Defense isn't that hard when it comes to playing 6s. It does require the team to play better defense all around. I'm using a 6'3'' 190 lbs Puckmoving. I literally have no problem staying with and staying in front of the speedsters. Hitting requires better timing this year instead of just holding up and the game locking in for you. Poke checks work fine also. Passing in general is slow in 6s and requires your team to shrink their breakout giving you more options.
If you are complaining about defense in 1s or drop-ins then it's not really even close to the same as AI can only do so much and drop-in isn't exactly organized.
First off this is impossible.. cannot make a larger PMD or a smaller TWD
Secondly it is way too often that sticks to through pucks and other sticks only for the puck to be not knocked loose or knocked loose and then simultaneously regained. I use a PMD with 90 DA, 95 OA, and 89 puck control and can’t pick up anything. Stick checking attribute should reflect mainly the success of stick lift, as well as penalties caused by stick infractions. It should NOT reflect the success of a physical object moving through another physical object. If I make stick on puck contact with 55 stick checking compared to 99, it should be the same power and effectiveness of knocking the puck loose. Right now there is no window where the offensive player has to wait to regain the puck (even a second), based off their attributes, and anything the dev team says otherwise is a blatant lie. Period. There is no reason why an enforcer should get the puck back immediately when my attributes double his and my player is in a better position body and stick/hand wise to pick up the puck
Oops 6'2'' anyways here is what I use. I've never believed in the awareness stat even back in the 360 days felt like it was overrated. Imo Puck Control is more about not losing it than picking it up as it's in the offensive category. Also the minute people lose the puck they instantly stick lift anyways to get it right back and then usually pull back so you are more likely to take a penalty or miss. Like for me literally when someone gets close I'm ready to hit that stick lift to get it right back.
I see where you made a couple mistakes. Your 1st trait slot should be the stick checking 2 instead of strength. Unless you are going for hits all game and getting a ton of 1xers all game, there's no need to waste a slot on strength. Plus, the PMD handeye is 79 and that helps picking up loose picks so try the deflection master red trait instead of marathon man. You dont need marathon man on defense. That tells me you are all over the place and relying on that to help get back into position.
Give it a shot, hope it helps.
Why would you use “deflection master” trait on a D man!? That trait is for standing in front of the net...trying to redirect shots.
If you read it, it increases handeye. I hope you know handeye does more than redirect shots. Redirecting shots is just an example of what handeye does. I dont if you are trolling me or being serious.
Additionally the speed of the game right now is wayyy too fast. Change it to broadcast and you’ll see how this game doesn’t reflect NHL speed. NHL 19 was probably 2-3x faster than NHL hockey. NHL 20 is like 4-5x faster, it’s crazy
Speed doesn’t always equal fun. It’s nauseating playing any position other than forward. Even with perfect connection its extremely difficult to have a human response time that fast to make the smart play, add to the fact that the controller is often unresponsive due to slight button delay and you get a recipe for disaster. It’s broke...
Get better you are just slow on your response and that is your fault for not adapting. Go look at Rocket League and see what timing at truly a fast pace is all about. If they can do it then so can you with this game.
This is a pretty lame and disappointing response.. has nothing to do with my skill level. When I play club I can (and have) played on a top club, I’m pretty good at defense
The response time is difficult but do-able if we were given more than 1-2 defensive tools as well as controller responsiveness. Neither are existent in NHL 20.
With all the improvements they made with the fluidity of the game which already was a big boost for the forwards, I can't think of any reason at all for why they nerfed the physicality. There's no balance at all. You can't hold your position because guys slip right by with no contact. You have to just try to be the best pylon you can be and maybe they'll lose the puck against your skate. But as soon as you try to push them off the puck, they have you beat. They can be coming right at you and your poke will go through the puck and into their feet for a trip. You have no control of any of your defensive tools to do your job.
And secondly, the pick offs are ridiculously inconsistent. A forward with his back turned, skating away will pick off a breakout pass easily, but if you're in a passing lane in front of the net, with your vision control facing the pass that you clearly are anticipating, it goes through you way too often.
I don't like picking on the developers, but I really don't understand how they think we're supposed to play defense. I've played mostly defense only, since nhl 11 or 12 and this is the first time I've been unable to have any fun playing this game. And we're just a few weeks in... This is still supposed to be the honeymoon period.
If there's no way to patch in some fixes, I'll be done within the next month probably. I've already decided there's no reason to play LG this year with the state of this game. Everybody is going to be verbally tearing the dmen apart even when they're doing everything right and pucks and bodies are going right through them.
With all the improvements they made with the fluidity of the game which already was a big boost for the forwards, I can't think of any reason at all for why they nerfed the physicality. There's no balance at all. You can't hold your position because guys slip right by with no contact. You have to just try to be the best pylon you can be and maybe they'll lose the puck against your skate. But as soon as you try to push them off the puck, they have you beat. They can be coming right at you and your poke will go through the puck and into their feet for a trip. You have no control of any of your defensive tools to do your job.
