How to improve FPS in Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon (PC)
Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon runs on an evolution of FromSoftware's internal engine, the same one powering Elden Ring, but adapted to a radically different pace: 3D mech combat with constant boosting, evasive dashes, vertical flight, and a camera reacting to sharp turns in fractions of a second. Unlike a traditional Souls game, here the engine has to sustain a high framerate while moving entire combat arenas around the player at high speed, on top of rendering massive bosses like Balteus or the Ibis with dozens of simultaneous projectiles, particles, and explosion effects. The result is a game more CPU-demanding than it looks, with clear frametime spikes during geometry streaming in open missions and during boss fights' final phases with the most effect spam.
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Calculations based on our FPS model combined with the % gain of each setting (measured in public benchmarks).
1. Quick wins (no visual loss)
Start here. Each one adds a little, but together they give +11% free FPS.
Motion Blur
With combat full of constant dashes and camera turns, motion blur adds a layer of blur that makes it harder to track enemy projectiles and rival ACs on screen. Disabling it improves combat readability at almost no real visual cost.
Depth of Field
Depth-of-field blur in hangar cutscenes and certain mission framing consumes post-processing resources that add nothing during third-person combat, where the camera is almost always in motion.
Chromatic Aberration
A purely cosmetic effect that distorts image edges during boosts and dashes. Its performance impact is low but disabling it is a free gain in perceived fidelity.
Film Grain
Film grain adds noise to the image without contributing anything to reading combat; in scenes with a lot of smoke and particles from boss explosions, accumulated grain makes the image even messier.
Shadow Quality
The dynamic shadows of ACs and the environment are constantly recalculated due to vertical movement and boosters; lowering from High to Medium frees up GPU with almost no effect on combat readability, since you rarely look at the ground in detail mid-fight.
2. Medium impact settings
Here's where most of the FPS is. Minor visual impact, major performance impact.
Particle Effects Quality
Massive bosses like Balteus or Ibis saturate the screen with particles from explosions, missiles, and simultaneous laser fire, causing the game's most noticeable frametime drops. Lowering this option to Medium smooths those spikes without losing the readability of attack patterns.
Level of Detail (LOD)
With fast boosted flight, the engine needs to load and unload arena geometry at high speed; reducing LOD eases streaming and reduces the typical popping and microstutters when flying over large mission zones.
Reflection Quality
The metallic surfaces of ACs and the industrial environment calculate real-time reflections that are rarely noticed during high-speed combat. Lowering them to Low frees up a consistent FPS margin without sacrificing the game's visual identity.
Volumetric Fog/Lighting
Several missions and bosses use volumetric fog and light shafts to set the mood in closed arenas; in scenes with a lot of explosion smoke, this option is among the heaviest on the GPU. Lowering it to Medium reduces load without losing the overall atmosphere.
Texture Quality
Unlike other settings, texture quality depends more on VRAM than on raw compute power; on GPUs with 6GB or less it may be worth lowering it a notch to avoid streaming hitches, but on cards with enough VRAM it can stay high with minimal FPS impact.
3. Upscaling (DLSS / FSR / XeSS)
The biggest gain in the game. Compatible with almost any modern GPU.
No native support (NVIDIA Image Scaling / AMD RSR at the driver level)
+0% FPSArmored Core VI doesn't include native DLSS, FSR, or XeSS, following the usual pattern of FromSoftware's engines (just like Elden Ring at launch). The only upscaling route is forcing it at the driver level: NVIDIA Image Scaling or AMD RSR/FSR at the system level let you render at a reduced internal resolution and scale the output, with a real but noticeably smaller gain than an upscaler built into the engine.
4. Tips by GPU
NVIDIA
- •Use NVIDIA Image Scaling (NIS) from the control panel to render at a reduced internal resolution on limited GPUs, since the game has no native DLSS.
- •Enable Reflex if your driver build includes the option via control panel; in a fast mech combat game with constant dashes, reducing input lag matters as much as gaining FPS.
- •Keep Game Ready drivers updated: FromSoftware has released several patches with shader changes, and outdated drivers increase compilation stuttering on first launch after each patch.
AMD
- •Use RSR (Radeon Super Resolution) at the driver level as an upscaling alternative given the absence of native FSR in the game.
- •Enable Radeon Anti-Lag to offset input lag in fast mech combat, especially noticeable in PvP and against bosses with reactive patterns.
- •On APUs or low-end GPUs, prioritize lowering Particle Effects and Volumetric Lighting before resolution: they're the settings with the biggest real impact on boss-fight spikes.
Sistema
- •Install the game on SSD (preferably NVMe): geometry streaming during boosted flight in open maps directly benefits from low read times, reducing texture popping.
- •Let shader compilation finish after each update before entering a boss mission; doing it mid-fight against something like Balteus is the most common cause of severe stutter reported by the community.
- •Close recording/streaming overlays in the background if you notice microstutters in open zones: the game is more sensitive to CPU interference than its mech aesthetic suggests, due to the amount of physics and collision calculations during flight.
5. Known game issues
Shader-compilation stuttering after updates
Every major game patch (including DLC content) triggers shader recompilation on first launch or when entering new areas, causing occasional hitches especially noticeable in the first missions after updating. The problem eases once you complete a test mission before diving into a boss fight.
Frametime drops in bosses with projectile spam
Bosses like Balteus, Ibis, or drone swarms generate load spikes from the number of projectiles, impact particles, and explosion effects rendered at once, causing occasional FPS drops even on powerful hardware. Lowering Particle Effects Quality is the most effective community-reported fix.
Micro-stutter during fast flight on open maps
When using boosters for fast movement across large open missions, geometry and texture streaming can fall behind on mechanical drives or saturated SATA SSDs, generating small hitches when entering new areas of the arena.
6. Frequently asked questions
Does Armored Core VI have the same 60 FPS cap as Elden Ring?▾
Why doesn't it have DLSS or FSR if it uses a modern FromSoftware engine?▾
Is it a game more demanding on CPU or GPU?▾
Which setting has the best ratio of FPS gained to visual impact lost?▾
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Calculate FPS for Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon →Calculations based on consensus of technical sources and our own FPS model. More about our methodology →