NHL 15: Build of the Week -- Power Forward

Sorry, I have been out of the loop here for a while. My low level of enthusiasm for NHL 15 because of the lack of a next gen version has sapped my will to write about it. That is until now. So let's dive into the build.

Power Forward
Legend 2
6'2"
195 lbs
Regular flex
Second curve from the top
13" Skates

Deking: 88
Hand-Eye (+7): 90
Offensive Awareness (+7): 86
Passing: 70
Puck Control (+7): 89
Slap Shot Accuracy: 65
Slap Shot Power: 65
Wrist Shot Accuracy (+7): 88
Wrist Shot Power (+7): 80

Aggressiveness: 90
Body Checking: 68
Defensive Awareness: 86
Discipline: 85
Faceoffs: 65
Fighting Skill: 65
Shot Blocking: 65
Stick Checking (+7): 88

Acceleration (+12): 90
Agility (+7): 84
Balance: 67
Durability: 90
Endurance: 86
Speed (+12): 90
Strength (+7): 83

Built at http://pixelhockey.net/builder/p/jmpeLLFK

This type of build should be pretty familiar if you have seen my previous builds. Offensively it looks like accuracy over power is the way to go again for the shot. Passing gets fiddly if you put it up too high so minimal spending there. Max puck control, deking, and hand eye let you hang onto the puck. You can pick corners from the high slot with this build pretty easily.

Defensively the maxed stick check, defensive awareness, and aggression are highlights. To avoid unnecessary fights keep body checking low. If you play a more physical game you can feel free to increase that by taking away from say discipline or aggressiveness. The aggressiveness is to be able to corral loose pucks. It has a good stick check and isn't prone to tripping players like the playmaker.

In athletics it is all about the speed and acceleration and endurance. Agility is nearly max as well. Strength is solid. Balance is for left overs. Durability is maxed but injuries still happen with alarming frequency. It is an inexpensive stat so spending points there probably doesn't hurt the build. Injuries really need to go away (or be completely revamped) in EASHL. Getting hurt, especially if it is skating, ruins the rest of your game.

So why power forward? Playmaker trips everything in sight. Two way forward can't score well enough. Grinder ditto. Sniper is too squishy and doesn't shoot any better. Enforcer (pause while there is lots of laughter ... still pausing ... more laughing ... catches breath finally...) um ... no. Obviously you are not going to play this build at center. For center I would go two way forward. You won't score quite as much but max faceoffs and great defensive ability along with decent offense is a good balance. Maybe if I get ambitious I will put up my two way forward center build.

NHL 14: Build of the Week -- Sniper Winger

This week (month/year) I am featuring a build I just started playing recently. The sniper.

Sniper
Legend 3
6'2"
195lb
Regular flex
Second curve from the bottom
13" Skates

Deking: 80
Hand-Eye: 85
Offensive Awareness: 80
Passing: 77
Puck Control (+12): 90
Slap Shot Accuracy: 66
Slap Shot Power: 65
Wrist Shot Accuracy (+7): 90
Wrist Shot Power (+7): 84

Aggressiveness: 84
Body Checking: 66
Defensive Awareness: 86
Discipline: 75
Faceoffs: 65
Fighting Skill: 65
Shot Blocking: 65
Stick Checking (+7): 86

Acceleration (+7): 90
Agility (+12): 88
Balance (+7): 75
Durability: 75
Endurance: 87
Speed (+12): 90
Strength (+7): 83

The offense is going to look somewhat weak compared with a playmaker outside of the shot and puck control. You aren't going to feather great passes across the ice to people for one timers unless they are completely open. What you will do though is score goals in bunches. This build puts pucks in the net like no other. The shot is nicely balanced and will pick corners with ease. The puck control lets you hang onto pucks in high traffic areas so you can get your shot away.

Defensively it looks somewhat weaker than a playmaker as well but it has a surprisingly good pokecheck given the rating. The solid aggression and defensive awareness make this build respectable at picking up loose pucks as well. While the body checking is low it is notable how often this build knocks people down. That may have something to do with the athletics.

One of the things I never liked about sniper before was how it felt skating. It was awkward and didn't turn well and seemed like it was a step down from most other choices. This setup though feels very quick and responsive with the maxed acceleration, agility, and speed along with the 13" skates. Balance and durability are just enough to get by. Strength is maxed here as well and while it is not a very high rating it seems to factor in to how well the build hits.

How to play this build?  Pretty much get open in good scoring position and fire away when your teammates set you up. Or pick up the puck with speed in the neutral zone and beat the goalie off the rush. You are the trigger man with this build. This is not a support build. If you aren't going to shoot a lot then I suggest picking another build.

NHL 14: Build of the Week -- Two Way Forward Center

This week features a two way forward that will help you take over the center of the ice.

Two-Way Forward
Legend 1
6'2"
195lb
Regular flex
Second curve from the bottom
11" Skates

Deking: 75
Hand-Eye: 85
Offensive Awareness: 75
Passing (+7): 87
Puck Control (+7): 87
Slap Shot Accuracy: 66
Slap Shot Power: 65
Wrist Shot Accuracy (+7): 85
Wrist Shot Power: 75

Aggressiveness: 81
Body Checking: 70
Defensive Awareness: 89
Discipline: 79
Faceoffs (+7): 95
Fighting Skill: 65
Shot Blocking: 68
Stick Checking (+7): 90

Acceleration (+12): 90
Agility (+7): 81
Balance (+7): 80
Durability: 77
Endurance: 90
Speed (+12): 90
Strength (+7): 80

Props go out to http://pixelhockey.net/builder/ for their awesome NHL 14 player creator.