And secondly, the pick offs are ridiculously inconsistent. A forward with his back turned, skating away will pick off a breakout pass easily, but if you're in a passing lane in front of the net, with your vision control facing the pass that you clearly are anticipating, it goes through you way too often.
I don't like picking on the developers, but I really don't understand how they think we're supposed to play defense. I've played mostly defense only, since nhl 11 or 12 and this is the first time I've been unable to have any fun playing this game. And we're just a few weeks in... This is still supposed to be the honeymoon period.
If there's no way to patch in some fixes, I'll be done within the next month probably. I've already decided there's no reason to play LG this year with the state of this game. Everybody is going to be verbally tearing the dmen apart even when they're doing everything right and pucks and bodies are going right through them.
Beef up forward play plenty, just like they did last year for 19, while completely ignoring the defense. Not only that, but the goalies have definitely taken a step back this year. The only thing they revamped for the goalies was not letting them do the wrist shot cheese rebound. Other than that, all types of goals are going in this year. The one-hand tuck and cross-crease one-timers. So you have to be extra vigilant on D.
With all the improvements they made with the fluidity of the game which already was a big boost for the forwards, I can't think of any reason at all for why they nerfed the physicality. There's no balance at all. You can't hold your position because guys slip right by with no contact. You have to just try to be the best pylon you can be and maybe they'll lose the puck against your skate. But as soon as you try to push them off the puck, they have you beat. They can be coming right at you and your poke will go through the puck and into their feet for a trip. You have no control of any of your defensive tools to do your job.
And secondly, the pick offs are ridiculously inconsistent. A forward with his back turned, skating away will pick off a breakout pass easily, but if you're in a passing lane in front of the net, with your vision control facing the pass that you clearly are anticipating, it goes through you way too often.
I don't like picking on the developers, but I really don't understand how they think we're supposed to play defense. I've played mostly defense only, since nhl 11 or 12 and this is the first time I've been unable to have any fun playing this game. And we're just a few weeks in... This is still supposed to be the honeymoon period.
If there's no way to patch in some fixes, I'll be done within the next month probably. I've already decided there's no reason to play LG this year with the state of this game. Everybody is going to be verbally tearing the dmen apart even when they're doing everything right and pucks and bodies are going right through them.
Beef up forward play plenty, just like they did last year for 19, while completely ignoring the defense. Not only that, but the goalies have definitely taken a step back this year. The only thing they revamped for the goalies was not letting them do the wrist shot cheese rebound. Other than that, all types of goals are going in this year. The one-hand tuck and cross-crease one-timers. So you have to be extra vigilant on D.
Exactly these two comments.. 100%. Goalies are not any better except the rebound control on easy wrist shots from blue line
With all the improvements they made with the fluidity of the game which already was a big boost for the forwards, I can't think of any reason at all for why they nerfed the physicality. There's no balance at all. You can't hold your position because guys slip right by with no contact. You have to just try to be the best pylon you can be and maybe they'll lose the puck against your skate. But as soon as you try to push them off the puck, they have you beat. They can be coming right at you and your poke will go through the puck and into their feet for a trip. You have no control of any of your defensive tools to do your job.
And secondly, the pick offs are ridiculously inconsistent. A forward with his back turned, skating away will pick off a breakout pass easily, but if you're in a passing lane in front of the net, with your vision control facing the pass that you clearly are anticipating, it goes through you way too often.
I don't like picking on the developers, but I really don't understand how they think we're supposed to play defense. I've played mostly defense only, since nhl 11 or 12 and this is the first time I've been unable to have any fun playing this game. And we're just a few weeks in... This is still supposed to be the honeymoon period.
If there's no way to patch in some fixes, I'll be done within the next month probably. I've already decided there's no reason to play LG this year with the state of this game. Everybody is going to be verbally tearing the dmen apart even when they're doing everything right and pucks and bodies are going right through them.
Beef up forward play plenty, just like they did last year for 19, while completely ignoring the defense. Not only that, but the goalies have definitely taken a step back this year. The only thing they revamped for the goalies was not letting them do the wrist shot cheese rebound. Other than that, all types of goals are going in this year. The one-hand tuck and cross-crease one-timers. So you have to be extra vigilant on D.
Exactly these two comments.. 100%. Goalies are not any better except the rebound control on easy wrist shots from blue line
No... I can tell you that the weak wristers are still a problem. In the few games I've played I've seen at least one such goal scored per game. In fact, compared to the BETA, goalies aren't deflecting the pucks the corners as much as I was expecting them to. I guess too many people were complaining about them kicking the puck over the glass too much... *sigh*
With all the improvements they made with the fluidity of the game which already was a big boost for the forwards, I can't think of any reason at all for why they nerfed the physicality. There's no balance at all. You can't hold your position because guys slip right by with no contact. You have to just try to be the best pylon you can be and maybe they'll lose the puck against your skate. But as soon as you try to push them off the puck, they have you beat. They can be coming right at you and your poke will go through the puck and into their feet for a trip. You have no control of any of your defensive tools to do your job.
