Development traits in EA College Football 25: Tips to master abilities and spread dominance

The release of EA Sports College Football 25 marks the end of an 11-year hiatus from the popular series. On July 19, the eagerly awaited game made its global launch, giving players the opportunity to immerse themselves in the game and all of its modes.

The game features the return of many popular modes, including dynasty mode. This mode allows players to take full control of a school and build their team in any way they choose.

Here, we will take a closer look at the development traits for players included in dynasty mode and the new abilities feature.

Development traits in College Football 25

When upgrading the players on your roster in dynasty mode, one of the factors that determines their yearly progression is development traits. You can view a player's development trait once they join your roster or on National Signing Day if the player is a recruit.

If your coach has the Mind Reader ability as one of their Strategist archetypes, then you will be able to view a player's development trait once they attend your school for an official visit.

One of four development traits that can be assigned to each player. You can view which development trait a player has by pressing Triangle on PlayStation or Y on Xbox to open the player card on the roster screen.

Normal Development Trait

This is the development trait that will be most commonly assigned to players. Their ratings will progress at the average rate and will progress at a steady rate throughout their career.

Impact Development Trait

Players with the impact development trait in College Football 25 will progress at a more rapid pace than normal players and have a higher ceiling. These players will be the difference-makers on your team who aren't quite at the level of superstars.

Star Development Trait

These are your rare players who will quickly develop throughout their career in College Football 25. They are the leaders of the team that have professional potential.

Elite Development Trait

The top players in the nation will be assigned the elite development trait. These players have the potential to be among college football's all-time greats, so you'll want to hang onto them for as long as you can.

Mastering player abilities

A look at a few of the player abilities included in College Football 25 (image credit: EA.com)

Understanding and mastering player abilities in College Football 25 will be crucial to getting the most out of your players during games. There are 80 abilities that are split into mental and physical abilities. Each trait is also divided into four tiers: bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. Each tier offers more of a boost to that specific trait.

These abilities do not offer any guaranteed outcomes and only offer situational boosts. Each player is also only allowed three mental abilities and five physical abilities at any given time.

A player's archetype determines the physical abilities he qualifies for, and the mental abilities are determined by a player's position. Players earn abilities by meeting rating thresholds in certain categories. If a player's rating progresses far enough in a certain category, it will allow them to be assigned certain abilities.

There is no way to upgrade mental abilities in dynasty mode, meaning players are locked to the mental abilities they possessed when they entered as freshmen.

You can manage a player's abilities by selecting the specific player on the roster menu and cycling over to the "mentals" and "physicals" sections. Each ability on this menu will provide a short explanation of what it does, as well as the tier of the ability the player has.