Offense is not bad on this build. The wrist shot is just about perfect for scoring in a variety of ways including screened wristers against both CPU and human goalies. Puck control and passing are solid. Hand eye is solid. Deking and offensive awareness are low so it is not the greatest on breakaways and don't try a lot of no-look passes with this setup.

Defensively this is a very strong build. Poke check is great, defensive awareness is great, faceoffs are maxed, and despite the seemingly low body checking this build will lay a lot of people out. The aggression is nice for picking up loose pucks and also intimidating people you hit. There is a smattering of discipline but this build shouldn't take a lot of penalties if you are smart with it.

Athletics are pretty strong top to bottom. Acceleration and speed are what stir the drink. The agility is reasonable and with the 11" skates it allows for pretty good turning.  Strength and balance are good so this build can take and give a hit pretty well. Endurance is high also so that you can keep skating fast all game.

This build can play it anyway you want. It is good on the rush, cycle, or in front of the net. It can also shut down teams by cutting off passing lanes, dealing out big hits, or taking away the puck with a well timed poke check.

NHL 14: Build of the Week -- Playmaker Winger

And we are back! First up is a playmaker winger. Let's get right to it:

Playmaker
Legend 1
5'10"
180lb
Regular flex
Second curve from the bottom
13" Skates

Deking: 78
Hand-Eye: 85
Offensive Awareness: 80
Passing (+7): 90
Puck Control (+7): 90
Slap Shot Accuracy: 67
Slap Shot Power: 65
Wrist Shot Accuracy (+7): 85
Wrist Shot Power (+7): 79

Aggressiveness: 84
Body Checking: 72
Defensive Awareness: 85
Discipline: 65
Faceoffs: 65
Fighting Skill: 65
Shot Blocking: 66
Stick Checking (+7): 85

Acceleration (+12): 90
Agility (+7): 81
Balance (+7): 80
Durability: 75
Endurance: 86
Speed (+12): 90
Strength (+7): 80

This build will look pretty familiar to anyone who has seen my builds before. This has pretty good first five stats with an emphasis on puck control, passing, and hand eye. Then you have a beefy wrist shot good for beating both human and CPU goalies. I don't use one touch dekes much instead using the side to side dekes to slow down and create separation between defenders and I. It is enough to score somewhat on breakaways but will probably get increased along with offensive awareness once legend two and three roll around.

Defensively this is pretty good all around. Good stick check as long as you don't poke directly from behind (that probably goes for all builds but this one seems to trip easier than others). Good defensive awareness to cut off pucks in passing lanes and a high aggression to help scooping up pucks. This build does not hit well at all. This is however a bonus in that you can run into people almost at will and never pick up a penalty over it. You won't flatten them but you will jar the puck loose frequently.

Athletics are good from top to bottom. Agility is a bit low especially with the 13" skates but the straight line speed helps make up for that and it turns far better than you would think. Endurance is key for the ability to skate fast all day. Strength and balance are also bolstered to help with being jostled along the boards and to help maintain puck control. Almost no amount of this will help you from getting leveled this year but some is definitely worthwhile. The new thing you might notice is added points to durability. With the crazy amount of hitting and injuries I really think that adding some points here is worthwhile. Being injured, especially a skating injury, will keep you from being effective. The spare points there let you take some hits to make plays without getting hurt as often.

This build is good at both passing and scoring and solid enough defensively to get the job done there as well. I am not sure there is a better offensive class available in the game.

NHL 13: Player of the Week -- Giant Playmaker

This week features a large sized playmaker that is surprisingly effective in all areas of the game.

Playmaker
Legend 3
6'4"
220 lbs
13" Skates
2nd Curve from the bottom

Deking: 87
Hand Eye: 85 (+5)
Off Awareness: 81
Passing: 87 (+5)
Puck Control: 87 (+5)
SS Accuracy: 75
SS Power: 70
WS Accuracy: 80 (+5)
WS Power: 70 (+5)

Aggression: 76
Body Check: 76
Def Awareness: 72
Discipline: 87
Faceoffs: 65
Fighting: 65
Shot Blocking: 66
Stick Check: 80 (+5)

Acceleration: 82 (+8)
Agility: 75
Balance: 71
Durability: 65
Endurance: 80 (+5)
Speed: 82 (+8)
Strength: 75 (+5)

When does a playmaker look like a power forward? When you make him 6'4" and 220 pounds. I kind of deemphasized the offensive and defensive awareness attributes on this guy to try and crank up other areas and to keep my overall low. We tend to play with fewer CPU players but it seems like having a lower overall tends to make them better and maybe even give you bounces. We played a team the other night of all 50ish rated players and they scored 4 goals on our excellent goalie by basically shooting the puck through him. This guy is 72 overall so not low but not the normal 79/80 you would get on a playmaker wing.

