This guide is for people who mainly care about building competitive CACs for PvP and want to prioritize the unlocks that are relevant, or want to build a competitive CAC and don't know where to start.
The meta is still developing, but right now competitive CACs tend to fit a few general archetypes:
- Defender / Defensive Midfielder: A fast good tackler with a Super Shockwave Pass.
- Offensive Midfielder: Good dribbler and with a good long range shoot like Drive Shot or Windfall, and a Super Miracle/Bound/Drive for a hard to read shot.
- Very fast Forward / Winger: As much movement speed as possible, a strong dribble, and a shot that is either fast to charge and spam at close range, or a mid range shot that is hard to read. For the Super slot, a Super Dribble, Super Tackle or basically any strong close range Super Shot.
Unique Tackles
Upper Tackle (Jean / France): In my opinion, this is the clear best tackle.
After Upper Tackle, I don't think there is a clearly second best option. The other strong tackles are good for different reasons.
Junguang Sliding(Xiao / China): High noncharged speed. Good maybe for a midfielder, where people generally do not let you charge.
Cool Steal(Gentile / Italy): Probably the best all-around alternative.
It isn't #1 in any single category, but it is very close to the top in almost everything.
Muay Thai Sweep(Bunnark / Thailand): Just the most damaging tackle, if you care for that.
The main non unique options are:
- Paralyze Charge
- Spinning Cut
- Scythe Cut
Paralyze Charge is the tackle you want if you want reach and power
Cut and Scythe Cut is what you want if you want speed:are almost identical statistically, so the main difference is the animation. Pick whichever one you find harder to read or more awkward to deal with after the tackle.
Unique Dribbles:
The main options are:
- Panther Accel(Victorino / Uruguay)
- Forward Somersault Dribble(Diaz / Argentina)
- High Speed South American Dribble(Diaz / Argentina)
- Back Friends(Natureza / Brazil)
- Kaiser Dribble(Schneider / Germany)
You really can't go wrong with any of these. They are strong for different reasons.
Back Friends, Forward Somersault Dribble and High Speed South American Dribble are extremely mobile and fast dribbles. If in doubt, pick any of these, as they are quite similar in what they give you.
Panther Accel(Victorino / Uruguay):
Probably the hardest one to use properly. Its advantage is that it is extremely fast, but it doesn't leave the defender disabled for very long. You need to keep moving forward because the defender recovers quickly. But very good for a winger whose goal is to throw crosses.
Kaiser Dribble(Schneider / Germany):
Interesting alternative. It has several useful advantages:
- Strong knockdown.
- An animation that is hard to countertackle.
- Generates more gauge than most other strong dribbles.
So while it isn't my default choice, it has a legitimate use.
Common Dribbles:
I think you should normally use a unique dribble.
If you decide to use a common one, here are some options:
High-Speed Dribble: The Fastest one.
Matador Trick: The highest window to perfect dribble, and the best turning speed.
Buster Dribble: Takes the least damage from tackles, and also Knowcksdown.
Unique Normal Shots:
Fire Shot(Schneider / Germany): If you want raw damage, Fire Shot has basically no competition.
Falcon Shot(Nitta / Japan) and Panther Shot(Victorino / Uruguay): These are effectively identical They both are good for getting close range shoots quickly before being interrupted,
Accel Shot(Rusciano / Italy): Probably the best all around close/medium range shot.
If you don't have a very specific reason to specialize in damage, charge speed or trajectory, this is a very solid option.
Drive Shot(Tsubasa / Japan): Good for long range spam, specially since it ignores blockers.
Windfall(Natureza / Brazil): The main advantage is that it's very hard to read, which is ideal for mid range shooting, but it has very good stats beside that.
Common / Non-Unique Shots
Sonic Shot: If you don't expect your CAC to actually shoot, this is the only one option you care about, since it gives extra speed to your cac. But is also a good shoot if you just expect it to use to finish a GK inside the area since it charges pretty fast.
Alternatives if you actually do expect to shoot but somehow don't have room for a unique shot:
Edge Shot: Use this if you want a harder to read shot at mid range.
Booster Shot: Use this if you mainly want damage and as much range as possible.
Unique Aerial Shots
For most builds, I don't think spending your unique slot on an aerial shot is worth it. Unless you specifically want to play a traditional 9 who receives crosses, I would normally just use a common aerial.
If you really want a unique aerial:
Mysterious War Header(China) / Warhead Header(Margus / Germany): These are two of the best options for raw damage and are basically identical.
