If you’ve ever wondered what the Free Hit chip is or what the most optimal strategies for its use are, we made this FPL Free Hit guide specifically for you!
Keep reading to learn more about what this chip is and how to use it.
What is Free Hit in FPL?
The Free Hit chip is one of the several chips that can be activated in the Fantasy Premier League. It acts as a bonus that allows the manager to make as many transfers as he’d like for the duration of one Gameweek in a season.
You can only use the Free Hit chip once during a given season. Once you have used it and the Gameweek has passed, your fantasy team reverts to its original state.
Because the chip can only be used once during a given season, managers should consider it one of their most prized possessions.
Activating the FPL Free Hit
The Free Hit button is located under the FPL My Team selection screen. When you hit it, a pop-up screen will show you how you can use the chip, but this doesn’t activate it.
To activate the chip, go to the Transfers tab located above your team screen. If you have a Free Hit chip available, you’ll be able to activate it even when using a free transfer. The Free Hit chip cannot be cancelled, so it’s important to carefully choose when to use it.
If a manager chooses to activate the chip, any transfers made during the previous Gameweek will be saved. If you made any transfers before activating the Free Hit chip, these will remain the same after the Gameweek expires. However, any transfers you made during the Gameweek when you’re using the Free Hit would be annulled after the Gameweek deadline, and your squad would be the same as it was before you activated the Free Hit chip.
It is important to plan around your free transfers because once the chip is activated, all saved free transfers will expire – if you had a transfer or two saved up, you’d lose them.
Does the FPL Free Hit chip affect player pricing?
Because a manager’s squad reverts to its pre-chip state after the Gameweek expires, you might be wondering—what happens to a player’s bank balance after using the chip? Can you use any price changes of the members of your original squad to gain some funds? Can you get additional funds for selling newly transferred Free Hit players whose price changed while in your roster?
To answer your questions – if a player from your original squad increased in price during Free Hit usage, he would return to your squad at his new price.
If prior to the Free Hit Gameweek his price was lower but increased after the chip activation, he’d return to your team at his current price. However, if his price was higher before you’ve activated the chip but has decreased and remained low until the Gameweek’s end, you’d get him back at his current price – the lower one.
Another thing to note is that if we were to transfer a player in after using the Free Chip and that player increases in price – we wouldn’t get any profit.
When to use the Free Hit FPL chip?
There are generally three strategies most often used with the free hit chip.
Blank Gameweeks
Blank Gameweeks (or short Gameweeks) happen when several teams aren’t scheduled to play at the moment, but some time later in the season. During this time, many of your star players can be involved in different cups or have other engagements. Because of this, it can be difficult to assemble a good team during a blank Gameweek.
It is common for managers to save their free hit chips for blank Gameweeks. That way, they can put together a full team during difficult weeks. Having a full, 11-player team is a strong option when most managers can barely put together a 5-to-8-player one.
However, most players available during blank Gameweeks are usually the weaker ones who weren’t able to make it in competitions. Because of this, it might not always be a good idea to use your Free Hit chip during blank Gameweeks. Therefore, you should keep abreast of which players will be available during this time and plan accordingly.
Double Gameweeks
A less often used strategy is using the Free Hit chip on double Gameweeks. During this time, teams usually play more than one fixture in a given Gameweek, which creates opportunities for huge point gains.
Having a well-assembled team play and score goals twice during a single week can have a great impact–it is good to include as many lower ownership players as you can. This strategy is an excellent way to boost your rank standings if the low-ownership players perform.
Personally, for me, this is the best option for when to use the FPL free hit.
The downside to this strategy is that even though you might get many points this way, you might get more value from using other chips like Bench Boost and Triple Captain for even higher point gains.
Exceptional Single Gameweeks
Sometimes, it is good to use the free hit chip during a favourable Gameweek. Some good teams might play against each other, and there might be a match you want to go for.
Many managers use their free hits in these situations to target certain favourable matchups. For example, if a newly relegated team is playing – it might be a good idea to target new players with lower ownership.
Sometimes, even final Gameweeks can be favourable. On final Gameweeks, there are often many great fixtures with a ton of information available about the status of the teams. This strategy isn’t used that often, but it creates great opportunities for point gains when used right.
Free Hit vs Wildcard
With Free Hit and Wildcard chips, you can get unlimited transfers. Both of them last for an entire Gameweek, though there are three main differences:
- Unlike the Free hit, changes made while the Wildcard chip is active are permanent
- There are two Wildcard chips in a season as opposed to the one Free Hit
- Wildcard protects you from points losses.
The first Wildcard chip is available from Gameweek 1 to Gameweek 20 and the second one after Gameweek 20.
If you want to maximise point gains, plan the use of both of these chips carefully.
Bottom Line
The FPL world can be difficult to navigate; you might have a hard time trying to understand when, why, and how to use a chip. Additionally, you may find it difficult to choose which chip and strategy to use.
Hopefully, this FPL Free Hit guide and the strategies given will help you manage your fantasy team and help you become a better manager and step up your game.