FC 26 Patch Review: Enforcer+ Mullhouse Is Secretly OP

The latest FC 26 patch quietly changed the way physical battles work – and it accidentally turned one budget card into an absolute beast. In this breakdown, we’ll look at how the shoulder challenge update works, why Larissa Mullhouse with Enforcer+ feels hilariously overpowered, and how to build, evolve, and support your squad with smart coin management.

• FC 26 Patch Overview: What Actually Changed?
• New Shoulder Challenge & Shielding Mechanics Explained
• Testing Traditional Power Forwards: Why Haaland Wasn’t Enough
• Meet Larissa Mullhouse: The Budget Enforcer+ Monster
• Gameplay Impressions: Is Mullhouse Really That Hard to Stop?
• Best Evolutions & Builds for Mullhouse in FC 26
• AI Defending Nerfs & What This Means for Your Playstyle
• Building Your Squad Faster: How ItemD2R.com Helps With FC 26 Coins
• Practical Tips: How to Use Mullhouse in Division Rivals & Champs
• Final Thoughts & Should You Try Mullhouse?

FC 26 Patch Overview: What Actually Changed?

The new FC 26 patch introduces several gameplay tweaks, but the headline adjustment for attackers and defenders is the rework to physical contact and shoulder challenges. While the patch notes list multiple small fixes, the most impactful change for Ultimate Team is how the game handles battles between players with big strength differences.

Instead of feeling purely animation-based, the game now more clearly rewards strong, aggressive players in shoulder-to-shoulder duels and when shielding the ball. Combined with the right playstyles and evolutions, this opens the door for some surprisingly powerful cards – including lower-rated, budget options that previously felt average.

New Shoulder Challenge & Shielding Mechanics Explained

The core of this patch revolves around how strength and aggression influence physical contact. In simple terms:

• When two players collide and one has significantly higher strength, the weaker player is now more likely to stumble or lose balance.
• High-strength players are better at shielding the ball, especially when you manually protect it using triggers (like LT/L2).
• Shoulder barges feel more responsive – the outcome is influenced more by strength and aggression and less by random animations.

This makes physical players more reliable in tight spaces, especially inside the box. However, the patch also revealed something interesting: not all strong players benefit equally. Big, heavy strikers still feel clunky if they lack balance, acceleration, or the right playstyles, even with the buff.

Testing Traditional Power Forwards: Why Haaland Wasn’t Enough

On paper, a tall, strong striker with Enforcer+ should be a dream in this patch. Players like Haaland look tailor-made for the new physics: high strength, great finishing, and a powerful frame. But once tested in real matches, something felt off.

Despite the new buffs, Haaland still lost the ball more often than expected in crowded areas. He could win some duels, but under heavy pressure he didn’t feel as sticky as you’d hope for a meta-dominant target man. The combination of size and a slightly heavier turning radius meant that agility defenders could still sneak the ball away, especially when you tried to turn quickly or chain skill moves.

That’s when chat suggested something different: a card that blends elite physical stats with a more compact, responsive body type – Larissa Mullhouse.

Meet Larissa Mullhouse: The Budget Enforcer+ Monster

Larissa Mullhouse looks unassuming at first glance: just an 85-rated card, relatively cheap on the market (around 10k coins when tested), and not the kind of player you’d expect to dominate high-tier lobbies. But once you check her key stats, things get interesting:

• 99 Strength
• 99 Aggression
• Enforcer+ playstyle
• Height around 5'10 with a lengthy running style

On the new patch, this combination is deadly. She is strong enough to fully exploit the shoulder challenge changes, but not so tall and heavy that she feels sluggish. Instead, her stride and body type give her a unique blend of power and responsiveness.

Visually, her in-game model and expressions add to the frustration factor for your opponents – getting bullied off the ball by a relatively low-rated card that looks this fierce can be genuinely tilt-inducing.

Gameplay Impressions: Is Mullhouse Really That Hard to Stop?

Once Mullhouse hits the pitch, the patch changes become obvious. Here’s how she plays after some thorough testing:

• Shielding feels broken: Tapping or holding LT/L2 when defenders are on her back almost feels like a cheat code. Defenders bounce off or stumble, while she calmly rolls the ball away.
• Dispossessing her is a nightmare: Even when defenders get close, they often bounce off or fail to win a clean tackle. The combination of 99 strength and 99 aggression means she contests every touch.
• Surprisingly quick on the ball: Unlike huge target men, Mullhouse doesn’t feel like a truck. Her acceleration and stride length make her dangerous in short bursts and in tight spaces.
• Clinical in front of goal with the right upgrades: Finesse shots, near-post blasts, and top-corner finishes all feel accessible once you buff her shooting via evolutions.

During gameplay tests, she managed multiple goals per match – including hat-tricks – simply by bodying defenders inside the box, using a small shove and then shielding the ball until a shooting lane opened. Even with low penalty stats, she converted spot-kicks confidently when tasked with taking them.

The main takeaway: Enforcer+ on a slightly smaller, quicker body type seems more efficient than on bigger, heavier forwards in this patch. The game rewards players who can combine brute force with fast reactions and decent mobility.

Best Evolutions & Builds for Mullhouse in FC 26

Out of the box, Mullhouse is already terrifying in duels, but evolutions turn her from nasty to borderline unstoppable. The most effective approach is to shore up her weaknesses while amplifying what the patch already favors.

