Best Witcher 3 Next-Gen settings for RTX 2080 (with and without ray tracing)

Witcher 3's Next-Gen update introduced several graphical enhancements to the original action RPG game. The title was initially launched back in 2015, and even back then, the game was exceptional in terms of visuals. Despite being seven years old, it still holds strong in terms of graphical fidelity.

Nvidia's RTX 2080 is a high-end GPU that was released in 2018 and was a powerful card for that period. However, with time, as games became more advanced, the card struggled to maintain its status. As of 2022, the card can run most titles at 1080p or 1440p with minor tweaks.

This guide will take a closer look at the best Witcher 3 graphics settings for the RTX 2080 with and without ray tracing.

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RTX 2080 offers a solid performance in Witcher 3 without ray tracing, but struggles with ray tracing

The RTX 2080 is more than capable of running the game at 1080p without ray tracing. However, if ray tracing is turned on, performance takes a dip, and players won't be able to fully enjoy the game. Furthermore, Witcher 3 is suffering from major problems with the DirectX 12 mode, which is why players are advised to play the game in DirectX 11 mode, if they don't want to use ray tracing or DLSS.

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Without ray tracing

Display

• Display mode: Full Screen
• Vsync: Off
• Resolution: 1920x1080
• Maximum Frames Per Second: Unlimited
• Hardware Cursor: Off

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Graphics

• Anti-Aliasing: TAAU
• Sharpening: High

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• Screen Space Ambient Occlusion: On
• Screen Space Reflections: High

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• Motion Blur: Off*
• Blur: Off*
• Bloom: On*
• Depth of Field: Off*
• Chromatic Aberration: Off*
• Vignetting: Off*
• Light Shafts: Off*
• Camera Lens Effects: Off*

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• Nvidia HairWorks: Off

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• Number of Background Characters: Ultra
• Shadow Quality: Ultra
• Terrain Quality: Ultra+
• Water Quality: Ultra
• Foliage Visibility Range: Ultra
• Grass Density: Ultra+
• Texture Quality: Ultra+
• Detail Level: Ultra+

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With ray tracing

Display

• Display mode: Full Screen
• Vsync: Off
• Resolution: 1920x1080
• Maximum Frames Per Second: Unlimited
• Nvidia Reflex Low Latency: On
• Hardware Cursor: Off

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Graphics

• Ray Tracing (Global Illumination): On
• Ray Traced Reflections: On
• Ray Traced Shadows: Off
• Ray Traced Ambient Occlusion: Off

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• Anti-Aliasing: DLSS
• DLSS Quality: Quality
• Sharpening: High

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• Motion Blur: Off*
• Blur: Off*
• Bloom: On*
• Depth of Field: Off*
• Chromatic Aberration: Off*
• Vignetting: Off*
• Light Shafts: Off*
• Camera Lens Effects: Off*

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• Nvidia HairWorks: Off

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• Number of Background Characters: High
• Shadow Quality: Medium
• Terrain Quality: High
• Water Quality: Medium
• Foliage Visibility Range: Medium
• Grass Density: Ultra
• Texture Quality: Ultra
• Detail Level: High

Note:

1. The settings marked with an asterisk (*) can be set according to the user's personal preference and do not have a major impact on performance.
2. To use ray tracing and Nvidia DLSS, players will have to run the game in DirectX 12.

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These are all the settings that will provide an optimal experience in Witcher 3 with the RTX 2080. Users can always adjust a few settings to achieve desired results. If gamers want more frames, they should tweak the Shadow Quality and Foliage Visibility Range first as they use a significant amount of the GPU's resources.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Next-Gen update is now available for download on PC (via Steam, GOG, and Epic Games), Xbox Series S|X, and PlayStation 5.