ARPGs like Path of Exile 2 and portable gaming devices like the Steam Deck go together like spaghetti and meatballs. Fighting huge mobs of enemies and grinding out rare loot is perfect for pick-up-and-play gaming, especially while you lay in bed listening to all those podcasts your friends keep bugging you to check out. Granted, this is only a great experience if the game you’re playing runs well on Valve’s flagship portable device, so how does Path of Exile 2 hold up?
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To cut to the chase, Path of Exile 2 is…adequate at best on Steam Deck. The good news is that it’s playable without any extra setup (assuming you own it on Steam, other clients may require some Desktop-mode finagling). In fact, Path of Exile 2 directly supports the device and displays the Steam Deck’s buttons on your hotbar. The bad news is that, even after fiddling with the settings, Path of Exile 2’s performance wildly varies. Sure, when only a few monsters are on screen, you can achieve up to 60 FPS. However, when fighting swarms of enemies, the frame rate can dip as low as 20 FPS. All told, expect an average of around 40 FPS on the Steam Deck, with social hubs like towns typically running at around 25 FPS.
To be fair, Path of Exile 2 is an early access game. The fact that it’s already playable at all on the Steam Deck is kind of a treat, and it has plenty of room for optimization before its anticipated full release in 2025. For reference, Diablo IV was finicky on the Steam Deck during its pre-release betas too, but is now really smooth on the device. This isn’t to say Path of Exile 2 will definitely run better in the future, but its shortcomings here should be put in context.
The best settings for Path of Exile 2 on Steam Deck
If you do want to play Path of Exile 2 on your Steam Deck, you’ll definitely want to change the default settings. Because the frame rate can dip harshly when the screen gets chaotic. You’ll want to pick up frames almost anywhere you can to compensate. Here are all the settings I changed to get the game to run smoother on my device:
- Mode: Fullscreen
- Upscale Mode: FSR
- Max Image Quality: Ultra Performance
- Lighting: Shadows
- Sun Shadow Quality: Low
- Number of Lights: Low
- Water Detail Level: Low
- Dynamic Culling: On
- Target Framerate: 38
Because of the Steam Deck’s screen resolution of 1280 X 800, these low settings don’t actually impact the visuals that much. FSR upscaling will make everything look a bit blurry, but it’s still an upgrade from how the game looks without it. I’ve seen some recommendations that changing the Renderer from Vulkan to DirectX12 can improve performance, but I didn’t experience any noticeable change for the better during my testing.
You can lower the resolution in a pinch for better performance, especially if you’re in an area that runs especially poorly. However, since this squishes text size down a lot, I’d only recommend this in emergencies. As it is, map text is practically unreadable at the Steam Deck’s resolution, and several windows in the menu already get cut off (such as the menu that pops up when using Skill Gems).
Also, since Path of Exile 2 is an always online game, make sure your Steam Deck isn’t downloading anything in the background. You can toggle whether or not your Deck downloads games in the background by going to Settings > Downloads and ticking the appropriate setting. An unstable connection will cause your game to lag, which is especially untenable in moments when the frame rate drops. You don’t need a wired connection for smooth performance, but you also can’t download every episode of The Simpsons or some massive RPG while you play, either.
Is Path of Exile 2 worth playing on the Steam Deck?
As a secondary way to play the game, Path of Exile 2 basically works on the Steam Deck. Would I recommend endgame grinding on the Steam Deck? Hell no. But does it work well enough to casually progress the campaign? Sure, especially since throwing your character headfirst into packed crowds of enemies isn’t a good idea when you aren’t worried about performance issues. However, if the Steam Deck is your primary platform for PC gaming, I’d sooner recommend Diablo IV if you want a modern ARPG on the go. Blizzard’s game just runs a lot better on the Steam Deck as of writing, whether you own it via Steam or Battlenet. Even if you prefer the gameplay of Path of Exile 2, it just doesn’t hold a candle to Diablo’s performance right now.
Still, you’ll want to keep an eye on Path of Exile 2 in the future. When asked about the game’s Steam Deck performance In an interview with The Outerhaven, Grinding Gear Games’ Johnathan Rogers noted the team is “focused on ensuring that fans across all platforms get a great experience.” Additionally, the PC Handheld market is really taking off, with devices like the upcoming Lenovo Legion Go S officially using SteamOS right out of the box. So whether the game gets optimized down the line or you wind up with better hardware in your hands, Path of Exile 2 could become the premium portable experience it deserves to be. Just don’t buy into it on the promise that it’ll maybe run better for you in the future.
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