The HUT Strategy Guide [ Edited ]

[EA_Blueberry]

Welcome to the NHL HUT Community!

You've found yourself here in the official forums because you are looking for answers and tips around Hockey Ultimate Team - You're in the right pond.

In this guide we'll help you with the basics of HUT including tips and discussions to chat with others on advice or strategy.

What is HUT all about?

Hockey Ultimate Team is where you build and collect various tiers of items to build your own "fantasy" hockey team. You can build your team by completing challenges in-game, earning currency and collectibles to complete sets, and use the auction house or trade pile to acquire new items for your team. Hockey Ultimate Team also hosts competitive modes and tournaments. 

Stay up to date on the latest HUT content and news by following us on Twitter EA SPORTS NHL.

Get the full deep dive on Hockey Ultimate Team in these videos from our development team and EA Content Creator, Sleeveless Gaming:

Objectives & Milestones

Objectives and Milestones are assignments you can complete in game to earn coins and packs for your HUT team. Press (RT) or (R2) at the HUT menu to view them. These can range from daily, weekly, and season-long time-frames. Log in every day for a free reward pack and complete as many objectives as you can to maximize your ability to purchase new items from the store or auction house. 

Single Player Modes

HUT Squad Battles

This is a weekly single player competition against AI-created community HUT teams around the world. Play as many matches as you can throughout the week and earn huge rewards. 

The higher the difficulty you choose for each matchup the more points you can potentially score to earn better rewards. 

Rewards are released on Thursdays at 2PM PT.

EA TIP: Max amount of games for Squad Battles is 32.

Get tips on Squad Battles from the HUT community here!

HUT Challenges

Complete challenges for collectibles and redeem in sets for rewards. The more objectives you complete the more stars you earn = better rewards.

EA TIPS:

• It is important to play HUT Challenges to accumulate coins, packs, and collectibles to help maintain your team when you are not playing Rivals or HUT Champions
• Challenges are a great opportunity to earn event collectibles

Get tips on HUT Challenges from the HUT community here!

Online Modes

HUT Rivals

This is a weekly online competition where you play games to climb the rankings for rewards and also try to qualify for HUT Champions, a competitive event with even better rewards. Weekly ranks are determined by the average score among all competitors within your Division.

Earn HUT Champion Points to redeem them for a HUT Champions Qualification Collectible where you can compete for even bigger rewards!

EA TIPS:

• Rewards are available within 48 hours of the season ending
• Once 50 games are played you will no longer receive points towards HUT Rivals Rankings

Get tips on HUT Rivals from the HUT community here!

HUT Champions

This is where the best players compete to win the biggest rewards. HUT Champions starts on Thursdays at 8AM PT and ends on Sunday 11:59PM PT. Complete a minimum of 3 games to earn a rank and there’s a maximum of 20 games.

Claiming Rewards: Rankings for HUT Champions will be processed and finalized on the following Wednesday at 3AM PT.

Qualify and compete in HUT Champions Weekend Seasons by redeeming 2000 HUT Champion Points (Earned through HUT Rivals or a previous HUT Champions Season)

• HUT Champion Points must be redeemed before Sunday at 9PM PT (3 hours before the end of the Season)

Get tips on HUT Champions from the HUT community here!

Types of Items

X-FACTORS Players

X-Factors are new items that start about 10 OVR (Overall Rating) lower than their base item but are upgradeable and will always match/exceed the highest OVR item of that player. 50 X-Factor players will get special upgradeable versions called Power-up player items in HUT. These items start out lower rated than the player's base item, but they can be upgraded at launch to be +1 OVR from their base. These items can be upgraded further throughout the season based on live content, and as they move up the "upgrade tiers" they might unlock new synergy slots, customization options, or ability unlocks. It costs either HUT Coins or special Power-up collectibles to upgrade a Power-up item.

Collectibles

• Seasonal Collectibles - These are earned during seasonal events and used towards sets.
• Event Collectibles - Used for a specific event to upgrade the master set items.
• Power Up Collectible - Used when increasing the tier of a power up item.

Team Strategy

Synergies

The Synergy Glossary

Completing Synergies will provide stat boosts to players that are contributing to them. You can improve your team by boosting player attributes this way. Synergies affect all players that are contributing to that synergy when completed. Some synergies may be customized – choose between options given to better suit your team.

EA TIPS:

• Pair players with the same Synergy in your lineup to activate synergies
• You can preview Synergy boosts in the player information screen to see which attributes will be affected
• Use the Synergy Glossary to learn about synergies and find new players for your lineup. Add a coach to your team for maximum Synergy potential

Get tips on Synergies from the HUT community here!

Ability Limits

Each Zone and Superstar ability has an Ability Points (AP) value. There is an AP Limit in all HUT game modes excluding HUT Rush. 

The AP Limit may increase during the year to allow more active abilities in your lineup.

Items have different Tiers where more abilities and Synergies can be unlocked. You can upgrade tiers or downgrade once purchased. Downgrading will give back half of the value spent upgrading

Sets/Collections

Use HUT Sets to exchange items and upgrade your team! If you don't unpack a high OVR (Overall Rating) item from a reward or store purchase, using what you've earned to complete sets is the next best option to upgrading your team.

The Store & Auction House

Visit the store or auction house to find more players to improve your team. 

Store

The store will feature promotional packs, bundles, and offers found throughout the season. Check the info/probabilities option when highlighting a pack to see the odds and what item(s) a pack may guarantee. Our disclaimer on pack probabilities can be found here.

EA TIPS:

• Some packs may feature "Pack Limits" where you are restricted on the amount you can buy per day or max. There can also be community limits where there are only a finite amount of packs the whole community can purchase
• While a higher OVR (Overall Rating) player may be featured on the store at any given time, it is still possible to acquire a different lower version item of them in a pack

Auction House

The auction house gives you the opportunity to buy and sell items for your team. 

EA TIPS:

• You cannot sell "untradeable" listed items on the auction house
• New and higher OVR (Overall Rating) items will always cost more and gradually come down in price as more items are released in time. If you need to fill out some lines, collaborate with the community to find "budget" HUT players. These are items that the community feels are great value for all HUT teams at an attainable price
• Check out this past advice from EA Content Creator, Sleeveless Gaming!

Get tips on the store and auction house from the HUT community here!

The Camera Angle

Find a camera angle under your visual settings that suits you best. Don't be afraid to play around with the camera angles in a practice session to see what type fits your gameplay style. @EA_Aljo prefers the Zone view to see more of the ice to help with passing around to teammates.

Well that's it for now. If you have any questions on HUT use the search bar at the top of the forums here or create a topic for the community to discuss.

See you on the ice!