Apex Legends is always evolving. It allows you to choose any character you prefer and join forces with other players, combining your unique skills to form the ultimate squad. However, tons of players log into the game every day, causing the game server an overload. Therefore, you (as well as other players) would encounter the lagging issue while playing Apex Legends.

The good news is, there are 7 quick fixes in this troubleshooting guide. Go through the tips below and you will sort it out easily.

  1. Check the specs of the game
  2. Check the game server’s status
  3. Update your Apex Legends
  4. Update your graphics and network drivers
  5. Change Apex Legends in-game settings
  6. Repair corrupted game files

Before we start troubleshooting, please restart your computer to flush the buffer and free up more CPU resources for better running your Apex Legends. After that, proceed with the steps below.

1. Check the specs of the game

Alike the crashing issue, if your Apex Legends keeps lagging or stuttering, you need to check if your computer meets the minimum system requirements of the game, as hardware should be basically supported. Please check the specs list as follows:

Apex Legends System Requirements

Minimum requirements Recommended requirements
CPU Intel Core i3-6300 3.8GHz / AMD FX-4350 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor Intel i5 3570K or equivalent
GPU NVIDIA GeForce GT 640 / Radeon HD 7730 Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 / AMD Radeon R9 290
RAM 6GB 8GB
GPU RAM 1GB 8GB
Hard Drive Minimum 22 GB of free space Minimum 22 GB of free space

If your computer meets the system requirements above, move on to the next tip.

2. Check the game server’s status

As we’ve talked about above, millions of players using one game server at the same time could definitely create traffic and overloads. To resolve this, you’ll have to change your game server using Data Centers in Apex Legends. A server that is closer to you with a lower ping (120 ms or less) and 0% latency is preferred. Here’s what you can do:

  1. Run Apex Legends.
  2. When it asks you to press a button to continue, click the Data Center button at the bottom of the screen.
  3. Select a server from the list

Check if your Apex runs smoother. If it still lags, please try the next solution.

3. Update your Apex Legends

Since game developers always release patches for users to fix some known bugs, you should also check for game updates when your Apex Legends keeps lagging.

To check if your Apex Legends is up-to-date, navigate to your app store or games library and check if Apex requires an update. If so, install it and see if that speeds up the game. If you’re using the latest version of the game, so no new updates are available, please skip to the next fix.

4. Update your graphics & network drivers

When your Apex Legends is lagging or stuttering, one of the first things you should do is to update your graphics card driver, since an up-to-date graphics driver always ensures the best gaming performance and fewer bugs. Moreover, it’s highly recommended to update your network driver too, for the Apex lagging issue is also network-related.

To update your drivers, here’s what you can do (please note that the following screenshots are taken on Windows 11, but the instructions work on Windows 10 as well):

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows key and X at the same time, select Device Manager.
  2. Double-click to expand the category Display adapters. Then right-click your graphic card driver and click Update driver (the name of the device can be different on your computer).
  3. Then click Search automatically for updated driver software.
  4. Wait for Windows to find the latest driver available for you.
  5. Once the graphics driver is updated, open Device Manager again and double-click to expand the category Network adapters, right-click your network driver and then select Update driver. (Similar steps as updating the graphics driver.)
  6. When the driver update is done, restart your computer for the change to take effect.
  7. Then check and see if the problem is fixed.

If Windows says that it’s already found the latest driver for you, so no newer drivers are found, then you should consider updating your graphics driver and network driver in a different way with the help of Driver Techie.

Its ever-growing driver database allows you to always have access to the latest device drivers that you need. More importantly, Driver Techie simplifies the driver update process, so all it takes is just 3 clicks (for Pro users), and all your drivers are updated.

To use Driver Techie to find you the latest drivers:

  1. Download and install Driver Techie, then launch it.
  2. Click Scan Now.
  3. After the scan, select all the drivers you need to update and click Update All. Then all your drivers will be updated automatically without you having to do anything else.

Please note that Update All is available for Pro subscribers only, otherwise, you can only manually update the driver one at a time. To see how to manually update the drivers one by one, please check this post.

If you’re a Pro user of Driver Techie, and need our technical support to help with the Apex Legends lag problem, please feel free to contact <support@drivertechie.com>.

5. Change Apex Legends in-game settings

Some in-game settings like V-Sync and Dynamic spot shadows will ensure you a better gaming experience, but only when your hardware is powerful enough to run them smoothly. On the contrary, if your computer just meets the minimum system requirements of Apex Legends, we recommend you disable those CPU-consuming settings, as they will not boost your game but instead, cause your Apex Legends to lag or freeze. If this is the case, follow the steps below to disable them:

  1. Launch Apex Legends, and open Settings > Video.
  2. Disable the following settings:
    V-Sync
    Ambient occlusion quality
    Volumetric lighting
    Dynamic spot shadows
  3. Set the following video quality settings to low:
    Sun shadow coverage
    Sun shadow detail
    Model detail
    Effects detail
    Impact marks
    Ragdolls

Apart from these, we recommend you lower the frame rates as follows:

  1. Launch Steam, and select Library. Then, right-click Apex Legends, and select Properties.
  2. Click the GENERAL option from the left sidebar, and paste the following modification line in the LAUNCH OPTIONS field:
    +fps_max 60

  3. Re-launch your Apex Legends to see if the problem is resolved.

Furthermore, if you’ve enabled the Windows Xbox Game Bar, it’s highly recommended to disable it, especially the DVR feature, as it could take up a lot of CPU processing resources and cause your Apex Legends to lag. To disable DVR:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and G together to open Xbox Game Bar.
  2. Click the Setting icon on the top right corner.
  3. From the left menu, select Capturing, and then uncheck the option Record in the background while I’m playing a game.

If your Apex still lags or freezes, see the next tip.

6. Repair corrupted game files

If your Apex Legends game files are corrupted, you will encounter this lagging issue, even if all the in-game settings are set to the best for your computer. Therefore, we can try verifying the game files and see how it works. Please note that the steps to repair the corrupted game files will differ slightly on different platforms. Let’s take Steam for example here:

  1. Launch Steam, and select Library. Then, right-click Apex Legends, and select Properties.
  2. Click the LOCAL FILES option from the left sidebar, and click Verify integrity of game files…

  3. Wait for the process to complete.
  4. Once done, re-launch your Apex.

As of now, Apex Legends will repair all corrupted and missing files in the game, and you’ll be able to run it properly. We hope you find some of the tips above helpful and easy to follow. Lastly, if you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below.