In addition to dropping an NHL 22 gameplay trailer, EA also did a deep dive on Superstar X-Factors. Much like its application in Madden, X-Factors aim to separate star players from the rest of the league. In NHL 22, X-Factor abilities span all positions on the ice. Abilities are broken down into several categories: skating, shooting, passing, defending, goalie, and hockey IQ. Here’s a look at all 29 Superstar X-Factor abilities in this year’s game.
NHL 22 Superstar X-Factor Abilities
Skating Abilities
- Wheels: Beat anyone, anytime with the puck. You won’t get any agility, speed, or acceleration penalties when skating with the puck.
- Elite Edges: Make tight, seemingly impossible turns anywhere on the ice without sacrificing maneuverability or speed.
- Ankle Breaker: Deke opponents at top speed without any penalty whatsoever. They’ll be watching you fly down the ice before they know what hit ’em.
- In Reverse: You’ll be as good skating backwards (or any other direction) as you are at skating forwards with this ability, and you can switch to backskating on a dime without any penalty to speed or acceleration.
Shooting Abilities
- Make It Snappy: Get a huge boost to power and accuracy when taking snap shots while skating.
- Shnipe: Settle shots more easily and get additional shot accuracy and power on shots after settling. Keep calm and place your shots.
- One Tee: Blast one-timers into the net every time. Get a huge boost to power and accuracy on one-time shots, even if the pass from your teammate was… less than ideal.
- Thunder Clap: They’ll hear the buzzer before they even see the puck. Get extra power and accuracy on slap shots from the point when this ability is activated.
- Heatseeker: Find the twine with massively increased power and accuracy on wrist and snap shots from the point. Get that perfect placement and speed, even from distance.
- Shock And Awe: Get exceptional power and and accuracy shooting out of, or shortly after, a successful deke.
NHL 22 Passing Abilities
- Tape To Tape: Handy ability to auto-saucer, and get increased backhand accuracy and reduced power penalties on passes within your vision. See everything, be ready for everything.
- Send It: Pull the strings from anywhere on the ice by getting a huge increase to pass assist and ability to auto saucer long distance passes.
- Magnetic: Make that loose puck yours with this brilliant ability to pick them up with speed, as well as corral bouncing or rolling pucks easily, and snatch up poor passes.
- Third Eye: There are no blind spots for you when your Third Eye activates. Use this ability to hit seemingly impossible passes to teammates outside your field of vision.
Defending Abilities
- YOINK!: Snatch that puck away with a higher stick lift success rate, and leave them hanging while they take longer than usual to recover from your trickery.
- Stick ‘Em Up: You’re a master of the ancient art of defensive stick handling. Get a much higher success rate with the Defensive Skill Stick, even against momentum or at speed.
- Shutdown: Take on anyone, anywhere as you get a huge boost to defensive abilities when taking on the puck carrier 1-on-1.
NHL 22 Goalie Abilities
- Contortionist: Twist around to make clutch stops seemingly impossible for most humans. When a goalie activates this ability, he gets increased save range, recovery, and ability while in spread V with or against momentum.
- All Or Nothing: Take away your opponents’ chance to shoot before they even think about it with a high success rate (including range, accuracy, and recovery) at poke checks in front of goal.
- Dialed In: When you’re Dialed In, it feels like nobody can stop you. After making 15 saves in a game, this ability activates and heavily boosts goalie reaction time, recovery, and save ability for the rest of the game.
- Post To Post: Make elite post to post saves that most goalies only dream of doing. Get an impressive boost to reaction time, recovery, and save ability when going post to post.
Hockey IQ Abilities
- Puck On A String: Be a magician with the puck, thanks to lightning-quick stick handling moves and toe drags. Now they see the puck, now they don’t.
- Quick Pick: Snatch the puck from anyone in the blink of an eye. Increase puck interception rate and range.
- All Alone: You might be on an island, but you’ve still got moves. Get increased accuracy and power on your penalty shots and breakaways.
- Quick Draw: It’s high noon for you every time you line up for a faceoff. Gain a high success rate on faceoffs, with extra quickness on faceoff draws, increased effectiveness on tie-up wins, and a big advantage in defensive zone draws.
- It’s Tricky: You’ve got more than a few tricks up your sleeves with this ability at the ready. Get a much higher success rate with trick dekes, while also boosting your shooting accuracy immediately afterwards.
- Crease Crasher: Turn any opportunity into a chance at glory with this uncanny ability to corral bouncing pucks and get a boost to your accuracy after collecting them.
- Big Tipper: Knock even the most accurate shots away from your goal with improved deflection range, accuracy, and speed.
What Superstar X-Factor abilities are standing out to you in NHL 22? Are you happy to see X-Factor’s make their way into EA’s hockey sim? Let us know down in the comments. As always, stay with us at Sports Gamers Online for all the latest NHL news and more.
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