EA FC 26 PlayStyles transform players’ real-world skills into actionable tactical advantages, and are the core system for personalized football experience in FC 26. But, this system isn’t new; it’s been used for several years.
This system is the core of player development. Playstyles are available in Club, Ultimate Team, and Career modes. Playstyles grant players skills based on their real-world performance. Furthermore, Playstyle+ levels can further enhance a player’s abilities, but not every Playstyle has a Playstyle+.
EA FC 26 Playstyles
The following Playstyles are from the beta version and may differ slightly from the Closed Beta. If you plan to develop players in Club mode, you should choose Playstyles that match their position. If you’re focusing on Ultimate Team, a player with weak Playstyles may be worth fewer FC 26 coins.
Finishing
- Finesse Shot: Ideal for forwards and midfielders who prefer precise, lob shots. Improves the speed, curve, and accuracy of their lobs.
- Chip Shot: Ideal for attacking players who frequently lob the ball over the goalkeeper. Improves the speed and accuracy of their lobs.
- Power Shot: Ideal for players with strong long-range shots. Improves the speed and power of their explosive shots.
- Dead Ball: Exclusive for set-piece specialists. Improves the speed, curve, and accuracy of free kicks and corner kicks.
- Precision Header+: Exclusive for elite heading players. Improves heading accuracy and features unique animations.
- Acrobatic: For players who attempt overhead kicks or acrobatic shots, improves volley accuracy and features special animations.
- Low Driven Shot: For shooters who are quick to hit, improves low-drive shot accuracy, speed, and execution speed.
- Gamechanger: For creative shooters, improves special shot accuracy and unlocks special animations.
Passing
- Incisive Pass: For playmakers and creative attackers, improves through-ball accuracy, curl, and speed.
- Pinged Pass: For midfielders and defenders, improves ground pass speed without increasing the difficulty of receiving the ball.
- Long Ball Pass: For defensive midfielders and long pass specialists, improves long pass accuracy, speed, and interception difficulty.
- Tiki Taka: For technical midfielders, improves short pass accuracy, excels at one-touch passes and back heel passes.
- Whipped Pass: For wingers and set-piece specialists, improves cross accuracy, speed, and curl.
- Inventive: For freestyle players, improves freestyle pass accuracy and unlocks special animations.
Defending
- Jockey: Improves defenders’ tracking speed and sprint transitions, with PlayStyles+’s Jockey being faster.
- Block: Increases a player’s coverage and success rate when blocking. PlayStyles+ maximize reach and consistency when blocking shots and passes.
- Intercept: After an interception, coverage is increased, increasing the chance of retaining possession. PlayStyles+’s Intercept offers the highest interception success rate, anticipation, and enhanced ball control after recovery.
- Anticipate: Increases a player’s standing tackle success rate and ability to stop the ball after a tackle. PlayStyles+’s Anticipate provides the best control and precision after dispossessing the opponent.
- Slide Tackle: Allows a player to stop the ball directly after a sliding tackle. PlayStyles+’s Slide Tackle improves range, accuracy, and recovery when executing a sliding tackle.
- Aerial Fortress: This type of player has a higher jump height and enhanced aerial defensive capabilities. PlayStyles+’s Aerial Fortress also increases maximum jump height and hang time.
Ball Control
- Technical: Players can reach higher speeds and successfully execute wide turns while performing controlled sprints.
- Rapid: Players can sprint at higher speeds while dribbling and make fewer mistakes while sprinting or hitting the ball.
- First Touch: Players make fewer mistakes while controlling the ball, allowing for quicker transitions to dribbling and better control.
- Trickster: Empowers players to perform unique flick moves, adding more unpredictability in 1v1 situations.
- Press Proven: Players can maintain tight control of the ball while dribbling at a jog pace and more effectively protect the ball against stronger opponents.
Physical
- Quick Step: Accelerates faster during burst sprints, making bursts more effective.
- Relentless: Increases stamina regeneration and increases the duration of team control and partial team presses.
- Long Throw: Player can throw the ball out with greater force to cover greater distances.
- Bruiser: Increases power when performing body tackles, making it more difficult for opponents to control the ball.
- Enforcer: Increases power and stability when shield dribbling against opponents.
Goalkeeping
- Far Throw: Unique goalkeeper throw animation and increased maximum throw distance.
- Footwork: Unique foot protection animation and improved performance against low-trajectory shots.
- Cross Claimer: Unique punch animation, increased hand impact, faster punch velocity, and punch priority in aerial duels.
- 1v1 Close Down: Unique reflex/anticipation animation, increased sprint speed, and improved close-range shot trajectory reading.
- Far Reach: Players gain unique long-range diving animations and a higher save success rate for long-range shots.
- Deflector: Deflectors gain increased power when deflecting the ball, allowing shots to be deflected to a safer area.
Changes From FC 25
The previous version of FC 25 featured an under-balanced perk system, with some styles overpowered. This resulted in high-rated players falling significantly behind in core mechanics if they didn’t have the corresponding Playstyles. Therefore, FC 26 has significantly overhauled the attribute system and Playstyle mechanics.
High-rated players will be able to more consistently perform basic maneuvers like one-touch passes, defensive marking, and ball control even without perks. Playstyles will still provide unique and contextual bonuses, but they will no longer trump stats, making the performance of high-rated players more realistic.
Overall, the importance of PlayStyles in FC 26 has decreased, while player stats will take on greater importance. Therefore, if you want to acquire players in the trade market, in order not to waste your FIFA 26 coins, prioritize their overall rating and attributes.
Of course, high-rated players are also highly valuable, making it difficult to secure the players you want during promotions, requiring a significant accumulation of coins. An easier option is to buy cheap FC 26 coins, where you can quickly get more, and occasional giveaways offer some unexpected bonuses.
Otherwise, four PlayStyles from FC 25 have been removed, and five new ones have been added.
- Removed PlayStyles: Power Header, Aerial, Trivela, and Flair
- New PlayStyles: Precision Header, Aerial Fortress, Gamechanger, Inventive, and Enforcer
That’s a rough outline of PlayStyles for FC 26. Hopefully, this will help you figure out which players are most useful and help you make the most of every coins.