Anyway, on to the discussion. The offense here is strong. With a slightly lower offensive awareness you can have two reasonable shots and everything else loaded up. It passes well, shoots well, and generally can handle the puck well with high deking and puck control.

Defensively you are pretty much maxed out everywhere except defensive awareness. With the poke check block though you can knock down any pass that comes near you so you don't really need it. This build hits surprisingly well despite having what seem like low checking numbers. The poke check is decent but not amazing and as always with a playmaker you need to watch carefully or you trip people pretty easy. The +5 boost there seems to help but isn't a panacea.

Athletically you are looking for acceleration and speed in skating. Those two being maxed along with the 13" blades let you hunt people down. Max strength lets you hit them and take a hit as well. A minor bump in balance helps you keep the puck along the boards and maxed endurance allows you to skate all game long. As I am sure you notice the agility is seriously lacking. I have found with this build and in general you can change direction by just using the left trigger pivot and at the larger size you still move around pretty well.

This build scoops up pucks and can hold them near the wall while fending off hits. It can also go to the front of the net with gusto. It passes extremely well and has good shooting. As mentioned before you can also hit players well. After playing this build I am not sure I am changing it ever. About the only thing it really lacks is a really good poke check. 

As an aside, I tried a similarly specced grinder and it just didn't work as well aside from having a better poke check. I really do think this is one of the better builds you can play.

NHL 13: Build of the Week -- Two Way Forward Center

For this week I am going to share a build I have been playing when I play center. It is the versatile two way forward.

2 Way Forward
Legend 3

5'10"
180lbs
11" Skates
Regular Flex
Second Lowest Curve

Deking: 83
Hand Eye: 84 (+5)
Off Awareness: 82
Passing: 82 (+5)
Puck Control: 82 (+5)
SS Accuracy: 65
SS Power: 65
WS Accuracy: 76 (+5)
WS Power: 70

Aggression: 80
Body Check: 73
Def Awareness: 85
Discipline: 87
Faceoffs: 87 (+8)
Fighting: 65
Shot Blocking: 73
Stick Check: 85

Acceleration: 82 (+8)
Agility: 80 (+8)
Balance: 74
Durability: 65
Endurance: 85
Speed: 82 (+8)
Strength: 75

As you can see offensively it is not bad, lying somewhere between a grinder and a playmaker in that regard. It has mid level everything but a slightly higher hand eye (I like this for being able to grab passes and shoot one timers). The shot is lower end but not bad for going against human goalies and can even work in a pinch against cpu netminders if you are smart with your shot placement and timing. I will say for full disclosure we play 90% of our games 4v4 and up using a human goalie nearly all the time.

Defensively you can see the double boost in faceoffs which I think is pretty key for a center. The only other build that can get to 95 faceoffs is grinder and while my love for the grinder is well known I think this build offers more offensively. The two way forward, the way I play it, is more of a positional defender than a hitter. Body check costs a ton and I prefer to ramp up aggression instead to help pickup loose pucks. The stick check is strong even with no boosts and this build excels at intercepting passes due to the high defensive awareness.

Athletically you can see my typical max boost and max attribute setup for speed, acceleration, and agility. The higher than average endurance on this build is very useful. Even with no boosts you will rarely run out of energy even late in a period. 

NHL 13: Build of the Week -- Defensive Defenseman

Here is a quick Defensive Defenseman build I put together. I have not tried it yet but with the attribute caps there aren't a lot of choices about where to put points this year. I ran this last night for a few games and made a few changes.

Defensive Defenseman
Legend 3

6'0"
195lbs
9" Skates
Regular Flex
Lowest Curve

Deking: 70
Hand Eye: 78 (+5)
Off Awareness: 72 (+5)
Passing: 85 (+5)
Puck Control: 74 (+5)
SS Accuracy: 75 (+5)
SS Power: 87
WS Accuracy: 72
WS Power: 75

Aggression: 82
Body Check: 85
Def Awareness: 87 (+5)
Discipline: 82
Faceoffs: 65
Fighting: 65
Shot Blocking: 65
Stick Check: 87 (+5)

Acceleration: 82 (+8)
Agility: 80 (+5)
Balance: 73
Durability: 65
Endurance: 80
Speed: 80 (+8)
Strength: 80

Pretty much everything useful in every category is maxed on this build. The only real mystery is where to put your boosts so I will discuss my general strategy with boosts. Offensively I like to focus on hand eye, puck control, and one shot. In this case the slap shot. The power is already good so no need to burn more than a +5 on accuracy.

Defensively you can see that basically everything useful is maxed with spare boosts in defensive awareness and stick check. The defensive defensemen I have gone up against and played with all seem to be vacuums when the puck gets around them and you can see from the defensive stats why.

Athletically I always spend 3 +8s on acceleration, agility, and speed. This is a skating game and you need to have the ability to turn and keep up when needed. I do run 9" skates with my defensive builds because I think being able to pivot is one of the most important abilities for a defender. I run a at 5'10" 180lbs because the skating feels smooth but I don't feel tiny. I don't think this build is going to be crushing anyone but if you play positionally sound then you should be able to break up almost any play. I could definitely see going larger for a better poke check range, more reach, and better hitting but you have to be comfortable with the skating dynamics of a larger player. I ran at 6'0" 195lbs last night and it was still relatively maneuverable and could hit people when needed. Still not a giant crushing build but had serious shut down ability.