And secondly, the pick offs are ridiculously inconsistent. A forward with his back turned, skating away will pick off a breakout pass easily, but if you're in a passing lane in front of the net, with your vision control facing the pass that you clearly are anticipating, it goes through you way too often.
I don't like picking on the developers, but I really don't understand how they think we're supposed to play defense. I've played mostly defense only, since nhl 11 or 12 and this is the first time I've been unable to have any fun playing this game. And we're just a few weeks in... This is still supposed to be the honeymoon period.
If there's no way to patch in some fixes, I'll be done within the next month probably. I've already decided there's no reason to play LG this year with the state of this game. Everybody is going to be verbally tearing the dmen apart even when they're doing everything right and pucks and bodies are going right through them.
THIS PART RIGHT HERE!!
I'll even add that there are times where I have a cluster of guys in the slot and the cross-crease pass will get through untouched. Can we just stop the ridiculousness already? You know damn well that pass is not making it through that many attentive skaters all at the same time.
With all the improvements they made with the fluidity of the game which already was a big boost for the forwards, I can't think of any reason at all for why they nerfed the physicality. There's no balance at all. You can't hold your position because guys slip right by with no contact. You have to just try to be the best pylon you can be and maybe they'll lose the puck against your skate. But as soon as you try to push them off the puck, they have you beat. They can be coming right at you and your poke will go through the puck and into their feet for a trip. You have no control of any of your defensive tools to do your job.
And secondly, the pick offs are ridiculously inconsistent. A forward with his back turned, skating away will pick off a breakout pass easily, but if you're in a passing lane in front of the net, with your vision control facing the pass that you clearly are anticipating, it goes through you way too often.
I don't like picking on the developers, but I really don't understand how they think we're supposed to play defense. I've played mostly defense only, since nhl 11 or 12 and this is the first time I've been unable to have any fun playing this game. And we're just a few weeks in... This is still supposed to be the honeymoon period.
If there's no way to patch in some fixes, I'll be done within the next month probably. I've already decided there's no reason to play LG this year with the state of this game. Everybody is going to be verbally tearing the dmen apart even when they're doing everything right and pucks and bodies are going right through them.
Beef up forward play plenty, just like they did last year for 19, while completely ignoring the defense. Not only that, but the goalies have definitely taken a step back this year. The only thing they revamped for the goalies was not letting them do the wrist shot cheese rebound. Other than that, all types of goals are going in this year. The one-hand tuck and cross-crease one-timers. So you have to be extra vigilant on D.
Exactly these two comments.. 100%. Goalies are not any better except the rebound control on easy wrist shots from blue line
No... I can tell you that the weak wristers are still a problem. In the few games I've played I've seen at least one such goal scored per game. In fact, compared to the BETA, goalies aren't deflecting the pucks the corners as much as I was expecting them to. I guess too many people were complaining about them kicking the puck over the glass too much... *sigh*
They still let in weak shots above the pads (even far out) which is a problem. I’m talking about weak shots to the pads don’t rebound dead flat in the crease as much anymore.
Lots of shots above pad but below glove and blocker go in.. even if it’s from blue line and a weak shot
Goalie is a train wreck, I'm not sure who was in charge of that part of the game but wow would I be embarrassed.
I don't know what you guys are on about saying you can't intercept passes, it's the easiest thing in the world and the only reason you are seeing forwards being used on D. Pass interceptions are so broken you don't even have to be in position or be facing the play anymore.
I'm not saying there aren't problems with the game for defenders. The builds are mostly terrible, the servers are god awful, puck control is broken and of course the previously mentioned pass interceptions. These are real problems, problems that should have been fixed before the game released.
Playing defense or forward for that matter in 20 really all comes down to adapting to the game, understanding your strengths/weaknesses, knowing your role and playing it properly and picking the right build/perks. If you can do these things and find other players willing to do them you are rarely going to lose. NHL 19 required zero skill to play D, now it's hard and people are getting destroyed. I understand the outrage and I support it, there is some balancing needed between forward and D. Puck control and speed mostly.
There really are only 2 viable defender builds at high level play, TWD and PMD and yes that sucks but they are fantastic. You can technically play DD and OD, but you need to play your role and be paired with an appropriate D partner and work together. But that would be too much like real hockey and people's heads might explode.
Goalie is a train wreck, I'm not sure who was in charge of that part of the game but wow would I be embarrassed.
I don't know what you guys are on about saying you can't intercept passes, it's the easiest thing in the world and the only reason you are seeing forwards being used on D. Pass interceptions are so broken you don't even have to be in position or be facing the play anymore.
I'm not saying there aren't problems with the game for defenders. The builds are mostly terrible, the servers are god awful, puck control is broken and of course the previously mentioned pass interceptions. These are real problems, problems that should have been fixed before the game released.
