Complete Valorant config for FPS and visibility: everything on low + anisotropic x4, crosshair, HRTF, and why what does NOT work in CS2 actually works here.
A few weeks ago I wrote that **"everything on low" is the worst advice for CS2**. If you read that guide, what I'm about to say will sound weird: in Valorant, everything on low DOES work, and it's what I've been running in my setup for months. The rule isn't contradictory — it's that CS2 and Valorant handle enemy visibility in very different ways. Here's my full Valorant config: graphics, resolution, audio, crosshair, and the important nuance with CS2.
Resolution and aspect ratio: native with occasional 4:3 true stretched
I mainly play at 1920×1080 native (16:9) at 240 Hz. It's what the game engine expects: agents are scaled exactly as Riot designed them, the field of view matches the intended design, and everything feels consistent.
That said, every now and then — especially when I want to make close-quarters fights easier in narrow corridors (Haven A, Bind shower, Lotus C-link) — I switch to 4:3 true stretched. It makes agents wider and easier to spot, at the cost of a narrower horizontal FOV. It's not "cheating"; it's a trade-off: you gain on short-range aim, you lose on peripheral awareness.
When to pick one over the other?
If your aim is already dialed in: stick with 16:9 native. The horizontal FOV gives you more information and agents are the "intended" size.
If you're coming from CS:GO 4:3 stretched and never adapted to widescreen: start with 4:3 stretched in Valorant too. Your muscle memory has been trained on that format for years.
Don't keep switching: pick one and play 100 games before changing. Mixing resolutions day to day will destroy your aim.
Refresh rate: 240 Hz if your monitor supports it, 144 Hz if that's what you have (Valorant scales well). FPS cap: see my G-Sync / V-Sync / FPS cap guide
Graphics settings: everything on low, anisotropic x4 (and why it's NOT like CS2)
Here's the contrarian take from the CS2 guide that people keep asking me about:
In the CS2 guide I wrote that "everything on low" is a trap because shadows are tactical information: you see an enemy's shadow creeping around a corner before you see the enemy. In Valorant that doesn't apply the same way, for two reasons:
1. Valorant's engine doesn't cast player shadows the way CS2 does. Agents cast a basic shadow on the nearby ground, but it's not the "long shadow creeping around a corner" that gives you real intel 5 meters before seeing an enemy in CS2. 2. Valorant's visibility system prioritizes agent silhouette over the environment. The models are designed with contrast against maps regardless of graphics quality. On "everything low" the agent still stands out clearly.
That's why my Valorant config is different from my CS2 one:
Texture Quality: Low (you don't need fine wall detail; what you see of the enemy doesn't depend on wall quality)
UI Quality: Low (the HUD doesn't need hi-res textures)
Vignette: OFF (it darkens your screen corners; you don't want that in long-range fights)
VSync: Off (always — see my sync guide)
Anti-Aliasing: None or MSAA 2x (with a decent monitor and agents with defined outlines, you don't need anti-aliasing in Valorant)
Anisotropic Filtering: 4x (the one setting I RAISE. Improves texture definition at oblique angles — walls and floors seen from an angle — at virtually zero FPS cost. Basically free.)
Improve Clarity: ON (sharpens agent outlines against the background)
Experimental Sharpening: ON (similar to the above, reinforces model definition)
Bloom: OFF (blurs reflections and lights — you just wasted three frames staring at Sunset's floor)
Distortion: OFF (some ability visual effects like molotovs warp what's behind them; I disable this to see through clearly)
First-Person Shadows: OFF (saves frames and adds nothing tactical)
The exception to "everything on low": that anisotropic x4. It's the one setting I don't cut corners on because I don't see the improved clarity on oblique textures costing real FPS. If your GPU is very modest, leave it at 2x; if it's decent, go 4x. Don't go to 8x — the visual difference is minimal and the cost starts to show.
Crosshair: contrast without going overboard
The philosophy: your crosshair has to stand out enough that you don't lose it in fights but not be so loud it distracts you.
My recommended colors, in order:
1. White (color 8 on the Valorant slider) — the most versatile. Stands out on most maps except in very bright areas of Ascent or Lotus. 2. Red (color 1) — high contrast against most maps, but watch out on Pearl and areas with red effects where it gets lost. 3. Green (color 4) — classic CS style. Good on dark maps. 4. Cyan (color 5) — a favorite among many pros. Stands out against sky (Sunset, Ascent) and brown/dark surfaces.
Color to avoid: pink / magenta. Sounds nice but has real problems: it blends in with some ability effects (Cypher, Killjoy) and with textures on several maps. I tried it and switched back to cyan within a week.
General geometry that works for me:
Inner Lines: ON. Length 4-6, thickness 1-2, gap 2-3.
Outer Lines: OFF (visual noise; I haven't used them in months).
Center Dot: OFF (some pros use it; it bothers me. Try both).
Outline: ON, thickness 1. Keeps you from losing the crosshair in areas of the same color.
Movement Error / Firing Error: OFF — a static crosshair trains you NOT to shoot while moving (which is correct in Valorant). If you leave it dynamic, you learn to rely on the engine warning you, and that doesn't scale competitively.
Audio: HRTF on, no music, game audio first
Sound in Valorant is tactical information on par with visuals. People underestimate it and play with music blasting for no reason. My config:
HRTF: ON. Simulates more realistic 3D sound with stereo headphones. Knowing whether the enemy is above/below you or exactly to your left comes from this.