Edit: I went from just putting together a concept to actually playing the build and made a few changes in this entry. I really like this build and may stick with it on D for a while. We played 3 games 4v4 with human goalies and gave up 2 goals total. Passing felt good and it was great defensively.

NHL 13: Build of the Week -- Power Forward

Today I am featuring a Power Forward build.

Power Forward
Legend 3
5'10"
180lbs
11" Skates
Regular Flex
2nd Curve from the bottom

Deking: 83
Hand Eye: 82 (+8)
Off Awareness: 81
Passing: 70
Puck Control: 81 (+5)
SS Accuracy: 77
SS Power: 70
WS Accuracy: 77 (+8)
WS Power: 80 (+5)

Aggression: 82
Body Check: 87
Def Awareness: 78
Discipline: 80
Faceoffs: 65
Fighting: 65
Shot Blocking: 78
Stick Check: 80

Acceleration: 82 (+8)
Agility: 78 (+8)
Balance: 75
Durability: 66
Endurance: 78
Speed: 82 (+8)
Strength: 74

First off, let's get this out of the way, I have not been a fan of the power forward since NHL 11 when speed/acceleration were essentially broken and it was the only build to run. I am going to be comparing this to my grinder build since that is my favorite build right now.

Offensively this build is fairly solid top to bottom, decent shots, decent hand eye, decent deking, and reasonable puck control. It is slightly better than the grinder in this category.

Defensively it seems to hit better than the grinder even with similar checking numbers but also has a worse stick check and defensive awareness. It does seem to scoop up pucks somewhat better than the grinder at similar aggression levels.

Athletically it can take a hit well, maybe somewhat better than the grinder. However, this is offset by significantly worse skating. Even dropping a couple of points in agility makes the build struggle to turn. Perhaps going to 9 inch skates would help but would also limit the speed and acceleration of the build which is already worse than the grinder. Playing this build I found myself a step behind the play a lot which hurt defensively and offensively.

So in summary I am not a huge fan again but I could see this working if you like to work the walls and camp in front of the net for garbage. Just don't expect to out run or out turn many people with this build.

NHL 13: Build of the Week -- Two Way Defenseman

This week we have a two way defender build that should allow you to keep the front of the net clear and yet also chip in a bit offensively.

2 Way Defender
Legend 2

6'0"
195lbs
11" skates
Regular Flex
2nd Curve from the bottom


Deking: 77
Hand Eye: 79 (+8)
Off Awareness: 77 (+5)
Passing: 82
Puck Control: 78 (+5)
SS Accuracy: 77 (+5)
SS Power: 82
WS Accuracy: 69
WS Power: 65

Aggression: 79
Body Check: 82
Def Awareness: 85
Discipline: 82
Faceoffs: 65
Fighting: 65
Shot Blocking: 79
Stick Check: 82 (+5)

Acceleration: 82 (+8)
Agility: 81 (+8)
Balance: 75
Durability: 65
Endurance: 80
Speed: 81 (+8)
Strength: 75

I have noticed that once you get a decent number of points (say legend 1) you really start running out of places to spend them for a lot of these builds. It really comes down to how you configure your boosts. It makes +3s even more important than before because the cap is a hard limit whereas in NHL 12 you could look at the costs of something and see if that +3 bought you more than a +5 somewhere else.

So to that end the entire offensive category outside of the wrist shot attributes are maxed. I debated between  having higher deking vs. the higher hand eye and went with hand eye. I think 84 is just a bit too low to one time a shot. If you are a team that plays catch and then shoot then 84 is probably enough and you can spend that boost on deking or somewhere else. The slapshot is reasonable and there are spares for the wrister even.

Defensively everything is maxed that is important and the rest went into shot blocking.

Athletically this is a pretty strong build with good skating attributes, endurance, and even a moderate amount of balance and strength. The high level skating will allow you to stay with quick forwards and the balance and strength will help you against an aggressive forecheck.

NHL 13: Build of the Week -- Grinder

I teased this earlier on Twitter but I really do think this may be the One True Build™* for NHL 13. I will list the reasons in a minute but first here is the build:

Grinder, Legend 2
5'10"
180lbs
11" skates
Regular Flex
2nd Curve from the top

Deking: 80
Hand Eye: 82 (+8)
Off Awareness: 75
Passing: 70
Puck Control: 78 (+5)
SS Accuracy: 70
SS Power: 65
WS Accuracy: 76 (+8)
WS Power: 78 (+5)

Aggression: 81
Body Check: 84
Def Awareness: 85
Discipline: 80
Faceoffs: 65
Fighting: 65
Shot Blocking: 66
Stick Check: 85

Acceleration: 84 (+8)
Agility: 80 (+8)
Balance: 65
Durability: 65
Endurance: 80
Speed: 84 (+8)
Strength: 65

From memory those checking/aggression numbers seem a bit off compared to what I was getting in game but it is maybe a point or two so it doesn't really matter. Everything else seems in order.