Playing defense or forward for that matter in 20 really all comes down to adapting to the game, understanding your strengths/weaknesses, knowing your role and playing it properly and picking the right build/perks. If you can do these things and find other players willing to do them you are rarely going to lose. NHL 19 required zero skill to play D, now it's hard and people are getting destroyed. I understand the outrage and I support it, there is some balancing needed between forward and D. Puck control and speed mostly.
There really are only 2 viable defender builds at high level play, TWD and PMD and yes that sucks but they are fantastic. You can technically play DD and OD, but you need to play your role and be paired with an appropriate D partner and work together. But that would be too much like real hockey and people's heads might explode.
I'm 18-2 as a D-man in 3's drops where I'm strictly a solo player. TWD as well as PMD are way too slow, IMO, to try to keep up with the Snipers and Danglers. I use a Sniper with D traits. It gimps decent solo shot accuracy, but I am able to keep up with forwards even on 3 v 1's where I have to twitch shift constantly. I can't hit worth anything, but I can knock people over and make them lose the puck with decent position. My puck control is VERY good. Stick checking is even better. It's the build I use in Clubs. I honestly cannot imagine going back to using an actual D build because I feel too slow, too clunky, that slides around the ice uncontrollably. If I were still playing LG like last year, there's no way in heck I'd use a D build for this game. If the forwards are playing good hockey, and use me for offense, I'm just as effective as the shifty Snipers that are usually up front. Last time I played a dedicated D build was 18. TWD. 19 was a cross between PMD/SNP, and this year, how the game is playing, I will be sticking with SNP for the foreseeable future. For me, this is the only way I know how to adapt to the game that's given to me, especially when in 3's where the D-man is usually the difference between a win and a loss.
I have one thing to say... the position of defense player is poor and the control of offensive is Op ... the ai of goal is ok or too low specialy in breakaway. Fix Ai of goalie and balance offense/defense because at this point the game is a crap 😤
Goalie is a train wreck, I'm not sure who was in charge of that part of the game but wow would I be embarrassed.
I don't know what you guys are on about saying you can't intercept passes, it's the easiest thing in the world and the only reason you are seeing forwards being used on D. Pass interceptions are so broken you don't even have to be in position or be facing the play anymore.
I'm not saying there aren't problems with the game for defenders. The builds are mostly terrible, the servers are god awful, puck control is broken and of course the previously mentioned pass interceptions. These are real problems, problems that should have been fixed before the game released.
Playing defense or forward for that matter in 20 really all comes down to adapting to the game, understanding your strengths/weaknesses, knowing your role and playing it properly and picking the right build/perks. If you can do these things and find other players willing to do them you are rarely going to lose. NHL 19 required zero skill to play D, now it's hard and people are getting destroyed. I understand the outrage and I support it, there is some balancing needed between forward and D. Puck control and speed mostly.
There really are only 2 viable defender builds at high level play, TWD and PMD and yes that sucks but they are fantastic. You can technically play DD and OD, but you need to play your role and be paired with an appropriate D partner and work together. But that would be too much like real hockey and people's heads might explode.
I'm 18-2 as a D-man in 3's drops where I'm strictly a solo player. TWD as well as PMD are way too slow, IMO, to try to keep up with the Snipers and Danglers. I use a Sniper with D traits. It gimps decent solo shot accuracy, but I am able to keep up with forwards even on 3 v 1's where I have to twitch shift constantly. I can't hit worth anything, but I can knock people over and make them lose the puck with decent position. My puck control is VERY good. Stick checking is even better. It's the build I use in Clubs. I honestly cannot imagine going back to using an actual D build because I feel too slow, too clunky, that slides around the ice uncontrollably. If I were still playing LG like last year, there's no way in heck I'd use a D build for this game. If the forwards are playing good hockey, and use me for offense, I'm just as effective as the shifty Snipers that are usually up front. Last time I played a dedicated D build was 18. TWD. 19 was a cross between PMD/SNP, and this year, how the game is playing, I will be sticking with SNP for the foreseeable future. For me, this is the only way I know how to adapt to the game that's given to me, especially when in 3's where the D-man is usually the difference between a win and a loss.
Yea I find it incredibly lame that I can and am more competitive using a forward on defense. Sniper is pretty good but I must say dangler is quite impressive on D as well.
Personally I like alot of aspects of playing defense this year because it is mostly rewarding when you do something well and it isn't super easy all the time like it's been for all of next gen.
Having said that there are 2 areas where the game is very frustrating and not very balanced at the moment that needs to be fixed asap.
The puck pickups and generally the way players react in front of your own net are completely wonked right now. The forwards always unrealistically reach through you to steal a pick up that your player has already picked up with zero time to react to the steal as well. Funny feeling this is incidental contact at work here because almost always the forward stealing the puck is just standing near you and doesn't have to poke or hit/shove to take the puck it just magically changes possession to his stick, or the extremely high awareness of forward builds.
Hitting is non existent at low speeds and that's just not hockey. The smaller players have way too much balance with the puck when getting shoved. When they have speed and you dont it completely makes sense that they should glide away or graze off you but when he is just dancing in corners not skating with speed and just using his agility I should be able to knock him off successfully. Right now anytime you actually do manage to dislodge the puck or make him lose possession he gains it right back, back to the high awareness theory?
