NHL 23 is the 32nd installment in the NHL video game franchise. In addition to its innovations to NHL's already established mechanics and features, NHL 23 boasts an extensive character customization system that allows players to build their ideal hockey athlete for any position.
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Coming up with the best build for any given position requires plenty of fine-tuning, with plenty of room for error. Depending on play styles and preferences, there are a few ways to build the perfect goalie who will create a massive challenge for any opposition to score against. This guide provides an in-depth look at a few different goalie builds for NHL 23.
All About The Butterfly Goalie Build
The first kind of build that players might want to try in NHL 23's World of Chel is the Butterfly goalie class. Butterfly Goalies excel at blocking lower shots through the use of their wide stance.
This class of goalie is also likely to be more accessible to players who don't have the quickest reflexes and would rather rely on positioning and strategy rather than reaction speed alone to block shots. In fact, using a Butterfly goalie with lower agility can be helpful in some instances, as builds with top-tier agility tend to be very responsive to any input from the player. This can sometimes lead to excess sensitivity and make it easy to overshoot when attempting to block shots at goal.
Ideal Stats For The Butterfly Goalie
For the Butterfly build, choosing Sponge as a zone ability is generally recommended. Rather than making the goalie as tall as possible, using a weight of 200 lbs and keeping height maxed out at 6'2" is preferable to give the build more stability.
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Low stats should be balanced, and ideally kept to Glove Low: 92 OVR, Stick Low: 92 OVR, and Five-Hole: 86 OVR. This builds Hands stats should be Glove High: 90 OVR, Stick High: 90 OVR, and Passing: 82 OVR. Quickness should be Speed: 89 OVR, Agility: 79 OVR, and Poke Check: 83 OVR. Finally, Positioning stats should be Rebound Control: 83 OVR, Vision: 91 OVR, Breakaway: 81 OVR, and Recover: 91 OVR.
It's All About Positioning
As mentioned above, positioning is king when playing a Butterfly goalie build. Don't rely on Butterfly builds to be able to make lightning-fast saves and get behind the puck in the blink of an eye - having as high a Vision stat as possible is especially important.
Instead, focussing on strategy and momentum is crucial for Butterfly goalies in NHL games. The most important part of successfully utilizing a Butterfly build is being able to position the goalie to block shots at goal. This can make it a little trickier to use Butterfly builds at first. However, practice makes perfect, and they can be some of the most effective goalie builds when used properly.
All About The Hybrid Goalie Build
This is a more aggressive, responsive goalie build that relies far more on reflexes and sheer athleticism than a Butterfly-style goalie build does.
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As such, attributes like height and agility are of crucial importance. So too is this build's flexibility - players should look to ensure that their Hybrid goalie is limber enough to be able to block both low and high shots at a moment's notice. Setting the Hybrid goalie's zone ability to Contortionist is very helpful in this regard. Note that being able to successfully main this goalie build will generally require that the player has good reflexes.
Ideal Stats For The Hybrid Goalie
Flexibility and speed are of key importance Hybrid goalies, so choosing Contortionist as a Zone Ability is generally recommended. Otherwise, Low stats for this build should be Glove Low: 88 OVR, Stick Low: 84 OVR, Five-Hole: 87 OVR. Hands should be Glove High: 90 OVR, Stick High: 90 OVR, and Passing: 84 OVR.
Quickness stats will generally be Speed: 85 OVR, Agility: 92 OVR, and Poke Check: 89 OVR. Finally, Positioning stats should ideally look like Rebound Control: 86 OVR, Vision: 90 OVR, Breakaway: 88 OVR, and Recover: 91 OVR.
All About The Stand Up Goalie Build
The Stand Up goalie build is arguably the best for gathering rebounds and covering dangerous or dodgy positions. Aiming for a higher speed stat especially will make this build as effective as possible while giving players a better experience overall.
Emphasising high vision for this build in particular is an important tip to keep in mind; this allows the goalie to block shots and collect rebounds as effectively as possible. To this end, choosing Zone Abilities that improve speed or vision will help take this build to the next level in terms of performance and rebound control.
Ideal Stats For The Stand Up Goalie
Ideal stats for the Stand Up goalie build start with any Zone Ability that gives a boost to either speed or vision. Low stats should be Glove Low: 90 OVR, Stick Low: 89 OVR, and Five-Hole: 76 OVR. Hands should look like Glove High: 92 OVR, Stick High: 92 OVR, and Passing: 90 OVR.
Aim for Quickness stats to be Speed: 91 OVR, Agility: 81 OVR, and Poke Check: 85 OVR. Finally, Positioning will ideally have the stats Rebound Control: 78 OVR, Vision: 90 OVR, Breakaway: 90 OVR, and Recover: 83 OVR.
NHL 23 is out now on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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