So what makes this the One True Build™? Let's cut right to the chase and look at athletics. Even at Legend 2** you have skating attributes better than any other player type in the game. Specifically acceleration and speed are both two points beyond what you can get out of any other build. Even agility is within two points of every other build and better than some. But back to speed and acceleration. Speed and acceleration are basically everything in this game, they let you get in on the forecheck faster, get back on the backcheck faster, and give you more room and time on offense because you aren't as pressed by people pursuing you from behind. You can actually slow down after building up a gap and get away a decent shot or pass or pull up and set it up in the zone with less worries of being defended.

As you can see on defense it is super solid and you don't need a single boost there unless you play center. For playing center the changes I make are +8 on faceoffs on the stick with just a single +5 wrist shot accuracy. Max stick check, faceoffs, discipline, defensive awareness, and then dump the spares into aggression then checking. Offensively and athletically the build is the same (outside of the lost wrist shot power and accuracy). Notice, you can hit 95 in faceoffs as a center which you can only do as a grinder or a two way forward so it makes a good center build.

Now I am sure you are looking at this offensive setup and saying, "How can you do well with those attributes?" The answer lies in what works offensively for NHL 13. For all intents and purposes you can't score from outside the hashmarks since two tuners ago so you don't need an amazing shot. The passing attribute and passing in general is mostly broken in this version so you don't need great passing. The hand eye is competitive with all other player types. The puck control looks weak but if you can keep the puck away from people you don't really need much. Also, you won't lose the puck from small bumps with this setup even with the base balance and strength. The amount of deking is fine for almost anything. Breakaways are not really a problem for this build especially with the extra speed.

This build is very similar to the dangler in NHL 09. By that I mean the dangler had two extra points of speed that you couldn't get with any other build. Dangler was not the best offensive build but with the extra speed you almost felt like you couldn't play anything else. I think grinder is in the same boat based on the inherent speed and acceleration advantages it has.

* That isn't trademarked I am just having some fun.
** I have already looked at some numbers for Legend 3 and will do a separate post once I hit that level and do some testing but how does 94 speed sound?

NHL 13: Build of the Week -- Tough Guy

Was going to do power forward or offensive defenseman next but played this last night and it is fresh in my mind so I am going with Tough Guy today.

A quick note the NHL 13 player creator here is wrong about the point values on offense for the Tough Guy so if you try to recreate this there you won't be able to.

Tough Guy, Legend 1

5'10"
180lbs
11" skates
Regular Flex
2nd Curve from the bottom


Deking: 75
Hand Eye: 79 (+8)
Off Awareness: 69
Passing: 70
Puck Control: 73 (+5)
SS Accuracy: 73
SS Power: 70
WS Accuracy: 75 (+8)
WS Power: 73 (+5)

Aggression: 87
Body Check: 87
Def Awareness: 78
Discipline: 75
Faceoffs: 66
Fighting: 65
Shot Blocking: 73
Stick Check: 80

Acceleration: 80 (+8)
Agility: 76 (+8)
Balance: 73
Durability: 67
Endurance: 78
Speed: 80 (+8)
Strength: 80

I know I set this build up somewhat small but I like to be quick. It is definitely more durable than a sniper but I still get destroyed at times despite the 80 strength and 73 balance. You do notice the lower skating attributes to some extent but it isn't as bad as I would have thought.

Defensively you basically have everything maxed even at Legend 1. It does fine getting in lanes and knocking down passes and the pokecheck works well. At this point I see little reason to use any defensive boosts other than for faceoffs as a center.

Offensively this build is amazing at picking up loose pucks. This is probably due to the aggression rating. It has pretty terrible puck control but frequently I would lose the puck then pick it right back up again so it wasn't much of an issue. The shot is okish and since it is hard to score from anywhere but under the hashmarks it mostly doesn't matter. Hand eye is just below where I like it (90) so receiving passes isn't as smooth as it should be but it works out most of the time since the build will just scoop up the bobbled puck and keep going.

For this year this build is pretty viable which is kind of a sad statement on NHL 13 more than anything but it is pretty fun for working the walls and crashing the net.

NHL 13: Build of the Week -- Sniper ... Again

Updating this build now that I have hit Legend 1. Thanks to VexExil from the comments for linking me to the new NHL 13 player creator here. I will be posting all of my builds in that format now. Note that this shows attributes then you have to add in the boosts in parenthesis.

Sniper (LW) Legend 1
5'10"
170lbs
11" skates
Regular Flex
2nd Curve from the top


Deking: 77
Hand Eye: 83 (+8)
Off Awareness: 70
Passing: 71
Puck Control: 80 (+5)
SS Accuracy: 65
SS Power: 65
WS Accuracy: 86 (+8)
WS Power: 86 (+8)

Aggression: 80
Body Check: 72
Def Awareness: 78
Discipline: 80
Faceoffs: 65
Fighting: 65
Shot Blocking: 70
Stick Check: 78

Acceleration: 82 (+5)
Agility: 80 (+8)
Balance: 65
Durability: 65
Endurance: 80
Speed: 82 (+8)
Strength: 68

As you can see the biggest changes are even bigger shot, lowered the passing, and lowered the hand eye a touch. Defense still running no boosts and 4 of those categories are maxed. 78 stick check is still plenty. Athletically all of Acceleration/Agility/Speed/Endurance are maxed. With 90 speed you can make a lot happen offensively and still be able to get back to backcheck.

