Understanding Helldivers 2 DLSS Support and Upscaling

Spreading managed democracy across the galaxy is hard work, especially when your frame rate starts to dip during a heavy bug breach. If you are looking for Helldivers 2 DLSS support to save your performance, you might have noticed something missing from the settings menu. While DLSS is the gold standard for many, getting the best Helldivers 2 performance requires a slightly different approach on your gaming rig. 🚀

As it stands, Helldivers 2 does not natively support NVIDIA Deep Learning Super Sampling. The game was built on a modified version of the Bitsquid engine... now known as Autodesk Stingray... which ceased official support years ago. Because of this architectural choice, the developers opted for a cross-platform spatial upscaler that works across all hardware. If you are currently running one of the latest NVIDIA graphics cards, you will need to rely on the in-game "Render Scale" settings or NVIDIA Image Scaling (NIS) via your control panel to boost those frames.

Optimising Helldivers 2 Performance and Render Scale

Since we cannot toggle a simple DLSS switch, the "Render Scale" setting becomes the most important lever for performance. This setting determines the internal resolution at which the game world is drawn before being upscaled to your monitor's native resolution. For those who buy AMD Radeon graphics cards, the in-game implementation behaves similarly to FSR 1.0, providing a significant frame rate uplift at the cost of some visual clarity.

TIP

Performance Pro Tip ⚡

If you find the image too blurry when using lower Render Scale settings, try increasing the "Sharpness" slider in the Helldivers 2 display menu to roughly 0.75. This helps recover lost edge detail without the heavy performance cost of running at native 4K resolution.

To find the best Render Scale, we recommend the following based on our testing:

  • Native: Best for high-end rigs at 1080p or 1440p.
  • Ultra Quality: A great balance for RTX 3060 or RX 6700 XT users.
  • Balanced: The sweet spot for 4K gaming if you want to stay above 60 FPS during chaotic extractions.

If you are using premium MSI graphics cards, you can often push the "Quality" setting even at 1440p while maintaining excellent thermal performance and high refresh rates. ✨

Choosing the Right Hardware for Managed Democracy

While the lack of Helldivers 2 DLSS support is a bummer for RTX owners, raw rasterization power still wins the day. The game is surprisingly CPU-intensive due to the sheer number of physics calculations and enemy AI units on screen, but your GPU still does the heavy lifting for volumetric fog and lighting. 🔧

Even Intel Arc graphics cards have seen steady driver improvements that help stabilise the frame pacing in Helldivers 2. For those using their rigs for more than just gaming, such as rendering or CAD work, high-end workstation graphics cards can also handle the game effectively, provided the drivers are kept up to date.

In South Africa, where a solid mid-range GPU might set you back anywhere from R7,000 to R12,000, choosing a card with plenty of VRAM is essential. Helldivers 2 loves to gobble up video memory at higher texture settings, so aim for at least 8GB or 12GB to ensure your textures don't turn into a blurry mess when the stratagems start flying.

Ready to Find Your Perfect Match? The Helldivers 2 DLSS situation might be tricky, but the right hardware makes all the difference in your performance. Explore our massive range of graphics card specials and find the perfect GPU to conquer the Terminid threat today.