Chemistry 101
As stated earlier in this guide, “chemistry is everything”. In the past chemistry was represented only by the bars connecting players and a starting lineup chemistry rating, with a max value of 100. This year EA Sports has pulled back the curtain on how chemistry actually affects the on-field play of each player. No longer will you think “chemistry is important, but I don’t know what it actually does.”
Each individual can attain a max chemistry value of 10. This is made up of a combination of individual and team chemistries. On the Active Squad screen you’ll notice that on your starting lineup page you’ll see red, orange and green lines connecting the players. This shows you the chemistry between those players.
Red = Players have no connection.
Yellow = Players have one connection. They are either from the same country, league or team.
Green = Players have two or more of the aforementioned connections.
For each of those connections a player gains 1 point of chemistry, up a max of 3 by connecting to a player of the same, country, league and club.
As you can see in the image above (moving from left to right), Afellay (Netherlands, Liga BBVA, Barcelona) has no connection to Sahin (Turkey, Bundesliga, Borussia Dortmund) while he connects with Bender (German, Bundesliga, Bayer Leverkusen) since they are from the same league. Bender and Kroos (German, Bundesliga, Bayern Munich) share two connections and Kroos and Muller (German, Bundesliga, Bayern Munich) share 3.
Something else you’ll notice from that image is that everyone except for Kroos has a green dot under their card. That is from the individual chemistry. As you can see everyone is playing their correct position, that is why they have green dots and a value chemistry value of 3. Kroos, a CAM, is in a CM position, which is related, but not exact, gives him a yellow dot with a value of 2. If they are in a non-similar position, they will have a value of 0, and if Kroos was playing as goalkeeper, he would get a value of 0.
This all may seem extremely complicated, but the simple lesson is to play people in their correct positions with “friendly” players around them. The more players you have from the same team, league or nation, the higher chemistry rating you'll enjoy.
After all that, you may still be wondering why chemistry is important. Unlike Madden (which hints at the boost from players having the same chemistry), FIFA shows you what it is affecting.
On your Active Squad screen you can move the right stick to the right to find player’s Chemistry Style. This shows the six ratings that you’ll always see on player cards: PAC, SHO, PAS, DRI, DEF, and HEA.
PAC = Pace
SHO = Shooting
PAS = Passing
DRI = Dribbling
DEF = Defending
HEA = Heading
On the Chemistry Style tab you’ll notice a total of 6 chevrons next to the above categories. Players with the BAS or Basic Chemistry Style have the ability to change their chevrons from white, which means no boost, to green, which gives a boost.
Using the same players as before, Afellay, Sahin, Bender, Kroos and Muller, you can see how a player's chemistry can affect his boosts.
Afellay: In the Basic style, you’ll see all the chevrons are white, because of the 0 chemistry coming from Sahin, he does not get any boosts.
Sahin: Also in the Basic style, he is getting some chemistry from Bender on his right, but none from Afellay on his left. So for him, two chevrons are lit up, so he will have boosted attributes in dribbling and passing.
Bender: In the Basic style he is receiving boosts from Sahin via the league and Kroos from country and league. He has all of his chevrons lit up except for shooting.
Kroos: You’ll notice that on the bottom of Kroos’ shield it shows ENG. There are consumables in FUT this year that allow to reconfigure the chevrons on a player's card. For example, Kroos is now of the Chemistry Style Engine. As you can see, this gives him the ability to double boost his PAC, DRI, and PAS, but eliminates the possibility of boosts to his SHO, DEF, and HEA. As stated before, you’re able to have a total of 6 chevrons illuminated, which is why when extras are added to categories, others are removed. Since Kroos has almost perfect chemistry with his teammates, he has 5 chevrons lit.
Muller: He has also been given a new Chemistry Style. MRK for Marksman ups him to two chevrons in DRI, SHO, and HEA. Since he has perfect chemistry from Kroos, all of his chevrons are lit up.
There are a total of 19 different Chemistry Styles that can be applied to a player. Many of these styles boost 3 of the categories to 2 chevrons, but there are also some that boost 2 categories to 3 chevrons.
There are also a total of 5 Chemistry Styles for goalkeepers that have the same effect on them, but for their ratings of Diving, Handling, Kicking, Reflexes, Speed and Position.
