With EA FC 26 available for players with early access and releasing for general audiences at the end of the week, it’s time to start getting hyped about a new year of Football Ultimate Team. The online mode is one of the most popular modes in sports gaming, and with so many players online, it’s important to understand how to get the most out of your squads to beat your opponents and find success.
Team Chemistry is a key component of EA FC 26 FUT as it allows you to boost the value of your players’ key abilities, and chemistry styles are the element that allows you to tailor those boosts to the areas where they provide the most benefit. If you’re getting started with your Ultimate Team squad in EA Sports FC 26, here’s what you need to know about chemistry styles to maximize the benefit for your squad.
What Are Chemistry Styles In EA FC 26?
Chemistry styles are a consumable which you apply to your players to provide focus to the boost they receive for their chemistry rating within the team. The more connections a player has with other players in your lineup, such as playing for the same club, the same league or the same national team setup, the higher their chemistry rating is, with three potential tiers of boost potentially unlocked, earning boosts to stats of up to +3, +6 or +9 to the assigned attributes at the top level.
Which attributes receive those boosts come down to the chemistry style you apply to the player. Each chemistry style type targets different attributes, meaning you can significantly change how a player performs at the same chemistry level just by changing which style he is using.
Why Are EA Sports FC 26 Chemistry Styles Important
Choosing the right chemistry style for a player is one of the key decisions you can make when playing FUT. The EA FC series, formerly FIFA, has long been famous for having particular attributes that are more important than others. Developing further on this, the key skills a player needs to be as strong as possible in EA FC are dictated by where they play, as a central defender would not need to have great finishing or benefit from chemistry, providing it accordingly.
Instead, it’s important to find the chemistry styles that best align with taking the players you have and fine-tuning them to be as skilled as possible at their chosen role. This ensures you maximize the benefit of chemistry within your team and field a squad that is as difficult to play against as possible.
What Are The EA Sports FC 26 Chemistry Styles
To help you better understand chemistry styles and how to use them, you should know what each does so you can target the correct ones for your starting XI. Here is a list of every chemistry style in EA FC 26 FUT, the primary and secondary boosts in each attribute category they provide, and how to use them effectively:
Goalkeeper Chemistry Styles In EA FC 26
- GK Basic: Offers moderate boosts distributed fairly evenly across the goalkeeping stats to elevate play levels but not offering a targeted boost to particular areas you want to improve upon.
- Cat: Raises a goalkeeper’s Kicking, Reflexes, and Sprint Speed. This helps the goalkeeper perform better in more aggressive, on-the-ball playstyles by making them quicker to get onto long balls and better at distributing the ball with their feet.
- Glove: Significantly increases handling, while also boosting Diving and Positioning. Glove goalkeepers become better attuned to making saves and maintaining control of the ball.
- Shield: Provides a large boost to Positioning, along with a secondary boost to reflexes and a moderate boost to Acceleration. The shield chemistry style adds protection to a high or aggressive defensive line by keeping the keeper in position to prevent danger from balls in by the opposition.
- Wall: Boosts Kicking and Diving with secondary-level elevations while also offering a moderate boost to Handling. This makes a keeper better at making tricky stops while also allowing them to better distribute the ball after doing so.
Outfield Player Chemistry Styles In EA FC 26
- Player Basic: Provides a generalized boost across your players’ stats to raise their overall level, while not allowing you to target a particular type of boost or refine your players, and get the most out of them.
- Anchor: Shores up pace, defending, and physicality. Secondary boosts to Standing Tackle, Slide Tackle, Jumping, and Strength make a player more capable of managing offensive players of all shapes, while moderate boosts to Acceleration and Sprint Speed can help stay with pacier threats.
- Architect: Boosts a player’s passing and physicality. Primary boosts to short passing and strength, and secondary boosts to vision, curve, and stamina. This chemistry style can help a creative player in the midfield, providing the physical edge to better navigate the crowded spaces and move the ball into areas where your team can produce danger.
- Artist: Elevates a player’s ability to create chances for teammates with passing and dribbling boosts. Primary boosts for Agility and Curve and secondary boosts to Reactions and Long Pass help a player to get on loose balls, navigate traffic if needed, and fire off defense-breaking long balls to attacking players.
