How to improve FPS in World of Warships (PC)
World of Warships is Wargaming's free-to-play naval game where you command battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and carriers in battles of up to 24 ships. Its engine, inherited from the BigWorld technology used in World of Tanks, isn't demanding by modern graphical standards, but it is on physics calculation: it simulates real-time ocean water across the whole map, hundreds of ballistic projectiles in flight, and AI-controlled aircraft squadrons. The result is a game that runs well on almost any rig, but that can suffer CPU-driven FPS drops in large battles with many ships, smoke, and planes on screen at once. Optimizing here means identifying which settings are purely cosmetic (water, shadows, reflections) and which affect CPU load and real combat smoothness.
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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 +43% free FPS.
Water Quality
Water is the most expensive graphical element in World of Warships because it's rendered continuously across the entire map, including the swell that affects aiming. Dropping it from Ultra to Medium noticeably reduces the load without losing the visual reference of wave motion. On modest rigs it's the first setting to touch.
Reflections
Reflections of hull, turrets, and superstructures on the water consume extra rendering resources that provide no competitive advantage. Dropping them to Low removes much of the cost while keeping the ship recognizable. Especially effective combined with Water Quality on Medium.
Shadow Quality
The dynamic shadows of every ship, turret, and plane recalculate constantly, and with 24 ships on screen the cost multiplies quickly. Dropping them to Low still gives models volume without Ultra's fine recalculation. One of the settings with the best FPS-gained-to-visual-loss ratio.
Anti-Aliasing
Edge smoothing in a game with so many fine elements (rigging, antennas, guns) can be costly in high modes like MSAA. FXAA offers acceptable smoothing at a fraction of the performance cost. For players who prioritize spotting enemy silhouettes at distance, even disabling it is viable.
Effects Quality
Explosions, smoke screens, and artillery impacts generate particles that pile up quickly in multi-ship engagements. Dropping this setting to Medium reduces FPS drops during the most intense moments of a battle, which are exactly when stability is most needed. A setting with direct gameplay impact, not just aesthetics.
2. Medium impact settings
Here's where most of the FPS is. Minor visual impact, major performance impact.
Ship Detail / LOD
High-tier ships have hundreds of individually modeled parts: secondary guns, antennas, chains, lifeboats. On Medium the game reduces detail on distant ships while keeping nearby ones intact, which are the ones that actually matter for aiming. The visual difference only shows when zooming into distant ships.
View Distance
Lowering this setting too much can hide terrain details or ships at the edge of detection range, affecting tactical decision-making. Recommended to keep it on High and adjust other purely cosmetic options first, since lowering it further doesn't offset the loss of gameplay information.
Post-Processing / HDR
Post-processing effects like bloom and color correction add an extra render pass over the whole screen. Disabling them gives a flatter image but with better contrast for distinguishing enemy silhouettes against the horizon, valued in competitive play (clan battles).
Vertical Sync (V-Sync)
V-Sync introduces extra input lag in a game where projectile flight time already demands precise anticipatory aiming. Disabling it along with a software FPS limit (like the one in the NVIDIA/AMD panel) avoids tearing without penalizing control responsiveness.
3. Upscaling (DLSS / FSR / XeSS)
The biggest gain in the game. Compatible with almost any modern GPU.
4. Tips by GPU
NVIDIA
- •Enable an FPS limit in the NVIDIA control panel (say 90 or 120) instead of relying on V-Sync, to reduce input lag in artillery duels.
- •Use "Prefer maximum performance" in 3D power management to prevent the GPU from downclocking in menus between matches, which causes micro-spikes at the start of battle.
- •If your card has little VRAM (4GB or less), avoid raising Water Quality and Ship Detail to Ultra at the same time to avoid saturating the texture buffer on large maps.
AMD
- •Enable Radeon Chill or Radeon Boost to stabilize framerate during lower-action phases of combat, like repositioning your ship out of line of sight.
- •Disable Radeon Image Sharpening if you notice artifacts in the water or smoke, since the effect can accentuate the noise from Effects Quality particles.
- •Update to the latest drivers before each clan-battles season: Wargaming often adjusts water shaders that sometimes cause performance regressions on older driver versions.
Sistema
- •This game depends more on the CPU than the GPU in large battles, so a processor with good per-core performance (rather than many cores) makes more difference than upgrading the graphics card.
- •Install the game on an SSD: map load times and the appearance of enemy ship textures when entering detection range improve noticeably over a mechanical drive.
- •Close the Wargaming Game Center launcher and third-party overlays (Discord, GeForce Experience) during matches, since they consume CPU cycles that compete with naval physics calculation.
5. Known game issues
FPS drops when using carrier consumables
When controlling air squadrons, the simultaneous calculation of flight AI, collisions, and AA from every ship on screen can cause occasional framerate drops, especially on maps with many active players.
Microstutter when entering an enemy ship's detection range
On-demand loading of an enemy ship's detailed model when entering its visibility range can cause a small frame hitch, more noticeable with Ship Detail on Ultra and mechanical hard drives.
Performance drop in Operations mode with many bots
PvE modes with a large number of AI-controlled ships and secondary objectives (forts, bases) generate more CPU load than a standard random 12-vs-12 battle.
Estado: Partially mitigated in recent AI-engine updates
6. Frequently asked questions
Do I need a powerful GPU to play World of Warships well?▾
Why do my FPS drop only in some battles and not others?▾
Is it worth maxing out all the water effects?▾
Does World of Warships support DLSS or FSR?▾
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Calculate FPS for World of Warships →Calculations based on consensus of technical sources and our own FPS model. More about our methodology →