Do you want to optimize your League of Legends experience? Let’s look at the most important settings to get right for the perfect competitive gaming setting!

One of the most important aspects to control before queuing up any game is your need to ensure your settings are optimal for the game ahead. League of Legends is fantastic in that regard, as nearly every part of the game is adjustable. In addition, the game includes tons of accessibility settings for colorblind users that many games forget. 

League of Legends also offers a tremendous number of settings for various sounds, audio queues, and in-game music, which are vital for playing at the game's highest level. However, these settings don’t have any “best” settings, as each player’s setup is vastly different. As such, try them out and see what works best for you. 

Before we dive in, don’t forget to check out how G-Loot can help you track your League of Legends stats while you play and gain rewards!

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How to change settings in League of Legends 

Some League of Legends settings are changeable through the main client, and the graphic sections are exclusively accessible during any League of Legends match. I like to adjust any settings while inside a custom League of Legends match. Doing so allows me to change every setting exactly to my liking without worrying about letting down my teammates. 

Creating a custom game for League of Legends is simple. Locate the “Play” button on the top-left corner of the main client, and select “Create Custom” in the top row of the options. Press Confirm (the other settings here don’t matter), and navigate as normal through Champion Select by picking any champion and locking in. That allows you to immediately get into a League of Legends match where you can test, adjust, and optimize everything you need. 

Hotkeys in League of Legends

As with nearly every PC game, the Hotkeys are a topic often causing disagreement. The only thing most League of Legends players agree on is that you NEED to use them! There are four main ability keybinds, Q - W - E - R, and two summoner spell keybinds, D and F. Most players keep these as their default options. Still, those coming from games such as World of Warcraft, Path of Exile, or Diablo, may choose to adjust these to their familiar layout. Simply click on the boxes and select the key to which you want the ability to bind as you would with almost all other games.

In addition, you almost always want to use “Quick Cast” in League of Legends rather than “Normal Cast.” The difference between the two is when the abilities activate. “Quick Cast” selects the abilities your champion has available as soon as you press the corresponding button on your keyboard, where Normal Cast requires an additional use to target or activate the ability. 

Of course, there are exceptions, especially with abilities requiring higher accuracy and timing in place of quicker responses. The best example may be Lux’s R - Death Ray, an incredibly long-range skill shot. Removing “Quick Cast” through the in-game settings menu is simple: adjust the “arrow” below the corresponding ability, item, or summoner spell. 

Video Settings for League of Legends 

Many options are available for League of Legends’ video settings. Finding the right balance of visual quality to game performance is a challenge, so let’s discuss some available options. 

Resolution & Window Mode

Choosing the right resolution is vital for the performance of League of Legends on your PC. As a general rule, choosing the Resolution to match your monitor is the ideal place to start, and it often results in the optimal performance and gameplay experience. Personally, I use a scaled-down version of League of Legends, which makes keeping track of my mini-map much easier throughout the game. 

The Window Mode setting is simple. You either use Borderless or Windowed mode almost 100% of the time. If you ever tab out of League of Legends, you will want to use these settings. Borderless and Windowed modes are effectively identical as they adjust the client to your chosen Resolution. The difference is the ability to drag and move your client around if you choose a smaller resolution with the “Windowed” option. 

Colorblind mode 

Using Colorblind mode exists to aid users with Red-green or Blue-yellow colorblindness by adjusting the color palates of some aspects of League of Legends objects and characters.

Use Relative Team Colors

Similar to Colorblind mode; it adjusts the team colors to be slightly more distinct to some users. 

Hide Eye Candy & Enable Screen Shake

These options are vital to your game’s performance. In the current day, they do not benefit players in any way and should be turned off (or not enabled) in both cases, as they are only distractions. 

Graphics Settings for League of Legends 

These settings are where you can make the most gain for users with older setups. The previous image is an example of my setup on my older laptop, which still runs League of Legends very impressively. The slider is a good place to start, but you’ll want to customize these options to fit your needs. 

Character Quality

Out of the main four settings, Character Quality is by far the most important. The Character Quality affects the ten champions on Summoner’s rift, including their main abilities and movement. Having played at all different settings, it is far tougher to notice certain animations or movements from characters with this setting on low. That, in turn, significantly hurts your chances of responding quickly and accurately to your opponents. 

Environment Quality & Effects Quality

For me, using an older device, these are the settings I compromise on to maintain the best overall performance. If your PC can handle higher rates here, they are very worthwhile as they make the game look far prettier, but these don’t affect gameplay nearly as much. 

Shadow Quality

Shadow Quality is a luxury. If you run some incredible setup, enable it. For most people reading this, Shadows should be turned off. They don’t add anything to the gameplay, and you aren’t missing out on any edges. 

Advanced Settings for League of Legends 

Below the main graphic’s settings are a couple of incredibly important settings you do not want to forget. The first of which is your “Frame Rate Cap.” In most games, you simply want to cap your FPS at your monitor’s refresh rate. If you don’t know, it is probably 59 or 60 FPS. However, while I can’t explain “why,” there is a notable difference between playing League of Legends with a 60 or 120/144 FPS cap vs. Uncapped on 60 or 120-hertz monitors. I recommend testing both options to see which works best for you. 

In addition to the Frame Rate Cap, there are two more options in the “Advanced Section” about which we have to worry. Anti-Aliasing and Wait for Vertical Sync (or V-Sync) are meant to improve the visual look of League of Legends in some circumstances, but they require immense processing power. As these offer no competitive advantage, it is rarely worth the cost. 

The Interface section of League of Legends has many customizations, many of which are worth discussing. Let’s start with the main Interface Size options and which ones are worth adjusting. 