Master Volume: depends on your headset, but everything else is adjusted as a percentage of this.
Music Volume: 0. The menu music is nice once; in-game it covers up footsteps. Gone.
Voice (your team): high, but not higher than sound effects. Your team needs to hear you; you need to hear them too, but not at the cost of footsteps.
Sound Effects: high. This is what matters most.
One detail: if you're playing on speakers, forget HRTF. It's designed for headphones; with stereo speakers it distorts positional audio. On speakers, HRTF off and lower sound effects a bit.
Your eDPI and sensitivity
I won't go deep on this here because I have a dedicated guide: see DPI, polling, and eDPI. My Valorant setup is 1600 DPI × 0.15 sens = 240 eDPI. That's in the mid-range for pros, not too low, not too high.
The important thing: find yours and don't change it every week. In that guide I explain how to iterate without wasting a year.
Reflex in Valorant: free performance if you turn it on
Valorant supports NVIDIA Reflex. As I covered in my G-Sync / V-Sync guide, I haven't tested it in my own setup, but technically it reduces input lag by 10-30 ms at no FPS cost. You'll find it under Settings → Video → General → NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency. Set it to "ON + Boost" if your GPU isn't maxing out on FPS. If you play Valorant and have NVIDIA, there's very little reason not to turn it on.
Optional bonus: per-game sharpening from the NVIDIA App
Something I discovered late and ended up sticking with: raising sharpness ("Image Sharpening") in the NVIDIA App specifically for Valorant, not globally.
NVIDIA App → Valorant → Filters → Image Sharpening: 0.40–0.60 depending on your taste. It makes models look more defined (sharper). Important: defined ≠ image quality. You're not increasing quality, you're sharpening edges. For Valorant, where the enemy is basically a silhouette against the background, sharpening those edges helps you read them faster.
Enabling it per-game (not globally) has two advantages: it doesn't apply to your desktop, and it doesn't break games with subtle visual effects where sharpening would ruin the atmosphere (visually detailed RPGs, for example).
What DOESN'T matter: myths, urban legends, and marketing
Weapon skins "that improve accuracy / animation". No. Skins do NOT affect hitboxes, spread, spray patterns, or equip speed. Premium animations might make transitions feel smoother, but they don't change a single shot. If you like them, buy them for aesthetics, not performance.
"Best agents to climb rank". Every agent has its role; climbing is about playing YOUR role well, not picking the meta agent. If you play Sentinel and like Cypher, play Cypher; not Chamber just because the latest Reddit video says it's OP.
NVIDIA App settings "specifically for Valorant" that promise +50 FPS. Almost always smoke and mirrors. What actually moves the needle in the NVIDIA panel I cover in my panel guide.
Dropping render resolution to 720p for "more FPS". If your GPU can't hit stable 200 FPS at 1080p, yes, drop to 900p. But below 900p models lose definition and long-range fights become a lottery. The trade-off rarely pays off.
Quick summary
Resolution: 1920×1080 native (16:9). 4:3 true stretched only if your muscle memory demands it.
Refresh / FPS: 240 Hz if you have it, cap at 300 FPS from in-game (see sync guide).
Graphics: everything on low + Anisotropic x4. DOES work in Valorant even though it does NOT in CS2 (different engine).
Improve Clarity ON, Experimental Sharpening ON, Vignette/Bloom/Distortion OFF.
Crosshair: white, red, green, or cyan. Pink/magenta NO. No Outer Lines, no Movement Error.
Audio: HRTF ON with headphones, music at 0, sound effects first.
eDPI: yours. My reference is 240 (1600×0.15). Dedicated guide.
Reflex ON + Boost if you have NVIDIA and want to enable it.
NVIDIA Image Sharpening per-game optional for added definition.
If you only take two things away: everything on low + anisotropic x4 and HRTF + music 0. Those two cover half the playable benefit. Everything else is fine-tuning.
Frequently asked questions
Why does everything on low work in Valorant if it doesn't in CS2?
Valorant's engine doesn't cast player shadows the way CS2 does, where a shadow creeping around a corner is real tactical information. In Valorant, the visibility system prioritizes agent silhouette over the environment, so on low quality the enemy still stands out clearly regardless of graphics settings.
What resolution is better in Valorant, native 16:9 or 4:3 stretched?
The recommendation is to stick with 1920×1080 native (16:9) if your aim is already solid: the horizontal FOV gives you more information and agents are the size Riot intended. 4:3 true stretched makes agents wider and easier to aim at in narrow corridors, but at the cost of seeing less to the sides. The key point: pick one and play 100 games before switching — mixing them destroys your muscle memory.
What crosshair color works best in competitive Valorant?
The recommended order is white (most versatile), red, green, and cyan — the latter a favorite among many pros for standing out against sky and dark surfaces. The color to avoid is pink or magenta: it blends in with ability effects like those from Cypher or Killjoy and with textures on several maps.
Is it worth enabling NVIDIA Reflex in Valorant?
Valorant supports NVIDIA Reflex and technically reduces input lag by 10 to 30 ms at no FPS cost. You enable it under Settings → Video → General → NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency; the recommendation is to set it to 'ON + Boost' if your GPU isn't maxing out on frames. If you play Valorant and have NVIDIA, there's very little reason not to turn it on.
