FIFA 22: Squad Rating and Chemistry Styles Explained

Chemistry is a game mechanism in FIFA added since FIFA 13, and this is one of the first and foremost fundamentals you should get used to when playing FIFA 22. However, not everyone knows the first thing about this mechanism. Moreover, Players’ Chemistry Styles and Players’ Individual and Squad Chemistry are different terms in FIFA 22 but don’t worry, we’ve got all you need to know.

What are Player Chemistry and Team Chemistry in FIFA 22?

In general, this is a really interesting feature in FIFA titles. You cannot just buy two random players in real life and tell them to play well-connectedly together, and neither can you do it in-game. 

Basically, this is a system that helps your players gain more “attributes.” The higher squad’s chemistry, the higher rated players are. In short, this is the indicator for your team’s “harmony.”

The effects of Chemistry will be effective at the beginning of each game, and players in the starting XI and players on the bench will have different Chemistry effects. Player Chemistry is subject to both Team Chemistry and Individual Player Chemistry.

• A player in the starting XI: 25% from Team Chemistry & 75% from Individual Player Chemistry.
• A player who comes on as a substitute: 25% from Team Chemistry & 75% from Static Individual Player Chemistry of 5.

If the result is:

• Greater than 50: players’ attributes start to improve towards their maximum of 99.
• Exactly 50, there is no change in the player’s base attributes.
• 49 or lower: the players’ attributes are reduced towards the minimum of 1.

Players’ Chemistry

• Displayed under the player’s card in red, yellow or green showing the different status of bad, decent or excellent chemistry of a player with other adjacent linked players. 
• The maximum individual’s chemistry is 10
• Overall, players’ chemistry is subject to:
  • Positioning: Team’s position with the assigned position in the card. For example, if you put Ronaldo in CAM or CM instead of ST, his initial chem would be 0. Also, in FIFA 22, if you put a player from your Wing to the Centre (and vice versa), player chemistry will be cleared regardless of having any link with adjacent teammates. 
  • Teammate Links: If a player is surrounded by other players with the same team in real life, the same nationality or the same league in real life, then the link of that play to adjacent ones would be orange if they share one similarity, green if they share 2 or above. If none, the link will be red. 
  • Manager: If the squad’s manager is in the same league or nationality as a player, that player with be added with 1 more chemistry attribute
  • Royalty: If you use the same squad playing 10 matches regardless of mode, each player will be added for 1 more chem attribute for the players’ loyalty. However, this can only be done once only.
  • Exception: Icon Players will have the Yellow Link with other normal players and share the Green Link with other Icon Players or players of the same nationality. FUT Heroes will have the Green Link with every player playing in the same league assigned to the FUT Heroes Players.

Squad Chemistry (or Squad Rating)

• The squad chemistry equals the total chemistry of every player in the team, excluded substituted ones.
• The maximum number of team chemistry is 100
• If you use the tip about individuals’ chemistry above, you will end up getting 10 more squad’s chemistry. This is the key for your SBC later in the game because not all the time can you find both cheap and well-linked players for your SBC.

Tricks for Higher Chemistry in FIFA 22

There is a “bug” that we can exploit here. Remember: “The effects of Chemistry will be effective at the beginning of each game,” which means if you change your team formation after kicking off, if you don’t use any substitution, your player and team chemistry will remain the same. Here is the example:

If you assign it as your Starting XI for this team, your squad will be off chemistry when there are few links between players. As a consequence, the players’ attributes will be downgraded, affecting the whole team’s performance. However, this is my favorite formation 4-1-2-1-2, I’m not that well-off to build another team, and I am also really into playing with the players I have. So, what should I do?

The solution is setting your Starting XI in another formation and change it into another one right after getting into the match consuming one Position Modifier Item. However, in FIFA 22, you will have to play a certain number of games for your players to get the highest chemistry in the new formation.

I change the position of Joao Felix from CM to CDM by using a CM-to-CDM Position Change Item. Even though this is not the assigned position, with the links with 3 adjacent players, Felix still manages to get 9 chemistry points and the whole squad chemistry could reach 100.

You can change the formation after kicking off manually. 

However, you can set the “edit positioning” squad in advance and alter it to your customed formation by clicking the D-pad to the left or right, depending on your setting. To set up your “edit positioning” squad as above, you need to get to your Squad, press L2 or LT and choose the custom tactics. Remember, the starting XI in your Squad and Custom Tactics Squad must be the same, or else, if there is any substitution needed, the Squad Chemistry might not reach 95 or higher.

What are Chemistry Styles in FIFA 22?

Chemistry Styles are Consumables that help to increase players’ stats permanently. You can obtain these items from packs, objectives, or purchase directly from the transfer market. Each different position and player requires and suits with one or several Chemistry Styles only. Totally, there are 23 Chemistry Styles in FIFA22.

