mimic how actual cameras and human eyes work (where near things that are in focus, like the character and their immediate surroundings, would naturally appear clearer than those farther away). When it's turned on in the screenshots below, notice how the distant banners and erdtree branches in the sky are slightly blurred.
Performance impact: No noticeable difference
Drag the bar to compare Depth of Field Off and on Maximum.
Motion Blur
This adds a slight blur to fast-moving objects in the game, in the interest of mimicking how fast-moving object appear to human eyes in reality. As this only occurs when things move, it is not visible in a screenshot.
Performance impact: No noticeable difference
Shadow Quality
As you might imagine, this governs the accuracy and resolution of shadows in the game. Although it is one of the most impactful settings in Elden Ring performance-wise, turning it all the way down is not recommended because it makes trees and other foliage look very weird when the game is in motion. In a screenshot, however, the setting is more clearly demonstrated by looking closely at a specific shadow, like the one cast by the spectral steed in the shots below.
Performance impact: ~20% between Low and Maximum
Drag the bar to compare Shadow Quality on Low and Maximum.
Lighting Quality
In theory, this setting seems like it should govern the quality of calculated lighting interactions with different materials, like the sunshine on everything in the foreground of the screenshots below, and the light of the torches on the statues in the background. In practice, however, we were unable to notice a difference. (The movement of the shadows between the shots is unrelated.) This, however, didn't stop there being a small-yet-noticeable improvement to frame rate when turning the setting down.
Performance impact: ~4% between Low and Maximum
Drag the bar to compare Lighting Quality on Low and Maximum.
Effects Quality
This seemingly governs a whole host of subtle lighting and resolution changes related to particle effects, magic, fire, and smoke.
Performance impact: ~5% between Low and Maximum
Drag the bar to compare Effects Quality on Low and Maximum.
Volumetric Quality
Volumetric Quality concerns the quality of effects like fog and mist. Changing this setting in Elden Ring is incredibly subtle. You can just barely tell the difference in how things are obscured, such as distant trees and the boulder on the left side in the screenshots below.
Performance impact: ~3% between Low and Maximum
Drag the bar to compare Volumetric Quality on Low and Maximum.
Reflection Quality
This changes the depth and quality of reflections on various surfaces and liquids in the game.
Performance impact: ~4% between Low and Maximum
Drag the bar to compare Reflection Quality on Low and Maximum.
Water Surface Quality
The water surface quality setting alters the sharpness and clarity of water surfaces. It's another fairly subtle change, but in the screenshots blow you should be able to tell that the low setting provides water that is slightly more grey, splotchy, and blurred than the high setting (especially as you look further away from the character).
Performance impact: ~3% between Low and High
Drag the bar to compare Water Surface Quality on Low and High.
Shader Quality
Shaders are used for a wide variety of purposes in games, from lighting to coloration to certain material rendering techniques, so it's never entirely clear what a setting simply labeled 'shader quality' will do. And we definitely had a tough time trying to figure out what it was doing in Elden Ring. But in the end, we concluded that it is indeed primarily doing something related to the lighting, as you might be able to tell by the slight change in the clarity of the dark area in front of the character in these screenshots.
Performance impact: ~5% between Low and High
Drag the bar to compare Shader Quality on Low and High.
Global Illumination Quality
Global Illumination is the lighting that is applied to everything in the game (globally). In the screenshots below, ignore the message that appears on the ground; focus on how the lighting changes on the stone walls.
Performance impact: ~3% between Low and High
Drag the bar to compare Global Illumination on Low and High.
Grass Quality
So, this setting doesn't control the quality of the grass, per se. Instead, it mostly governs the quantity of the grass. And for whatever reason, the game has designated the lowest available setting here as 'medium.' Like shadow quality above, this setting has a large impact on both visuals and performance. Having it cranked down can really deaden the world design, but can save some precious FPS.
Performance impact: ~18% between Medium and Maximum
Drag the bar to compare Grass Quality on Medium and Maximum.