- Backbone: Adds to a player’s passing, defending, and physicality skills. The secondary boosts go to Long Pass, Standing Tackle, Interceptions, Stamina, and Aggression, and some moderate boosts to other stats in the categories.
- Catalyst: Bumps up passing with a big boost for pace attributes. Primary boost goes to Vision, while secondary boosts go to Crossing, Long Passing, Sprint Speed, and Acceleration. A dangerous chemistry style when applied to a wide player like wing or wing back who can use the pace boosts to burn defenders and the passing increases to deliver deadly balls into the box when they do.
- Deadeye: Increases shooting and passing starts, primarily Shot Power and Short Pass. Secondary boosts for Attack Position and Curve. Players with deadeye are capable of hammering shots past goalkeepers, but also get an increase in their ability to work with others in tight attacking zones with their boosted positioning, short passing, and ball shaping.
- Engine: Lifts up a player’s pace, passing, and dribbling ratings. Secondary-level boosts for Crossing, Curve, Balance, and Dribbling. This style is designed primarily for players in the heart of a team’s creation.
- Finisher: Raises a player’s shooting and dribbling ratings to create a goal-scoring machine. Top boosts go to Finishing and Dribbling, with secondary boosts to Attack Positioning and Agility, allowing your player to get into position to score, then boosting their ability to get the job done once they do.
- Gladiator: Moderately raises stats across shooting, dribbling, and defending. Secondary-level raises for Shot Power, Reactions, and Slide Tackle. Best used as a central player required to battle in the center of the field, capable of adding some defensive backbone, and also an offensive threat.
- Guardian: Defensive and dribbling boosts, with a primary raise to Stand Tackle and secondary boosts to Agility, Dribbling, Defensive Awareness, and Slide Tackle. Players using this style can excel at taking possession away from the opponent, then calmly moving the ball out of dangerous zones and beginning the counter.
- Hawk: Boosts pace, shooting, and physicality attributes for a balanced improvement on a goal-scoring player. Moderate boosts to Acceleration and Sprint Speed are valuable attributes to raise, while secondary level boosts on both shot power and long shots allow the player to better use space to score, while jumping and aggression make them a bigger threat in the box.
- Hunter: Significantly boosts pace attributes, along with raising shooting. Primary boost to Volleys, with secondary boosts to Penalties, Sprint Speed, and Acceleration. The increased boost to pace relative to other styles makes this an appealing style for creating a player with hard-to-manage speed.
- Maestro: Balanced boosts to shooting, passing, and dribbling abilities. Long Shots, Free Kick Accuracy, Long Pass, and Ball Control all receive secondary boosts, while several skills in each category also receive moderate boosts. This helps to develop a player’s creativity with the ability to hold the ball in the midfield and create scoring chances from open play and stoppages.
- Marksman: Provides boosts across shooting, dribbling, and physicality. Players with Marksman receive secondary-level boosts to Finishing, Long Shots, Reactions, Ball Control, and Strength. This chemistry style is all about scoring, making players better at scoring from deep and finishing while providing the reactions and physicality to pounce on opportunities.
- Powerhouse: Levels up a player’s passing and defending skills. Primary boosts to Stand Tackle and Vision, secondary boosts to both Short and Long Pass and Interceptions. Players with this style become more staunch defenders who can take a ball off a player’s feet or intercept passes, then quickly trigger the counter with either a long ball out or by starting to pass around any counter-pressure.
- Sentinel: Lifts a player’s defending and physicality ratings. The primary boosts go to Defensive Awareness and Jumping, with secondary boosts to Heading Accuracy, Interceptions, and Aggression. When applied to a big defender, this can make them an excellent wall against teams playing high crosses or relying on set pieces.
- Shadow: Raises pace and defensive attributes. A primary lift to Slide Tackle, with secondary boosts to Heading Accuracy, Sprint Speed, and Acceleration. This chemistry style is best for a player you will be counting on to shut down an opposing threat by giving the speed to stay in the tussle and the defensive skills to win the ball.
- Sniper: Significantly improves shooting and physicality ratings. The largest boosts go to attack positioning and strength, then long shots and stamina, allowing a scorer to run opponents into the ground, find or create space, and bang in long-range goals for a player likely to do their scoring outside the box.
Now that you know what each chemistry style does and how to best use them, you’re ready to get out on the virtual pitch and start racking up the wins!