Key Stats to Target With Evolutions

• Balance: Certain evolutions can push her balance up to 99. Combined with 99 strength and aggression, this makes her almost impossible to knock over.
• Pace: Boosting sprint speed and acceleration helps her break away once she shrugs off defenders. Evolutions that offer +pace plus playstyles like Rapid are ideal.
• Passing: Upgrading short passing and vision allows her to function as a reliable target player who can lay off passes, creating a proper hold-up striker.
• Shooting: Improving finishing, shot power, and long shots turns her from a pure bulldozer into a complete scoring threat.

Recommended Evolution Types & Playstyles

Some evolution tracks (depending on what’s currently active in FC 26) can give Mullhouse a powerful mix of upgrades and playstyles. The standout options include:

• Technical: Makes her dribbling more controlled on the ball, which is crucial in tight spaces where she’s already bullying defenders physically.
• Rapid: Synergizes with her lengthy running style, allowing her to blast past defenders after winning shoulder battles.
• Additional playstyle bonuses (when available): Any evolution that adds shooting or dribbling playstyles will scale her power even further.

Because she starts at only 85-rated, she has massive potential for future evolutions. As new evolutions arrive later in the FC 26 cycle, Mullhouse could gain even more pace and finishing, enabling her to stay relevant long-term in your club.

AI Defending Nerfs & What This Means for Your Playstyle

The patch doesn’t just buff physicality – it also tones down AI defending. That means fewer miracle auto-blocks and slightly less aggressive auto-interceptions. As a result:

• Manual defending is more important than ever.
• Attackers who can shield, hold, and wait for support runs become more valuable.
• Cards like Mullhouse shine because they let you control the tempo in the box, protecting the ball while teammates get into position.

If you’re used to relying heavily on AI to bail you out, this patch will feel different. But if you enjoy creative attacking and manual duels, strong players with Enforcer+ are now a serious threat – especially when you master trigger usage and directional shielding.

Building Your Squad Faster: How ItemD2R.com Helps With FC 26 Coins

Finding hidden gems like Mullhouse is only part of the equation. To really capitalize on new patches and meta shifts, you need the flexibility to buy, test, and rotate multiple cards without being stuck with a low-budget team for weeks. That’s where a reliable coin source becomes a real advantage.

Instead of spending hours grinding low-yield objectives or trading every day, many players choose to top up their coin balance through trusted third-party sites. On buy coins fc26 pages like ItemD2R.com, you can safely purchase FC 26 coins and immediately invest in:

• Meta strikers and midfielders that complement Mullhouse’s physical play.
• New defenders who can handle the updated shoulder battle mechanics.
• Fresh cards for evolutions so you’re not forced to choose between favorites and experiments.

ItemD2R.com focuses on secure delivery, reasonable pricing, and fast transactions, which is crucial if you want to react quickly to patches like this one. When a card suddenly becomes overpowered due to a gameplay tweak, prices can skyrocket in a matter of hours. Having instant access to FIFA FUT Coins means you can buy early, test thoroughly, and even make a profit by selling before the market stabilizes.

Beyond coins, the site supports multiple games and currencies, making it a one-stop hub for players who regularly invest in their clubs across different titles. For FC 26 specifically, pairing smart coin purchases with patch-aware choices like Mullhouse ensures you stay one step ahead of your rivals in Division Rivals, Weekend League, and competitive modes.

Practical Tips: How to Use Mullhouse in Division Rivals & Champs

To get the most out of Mullhouse in the current patch, it’s not enough to just plug her into your squad. You’ll want to adjust your tactics and inputs to make full use of her strengths.

Best Positions & Instructions

• Primary role: Central striker (ST) in a one- or two-striker formation.
• Best formations: 4-2-3-1 (as the lone ST), 4-4-2, or 4-1-2-1-2 narrow where she can play with a more agile partner.
• Instructions: Stay Central, Target Man or Mixed Attack, and sometimes Come Back on Defence if you want her involved in hold-up play in deeper areas.

Shielding & Trigger Usage

The biggest difference-maker with Mullhouse is how you use LT/L2 shielding in the box and on breakaways:

• When you feel a defender on your back, tap LT/L2 to initiate a physical interaction rather than sprint away blindly.
• Once she leans in, rotate the left stick diagonally to roll the defender and create an angle for a shot or pass.
• Combine small directional touches with shielding instead of large, sprinting touches – her physicality will protect the ball while you reposition.

Link-Up Play & Finishing

With passing and shooting upgrades from evolutions, Mullhouse doubles as both a finisher and link-up hub:

• Use her to control long passes into feet, then lay the ball off to a CAM or winger before spinning into space.
• Finesse shots from the edge of the box become more reliable once her finishing and curve are improved.
• In the six-yard box, prioritize driven shots and near-post attempts – her strength buys the time you need to pick your spot.

Final Thoughts & Should You Try Mullhouse?

The new FC 26 patch has definitely shaken up the meta. By strengthening shoulder challenges and rewarding true physical monsters, EA has unintentionally boosted under-the-radar cards like Larissa Mullhouse.

With 99 strength, 99 aggression, Enforcer+, and a responsive body type, she plays far above her 85 rating – especially when you invest in evolutions that improve pace, balance, passing, and shooting. In the current environment of weaker AI defending and more manual duels, she is exactly the kind of card that can terrorize backlines in Rivals and Champs.

If you enjoy physical, aggressive attacking football and want a striker who feels "hilariously good" under the new rules, Mullhouse is absolutely worth trying. And if you want to rapidly build or upgrade the rest of your squad around her, using a trusted source of FC 26 coins like ItemD2R.com can help you adapt quickly to this ever-evolving meta.

Ultimately, this patch highlights an important lesson: don’t judge a card by its overall rating. With the right stats, playstyles, and evolutions, even a budget option can become one of the most feared players on the pitch.