This could have been it's own post but I am going to throw it in here since it pertains to this build.

There was some spirited debate in the comments of the last post about balance and it's importance. I am of the opinion for small fast builds like my sniper balance is mostly worthless. This is mainly because you are going to get crushed no matter what your balance is and any points you put in balance are going to take away from your skating.  If you are building a forward who is going to go to the front of the net a lot or try to hold the puck in a lot of traffic then balance is probably pretty important (need to do more research) but with a sniper build (the way I play it) it is all about quickness, speed, and shot. I would also say that if you want more stability in addition to adding balance and strength make your player larger. It will make you slower but also make you more stable. Some common breakpoints are 6'0" 195 and 6'3" 205 in addition to the height and weight for my sniper build.

I will try to throw up a different build type next. Either Power Forward or Offensive Defenseman. I have both setup and have played them both a bit.

NHL 13: Build of the Week -- Sniper

I should probably call these something else since I can't seem to get them out every week but it sounds catchy so there you have it.

I am doing this from memory so it may not be perfect and there aren't any NHL 13 player builders out there that I know of. These values are the total with boosts and the boosts are in brackets.

Sniper (LW) Superstar 2
5'10"
180lbs
11" skates
Regular Flex
2nd Curve from the top


Deking: 74
Hand Eye: 93 (+8)
Off Awareness: 70
Passing: 75 (+5)
Puck Control: 84 (+5)
SS Accuracy: base
SS Power: base
WS Accuracy: 91 (+8)
WS Power: 91 (+8)

Aggression: 75
Body Check: 65
Def Awareness: 78 (max)
Discipline: 80 (max)
Faceoffs: base
Fighting: base
Shot Blocking: base
Stick Check: 78 (max)

Acceleration: 87 (+5)
Agility: 88 (+8)
Balance: base
Durability: base
Endurance: 80 (max)
Speed: 83 (+5)
Strength: base

This year the sniper is a great build.You need shot power and accuracy to beat cpu goalies this year. The lowest power/accuracy I have beaten a cpu goalie with clean from any distance is 84/84. The next closest was 88/83. With 91 in each you can blow it by the cpu goalie from time to time. It is still not easy to score but this makes it easier. The hand eye is for catching passes and one timers and it has moderate puck control. I am still debating if I want more puck control in exchange for lower hand eye. The passing is passable. I find in this game you can't get passes through players easily so having a really high passing doesn't seem to be worth it. Most of the passes you make are obvious passes to guys who are wide open. That being said I will still probably bump it a bit more (to maybe 80-85) down the road. The way you play this build is catch and shoot or if people let you walk to the top of the circles you can rip wristers on net all day.

Defensively this build is just jam everything into stick check, discipline, and defensive awareness. They max pretty quick. You don't really need any boosts on defense since the stick check even at 78 is deadly. Might want some more defensive awareness since this build doesn't knock down pucks so well but it isn't terrible if you are in good position. Throw everything else in aggressiveness for better puck retrievals.

Athletics I prefer to go with more acceleration and agility for the ability to turn quickly and accelerate quickly. That is just my preferred style. I may try throwing more speed in the mix with the high agility to see if that is better or not maybe sacrificing some acceleration or agility. I am maxing endurance because it is pretty cheap to do it and you want all you can get.

Overall though this is a pretty fun build and the only one I have found to consistently beat goalies, both cpu and human, with. Get to open spots, get the puck, shoot, or move in backing off defenders and rip one top corner. This isn't a great breakaway build due to the low deking but you can always shoot off the rush on breakaways if you want. Enjoy and I will try to keep these going if only to update builds as I get more points and figure out better setups.

NHL 13: Attribute Maximums

As I mentioned in my first impressions there are caps on certain attributes for different player types. EA was kind enough to list them here. I reformatted them into something readable and put them up here for your enjoyment.

A couple of quick thoughts on this:

• Effectively the max on any attribute is 95 (no one will bother with using +1 boosts since it is counter productive).
• For center if you want the highest faceoffs you have to run Two Way Forward or Grinder. Playmaker comes in 3 points behind and I think the rest you can just throw out the window as far as center is concerned.
• Fastest skater looks to be the Grinder on offense and Offensive and Two Way Defender are tied on the backend.
• Max agility is effectively 90 and shared by a few builds. It looks like EA wants you to feel those turns in NHL 13.
• This isn't about the chart per se just an observation but it looks like in general shot power is a lot more important this year than last. I didn't start beating the cpu goalies much at all until I got my shot power up to 84 and higher. I am generally matching power and accuracy this year but I could see going higher power and lower accuracy as well.

NHL 12: Build of the Week -- Defensive Defensemen

This week's build (maybe I should call these builds of the month instead) is a hard hitting defensive defenseman.

A link to the build can be found here.




