Chain

NOTE: In this article, “Chain” with a capital “C” refers to the playstyle as a whole, while “chain” without any capitalizations refers to the literal meaning of the term.

This playstyle is the closest you can get to playing “normally” and “as intended” in competitive gameplay, and it is the most beginner-friendly out of the 3 playstyles.

As the name suggests, Chain relies on chain shooting to score goals.

Chains are the solution to the difficulty of shooting powerful SH hissatsus from a close enough distance to the goal. Instead of wasting time charging a LVL3 or SP shot and risking being interrupted or stopped by an enemy player, chains bring the ball directly to your FW for them to shoot instantly.

Because of this, strong chainers with a high kick stat and LVL3 chain shot are key points of the team composition.

Team Compositions

Here are some of the meta/viable team compositions for Chain (Vanilla):

There are (almost) always at least 2 chain shooters used in a team, and they are played as the front 2 FWs.

Often times a third chainer is played at the position behind the main 2 (e.g. behind Fideo and Canon in the 3rd picture). Their purpose is to facilitate chains done through the middle by increasing the power of the final shot, and prevent potential interruptions due to SBs before the ball reaches the main chainers. ILJ Hiroto, ILJ Goeunji, and Shindou fulfills this role in picture 1, 2 and 3 respectively.

Here is a subjective tier list for chain shooters made by Paraly:

Because the GK meta consists of two Earth GKs (Endou and Shinsuke) and Senguuji (Fire attribute), Canon/Kanon is the gold-standard chain shooter because of his attribute advantages against all 3 GKs and fast charge time. As such, he is used in virtually every Chain team.

While Fideo is most commonly used together with Canon, there are a lot of other viable options for the second chain shooter. Every player under Canon in the tier list fulfills different roles and can be used depending on situation and personal preference, to varying degrees of success.

Since the ball that reaches the main chain shooters must be in the form of a SH hissatsu, there must be a chain starter in the team. A chain starter is a player that shoots the initial SH hissatsu that forms the start of the shoot chain.

The level of SH hissatsus used to chain start varies between players and each have their own traits: LVL1 shots are quick to charge but are easily stopped when SBed, while LVL3 shots are powerful and less likely to be stopped by SBs but take much longer to charge. LVL2 shots are in between.

Chain starters come in different varieties and usually serve another role simultaneously: either as an offensive dribbler or a DF (or sometimes both). They can be positioned as side MFs, central MFs and even as backline DFs, depending on the player and their roles.

Common chain starters include Tsunami and Sakuma, both of whom are also DJ DFs, and Taiyou, who is one of the strongest dribblers in the game as well as a decent DF.

Compared to the Nomash playstyle, Chain has a wider variety of viable players, and as a result team compositions can be more flexible.

It is important to note that many strong chainers lack the ability to dribble with a LVL 3 OF hissatsu, and those that do are typically subpar compared to the meta dribblers. As a result, Chain teams are shackled by their weakened ability to attack by dribbling.

Despite being classified as a separate playstyle, Chain teams can still score via nomash, although it is much more difficult than when playing with Nomash teams for reasons mentioned above.

Difficulty

Chain is relatively simpler than Nomash, and easier to learn as it does not require as much knowledge or techniques outside of casual gameplay. A general knowledge of timing and charge times is more important.

As such, it is a beginner-friendly playstyle, while still being viable at the highest level of play.

Usage Rate

Chain is common from the lowest skill level up to a middle/middle-upper skill level, beyond which Nomash and Hybrid make up the majority as they are seen as more reliable and “skilled” playstyles.