Marvel Rivals Best Settings (2026): PC Graphics, Mouse and Audio

Marvel Rivals ships with settings tuned to look good, not to win fights. Over two years of patches NetEase has added the switches a competitive player wants — Off options for the heaviest graphics features, mouse smoothing and acceleration toggles, a high-polling-rate fix, per-hero crosshairs, and several upscalers and frame-generation modes — but it never put them in one place. This guide does: what each setting does, which patch added it, and where we'd start for Competitive on PC. It also covers the line NetEase drew in October 2026 between settings and mods, because the wrong "performance tweak" can now get an account penalised.

What your PC needs

The Steam store page lists the system requirements (read 8 November 2026):

The SSD note is worth taking seriously in a game with this much streaming of maps and effects, and NetEase has spent several patches on load behaviour — Season 9.5 reduced the installed size through texture compression, and Season 2 added a shader compilation mode (below). If your PC sits near the minimum, the graphics section matters most to you; near the recommended spec, you can keep more visual quality and still hold a high, steady frame rate.

Graphics: what to turn down first

NetEase's Season 1 patch (10 January 2025) added the options a competitive player looks for: an Off setting for Anti-Aliasing, Global Illumination and Reflection Quality, and a Performance option for Model Detail, plus "adjusted and optimized various parameters within the graphics settings". BoostPirate's triage:

Why these? Global illumination and reflections make scenes look rich but don't show you anything new about where the enemy is, and they're among the heaviest things a renderer does. Hiding other players' custom Ultimate VFX (a Season 4 option, September 2025) doesn't remove the ultimate itself; it stops cosmetic variants from changing what a dangerous ultimate looks like. Our test for every setting: does it change how quickly I can see and identify a threat? If not, it can go.

Measure in the right place. A quiet corner of the training range will run far faster than a six-versus-six fight full of ultimates. Set a frame cap you can hold in the busiest fights, not the highest number you saw once; a steady frame rate keeps your aim consistent.

Upscalers and frame generation

The patch notes add several vendor technologies over time:

• Intel XeSS 2 with Xe Frame Generation (XeFG) and Xe Low Latency (XeLL) — Season 1, January 2025.
• AMD FSR 4, the AI-accelerated upscaler, for Radeon RX 9000 series cards — Season 2, April 2025.
• Intel XeSS 3 Frame Generation, which can insert up to three generated frames, working with XeLL — Season 10, September 2026.

Use them in this order. Upscaling renders at a lower internal resolution and rebuilds the image, which buys real frames and real responsiveness; on a mid-range card it's usually a better trade than lowering resolution yourself. Frame generation is different: it inserts frames between the ones the game renders, so motion looks smoother, but your inputs are still processed at the real frame rate. That's why it's paired with a low-latency mode. BoostPirate's advice: try frame generation if your real frame rate is already comfortable and you want smoother motion; don't use it to rescue a low frame rate in Competitive, and compare how aiming feels with it off before you commit.

Mouse: smoothing, acceleration and polling

These three settings matter more for aim than everything in the graphics menu.

Two more input notes from the patch notes. Season 2 fixed a rare case where raw mouse input settings affected controllers and caused crosshair drift — a reminder that console and PC input settings are separate, and our cross-progression guide covers what carries between platforms. And Season 4 added slow walk on PC, which matters more than it sounds when you're holding an angle and don't want your footsteps heard.

Sensitivity and crosshairs, per hero

Marvel Rivals heroes aim very differently — a sniper rifle, a beam, a shotgun, a projectile with travel time — so one crosshair rarely suits a whole pool. Since Season 8 (15 May 2026) you can open a pro player's profile and copy their custom crosshairs, configured per hero, and Season 10.5 added a Custom Targeting Sensitivity setting for Gorr's Shadow Harvest, a sign that per-ability sensitivity options are spreading.

BoostPirate's approach: keep one base sensitivity for everything and change it only for heroes that genuinely play differently, such as a scoped sniper. For crosshairs, a small, high-contrast centre for hitscan and precision heroes; a slightly larger one that shows spread for shotguns and automatics. If you're unsure, copying a pro's crosshair for your main is a sensible starting point — then adjust colour until you can see it against every map. The aim guide has the sensitivity method.

Audio and voice

Sound tells you about flankers and ultimates before you see them. The relevant options:

• Soundwave Enhancement under Audio – Combat Mix (Season 3, July 2025) adds "softer high-frequency hit and impact sound effects". Try it if hit sounds tire your ears in long sessions.
• Squad-only voice (Season 4): keep comms to your party when you queue with friends.
• NetEase also tunes hero sounds in patches — Season 10 "optimized Black Cat's footstep audio so her approach can be perceived normally" — so if a hero suddenly sounds different, check the notes before blaming your settings.

Use headphones, keep music low or off during Competitive, and set voice chat so your team's calls sit above the game without drowning out footsteps.

The experimental performance options

Two options are labelled experimental by NetEase, so test them rather than assuming they help:

Test each one the same way: play two or three games with it on, two or three with it off, in similar matches. If you can't feel a difference, leave it on whichever setting gave you fewer stutters.

Settings vs mods: where NetEase draws the line

On 15 October 2026 NetEase published "Use of Mods and Violation Management". It's the most important thing in this guide if you've ever downloaded a "performance" or "visibility" tweak:

NetEase says such mods "alter the game's original visual, auditory, and combat presentation", that it "will take decisive disciplinary action", and it named two files to delete, pystubber.asi and MarvelRivalsUnmountBlocker.asi. It lifted the suspensions from the two days before the notice but said that "does not mean we are permitting the use of these Mods". If a tweak isn't in the menu, don't install it. Our penalties guide covers how NetEase's other penalties work.

A ten-minute setup, in order

1. Update and launch once. Let shaders compile before your first ranked game.
2. Graphics triage. Global Illumination and Reflections off, Model Detail to Performance, then your upscaler.
3. Find your frame cap in a busy match, not an empty room.
4. Mouse. Smoothing and acceleration off; polling option if your mouse needs it.
5. Sensitivity. One base value; per-hero only where the hero needs it.
6. Crosshairs for your three most played heroes.
7. Audio. Headphones, music down, voice set, Combat Mix to taste.
8. Play three games before you change anything again.

Then stop tuning. The settings that matter take ten minutes; changing them every session is how players lose the consistency they set them for. When Season 11 arrives on 13 November 2026, read its patch notes for new options and re-run steps 2 and 3 if the graphics menu changed.