Bolstering your FIFA 21 Ultimate Team chemistry is an easy way to increase your squad’s capabilities on the pitch. This system uses common nations, leagues, and clubs to connect players, providing stat boosts affected by positioning and loyalty to make your team perform better online.
The chemistry system in FIFA 21 is multifaceted. It can also be quite confusing, so in this guide, we’re going to run through the entire framework to help you get to grips with how it all works, so you can focus on your in-game performance once you’ve hit the elusive 100 chemistry target.
How does FIFA 21 chemistry work?
Every player in Ultimate Team has a chemistry statistic, scored out of 10. Flick the right stick to the right one time when you’re looking at your in-game squad to see the rating underneath their player card. By viewing this overlay, you should see where the strong and weak links within your team are. The overall team chemistry is capped at 100, so you’re looking to increase individual player chemistry to build towards that target.
Chemistry is increased when two players linked by your chosen formation share a nation, league, or club. So, if you have two players side by side who are from the same country, the same league, and the same club, you will have a perfect, 10/10 chemistry link between those two squad members, provided they are in the right place in your formation, playing the role designated by their player card.
Green, yellow and red Chemistry links explained
You should be able to see lines connecting the players across your team, with a colored traffic light system showing you how poor or perfect the chemistry is between each player.
Red links appear when players do not share the same league, nation, or club. You can see how my LM Nakajima has a red link with my CM Iniesta in the image above. This is because they do not have anything in common. Iniesta is Spanish and plays in the J1 League — Nakajima is Japanese and plays in the Liga NOS.
Yellow links appear when two players share one thing in common. You can see an example of this in the above image by looking at the connection between my CM Iniesta and the other CM, Marcos Junior. Junior is Brazilian, but he plays in the same league as Iniesta, albeit for a different club. This means they have decent chemistry, but it could be better.
Green links appear when two players share more than one piece of common ground. In the example, you can see that my CM Iniesta has a green link with my CB Vermaelen. They have different nationalities, but they play in the same league for the same club, so the connection is green. It could be even better if they shared a nationality, but it provides a 10/10 chemistry rating regardless.
FIFA 21 Position, Loyalty and Manager Chemistry explained
If you’re still struggling with your chemistry even with well-connected players, there are a few other aspects of the system that need to be understood.
First off is positioning. It goes without saying, but if you’re using a player in your formation in a role where they are out of position, this will negatively affect your chemistry. If you’re trying to play a CAM player in a 4-4-2 formation, which only has CM slots in midfield, that player will receive a yellow tinge in the circle denoting their position below the player card.
You can fix this by tapping X/Square on the offending player and moving the right stick to the bottom right of the radial wheel. If they’re out of position, the game will recommend that you search for a Position Modifier card on the transfer market. These can be purchased to change a player’s position manually to fit your formation better and provide a substantial chemistry bump.
There’s also the Loyalty and Manager chemistry systems, which have their own impact on player chemistry. If you flick the right stick to the right one time while looking at your squad, you’ll see two symbols just above the chemistry stat, a shield and an ‘M’. The shield can turn green once the player achieves club loyalty, which is automatically earned if you received the player in a pack. If you bought the player on the transfer market, you’d have to play ten games with them to unlock the loyalty shield, which will provide you with even more chemistry for that player.
Beyond that, you can also use your manager to boost your team’s chemistry, which you can find on the far right of your reserve bench. You want a manager that fits the main nationality and league used by your Ultimate Team club. Unfortunately, there isn’t a manager of every nationality, so you may have to compromise. However, you don’t need to compromise when it comes to manager leagues, as you can head to the transfer market and purchase a ‘Manager League’ modifier from the Consumables tab. Once that’s done, you should see the M shield turn green if the manager has something in common with the players, which will provide a bump in chemistry.
FIFA 21 Chemistry Styles explained
Chemistry Styles are another consumable available on the transfer market that don’t improve chemistry when applied but improve attributes depending on the player’s chemistry statistic.
If you’re serious about your team and want to improve their ability in-game, then spending money on the right Chemistry Style consumables is a fair use of your coins. However, a Chemistry Style is worthless when used on a player with low individual chemistry, so make sure you only use them on players with a relatively high chemistry statistic to reap the benefits.
If you’ve used our tips to achieve high chemistry across your team, here are all the FIFA 21 Chemistry Styles to look into to fine-tune each player on your squad.
Goalkeeper Chemistry Styles
- Cat – Improves Reflexes, Speed, and Positioning
- Glove – Improves Diving, Handling, and Positioning
- Shield – Improves Kicking, Reflexes, and Speed
- Wall – Improves Diving, Handling, and Kicking
Defensive Chemistry Styles
- Sentinel – Improves Defending and Physical
- Guardian – Improves Dribbling and Defending
- Anchor – Improves Pace, Defending, and Physical
- Backbone – Improves Passing, Defending, and Physical
- Gladiator – Improves Shooting and Defending
- Shadow – Improves Pace and Defending
Midfield Chemistry Styles
- Engine – Improves Pace, Dribbling, and Passing
- Architect – Improves Passing and Physical
- Artist – Improves Passing and Dribbling
- Catalyst – Improves Pace and Passing
- Maestro – Improves Shooting, Passing, and Dribbling
- Powerhouse – Improves Passing and Defending
Attacking Chemistry Styles
- Hunter – Improves Pace and Shooting
- Hawk – Improves Pace, Shooting, and Physical
- Sniper – Improves Shooting and Dribbling
- Finisher – Improves Shooting and Physical
- Deadeye – Improves Shooting and Passing
- Marksman – Improves Shooting, Dribbling, and Physical
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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.