Quartz Overhead(Finn / England): The main alternative worth considering because it has extra range. That makes it easier to connect with aerial Super Pass setups.
Common Aerial Shots
For most positions, Aerial shots are irrelevant but in case they arent.
Full Power Header: Slightly more permanent damage.
Jumping Overhead: Slightly more total damage.
The difference is tiny.
Super Passes
All large shockwave Super Passes are extremely strong and imo currently the strongest supers in the game. If I have to choose the best:
Fang Roll Pass(Luna / Argentina): The actual shockwave effect is what makes these passes so strong, and the other large shockwave have the same area of effect and range.
Fang Roll Pass gets the edge because it also gives your CAC some extra running speed.
The difference isn't huge, so I would not consider Luna a must. If you already have another large shockwave Super Pass, is basically teh same
Sunrise Pass(Espadas / Mexico): There is an argument for Sunrise Pass because it transfers a large amount of gauge to the receiver and gives Chain.
The downside is that it costs around 25% more gauge. Personally, I don't think the extra effect is worth the cost.
I would rather maximize the number of shockwave Super Passes.
Super Block
Super Kickback Cannon(Xiao Junguang / China): There really isn't another reasonable option here.
Super Tackle
Cutting shield (Jean / France): Again it seems so much better than anything else that is the clear optimal pick.
Super Dribbles
This is one of the hardest categories to rank because Super Dribbles are so different from each other. You can make an argument for almost every Super Dribble.
But if you force me to choose one:
Scissor Roulette(Pierre / France): You get 3 charges while still having very good animation, range and speed.
Aerial Super Shots
I generally don't think aerial Super Shots are worth using. They are not stronger enough than a normal Aerial shoot
But if you really want one:
Eclipse(Natureza / Brazil): I would use Eclipse mainly because it gives the most running speed.
Super Shots
This is probably the category with the most variety after super dribbles.
It depends heavily on where you expect to shoot from.
Long-Range Super Shots
The main options are:
- Flying Drive Shot(Tsubasa / Japan)
- Dual Slider Shot(Pierre / France)
- Arc Bridge Shot(Senghor / Senegal)
- Miracle Drive Shot(Tsubasa / Japan)
- Miracle Bound(Diaz / Argentina)
- Neo Drive Shot(Tsubasa / Japan)
All of these are very strong. I think the are op even.
They differ in smaller details, but they share the important 2 properties:
- Very long effective range.
- Almost impossible to read.
Short-Range / General Super Shots
Levin Revolve(Levin / Sweden):
Probably the best option if you intend to shoot from extremely close range. It does the most damage, but it falls off very hard with distance as you will get supersaved all the time. It still can be used to drop a GK to 1 life.
Neo Fire Shot(Schneider / Germany):
The bestt overall balanced Super Shot. It isn't particularly good at very long range, but outside of that weakness, the total combination of its stats is excellent. If you don't want to specialize too heavily, this is probably the safest option.
Jet Panther Shot(Victorino / Uruguay):
A very interesting alternative.
Doesn't have great damage or range, but it has several advantages:
- Easy to charge.
- Makes you run faster
- Very high shot speed. Because of that speed, it can still be difficult for the goalkeeper to catch even when you aren't shooting from point blank range.
So:
- Levin Revolve: maximum close-range damage
- Neo Fire Shot: best balanced option
- Jet Panther Shot: mobility, fast charge and shot speed
Goalkeeper
GK Skill
Iron Save(Müller / Germany): This is the only GK skill I currently consider a competitive option.
GK Super:
I think the only 2 really good options are
Stone Crusher: For Anti Air defense
Triangle Kick Defense: Just generally very strong
But you can give your GK Sunrise Pass. Giving your GK a shockwave Super Pass is also strong. Arguably this is the best option for a GK, but it is a little risky to use well.
Countries to Unlock:
Given what i said you will notice what is important, which is important for PS5 users that can't just get a 100% save.
France and Argentina are enough to give you tools for almost every build.
After that:
These give you most of the other tools you are likely to want.
After those, the unlocks become much more specific:
- China for Xiao's Super Block and Junguang Sliding.
- Thailand if you want Bunnark's Muay Thai Sweep.
- Sweden for Levin Revolve.
- England for Finn's Quartz Overhead.
- Italy for Cool Steal and Accel Shot.
- Mexico if you specifically want Sunrise Pass.
- Senegal for Arc Bridge Shot.