How to fix input delay in Fortnite

Input delay is the gap between moving your mouse or pressing a key and seeing it happen on screen. When it’s high, aim feels floaty and edits feel slow. These steps cut the delay that comes from your PC and your screen.

Input delay or ping?

They feel alike, but they’re different problems.

• Input delay is everything on your side: mouse, PC, graphics card and screen. If your crosshair moves a moment after your mouse, that’s input delay.
• Ping is the trip to Fortnite’s servers and back. If shots or builds register late but your crosshair feels sharp, that’s your connection. A cable instead of Wi-Fi is the biggest fix there.

1. Turn on NVIDIA Reflex (or AMD Anti-Lag)

In Fortnite, go to Settings > Video > Advanced Graphics and set NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency to On + Boost. When your graphics card is fully busy, frames queue up and wait, and that waiting is delay. Reflex stops the queue. It’s the biggest single fix for input delay on an NVIDIA card.

On an AMD card, open AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition, go to Gaming > Graphics and turn on Radeon Anti-Lag.

On a laptop that runs hot, try On instead of On + Boost. Boost keeps the graphics card at full speed, which makes more heat.

2. Turn off V-Sync

V-Sync makes each frame wait for your monitor, which adds delay. Set V-Sync to Off in Settings > Video. If you hate screen tearing and your monitor has G-Sync or FreeSync, switch that on in your graphics driver instead. It stops tearing with much less delay.

3. Use Fullscreen

Set Window Mode to Fullscreen. Epic recommends it for the lowest input lag, because Fortnite then gets your PC’s full attention instead of sharing the screen with other windows.

4. Get your FPS up

Every frame takes time to make, so more FPS means less delay. Set Rendering Mode to Performance and Frame Rate Limit to Unlimited or above your monitor’s refresh rate. The more FPS guide has every setting.

No Reflex? If your graphics card sits at 99% in Task Manager, setting the frame rate limit a little below your usual FPS can feel more responsive. It stops frames queuing up, a bit like Reflex does.

5. Set your monitor up properly

• Refresh rate: Settings > System > Display > Advanced display > Choose a refresh rate. Pick the highest. A 144 Hz monitor at 60 Hz shows a new picture less than half as often.
• Desktop PC: plug the monitor into the graphics card, not the motherboard.
• Monitor menu: if it has a gaming or low-lag mode, turn it on. Skip heavy “motion smoothing” or picture effects.
• Playing on a TV? Turn on the TV’s Game mode. Without it, TVs process the picture first and can add a lot of delay.

6. Windows settings

• Game Mode on: Settings > Gaming > Game Mode.
• Power mode: Settings > System > Power & battery > Best performance. Power saving makes the processor slower to react.
• Overlays: turn off the ones you don’t use, like the Discord overlay and Xbox Game Bar. Each one draws on top of your game.
• Background apps: close your browser and anything downloading before you play.

7. Your mouse and keyboard

• Plug them straight into the PC, not through a hub or the monitor.
• If your mouse software has a polling rate setting, use 1000 Hz.
• Wireless mouse? Keep it charged and the receiver close to the mouse. A gaming wireless mouse on its own receiver is fine. Bluetooth usually adds delay.

More free guides

• Fortnite stutter fixStop freezes and FPS drops.
• How to get more FPS in FortniteThe settings that make the biggest difference.
• Best Fortnite settings for a low end PCEvery setting, for weak PCs and laptops.
• Fortnite tweaks: what actually helpsSafe Windows tweaks, and the ones to skip.

Still stuck? Message @winsmate_ on TikTok.