Otherwise this game is alot of fun and a step in the right direction gameplay wise. Now eliminate the LT backskate and give a buff to deking success rate so the game can start to look something resembling actual hockey again.
Goalie is a train wreck, I'm not sure who was in charge of that part of the game but wow would I be embarrassed.
I don't know what you guys are on about saying you can't intercept passes, it's the easiest thing in the world and the only reason you are seeing forwards being used on D. Pass interceptions are so broken you don't even have to be in position or be facing the play anymore.
I'm not saying there aren't problems with the game for defenders. The builds are mostly terrible, the servers are god awful, puck control is broken and of course the previously mentioned pass interceptions. These are real problems, problems that should have been fixed before the game released.
Playing defense or forward for that matter in 20 really all comes down to adapting to the game, understanding your strengths/weaknesses, knowing your role and playing it properly and picking the right build/perks. If you can do these things and find other players willing to do them you are rarely going to lose. NHL 19 required zero skill to play D, now it's hard and people are getting destroyed. I understand the outrage and I support it, there is some balancing needed between forward and D. Puck control and speed mostly.
There really are only 2 viable defender builds at high level play, TWD and PMD and yes that sucks but they are fantastic. You can technically play DD and OD, but you need to play your role and be paired with an appropriate D partner and work together. But that would be too much like real hockey and people's heads might explode.
I'm 18-2 as a D-man in 3's drops where I'm strictly a solo player. TWD as well as PMD are way too slow, IMO, to try to keep up with the Snipers and Danglers. I use a Sniper with D traits. It gimps decent solo shot accuracy, but I am able to keep up with forwards even on 3 v 1's where I have to twitch shift constantly. I can't hit worth anything, but I can knock people over and make them lose the puck with decent position. My puck control is VERY good. Stick checking is even better. It's the build I use in Clubs. I honestly cannot imagine going back to using an actual D build because I feel too slow, too clunky, that slides around the ice uncontrollably. If I were still playing LG like last year, there's no way in heck I'd use a D build for this game. If the forwards are playing good hockey, and use me for offense, I'm just as effective as the shifty Snipers that are usually up front. Last time I played a dedicated D build was 18. TWD. 19 was a cross between PMD/SNP, and this year, how the game is playing, I will be sticking with SNP for the foreseeable future. For me, this is the only way I know how to adapt to the game that's given to me, especially when in 3's where the D-man is usually the difference between a win and a loss.
Yea I find it incredibly lame that I can and am more competitive using a forward on defense. Sniper is pretty good but I must say dangler is quite impressive on D as well.
I have never tried a dangler on D. I'm so scared to switch builds and totally not like it, lol. I'm sure I will have to eventually if EA decided to put out a crap patch or tuner.
Goalie is a train wreck, I'm not sure who was in charge of that part of the game but wow would I be embarrassed.
I don't know what you guys are on about saying you can't intercept passes, it's the easiest thing in the world and the only reason you are seeing forwards being used on D. Pass interceptions are so broken you don't even have to be in position or be facing the play anymore.
I'm not saying there aren't problems with the game for defenders. The builds are mostly terrible, the servers are god awful, puck control is broken and of course the previously mentioned pass interceptions. These are real problems, problems that should have been fixed before the game released.
Playing defense or forward for that matter in 20 really all comes down to adapting to the game, understanding your strengths/weaknesses, knowing your role and playing it properly and picking the right build/perks. If you can do these things and find other players willing to do them you are rarely going to lose. NHL 19 required zero skill to play D, now it's hard and people are getting destroyed. I understand the outrage and I support it, there is some balancing needed between forward and D. Puck control and speed mostly.
There really are only 2 viable defender builds at high level play, TWD and PMD and yes that sucks but they are fantastic. You can technically play DD and OD, but you need to play your role and be paired with an appropriate D partner and work together. But that would be too much like real hockey and people's heads might explode.
I'm 18-2 as a D-man in 3's drops where I'm strictly a solo player. TWD as well as PMD are way too slow, IMO, to try to keep up with the Snipers and Danglers. I use a Sniper with D traits. It gimps decent solo shot accuracy, but I am able to keep up with forwards even on 3 v 1's where I have to twitch shift constantly. I can't hit worth anything, but I can knock people over and make them lose the puck with decent position. My puck control is VERY good. Stick checking is even better. It's the build I use in Clubs. I honestly cannot imagine going back to using an actual D build because I feel too slow, too clunky, that slides around the ice uncontrollably. If I were still playing LG like last year, there's no way in heck I'd use a D build for this game. If the forwards are playing good hockey, and use me for offense, I'm just as effective as the shifty Snipers that are usually up front. Last time I played a dedicated D build was 18. TWD. 19 was a cross between PMD/SNP, and this year, how the game is playing, I will be sticking with SNP for the foreseeable future. For me, this is the only way I know how to adapt to the game that's given to me, especially when in 3's where the D-man is usually the difference between a win and a loss.
