With every new Madden game individual ratings become less relevant and superstar abilities become more relevant. Madden 23 continues that trend with 95% of how effective a player is comes down to only 2 things: speed rating and superstar abilities.
We’ve fully redone our Superstar and X-Factor Tiers list for Madden 23 and today we’ll be focusing in on the absolute best abilities to equip on your offensive players.
Note: This applies to Head to Head, Ultimate Team, and Franchise mode.
Deep Out Elite
For the last few Madden’s height was basically irrelevant. A 5’8″ cornerback had no problem breaking up a high point pass to a 6’7″ tight end. That is no longer the case in Madden 23. Mossing and aggressive catching is back in a big way.
Get a tall wide receiver or tight end, put the Deep Out Elite ability on him and throw a high point streak to him deep along the sideline. Go up and aggressive catch it (Y/triangle) and you’ll see a lot more mosses than you’ve ever seen in the past.
The Deep Out Elite ability just helps your guy catch it even if he is taking a big hit.
Players Who Have Deep Threat Elite In Regs/ Franchise:
- Justin Jefferson
- Mike Evans
- D.K. Metcalf
- Mike Williams
- Travis Kelce
Franchise Mode Requirements:
To equip this ability in Franchise mode, you need a wide receiver that meets the 90 overall threshold for the Deep Threat Archetype. For a tight end, you must meet the 85 overall threshold for the Vertical Archetype.
Ultimate Team Requirements:
The cheapest/best way to equip Deep Out Elite on a receiver in Ultimate Team is putting it on a receiver with the Deep Threat Archetype. With this archetype, it can be equipped in the tier 3 slot and cost 2 ability points.
You can check out the full details for the Madden 23 Deep Out Elite Ability here.
Hot Route Master/Route Apprentice
Note: This also includes WR Apprentice, Outside Apprentice, Slot Apprentice, TE Apprentice, and RB Apprentice.
The additional hot routes granted to your offensive players with one of these superstar abilities are more effective than ever.
Having a player with one of these abilities massively open up your offense from a play-calling perspective. Just having the ability to put an extra crossing route, corner route, or running back angle route can turn an ordinary play into a money play.
Players Who Have A Route Ability In Regs/Franchise Mode:
- Tom Brady (Hot Route Master)
- George Kittle (Route Apprentice)
- Michael Thomas (WR Apprentice)
- Adam Thielen (Slot Apprentice)
- Justin Jefferson (Outside Apprentice)
- Keenan Allen (Outside Apprentice)
- Terry McLaurin (Outside Apprentice)
- Davante Adams (Outside Apprentice)
- D.K. Metcalf (Outside Apprentice)
- Mike Williams (Outside Apprentice)
- Amari Cooper (Outside Apprentice)
- CeeDee Lamb (Outside Apprentice)
- Travis Kelce (TE Apprentice)
- Darren Waller (TE Apprentice)
- Alvin Kamara (RB Apprentice)
- Cordarrelle Patterson (Backfield Master)
Franchise Mode Requirements:
- Hot Route Master: QB – 90 Overall Field General
- Route Apprentice: WR – 85 Overall Playmaker, TE – 85 Overall Possession
- WR Apprentice: WR – 85 Overall Playmaker
- Slot Apprentice: WR – 85 Overall Slot, TE – 80 Overall Vertical Threat
- Outside Apprentice: WR – 85 Overall Any Archetype
- TE Apprentice: TE – 85 Overall Possession
- RB Apprentice: HB – 85 Overall Receiving Back, FB – 80 Overall Utility
Ultimate Team Requirements:
This varies significantly between position and archetype. See our full abilities list for details.
Set Feet Lead/Pass Lead Elite
These are possibly the most important abilities for any quarterback to have in Madden 23. These abilities give your quarterback much better velocity on passes. The extra half a second or so that you save can often be the difference between an interception and a touchdown.
You do not have an elite Madden quarterback unless he has either the Set Feet Lead or Pass Lead Elite abilities.
Note: If you have your choice between the 2, all else being equal you will want to choose Pass Lead Elite so even if you are throwing on the run, you still get the throw power velocity boost. Other than that, both abilities have the same effect.
Players Who Have These Abilities In Regs/Franchise Mode:
- Tom Brady (Set Feet Lead)
- Joe Burrow (Set Feet Lead)
- Matthew Stafford (Set Feet Lead)
- Aaron Rodgers (Pass Lead Elite)
- Patrick Mahomes (Pass Lead Elite)
- Josh Allen (Pass Lead Elite)
- Justin Herbert (Pass Lead Elite)
Franchise Mode Requirements:
Set Feet Lead: QB – 90 Overall Strong Arm
Pass Lead Elite: QB – 90 Overall Strong Arm
Ultimate Team Requirements:
See our Madden 23 abilities list.
Route Technician/Short In Elite
Route Technician is extremely noticeable in creating separation against man to man coverage. With how prevalent man coverage is early on in the Madden 23 season, it is one of the most important abilities in the game.
The big downside of route technician is that it is one of the hardest superstar abilities in the game to get. In Franchise mode you need a 90 overall playmaker wide receiver or a 90 overall vertical threat tight end.
In Ultimate Team you need at least a 95 overall playmaker receiver. It won’t be until the back half of the Madden season that route technician will even be available in this game mode.
Short In Elite is essentially the budget version of Route Technician. It is much easier to get and almost as effective.
As long as your receiver makes his cut within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage and inside of the numbers, his superstar ability will activate granting him a better cut and more separation.
The Slot-O-Matic ability works pretty much the same way as long as your receiver is lined up in the slot.
Players Who Have Route Technician/Short In Elite Abilities:
- Justin Jefferson (Route Technician and Short In Elite)
- Amari Cooper (Route Technician)
- Davante Adams (Route Technician)
- Michael Thomas (Short In Elite)
- Diontae Johnson (Short In Elite)
- George Kittle (Short In Elite)
- Darren Waller (Short In Elite)
Fearless
The Fearless Superstar ability will save you from an incredible amount of raging. We are all familiar with those 1-2 throws per game that are just nowhere near our intended receiver. They always seem to happen at the most inopportune times.
These throws are often caused by the “Under Pressure” mechanic that makes it so when a defender gets too close to your quarterback the game randomly decides to make your throw completely inaccurate.
This can be made even more frustrating if your opponent has equipped the Under Pressure superstar ability on some of his pass rushers.
The counter to this is putting the Fearless ability on your quarterback.
Here is the description of what it does, “Passers with this ability are immune to throw penalties caused by defensive pressure while their feet are set in the pocket.”
This ability works and it works very well.
Players Who Have This Ability In Regs/Franchise:
- Tom Brady
- Joe Burrow
Franchise Mode Requirements:
- QB – 90 Overall Strong Arm
Ultimate Team Requirements:
- Field General: 90 TUP
- Strong Arm: 92 TUP
- Improviser: 95 TUP
- Scrambler: 97 TUP
You really can’t go wrong with any of the superstar abilities we’ve laid out above but everyone has their own preferences. What are some of your favorite superstar abilities in Madden 23? Let us know in the comments section!
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