Another big feature that was announced for the attack in FIFA 21 was Creative Runs, a new attacking system that allowed players far more creative freedom in the attack, with manually triggered directional runs, allowing for far more unique attacks.
In this Deep Dive look into this new gameplay feature, we’ll be covering:
- All the new feature details and gameplay changes
- Controls and how to perform the various creative runs
- Tips & Tricks
- Impacts on the Skill Gap in FIFA 21
Read More: FIFA 21 Gameplay Features Summary: Player Personality, Agile Dribbling, Creative Runs, Positioning Personality, Smoother Encounters And More
What Are Creative Runs?
Creative Runs in FIFA 21 are a completely new way for players to influence how attacking players make runs and move on the football pitch. This system is designed to overhaul the somewhat one dimensional attacking AI of FIFA 20, giving players the means to break down defences with more creativity in the attack.
How To Perform Creative Runs
The all-new creative runs system is comprised of 3 new aspects, Directed Runs, Directed Pass & Go and Player Lock.
These 3 new systems are all designed to give the player far more fluidity in the attacking areas, allowing for more bespoke and creative attacking moves and scenarios.
Directed Runs are initiated when you trigger either a run in behind (L1/LB) or call a man short (R1/RB) and flick the right stick in the desired direction of the run, through full 360 degrees. This allows you to initiate the run of the AI attacker manually in the direction you want.
Directed Pass & Go is initiated when you flick the right stick in the desired direction of a run after playing any form of pass, such as a Ground Pass, Through Ball, Lob Pass or a Cross. For a Ground Pass, you’d press X/A then flick the right stick. This is great for creating overlapping runs or different angles from 1-2s and will be of major importance when it comes to counter-attacking.
It’s worth mentioning that for Directed Runs and Directed Pass & Go, you can have up to 5 players moving simultaneously.
Player Lock allows you to lock to your current player when in possession after playing a pass, to create space or make unique runs, before calling for a pass back from the now AI-controlled attacker. To initiate Player Lock, press in both sticks (L3 & R3 or LSB & RSB) to lock to your current player when in the attack, allowing for you to pass the ball off to an AI-controlled player, to get into a new position.
For greater control when using Player Lock, you can flick the right stick any time after using the Player Lock described above, to switch and lock to another player, allowing you to take control of your teammate’s movements.
Creative Runs Tips & Tricks
Creative Runs have real potential to add a tonne of new attacking moves into FUT, here are some small tips and tricks to allow you to get the most out of the system, and situations where creative runs will be most effective.
Given that Creative Runs are a new feature, to get accustomed to the way players move and the direction of runs, a Trainer option is available that shows the path of the AI player run on the pitch. The Trainer will show only the last 2 players’ paths that have been initiated.
It’s worth mentioning, that Creative Runs can only be triggered within a limited window of various initiating mechanics, e.g. a run being triggered, a pass being given etc, to ensure that there aren’t any conflicts with skill moves, knock-ons and player switching. It’s therefore important to ensure that you perform the right stick flick to trigger a run so you have a greater chance of success.
Creative runs will be imperative in certain attacking situations, especially on Counter Attacks. Being able to send players on very specific runs to drag defenders away to open up space or for a pass will be key in successfully breaking down good manual defenders in the build-up.
Secondly, in teams where defences are more packed in, creative runs will be brilliant when trying to send Wingers on Diagonal Runs into the box for an extra passing option.
Creative Runs - Impacts on the FIFA 21 Skill Gap
It’s clear to see that Creative Runs have the potential to massively widen the Skill Gap in FIFA 21.
With players being able to trigger 5 runs simultaneously, the best players will be looking to interchange runners, initiating dummy runs to drag defences around and create the best-attacking moves possible. We can’t wait to see how professional players use this mechanic!
Secondly, with Player Lock, the best players will be able to manually position various players, switch back to ball carriers, and create space from nothing. This will be of major importance in tight situations where defences are filled with high-level players.