Yea I find it incredibly lame that I can and am more competitive using a forward on defense. Sniper is pretty good but I must say dangler is quite impressive on D as well.
I have never tried a dangler on D. I'm so scared to switch builds and totally not like it, lol. I'm sure I will have to eventually if EA decided to put out a crap patch or tuner.
LOL, yea I read ya on that one. Hard to switch once we find something that works.
Well I find danglers have it easier when it comes to shrugging off checks vs snipers. Snipers are a little easier to smack around or at the very least, to get them to stumble and cough up the puck. Danglers, imo, have more precise wristers from far away or near the blue line. Weird, but it is what I have seen. One would think Snipers would be better, but that's another discussion.
So if you want or like to shrug off checks and use wristers more than slappers, I would suggest giving Dangler a shot in dropins and see if it jives with your style. I am telling you, not bad at all. Also in dropins, too many people just collapse and congest the slot and crease area leaving alot of ice for you to just walk in and let a wrister off. Danglers are great in those scenarios.
However, when I use Booming Slapper 2 as my first trait, and one-timer as my specialty, I must say, my Sniper has pretty wicked one-timers on D. Have scored many a goals off one-timers when my Centerman wins it clearly to me. AI goalies struggle quite a bit with this tactic as I aim top shelf short side on the glove. Very effective as LD. Quite fun to play, but sadly, dropins don't feed many one-timer situations to D men. They mostly just force horrible cross crease passes to a completely congested slot. Repeatedly.
I d k guys. They made a massive effort to change the Defensive meta last year. And the meta has indeed changed. I thought everyone adjusted... I guess not.
Defense is 99% about being sound in your position. Don't over step, don't get too aggressive. You gotta let the game's mechanics work for you. Let the auto checks do it for you. Use DSS as as a deterrent, not a strike first move. Get in those passing lanes, pick off those pucks. Let forwards make the mistakes. D isn't about stripping pucks and going the other way at the blue line. D is about denying forwards the real estate they want and forcing them into a play they don't want to make.
If you're worried about keeping up and feel like have to turn and skate with them, then you were too slow getting back on D, or were caught sleeping. I'm sorry but I'm convinced a large majority of people are just still not adjusting to how D is to be played now.
Aggressive defending has been all but neutered. You need to be patient and much smarter without the puck. The best assets a D man brings to the team now are playing 3 periods with very few mistakes that lead to scoring chances. And being patient and smart with breakout passing. Breakout passing is so important.
Now I would love to debate whether this meta is better or worse, because I feel that's the real debate worth having. Not whether or not D is broken. It's not, its just sooooooooooo unbelievably boring to play defense in this game. There's no point in picking a DD build, whose strengths are stick checking, cause you throw maybe 1-3 pokes a game. They took what was good about the OD and split those talents and gave them to PMD.
I d k guys. They made a massive effort to change the Defensive meta last year. And the meta has indeed changed. I thought everyone adjusted... I guess not.
Defense is 99% about being sound in your position. Don't over step, don't get too aggressive. You gotta let the game's mechanics work for you. Let the auto checks do it for you. Use DSS as as a deterrent, not a strike first move. Get in those passing lanes, pick off those pucks. Let forwards make the mistakes. D isn't about stripping pucks and going the other way at the blue line. D is about denying forwards the real estate they want and forcing them into a play they don't want to make.
If you're worried about keeping up and feel like have to turn and skate with them, then you were too slow getting back on D, or were caught sleeping. I'm sorry but I'm convinced a large majority of people are just still not adjusting to how D is to be played now.
Aggressive defending has been all but neutered. You need to be patient and much smarter without the puck. The best assets a D man brings to the team now are playing 3 periods with very few mistakes that lead to scoring chances. And being patient and smart with breakout passing. Breakout passing is so important.
Now I would love to debate whether this meta is better or worse, because I feel that's the real debate worth having. Not whether or not D is broken. It's not, its just sooooooooooo unbelievably boring to play defense in this game. There's no point in picking a DD build, whose strengths are stick checking, cause you throw maybe 1-3 pokes a game. They took what was good about the OD and split those talents and gave them to PMD.
You're not wrong.
I practice a very conservative style. I am passive and use containment. I hardly use any build or trait that has to do with physical play. It is useless. The only important thing is skating. It trumps over anything else in this game. Speed and agility, that's it.
Poking, stick lifting, board pins, body checks, shot blocking... All this is worthless compared to mobility. That is why I have absolutely no issues running a Sniper or Dangler on D. All I need to do is keep the carrier to the outside and block passing lanes. If he wants to cut to the high circle for the cheese wrister, I just bump into him with incidental contact.
As you say, the more successful you play, the more boring it is, because in the end, all the boring stuff on D is what works. I see a player twirling in the corner, I leave him there until he is done and wants to play hockey. When I do this, they just twirl around wondering why I am not chasing them. I prevent easy entry to the high slot while being in a position to cut off the path to behind the net. Cat and Mouse. I sit, I wait, I react. I let the forward commit or cough it up. Worse case scenario, my winger comes in and smashes him as the carrier is caught between my winger and myself. Not exciting for me as a D man, but it works. Fine by me as the team comes first for me.
