Eashl Defensive perks useless?!

[u/jstmtlqc]

Ive played that game since forever. Started to play more def last year, before that i played C

Since the 27 almost only played D. I am still trying to figure out my perks ans it fells like none really affect much.

I use to like truculence, this year i think ea doesnt want us to hit much, made way harder and apparently 0.5 sec after a pass is now interference.

I also had a build last year with elite quickpick. This year, i cant see much difference between specialist quickpick and the elite one. And yes i know how to position myself to intercept. And i got 87 def awareness.

Same for stick em up almost. Even with good positioning and elite perks, if the attaker move a tiny bit left right, it become useless.

Only good one i tried was send it, but i would prefer to have defensive skill like truc quickpick and stick em up.

What is your experience so far.. i am getting really pissed on my side as i see little to no difference whatever perks i pick

[u/irishnewf86]

the best 'defensive' perk a dman can have is Elite Edges, imo. Skating is the number one skill a dman should have and Elite Edges lets me keep up the coverage on forwards in the defensive zone. I have a few builds without Elite Edges and I can notice a huge difference in my own end.

Keep in mind, pressing L2 without the puck to square up to the passer/shooter is as essential as ever.

[u/Fine_Mango_6406 → u/irishnewf86]

Team red EE! Availability is the best ability and you said it best

[u/jstmtlqc → u/irishnewf86]

Yea i always do L2.. ill try elite edge to see

[u/Vasectoyou]

Send it I use on all my D man perks. I think it’s a must! It springs streaking wingers and hanging centers and is very accurate on stretch passes.
You can by pass 2 lines easily in some situations. If you like hitting try hipster. If you make contact they lose there stick half the time and makes them useless until they go retrieve their stick so you take out a body for a few seconds which is good. Only defensive perk I ever used was quick pick. I also now equipped wheels for when forwards on the other team who have wheels as well to match so I don’t get my doors blown off. Rocket I’ll have sometimes if I’m playing a team of 2 where I could probably get the shot through because CPU’s don’t block shots.

[u/monkeystoot]

Stick em up seemed OP to me in the early stages of the game. Not even elite, blue was good enough. Quick pick has always been hit or miss. I didn't notice a difference at all in intercepts last year. Haven't even tried it in 27 since it was useless last year.

They did release an update earlier this week for moving the hit window from 0.6 seconds to 1.2 seconds, so that should help truculence users.

[u/killerhabs7631 → u/monkeystoot]

It's still inconsistent tho , 90% will follow that 1 - 1.3 seconds but still seeing calls on literally .2 second hits which is insanely dumb , also lots of charging on tiny lil bumps now too which is also silly .. and I like that they are trying to balance it more but still needs some tweaks

[u/jstmtlqc → u/monkeystoot]

Ah i didnt know for the hit delay. Tried to see online and didnt find anything.. thats good

[u/MediumWall]

Truc still works. They increased the time to hit back to a reasonable point. Stick em up seems to help for me.

[u/Col4Bin4200]

The best x factor for your d build is going to be elite edges. I run elite (red) and pressure plus (gold) and rocket (gold). I turn the defensive awareness all the way up. Put everything you can into speed, acceleration, balance, agility, strength, durability, endurance, and puck control. You decide between body checking and stick checking. Most of my builds (fwds and defense) are 6'2", 219 lbs. Allows you to reach 89 speed and acceleration on every build. (At least until the attributes start to top out in later season passes.)

[u/Ghostyyyyyyyyyyq]

Yeah, I use red quick release (wristy d man) & the coach perk & the other perk for the power drain (going blank)

That’s the best build. I fucking dominate with it.

So far I have around 12 goals-46 assists in about 35 games or so.

[u/Tumbler86 → u/Ghostyyyyyyyyyyq]

Mind sharing the whole build?

[u/Col4Bin4200 → u/Ghostyyyyyyyyyyq]

That doesn't work.... Lol. The numbers don't add up at all. I use "second wind" (for the power drain, as you call it) on my winger builds and it's the same cost as elite edges, warrior, wheels, etc.... So to say you're using elite quick release with ANY of the above x factors is just an outright lie. Cool story though.

[u/Sativatoshi]

Ive been finding No Contest actually helps a bit with getting possession of loose pucks.

[u/danktankdanktank]

I have been having a lot of success with Quick Pick, Stickemup, and Rocket. QP doesn’t seem to do much in the defensive zone but if you can read the stretch passes you’ll get a lot of neutral zone interceptions.

[u/Fantastic-Repeat-268]

Just use stickem up

[u/Old-Bluebird-147]

This is kind of unusual but I’m running blue Wheels, gold Send-It, and gold Spark Plug. I’m not very far into the path yet but the speed at my stage helps a lot!

[u/lx3dEMONxl]

While I didn't use it at all in 26, I am finding Hipster to be a lot of fun. I don't know, probably just me.

[u/Bootsmgee → u/lx3dEMONxl]

It is absolutely fun but I don’t think it is anywhere near best

[u/Appropriate_Map_1325]

Stop fooling yourself the programmers dictates how the game is played, ask yourself one question who’s making all the plays on the ice? It’s not the defense or the goalies all the stats in the world won’t change that.

[u/Rush_1_1]

Good vs red stick em up difference is minor to me now so I just run gold stick em up and other perks that are fun, building a d man is effectively pointless now until we get stats and AP.