GamersRdy is founded on the idea that good coaching can immeasurably improve your ability at Rocket League.
As part of this commitment to helping you improve your game, we make sure that you can work with the best coaches in the industry to make your development as easy as possible.
With this wealth of experience available to us, we thought we would bring you some of the top tips from our expert Rocket League coaches to help you level up as we consider how 2020 will develop the scene.
It’s not just about ranking up, but it’s about getting a better understanding of your weaknesses as well as spotting new opportunities to improve on… on to the tips!
Element: Actually Think Ahead
Passing is becoming increasingly important in Rocket League.
Players now are pretty aware of their teammates’ intentions in general and can predict what will happen next based on player position.
If you are in the opponent’s corner, the ball is slightly closer to midfield, and your teammate is waiting at the centre, you should start to try and “back-passing” it to that teammate.
Try to pass in front of their momentum. Passing it directly at them won’t do any good because they’ll have to hit the brakes and get a poor touch.
Always try to analyze the play before it starts and what you want to do with the ball before it happens. This will save you time and getting challenged early by your opponents.
If you’re on defence, take note of the possessor of the ball and the rest of the opponents. Then try to predict the next move.
If you notice that the ball is being dribbled towards an opponent upfield, try hitting the sweet spot of the ball right away to cancel the play.
It can be tricky to get this right, but if you need a hand you can book a 1 to 1 session with me so we can discuss more about this.
Millennium: Rotations, Rotations, Rotations
In the clip above, you can see that the orange team has the offensive pressure, keeping the opponents in their half and not allowing clears.
The first player in the red team’s rotation is tasked with preventing the opponent from getting the time and space to attempt a clear down the field.
The second player in the rotation plays a more reactive role, responding to whatever happens to first player. In turn, they will either keep the ball in the offensive side of the field through pressure or be ready to take a shot if the first player is successful in their challenge and the ball breaks into the middle.
The first player now rotates out following the rules of so-called ‘Backpost Rotation’ and attempts to get in the way of the opposing last player.
In doing this, the third player of the offensive rotation can now follow up the play of the second player to go for a shot.
By bumping the last player during this offensive rotation, then, the goal is opened up and leaves the third player on the offensive rotation with an unchallenged shot on an open net.
Hope this video and explanation has helped you – I’m also open to being booked for coaching sessions!
Acrotic: Try Something New
In Rocket League, no game is unwinnable.
If your opponents make you feel like you can’t do anything against them, don’t be afraid to try something new.
Confuse them by not directly targeting the net or aiming for bumps.
Only do this as long as you can smoothly keep your rotations in check, though.
Instead of only trying to play faster than them, try bringing the speed to your level.
It’s insanely hard to re-route your mindset to something like this, but it’s necessary when it comes to climbing the ranks. These are the skills that define your progress in the game.
We can chat more about your progression in a coaching session if you’d like!
Zector: Patience… Look around!
Patience. I can’t stress it enough.
Too many players are so quick to throw away possession or panic when in awkward positions. DON’T PANIC! Look around. Know where your teammate is. Evaluate the situation.
Ask yourself: do I need to panic? Do I have time? Is it logical for me to do this?
If you aren’t asking questions, then you’re just guessing and hoping it goes well.
If you have space then use it to take control of the ball and attempt a play instead of throwing the ball down the field to the other team.
If you are hitting the ball straight at the other team, you aren’t doing anything but losing possession. But if you do hit the ball at the other team, take the time from the possession switch to try and be productive: grab boosts, go for bumps, make sure your teammates get back.
Sometimes sacrificing possession for your teammates to get back or to get boosts is a viable strategy.
Most of the time, you can take advantage of the fact that players like to hit the ball away. If you see them in a bad position, most of the time you can assume they will panic and or hit the ball towards you. Just put yourself in a position where you think they’re dumping the ball and wait.
If you like to try and shoot the ball at a defender at 38mph from midfield, then you aren’t being patient enough. This might work in lower ranks. But when players can hit the ball even semi-consistently, it very quickly ceases to be a problem.
Once again, ask the questions: how close can I get? Are they facing me or shadowing? Is there a lot of space on his left?
Know the answers to the questions you ask yourself, then make a decision based off the information.
Think about your options, think about how the other players have been playing since the game started. Don’t guess at things that can be figured out logically.
Here is an example of a pass to team-mate from a counter-attacking position.
Following these tips should get you started – if you’re looking for even more strategy advice check out my coaching profile.
PainxThriller: When should you challenge?
Have you ever found yourself all the way down the field after a challenge and by the time you get back your team has been scored on?
Getting scored on after a challenge is a common occurrence and leads to slower rotations as well as leaving a 2v3 disadvantage in Standard, or a 1v2 in Doubles.
Today, I’m going to help brush up your challenging game and provide examples of good and bad challenging.
The typical goal of challenging is to bait the other team into hitting the ball away from you, hopefully giving it away to you and your teammate so you can start a counter.
In aerial situations, your focus is first going to be on the position of your teammates/opponents before deciding to go up.
If someone else is up before you, it’s safe to assume that they are going to beat you to the ball. In this situation, it’s better to stay on the ground and try to play their hit.
An exception to this is if you know your teammates are back and you think you’re able to at least touch the ball to throw off the attack.
Here are a few examples that I’ll break down:
In this first example, I looked down the field and saw that no one was up. This was my sign that I could follow through.
As I jumped, I saw that one of my opponents jumped as well. This tells me that I need to go for a hit/block that goes away from my net so my teammate can pick it up after.
In this second clip, it’s hard to see the set-up. However, you can see Rizzo go for the challenge. He gets close enough to make the opponent hit the ball away from him so he can give away position.
I hope this was helpful to get a better idea of knowing when to challenge – you can book a coaching session with me if you’d like to go into more detail.
Hel: Boost paths
We all know boost management is very important. But it’s a skill that’s often ignored in lower ranks. Even at Grand Champion level, a lot of players don’t really focus on it too much.
People know not to boost once they are supersonic and also that it’s not smart to always run off for the big boost pads. But what a lot of people don’t focus on, is correct ‘pathing’ while just moving across the pitch.
In the three examples above, you can see player heatmaps from three 3v3 standard games. All these games were at Grand Champion level. The first is at around 1550 MMR, the second at 1700 MMR and the third is from a pro player at around 2000 MMR.
You can clearly see the difference between the three pictures. While the first one looks quite messy, the second and third pictures show clear pathing over the small boost pads.
This pathing across the field allows you to always pick up some small pads on your way, allowing you to hold your position and challenge more efficiently.
This tip was written by coach Hel who you can book a coaching session with you you’d like to go into more depth.
In summary: Focus on one area at a time
We can see how there is a huge benefit of getting down to the nitty-gritty of focusing on one principal or mechanic at a time.
The coaches are available to book a personal 1 to 1 coaching session with if you’d like to go into more detail about any of the tips. You’re also welcome to join our Discord community as we have dedicated channels to help you get better at Rocket League.