Replies
If you read it, it increases handeye. I hope you know handeye does more than redirect shots. Redirecting shots is just an example of what handeye does. I dont if you are trolling me or being serious.
This is a pretty lame and disappointing response.. has nothing to do with my skill level. When I play club I can (and have) played on a top club, I’m pretty good at defense
The response time is difficult but do-able if we were given more than 1-2 defensive tools as well as controller responsiveness. Neither are existent in NHL 20.
With all the improvements they made with the fluidity of the game which already was a big boost for the forwards, I can't think of any reason at all for why they nerfed the physicality. There's no balance at all. You can't hold your position because guys slip right by with no contact. You have to just try to be the best pylon you can be and maybe they'll lose the puck against your skate. But as soon as you try to push them off the puck, they have you beat. They can be coming right at you and your poke will go through the puck and into their feet for a trip. You have no control of any of your defensive tools to do your job.
And secondly, the pick offs are ridiculously inconsistent. A forward with his back turned, skating away will pick off a breakout pass easily, but if you're in a passing lane in front of the net, with your vision control facing the pass that you clearly are anticipating, it goes through you way too often.
I don't like picking on the developers, but I really don't understand how they think we're supposed to play defense. I've played mostly defense only, since nhl 11 or 12 and this is the first time I've been unable to have any fun playing this game. And we're just a few weeks in... This is still supposed to be the honeymoon period.
If there's no way to patch in some fixes, I'll be done within the next month probably. I've already decided there's no reason to play LG this year with the state of this game. Everybody is going to be verbally tearing the dmen apart even when they're doing everything right and pucks and bodies are going right through them.
Beef up forward play plenty, just like they did last year for 19, while completely ignoring the defense. Not only that, but the goalies have definitely taken a step back this year. The only thing they revamped for the goalies was not letting them do the wrist shot cheese rebound. Other than that, all types of goals are going in this year. The one-hand tuck and cross-crease one-timers. So you have to be extra vigilant on D.
Exactly these two comments.. 100%. Goalies are not any better except the rebound control on easy wrist shots from blue line
No... I can tell you that the weak wristers are still a problem. In the few games I've played I've seen at least one such goal scored per game. In fact, compared to the BETA, goalies aren't deflecting the pucks the corners as much as I was expecting them to. I guess too many people were complaining about them kicking the puck over the glass too much... *sigh*
THIS PART RIGHT HERE!!
I'll even add that there are times where I have a cluster of guys in the slot and the cross-crease pass will get through untouched. Can we just stop the ridiculousness already? You know damn well that pass is not making it through that many attentive skaters all at the same time.
They still let in weak shots above the pads (even far out) which is a problem. I’m talking about weak shots to the pads don’t rebound dead flat in the crease as much anymore.
Lots of shots above pad but below glove and blocker go in.. even if it’s from blue line and a weak shot
I don't know what you guys are on about saying you can't intercept passes, it's the easiest thing in the world and the only reason you are seeing forwards being used on D. Pass interceptions are so broken you don't even have to be in position or be facing the play anymore.
I'm not saying there aren't problems with the game for defenders. The builds are mostly terrible, the servers are god awful, puck control is broken and of course the previously mentioned pass interceptions. These are real problems, problems that should have been fixed before the game released.
Playing defense or forward for that matter in 20 really all comes down to adapting to the game, understanding your strengths/weaknesses, knowing your role and playing it properly and picking the right build/perks. If you can do these things and find other players willing to do them you are rarely going to lose. NHL 19 required zero skill to play D, now it's hard and people are getting destroyed. I understand the outrage and I support it, there is some balancing needed between forward and D. Puck control and speed mostly.
There really are only 2 viable defender builds at high level play, TWD and PMD and yes that sucks but they are fantastic. You can technically play DD and OD, but you need to play your role and be paired with an appropriate D partner and work together. But that would be too much like real hockey and people's heads might explode.
I'm 18-2 as a D-man in 3's drops where I'm strictly a solo player. TWD as well as PMD are way too slow, IMO, to try to keep up with the Snipers and Danglers. I use a Sniper with D traits. It gimps decent solo shot accuracy, but I am able to keep up with forwards even on 3 v 1's where I have to twitch shift constantly. I can't hit worth anything, but I can knock people over and make them lose the puck with decent position. My puck control is VERY good. Stick checking is even better. It's the build I use in Clubs. I honestly cannot imagine going back to using an actual D build because I feel too slow, too clunky, that slides around the ice uncontrollably. If I were still playing LG like last year, there's no way in heck I'd use a D build for this game. If the forwards are playing good hockey, and use me for offense, I'm just as effective as the shifty Snipers that are usually up front. Last time I played a dedicated D build was 18. TWD. 19 was a cross between PMD/SNP, and this year, how the game is playing, I will be sticking with SNP for the foreseeable future. For me, this is the only way I know how to adapt to the game that's given to me, especially when in 3's where the D-man is usually the difference between a win and a loss.
