NHL 24 is the latest installment in the long-running ice hockey franchise from EA Sports, and introduces a number of new mechanics and significant changes in tried and true control systems, as well as a ramping up in difficulty, even on rookie setting. This NHL 24 guide will provide ten advanced tips and tricks that could potentially benefit you in your quest to improve your game.
Choose A Grip Early In FaceOffs
You might think that your player needs to be right on top of the puck before selecting a grip, but this can actually cause you to lose the faceoff in NHL 24 due to the lag before the stick is in place on the ice. This is why you should actually determine your grip selection the very instant you possibly can, right on approach.
FaceOff Timing Versus Player Rating
As much as your own timing is important in winning a faceoff in NHL 24, you still cannot make a player with a low faceoff rating shine, and your ideal selection for this opening move should be a player rated over 90 at bare minimum.
Landing Big Hits
This NHL 24 mechanic has changed since the last installment, and so, rather than lightly flicking up on the right analog stick in order to shove your opponent, you want to pull down and then flick up sharply to really pummel them instead. This can often precipitate a fight however, so be warned.
Winning Fights
After actively initiating a fight by double-tapping Y on Xbox, or Triangle on PlayStation, the basic controls for throwing punches in fights in NHL 24 are all based on flicking the right analog stick. Get a better grip on your opponent by holding the LT on Xbox, or L2 on PlayStation, though you can also fake it by tapping the same inputs instead. Dodging is accomplished with RT on Xbox, and R2 on PlayStation. Your best player selection for fights will always be based on ratings–the Fighting skill really counts in a major way.
Scoring Goals
There is a massive change in the difficulty involved in scoring goals in this year’s NHL 24. With the goalie being especially hard to get past, your best bet is to force them to commit to one side of the goal, and then quickly hook around the net, wrap around to the other side and slam in the puck.
Special Packs
The weekly-reset limited packs in the NHL 24 HUT Store offer you the best value for both Coins or Points that you may spend. You will be limited to buying one per 24 hour cycle, but do not be tempted to spend any remaining balance you have on the cheaper premium packs.
Essential Packs
Do not even bother with these in the NHL 24 HUT Store. While they may seem relatively cheap in comparison, and a quick buy with whatever Coins you have accrued, these packs are not worth the expenditure at all. The only exception are packs that state a 100% guarantee of Gold NHL players with 80+ OVR in their pack description. These will end up paying for themselves in both the short and long term.
HUT Moments
Moments in NHL 24 are a gameplay mechanic seen in several EA Sports titles now, and offer rewards for completing small objectives that are always quite entertaining to accomplish. You should start with Training Camp Moments as those will also serve to get you in the groove with general gameplay systems in NHL 24. Next up would be Cale Makar’s Moments, which offer up to 5,000 Coins in rewards. In combination, both of these sets of Moments will also net you several players of Bronze, Silver, and Gold quality, Collectibles, as well as some Packs to open.
Thirdly, are the 32 X-Factor Moments to complete, each netting you an X-Factor Collectible (which will come in handy for the next tip) and a 1,000 Coins, for 32,000 Coins in total. An additional 6,000 Coins and 6 Collectibles can be earned from the IIHF X-Factor Moments group.
Finally, you should complete the Ultimate Power-Up Icon Moments. While the 500 Coins and Gold player rewards are nothing to scoff at, your real objective, as with the previous two groups, is the Power-Up Icon Collectible from each Moment. The act of completing these HUT Moments will also satisfy the requirements of the “Milestones” HUT Objectives group, netting you 40,000 Coins on its own, as well as an assortment of Packs to open.
HUT Objectives
While you may do most of these NHL 24 objectives fairly mindlessly, the last two tabs–”Power Up Icon” and “X-Factor” bear mentioning in particular. You should do this after completing HUT Moments in NHL 24, since that is where you will net a second X-Factor player with which to do the X-Factor objectives, cutting down on the time you would have to spend completing the tasks. While the myriad objectives may seem complex and annoying, each group can net you 87,500 Coins for a total of 175,000 Coins to put towards team building quite early in the HUT season.
Auction House
Whenever you decide to use the NHL 24 Auction House, make sure you do so primarily on the weekends, when the player base online is at its absolute maximum. This will also afford you the best opportunities to buy from and sell to players who have limited time to shop around for deals because they just want to get back into actually building their team and playing the game.
Those are some advanced tips and tricks you ought to know about game mechanics in the all new NHL 24.