Defensive Defenseman
Legend 3
6'2"
210lbs
11inch skates
Regular flex
Lowest curve

Deking: 50
Hand Eye: 70 (+5)
Off Awareness: 40
Passing: 80 (+5)
Puck Control: 79 (+5)
SS Accuracy: 72 (+8)
SS Power: 77
WS Accuracy: 50
WS Power: 70

Aggression: 98
Body Check: 90
Def Awareness: 99
Discipline: 99
Faceoffs: 50
Fighting: 60
Shot Blocking: 85
Stick Check: 94 (+5)

Acceleration: 77 (+8)
Agility: 77 (+8)
Balance: 76
Durability: 60
Endurance: 85
Speed: 80 (+5)
Strength: 81 (+5)

Offensively this build lacks punch. You really want to get the puck off of your stick and to the forwards as soon as possible. The passing is mediocre but good enough for passes mainly straight up the ice. The puck control is also somewhat suspect so you don't want to hold it longer than you have to. With the slapper you have the limited ability to one time it but you mainly want to try and get it low and on net to cause the goalie problems.

Defensively is where this build comes into its own. It has maxed attributes in almost every category that matters. This build excels at taking away the puck and cutting off passes through the center of the ice in the offensive zone. If you are in the right position this build will stop almost anything from going through you.The hitting isn't maxed but the aggression is nearly and that is what makes this build work. The intimidation factor lets you pick up pucks in the defensive zone that other builds shy away from. If you can get a couple of hits in on players (and a lot of times even when you don't) they will lose puck battles to you just because you have your aggression so high.

Athletically this build is very average. Balanced skating attributes let you pivot comfortably but you really need to concentrate on being in proper position because the lack of overall speed can be a liability. You have some endurance to be able to recover quickly but you want to again focus on position.

This isn't a flashy build and I personally prefer offensive defenseman or two way defenseman but with the right D partner and team you can do well with this setup.

NHL 12: Build of the Week -- Power Forward

This week I am featuring a power forward build. This is a muscle your way to the net and setup in front type of build.

A link to this build can be found here.

Power Forward
Legend 3
6'0"
195lbs
11" blades


Deking: 90 (+5)
Hand Eye: 83
Off Awareness: 80
Passing: 90 (+5)
Puck Control: 94 (+5)
SS Accuracy: 60
SS Power: 75
WS Accuracy: 77 (+8)
WS Power: 70

Aggression: 89
Body Check: 55
Def Awareness: 48
Discipline: 99
Faceoffs: 60
Fighting: 60
Shot Blocking: 60
Stick Check: 87 (+8)

Acceleration: 87 (+8)
Agility: 67
Balance: 60
Durability: 60
Endurance: 90 (+5)
Speed: 87 (+8)
Strength: 84

First off let me tell you I am not terribly fond of the power forward as a build this year. Last year when strength and endurance were king it was *the* build. This year with more focus on speed it kind of loses its luster. That being said it is very good at a couple of things. The first being picking up loose pucks and the second being shooting well while being tied up in front.

The offensive setup is good, better than a grinder. It has a decent wrister, passing, puck control, and deking. Hand eye and offensive awareness are average but not amazing. You are frequently going to be headed to the front of the net with this build. Cause screens and look for tips and setups off the post.

Defensively you will notice the criminally low defensive awareness mixed with a very high aggression. This oddly doesn't hurt you much defensively. You will knock pucks down and pick up loose pucks in the corner because of that aggressiveness. The stick check is good so use it.  Body checking is low but you don't really need it to hit people plus that aggressiveness will make every hit count.

The athletics for this build are similar to my latest playmaker build but more strength for shot power, hitting, and the ability to take hits. You should be about as quick as you can for a power forward. If you find yourself not moving quick enough or turning well enough dump a couple of points out of acceleration and speed and put agility up or lower your height and weight (to say 5'10" 170lbs) and bump up to 13" skates. Given this is a power forward you are probably best going with that first route if you need changes.

Enjoy the power forward and hit me up on Twitter if you have a request.

NHL 12: Build of the Week -- Offensive Defenseman

This week I am featuring a smooth skating offensive defenseman build. Suitable for anything from 3v3 to 6v6.

A link to this build can be found here.

Offensive Defenseman
Legend 3
6'1"
195lbs

11" blades

Regular Stick Flex

Lowest Curve

Deking: 72
Hand Eye: 90 (+5)
Off Awareness: 95
Passing: 90 (+5)
Puck Control: 94 (+5)
SS Accuracy: 88 (+5)
SS Power: 80
WS Accuracy: 66
WS Power: 70

Aggression: 57
Body Check: 50
Def Awareness: 94 (+5)
Discipline: 99
Faceoffs: 50
Fighting: 40
Shot Blocking: 65
Stick Check: 94 (+5)

Acceleration: 85 (+8)
Agility: 85 (+8)
Balance: 60
Durability: 60
Endurance: 92
Speed: 85 (+8)
Strength: 52

As expected the offensive side of the puck is the strong suit for the offensive defenseman. This build excels at making crisp breakout passes and has a nice accurate slapper that you can score with from the high slot. The high hand eye also helps out defensively adding the ability to pick pucks out of mid-air.

Defensively the numbers look really good from a non-physical standpoint. Maximums in stick check and defensive awareness give you the ability to take the puck away. With the checking the way it is this year you can still lay a forward out from time to time as well. I will point out though that even with 99 stick check and defensive awareness the offensive defenseman is not as good at picking off passes/taking way the puck as a two way or defensive defenseman. Each build has hidden strengths and defense is not one of them for a defender in this mold.