Yea I find it incredibly lame that I can and am more competitive using a forward on defense. Sniper is pretty good but I must say dangler is quite impressive on D as well.
Having said that there are 2 areas where the game is very frustrating and not very balanced at the moment that needs to be fixed asap.
The puck pickups and generally the way players react in front of your own net are completely wonked right now. The forwards always unrealistically reach through you to steal a pick up that your player has already picked up with zero time to react to the steal as well. Funny feeling this is incidental contact at work here because almost always the forward stealing the puck is just standing near you and doesn't have to poke or hit/shove to take the puck it just magically changes possession to his stick, or the extremely high awareness of forward builds.
Hitting is non existent at low speeds and that's just not hockey. The smaller players have way too much balance with the puck when getting shoved. When they have speed and you dont it completely makes sense that they should glide away or graze off you but when he is just dancing in corners not skating with speed and just using his agility I should be able to knock him off successfully. Right now anytime you actually do manage to dislodge the puck or make him lose possession he gains it right back, back to the high awareness theory?
Otherwise this game is alot of fun and a step in the right direction gameplay wise. Now eliminate the LT backskate and give a buff to deking success rate so the game can start to look something resembling actual hockey again.
I have never tried a dangler on D. I'm so scared to switch builds and totally not like it, lol. I'm sure I will have to eventually if EA decided to put out a crap patch or tuner.
LOL, yea I read ya on that one. Hard to switch once we find something that works.
Well I find danglers have it easier when it comes to shrugging off checks vs snipers. Snipers are a little easier to smack around or at the very least, to get them to stumble and cough up the puck. Danglers, imo, have more precise wristers from far away or near the blue line. Weird, but it is what I have seen. One would think Snipers would be better, but that's another discussion.
So if you want or like to shrug off checks and use wristers more than slappers, I would suggest giving Dangler a shot in dropins and see if it jives with your style. I am telling you, not bad at all. Also in dropins, too many people just collapse and congest the slot and crease area leaving alot of ice for you to just walk in and let a wrister off. Danglers are great in those scenarios.
However, when I use Booming Slapper 2 as my first trait, and one-timer as my specialty, I must say, my Sniper has pretty wicked one-timers on D. Have scored many a goals off one-timers when my Centerman wins it clearly to me. AI goalies struggle quite a bit with this tactic as I aim top shelf short side on the glove. Very effective as LD. Quite fun to play, but sadly, dropins don't feed many one-timer situations to D men. They mostly just force horrible cross crease passes to a completely congested slot. Repeatedly.
Defense is 99% about being sound in your position. Don't over step, don't get too aggressive. You gotta let the game's mechanics work for you. Let the auto checks do it for you. Use DSS as as a deterrent, not a strike first move. Get in those passing lanes, pick off those pucks. Let forwards make the mistakes. D isn't about stripping pucks and going the other way at the blue line. D is about denying forwards the real estate they want and forcing them into a play they don't want to make.
If you're worried about keeping up and feel like have to turn and skate with them, then you were too slow getting back on D, or were caught sleeping. I'm sorry but I'm convinced a large majority of people are just still not adjusting to how D is to be played now.
Aggressive defending has been all but neutered. You need to be patient and much smarter without the puck. The best assets a D man brings to the team now are playing 3 periods with very few mistakes that lead to scoring chances. And being patient and smart with breakout passing. Breakout passing is so important.
Now I would love to debate whether this meta is better or worse, because I feel that's the real debate worth having. Not whether or not D is broken. It's not, its just sooooooooooo unbelievably boring to play defense in this game. There's no point in picking a DD build, whose strengths are stick checking, cause you throw maybe 1-3 pokes a game. They took what was good about the OD and split those talents and gave them to PMD.
You're not wrong.
I practice a very conservative style. I am passive and use containment. I hardly use any build or trait that has to do with physical play. It is useless. The only important thing is skating. It trumps over anything else in this game. Speed and agility, that's it.
Poking, stick lifting, board pins, body checks, shot blocking... All this is worthless compared to mobility. That is why I have absolutely no issues running a Sniper or Dangler on D. All I need to do is keep the carrier to the outside and block passing lanes. If he wants to cut to the high circle for the cheese wrister, I just bump into him with incidental contact.
As you say, the more successful you play, the more boring it is, because in the end, all the boring stuff on D is what works. I see a player twirling in the corner, I leave him there until he is done and wants to play hockey. When I do this, they just twirl around wondering why I am not chasing them. I prevent easy entry to the high slot while being in a position to cut off the path to behind the net. Cat and Mouse. I sit, I wait, I react. I let the forward commit or cough it up. Worse case scenario, my winger comes in and smashes him as the carrier is caught between my winger and myself. Not exciting for me as a D man, but it works. Fine by me as the team comes first for me.