Rocket League Tips

Rocket League Tips by adrianb90

Okay, so let’s go over this fast. I’ve played a heapton of matches now, and there’s some tips I’d like to give all the other players. To some, they may seem extremely obvious, but others might think of them as useful. Worst case – all of them are complete shit and I’ll be called out as an idiot. No probs.

• Learn how to control your car – You gotta learn the basics. That’s obvious. But what I mean by this is not to learn which buttons to press, but to play the game enough to have it automated in your fingers. Get a feel of how you should strike the ball and how to manouver effectively. The best way to do this is simply by playing the game alot. Why, you say? Well, it’s extremely hard to tell you exactly how to strike the ball at any given situation. When you feel like you’ve mastered controlling the car, then you should always think and observe how and why you’re striking the ball.
• Positioning – I cannot stress the importance of this point. If you want to get good, you have to be able to position yourself properly. If you’re playing 2v2 game and your teammate is going extremely offensive, you have to hold back. If you fail to do so, you’ll get uneccessary goals against you because of a crucial mistake – you didn’t defend. Breakaways happen so often in this game. Best way to learn how to do this properly would be to play some 1v1 games, get smacked and then adapt to defending properly. After doing this, you can transition this into 2v2 or 3v3. This way, you’ll be way more useful. Remember, if you manage to keep a clean sheet, you won’t lose. Mourinho-tactics for you there.
• Passes – Yes, passes is actually a thing in Rocket League! Often misconcieved as a failed shot, a pass can be very effective to setup either yourself or your teammate to score a goal. The most used pass would be to strike it on the opposing teams corner so it lobs over to the far post. This is by far the most effective way to get a goal, counting all the different elos. The best players will intercept these passes more often, vice versa. Another great pass is to play it back towards a teammate. This is risky, because it might lead to a breakaway if you miss it. Either way, you got to play the teamgame. It might lead to a higher win-percentage.
• Rotating – This one goes somewhat into the same category as positioning, but it’s a key-part of the game. If you play 3v3, you should have the following setup: Two midfielders/attackers and a sweeper. This will give you offensive pressure and stability in your team. 2v2 has the same setup, except you have one midfielder/attacker and a sweeper. The main thing about rotating is to always keep the different position, just like tactics in a soccer game. If your sweeper charges up to knock in the ball, you have to fall back and hold the sweeper position and vice versa. I do not recommend to stay in the goal at all times for the latter, because some shots are unsaveable unless intercepted beforehand.
• Aerials – Are you the type that see an excellent opportunity to pull off one of those sexy aerials, but constantly miss them at the speed of light? Well, the only way to hit them is to practice them. The practice mode is okay for this matter, but if you play enough online you’ll get a sense of where the ball is going. It’s all about prediction. From there, you can hit these aerials. The key-part here is to manage your vehicle properly. Constantly practice and you’ll hit them.
• Boost – Carefuly plan how you’re going to use your boost. Saving your boost might give you an edge when it comes to reaching the ball first in a crucial defensive or offensive situation, while not having boost will leave you trailing. Always try to keep your boost at maximum, however: I’ve seen loads of situations where teammates could’ve easily saved the ball, but they went for that cornerboost. If you’re going to fill up, make sure it’s safe first. Remember, getting scored on won’t make you come back with 100% boost so it’s simply not worth it.
• Communication – “But Adrianb1990, my teammates slam into the ball when I have the perfect setup to place it in the net!!”. Well, I’ve been there. Trust me. The only way to lessen the chance of this happening is to communicate. If you’re familiar with the quick-chat commands, you can easily give a quick message across to your teammate. Let me elaborate: Your opponent clears the ball, and it’s going towards the midfield. You litterally have one job left: drive it in. Suddenly, your teammate jumps in and clears the ball towards the centrewall. Frustrating? Of course. But your teammate might’ve panicked because he/she was 100% sure that your opponent had the same chance! A quick “I got it!” could’ve made this situation non-existent. Either way, players knocking the ball when you had a clear shot will happen. It’s inevitable, but communication might make this happen less frequently. Please do communicate in a friendly matter, tho. Saying “you suck” to another teammate is only gonna make him/her play worse.
• Landing – Again, this is a topic that could’ve been covered under ‘Learn how to manouver your car’, but it’s too important to leave out. It’s important to land properly. If you don’t, you can roll around uselessly for seconds. The only way to make this happen is to master how you rotate your car while in the air. Always aim for landing properly on your wheels in a way that keeps your speed up. Losing speed is a big no-no on most occasions.
• Levels does not matter – I’m a Veteran at this game. I’ve lost to Pros and destroyed Masters. Do not give a second thought on the opposing players level. This is only a nice gimmick that excists for us players to get a sense of progression. How much you play isn’t always proportional to how well you play.
• How to practice all this – Adapting to new things are not easy. The whole reason why I made this post is to help others, and being aware of the basics++ is a huge step towards improving at this game. There is not a slightest chance that neither a new player or a seasoned veteran will adapt to all this at once. Even though I made this post, I constantly make bad mistakes that stings. Being aware of what you and others do is vastly benefitial. There are many players out there who do not think about the consequenses of their actions. This is a mistake that prohibits further development. But, if you choose to do, I guarantee that you’ll improve. Rocket League is a living game with different matches every single time, so there’s really no recipe that guarantees wins. And by god do I love that fact.
• HAVE FUN – This is by far the most important part. Do not flame your teammate, do not get angry about the other opponents luck and HAVE FUN for gods sake. Misplays will happen, goals will be scored by both teams and loads of (mis)fortune will happen. Just accept this, and enjoy the hell out of this game.

TLDR; Play game much, get better. Use your head while playing, it might help.