Which Archetype should you play at LM or RM in FC 26?
EA gives the two wide midfield slots a different list from the two wing slots, and the builds that separate them are the ones asked to defend.
Measured hereUpdated 23 August 2026 · from 415 archived players
Two of them are defender builds. The wing list beside it holds one, and the six here are the same on the left and the right, so LM and RM are one decision.
EA splits the wing off from wide midfield
Four builds carry LM, RM, LW and RW together. After those four the lists part company. Marauder and Maestro are suggested in wide midfield and left off the wing. Finisher and Target go the other way, and neither of them appears at LM or RM on EA’s own screen.
That is worth knowing before you copy a winger build into a wide midfield shirt. EA is saying the two jobs ask for different things, and the two builds it adds in midfield are the two filed under defenders.
| Archetype | Group | LM and RM | LW and RW |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engine | Defender | Yes | Yes |
| Marauder | Defender | Yes | — |
| Maestro | Midfielder | Yes | — |
| Creator | Midfielder | Yes | Yes |
| Spark | Midfielder | Yes | Yes |
| Magician | Attacker | Yes | Yes |
| Finisher | Attacker | — | Yes |
| Target | Attacker | — | Yes |
Read off the Suggested Positions pitch on each build’s Archetype screen. The full Archetype list says which build carries which id, and which part of that is inferred from EA’s ordering.
The six, and where they come from
Three of EA’s four groups are represented. Two defenders, three midfielders, one attacker. The attacker is Magician, which lists six positions and is the widest-ranging forward build in the game.
| Archetype | Group | Signature PlayStyle |
|---|---|---|
| Engine | Defender | Rapid |
| Marauder | Defender | Trickster |
| Maestro | Midfielder | Incisive |
| Creator | Midfielder | Quick Step |
| Spark | Midfielder | Technical |
| Magician | Attacker | Inventive |
What the six record
Every build in the pool with at least twenty archived players is below, sorted by goals and assists together. Magician leads on both, with 0.84 goals and 0.78 assists per 90.
| Archetype | Goals / 90 | Assists / 90 | Rating | Players |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Magician | 0.84 | 0.78 | 7.4 | 40 |
| Spark | 0.55 | 0.45 | 7.4 | 27 |
| Creator | 0.25 | 0.60 | 7.5 | 32 |
| Maestro | 0.19 | 0.34 | 7.7 | 55 |
| Engine | 0.08 | 0.05 | 7.5 | 25 |
| Marauder | 0.02 | 0.05 | 7.3 | 30 |
The half of the flank people forget to count
Marauder is the build most people skip when they pick wide, because it is filed under defenders and the profile screen makes that look like a downgrade. EA suggests it at LM and RM and leaves it off the wing. Read that as a statement about the job: the wide midfield slot is expected to be there when your club loses the ball, and the wing is expected to stay high.
Tackles are the counter that shows it. The table gives the middle of each build’s own tackle distribution and the line into its top tenth, so you can see what the build you are on already tends to do.
None of the six has a hundred archived players yet, which is the floor for a distribution worth printing. It fills in as clubs get looked up.
Where this page runs out
EA sends a position on every match row, and it is one of four words: goalkeeper, defender, midfielder or forward. There is no LM in the data and there never has been. The build id arrives on the same row and this archive keeps it, which is why everything above is a claim about a build.
So a page quoting what LM players specifically average is quoting something EA never sent. The attribute allocations are the same story. How many points a build spends on pace, what it does to your ceiling, where the cap sits: none of that reaches a match row, a season row or a leaderboard, and the sites printing it to two decimal places are copying each other.
What to pick
Ask what your club leaves open. If your full-back is being overrun every time possession turns over, Marauder or Engine puts a defender in front of them and both are on EA’s list for the slot. If your side already defends the flank and needs somebody arriving in the box, Magician is the only attacker EA suggests here. If you are the one feeding a number ten, Maestro and Creator are the passing builds.
Take one for a fortnight and read your own tackle and assist rates against the tables above before deciding it was wrong. Switching costs nothing, and the wing pool is the neighbouring decision if you end up higher than this.
Questions people ask
- Which Archetypes can play LM or RM in FC 26?
- Engine, Marauder, Maestro, Creator, Spark and Magician. Two of the six are filed under defenders, and the wing list holds only one.
- Is LM the same as LW in FC 26 Pro Clubs?
- Not on EA’s own screens. Four builds carry both slots, then the lists split: Marauder and Maestro are suggested at LM and RM and left off the wing, while Finisher and Target are suggested on the wing and left out of midfield.
- How many tackles per 90 does the median archived player make?
- The median archived player makes 1.16 per 90 and the top tenth clears 2.20. A wide midfielder who tracks the full-back back tends to sit above the median, because a tackle is credited where the ball is.
- Which wide midfield Archetype scores most?
- Magician, on 0.84 goals per 90 across 40 archived players. That covers every position those players stood in while wearing the build.
- Does the archive know I played at LM?
- No. EA labels a match row with one of four words: goalkeeper, defender, midfielder or forward. The build id arrives on the same row, so every figure here is what a build records rather than what the shirt number does.
Measured from 111,194 players and 46,975 matches, kept since 17 September 2026. EA returns the last ten. Look up your own club and see where you land.
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