Athletically you can see everything is balanced between acceleration, speed, agility, and endurance. This, along with the 11" skates allows you to change direction smoothly and keep a close gap with just about any forward. This is the strength of the build defensively. You aren't going to overpower players or pick off as many passes like the defensive defenseman does but you will be able to stay right on forwards and with some clever stick lifting and poke checking take the puck from them or possibly even deny them the puck in the first place. In addition these athletics allow you to jump into the play to create odd man rushes but still be able to get back as long as you are smart about picking your spots.

That is all for this week. I have a request for a power forward build and I will try to accommodate that next week. Feel free to comment or hit me up on Twitter if you have questions.

NHL 12: Build of the Week -- Playmaker Center Addendum

I talked about my playmaker center build in my last post. After running this setup for a while I decided to swap back to having some agility and set my athletics up like this:


Acceleration: 85 (+8)
Agility: 79
Balance: 55
Durability: 60
Endurance: 95
Speed: 85 (+8)
Strength: 50

It is still very quick but feels smoother than the other setup. 79 agility still isn't a ton but I think you can get away with it and the 13 inch skates if you have a smaller player. If you decide to go larger with this setup 6' 200lbs and up I would definitely go with 11 inch skates. Larger players seem to have less inherent agility.

NHL 12: Build of the Week -- Playmaker Center

Sorry for the long layoff but I thought I would try to get back into doing this. This week I am featuring a super fast playmaking center that excels in 6v6 matchups.

A link to this build can be found here.

Playmaker
Legend 3
5'10"
180lbs

13" blades

Regular Stick Flex

Second Lowest Curve

Deking: 94 (+5)
Hand Eye: 99
Off Awareness: 99
Passing: 90 (+5)
Puck Control: 94 (+5)
SS Accuracy: 60
SS Power: 50
WS Accuracy: 90
WS Power: 72

Aggression: 41
Body Check: 40
Def Awareness: 77 (+5)
Discipline: 99
Faceoffs: 91 (+8)
Fighting: 40
Shot Blocking: 60
Stick Check: 87 (+8)

Acceleration: 86 (+8)
Agility: 65
Balance: 55
Durability: 60
Endurance: 98
Speed: 87 (+8)
Strength: 50

This is a build I like to use to play 6v6 but it works pretty well in most situations. Offensively it has a decent shot you can hit the net with. I had been messing around with a 99 accuracy/76 power shot  that is nasty against cpu goalies but against humans you really don't need it quite that high. The first 5 stats are stacked (I prefer the 95 passing over 99 ) so you will have good overall offensive ability with this setup.

Defensively the 95 stick check is plenty for me. and the 82 defensive awareness is not bad considering the 99 in faceoffs that the center is burdened with. I may try to find a way to get that even higher since defensive awareness makes you skate faster on the backcheck.

The athletics really reflect my new views on what is an optimal setup. Acceleration and speed are everything. Agility (provided you are 5'10" and shorter) doesn't seem to make much of a difference. The high endurance allows you to spam hustle when needed and keeps you going at high speeds without tiring. They have changed hustle enough that it can't be used as an effective replacement for acceleration it really doesn't kick in immediately. Seems far more useful to just get that extra burst once you are near or at full speed.

Anyway, hopefully I get back into the habit of doing these. As always feel free to comment.

Edit: Added a quick addendum to this post here talking about a different athletics setup.

NHL 12: Build of the Week -- Grinder

Haven't quite kept up with the pace of once a week for builds but here is an interesting support build I ran for about ten games.

A link to this build can be found here.

Grinder, Legend 3

6'0"

195 lbs.

13" blades

Regular Stick Flex

Second Lowest Curve

Deking: 90 (+5)

Hand Eye: 60

Off Awareness: 50

Passing: 90 (+5)

Puck Control: 90 (+5)

SS Accuracy: 50

SS Power: 70

WS Accuracy: 64 (+5)

WS Power: 60

Aggression: 90

Body Check: 85 (+5)

Def Awareness: 64

Discipline: 99

Faceoffs: 60

Fighting: 60

Shot Blocking: 70

Stick Check: 91 (+8)

Acceleration: 79 (+5)

Agility: 79 (+5)

Balance: 85 (+5)

Durability: 60

Endurance: 90

Speed: 78 (+5)

Strength: 85 (+5)

As you can see this build is setup to crush the opposition and it is quite good at that. However, let us start with the offensive side of this build. This build is good for scoring from five feet out and that is about it. It is a go to the front of the net and get dirty build. It does have enough deking to score on the break as well but it is practically not fast enough to get into those kinds of positions very often. Passing feels very wooden with this build due to the criminally low offensive awareness but it can be managed. As I mentioned before, this build is defensively setup to take the body sporting high checking and aggression. The aggression also helps with picking up loose pucks both offensively and defensively offsetting the poor defensive awareness. Finally the maxed stick check allows you to take the puck away without a hit as a change of pace. This build skates pretty well for the lower skating stats but won't allow you to blow by people. Luckily you have high strength and balance so you can take an inordinate amount of punishment without being knocked down. Endurance is a touch low for where I like it but it doesn't seem to hurt the build too much.

Overall, this build is best served being used as the 3rd human forward on a line. You can use it to intimidate opposing teams and keep your team from being intimidated. Drive the net hard, play hard on the boards, and hit everything that moves and you will like this build.