Hud Scale

The HUD Scale does as you would expect. The HUD includes the main aspects that can clutter your screen, like your ability bar, hit points, cooldowns, and all that other information. There is a lot of room for personal preference here, but for the more experienced League of Legends players, the majority of information this offers is excess and distracting. As such most players scale the HUD option to “0,” the smallest available option, to allow for more room on their screen for mouse movement and to better see their surroundings. 

Cursor Scale, Shop Scale, Chat Scale, and Death Recap Scale

Similar to the HUD scale option, these are up to personal preference and rarely affect any aspect of the game. 

Minimap Scale

Out of the main Interface Size menu, the Minimap Scale is by far the most important. You’ll want to make your Minimap as large as possible without it interfering with your mouse movements. The reason why is simple. The larger it is, the more you can notice. Noticing an enemy approaching even a moment sooner can mean the difference between life and death. 

Interface options quick Rundown!

Health and Resource Bars

Show Health Bars: Yes

Show Loss of Control UI: Optional

Enable HUD Animations: Helpful for specific champions (default ON)

Show Health Bar Animations: Optional (default ON)

Show Names Above Healthbar

None. There is no advantage to knowing your opponent’s names; it only adds clutter to your screen. 

Notifications

Screen Flash on Damage: Optional, occasionally beneficial. 

Screen Flash on Loss of Control: No, rarely helpful.

Champion highlight on camera center: Optional

Ability and Attack Display

Show Target Frame on Attack: Yes

Show Attack Range: Yes

Show Spell Cost: Optional, helpful

Enable Line Missle Display: Yes, optional

Disable HUD Spell Click: Yes, optional

Ability Cooldown Display: Seconds, Minutes, or Minutes & Seconds is a personal preference.

Minimap

Show Neutral Camps: Yes

Allow Minimap Movement: Yes

Show Minimap Left: Optional

Team Frames on Side of the Screen: Optional. 

Chat

Show [All] Chat (Matched Games): Optional, though I would advise against it when not playing with friends. 

Show [Allied] Chat: Optional, recommended in most cases. Disable when playing the “Jungle” position due to common verbal abuse. 

Show Timestamps: Optional, helpful. 

Combat Text

Damage: Yes

Gold: Yes

Quest: Optional (Yes on certain champions)

Enemy Damage: Yes

Score: Yes

Heal: Yes

Status: Yes

Mana: No/Optional

Dodge: Optional

Special: Optional

Experience: Yes, helpful.

League of Legends Game Tab Settings

The “Game” tab of League of Legends’ Options menu has very little to offer, but there are a couple of settings worth mentioning. In terms of “Controls,” the “Mouse Speed” setting is the most important, by a lot. Note: The Mouse Speed Setting in-game for League of Legends is separate from your device’s Mouse Speed setting. The setting helps to finetune your mouse speed but can remain unchanged for most players. 

Camera and Keyboard speed are up to personal preference, but I have yet to feel any need to adjust these throughout my League of Legends playing years. Similarly, I have never needed to adjust the options like “Mouse Button Drag Scroll” and “Enable Smooth Camera” from their default setting. 

Move Camera on Revive: No, optional. 

This setting deserves some more explaining as, at its core, it is very helpful, especially for newer players. Important for those who have a tendency to “change music,” as my friend loves to call it, during our games (he just alt-tabs and browses Reddit half the time), changing the camera on revive can be very helpful. I turned the setting off myself when I started to use the Teleport summoner spell more commonly, as on more than one occasion, I teleported to the wrong place immediately on respawning due to my camera unexpectedly moving back to the Fountain. 

Gameplay Options

Last we have the Gameplay section of the League of Legends Options menu. There are five last settings, of which a few are vital to your League of Legends experience. The settings “Show Turret Range indicators (coop vs. AI)” and “Treat ‘Target Champions Only’ as a toggle” are equally uncommon and un-impactful in use. One, due to only affecting a game mode, a few % of the player base plays when they level accounts or first learn the game, with the other only affecting a narrow number of champions. 

Auto Attack

The three that stand out may be the most important settings in the options menu. First, we have “Auto Attack.” The setting is highly controversial, with many of League of Legends’ best players choosing not to use this setting as it can result in inopportune targeting of basic attacks towards minions nearby. To simplify, “Auto Attack” being enabled means your character attacks anything within your attack range if you don’t input other commands. If you are new to the game, this will be very helpful. 

Use Movement Prediction

Second, “Use Movement Prediction,” a setting you should almost always disable. The main use of “Use Movement Prediction” is if the game perceives you as disconnected, as it starts to path your champion back to safety. However, sometimes even a brief lag spike can cause you to lose out on resources and experience due to the system’s imperfections. As such, it is best to turn this off in most cases. 

Attack move on cursor

Last is “Attack move on cursor,” a setting with benefits and downsides depending on who you ask. “Attack Move” is a specific action in League of Legends, where your character paths to a location and attacks attackable targets in range. If a target becomes available before the pathing is complete, the target is attacked right away without completing the walking. The most common use is when you path your character into brushes or other areas without vision, as it can allow your character to start attacking immediately, even if your reflexes aren’t as fast. 

“Attack move on cursor” is an aid to help you prioritize targets when multiple targets are available within your attack range. A common example of that could be if you use “attack move” when you are close to champions and minions, but you want to prioritize a certain champion within your range in place of the closest one.

Time to try out the best settings for competitive League of Legends!

Enjoyed reading this article and feeling like you must experiment with these settings? 

Before you start finding the best solution for yourself and your gaming gear, check out how G-Loot can enhance your League of Legends gaming by tracking your stats. Moreover, you can complete daily missions and gain rewards as you simply play your favorite games!