TL;DR
For those who don't want to read everything, here's your goal:
- You want 2x Rare Deep Route Specialist (offense) and 2x Rare In The Zone (defense)
- You need all of your strategy items to have a +SPD boost
- In order for the +SPD boosts to stack, the Strategy Items can't be identical. They must have one boost that's different.
- You need to fully upgrade Strategy Items using Training for all of their boosts to be active
- You can buy random Strategy Items in the store for 5,000 coins each
- You can upgrade and reroll Strategy Items through Exchange sets
Overview
Strategy Items are a new to Madden 22 and they're an important aspect of Madden Ultimate Team that you need to know about. It's a complicated system, but you don't need to fully understand it to get the most out of it. My goal is to outline what you need to know to get the most out of Strategy Items. There is definitely more information about Strategy Items that I didn't cover, so if you have a question, leave a reply and I'll get back to you.
What are Strategy Items?
Strategy Items are new type of MUT item in Madden 22. You equip them in your lineup on the Strategy tab. They use the existing Chemistry system to provide ratings boosts to your lineup. They can target a single position (ex. Deep Route Specialist targets WRs) or mulitple positions (ex. In The Zone targets all DBs, so CB, FS, and SS). You can find the full list of the standard Strategy Items here, but as I'll cover, you only need to pay attention to a few of them.
Which Strategy Items should I use?
I wish I had an interesting answer here, but EA didn't do the best job of balancing the Strategy Items. There are two that are significantly better than the rest. On offense you want to use two Rare (blue) Deep Route Specialist and on defense you want two Rare (blue) In The Zone. This is because speed is king in Madden, expecially at WR and CB/FS/SS. Deep Route Specialist and In The Zone can give +2 SPD to all of your WRs and DBs respectively. That might not sound like a big boost, but I promise you that it makes a huge difference.
What are Strategy Item Tiers?
Strategy Items come in three tiers (so far). There are Common (gray), Uncommon (green), and Rare (blue) Strategy Items. Common Strategy Items boost three ratings, Uncommon boost four, and Rare boost five. Only Rare Strategy Items can boost SPD, which means these are the only ones you should be using.
How do I upgrade Strategy Items?
Upgrading Strategy Items essentially is powering them up to activate their boosts. This has nothing to do with their Tier. In order to get all of the boosts listed on a Rare Strategy Item, you need to upgrade it using Training. This is done the same way you upgrade a Power Up player from the Upgrades tab on the item.
How do I get the Strategy Items I want?
The most frustrating part of Strategy Items is that they can't be auctioned or traded, which means you have to be persistent or get really lucky to get the ones you want. You can earn a free random Strategy Item each day by completing three Ultimate Season daily objectives. You can also buy a random Strategy Item from the store for 5,000 coins under the Players tab. The problem is that these are almost always Common, so it will take some effort to turn them into the Rare Strategy Items you're looking for.
The next step is to use the Strategy Item Exchange sets to turn Commons into Uncommons and Rares. You can turn 8 Commons into an Uncommon, 5 Uncommons into a Rare, or 40 Commons into a Rare directly. You're unlikely to get the exact Rare Strategy Items you want from these sets, so your next step is to reroll Rares. You can exchange any two Rare Strategy Items for a fantasy pack containing 10x Rare offense or defense Strategy Items. You have to keep repeating this process until you get the ones you're looking for (2x Deep Route Specialist and 2x In The Zone).
Yes, this is a tedious process that can burn through a lot of coins. Unfortunately there's no better way and having the best Strategy Items gives you a huge advantage over teams that do not have them.
Can I use two of the same Strategy Item?
Yes, but there's a catch. Because Strategy Items are built on top of the existing Chemistry system, boosts stack in a weird way. You can use two of the same Strategy Item, as long as they're not completely identical. You need one rating boost to be different. This will allow the +SPD boost on each item to stack (this is really the only thing we care about). For example, I am currently using 2x In The Zone on defense. Both of them have the same core boosts (ZCV, PRC, and AWR). One of them has SPD and MCV as its extra boosts and the other has SPD and TAK. This allows the SPD boosts on each to both count, resulting in +2 SPD to all of my secondary.
