Master FIFA 18 Ultimate Team with Our Beginner's Guide
FIFA Ultimate Team is the most popular mode in the long-running soccer franchise, and with good reason. With total control over your squad formations, coaching, transfers, and game strategies, your Ultimate Team is yours and yours alone. In FIFA 18, you’re given even more ways to earn card packs and improve your roster before you compete against others online, but it can be a bit overwhelming for those new to the mode. Thankfully, our FIFA 18 Ultimate Team guide will tell you everything need to know to get started, from how to earn card packs to completing objectives.
The basics
FIFA 18’s Ultimate Team is a personalized, card-based mode unlike anything else in the game. Instead of choosing a pre-made team or drafting players, you build your team using cards, which you purchase using either in-game currency or real money.
As you improve your team, you can choose to enter single-player leagues, tournaments, or special “squad battles,” or you can take the game online to compete against other players. Everything you do earns you more points that can be used to improve your team, and when you find a player who doesn’t have a role in your squad anymore, you can sell him to other Ultimate Team players for even more currency.
Your team alone
When you begin FIFA 18’s Ultimate Team mode, you’ll be run through a quick tutorial that shows you how to use the transfer market, organize your roster, and complete objectives, and you’ll be provided with a starter squad so you can enter a match and start earning coins. Your team will not be nearly as skilled as the pre-made squads you use in Kick Off or Career, however. Most will be in the “bronze” tier, making them relatively ineffective individual players, but you’ll still be able to score goals and defend in tough situations if you make good decisions and keep track of your players’ energy levels.
Still, you’re going to want to get some stars to lead the charge on breakaways, and that’s where the store comes in. Use the right bumper on your controller (RB on Xbox One or R1 on PlayStation 4) to scroll all the way to the right, and you’ll be able to purchase individual FIFA Ultimate Team packs using either in-game coins or “FIFA points,” which can be purchased with cash.
When you first start out, it can be tempting to start with the bronze packs, but we recommend saving up your points until you can afford a silver pack. Having even just one playmaker can be the difference in close matches, giving you more coins that you can then use to purchase more card packs or better players on the transfer market. Eventually, you’ll be able to purchase standard gold packs and even “jumbo” gold packs, providing your team with several star players as well as useful consumable items.
Choose wisely
When you open packs, you’ll receive both permanent additions to your roster and “loan” players, who will only be available to you for about seven games. These are typically rated significantly higher than your regular starters, occasionally even pushing into the 90s with players such as cover star Cristiano Ronaldo. It can be tempting to throw them into games immediately in order to run up the score on the other team, but consider your opponent before doing so. Against a low-rated team, you’ll essentially waste a star’s talent, and after their seven games are up, they’re gone for good.
You should also take some time to examine your current team for holes. If your star player is your striker, spending all of your coins to acquire Antoine Griezmann on the transfer market won’t be as beneficial as improving your winger or keeper. However, if there is a star available for a price you just can’t resist, you can always change up your squad formation or attempt to sell them on the transfer market.