Goalkeeper

There are 6 attributes that the Chemistry Styles can increase:

• DIV: The ability of Diving
• HAN: The ability to make decisions of catching a ball or punching it far from the danger zone (Handling)
• KIC: The ability to make a long pass from the goal (Kicking). In my opinion, this is not a necessary attribute to focus on.
• REF: The ability to reflex quickly or slowly
• SPE: The sprint speed. Again, this is not a necessary attribute to focus on.
• POS: The ability to choose the proper position to stand.

There are 5 Chemistry Styles for a GK:

Wall	Diving, Handling, Kicking	DIV: 2, HAN: 2, KIC: 2
Shield	Kicking, Reflexes, Speed	KIC: 2, REF: 2, SPD: 2
Cat	Reflexes, Speed, Positioning	REF: 2, SPD: 2, POS: 2
Glove	Diving, Handling, Positioning	DIV: 2, HAN: 2, POS: 2
GK Basic	Diving, Handling, Kicking, Reflexes, Positioning, Speed	DIV: 1, HAN: 1, KIC: 1, REF: 1, POS: 1, SPD: 1

The best Chemistry Styles for a GK are believed to be GK Basic or Glove. The Glove gives your GK +2 POS, +2 HAN, +2 DIV, which are all the vital attributes for a GK, and the GK Basic gives 1 plus point for every above attribute, which distributes everything evenly.

Defense

There are 6 attributes that the Chemistry Styles can increase:

• DEF: Defending – the ability to show the AI of a player. The higher this stat is, the “smarter” that player will be in the game.
• PHY: Physical – basically showing how strong a player is
• DRI: Dribble – the ability to control and shift the ball to other directions.
• SHO: Shooting – the ability to make a good shoot
• PAS: Passing – the ability to make a good pass and maintain a high successful passing percentage.
• PAC: Pace – the speed of a player.

There are 6 Chemistry Styles for a Defense player:

Sentinel	Defending, Physical	DEF: 3, PHY: 3
Guardian	Dribbling, Defending	DRI: 3, DEF: 3
Gladiator	Shooting, Defending	SHO: 3, DEF: 3
Backbone	Passing, Defending, Physical	PAS: 2, DEF: 2, PHY: 2
Anchor	Pace, Defending, Physical	PAC: 2, DEF: 2, PHY: 2
Shadow	Pace, Defending	PAC: 3, DEF: 3

For a left-back or right-back player, we could choose the Shadow when it adds a boost to the player Pace and Defending. For a center back, you could pick between the Shadow or the Anchor.

Center

6 attributes can be increased by the Chemistry Styles, which all are the same with the Defence.

There are 6 Physical Styles for your Midfielder:

Artist	Passing, Dribbling	PAS: 3, DRI: 3
Architect	Passing, Physical	PAS: 3, PHY: 3
Powerhouse	Passing, Defending	PAS: 3, DEF: 3
Maestro	Shooting, Passing, Dribbling	SHO: 2, PAS: 2, DRI: 2
Engine	Pace, Passing, Dribbling	PAC: 2, PAS: 2, DRI: 2
Catalyst	Pace, Passing	PAC: 3, PAS: 3

For your CM or CAM, the two best styles you could pick are Artist and Maestro. For example, players like Kovacic or Mount would be suitable with the Maestro to increase their shooting ability, while Kevin De Bruyne or Modric will need the Catalyst or Architect.

For your CDM, the Powerhouse might work well. Otherwise, you could choose the Backbone if you want to strengthen your midfield physically.

Attack

5 attributes can be increased by the Chemistry Styles, which all are the same with the Midfielder except there is no defending bonus.

There are 6 Physical Styles for your Attacker:

Sniper	Shooting, Dribbling	SHO: 3, DRI: 3
Deadeye	Shooting, Passing	SHO: 3, PAS: 3
Hawk	Pace, Shooting, Physical	PAC: 2, SHO: 2, PHY: 2
Marksman	Shooting, Dribbling, Physical	SHO: 2, DRI: 2, PHY: 2
Finisher	Shooting, Physical	SHO: 3, PHY: 3
Hunter	Pace, Shooting	PAC: 3, SHO: 3

For your CF or ST, it would be best to use the Finisher to increase the goal-conversion rate of your strikers. However, Hawk is not a bad option, especially for players such as Lukaku or Immobile, who need more ball-controlling ability instead of shooting or physical.

For your LM, RM, LW, and RW, it depends on your style. If you want someone who can bring the difference to the game, such as Messi, Salah, the Hawk or Finisher are your perfect fit. Or if your style is using a player clinging to his Wing only, Hunter or even the Catalyst is what you are looking for.

Note: You should focus on the players’ weaknesses to choose the suitable Chemistry Styles. For example, in FIFA22, Messi has 9x in DRI, SHO, and PAS. However, his Pace is 85 and his Physical is 65 only. So, Hawk will give him 2+ Pace and 2+ physical. If you give Messi the Sniper, it will be too redundant and a waste of resources.

For more guides and related content, check our website’s FIFA 22 section.