Boiled down to its essence, much of the enjoyment of Rocket League comes from personal improvement: getting to that ball that little bit quicker, hitting that aerial, mastering the flip reset finally.
That can also be the game’s biggest frustration. Why do I seem to have hit a brick wall with regards to my improvement? Will I ever rank up from Bronze, Silver or Gold?
Today, what I am going to cover with you guys are some of the biggest things that I see people doing in lower ranks (normally between silver and low diamond) that you should stop doing in order to rank up and improve.
While I get that some of you just like to have fun and that’s perfectly fine—keep doing that—for the people who are really trying to get better, this one is for you.
Here are 8 common mistakes that lower ranked players fall into.
1. Learn Advanced Mechanics
This is a big one. I get it. You want to learn to ceiling shot/flip reset/breezi flick/musty flick/insert mechanic here because your favourite player does it.
But something you need to keep in mind is that these people have literally thousands of hours in-game playing at the highest level and competing in the RLCS/RLRS which is the highest tournament in all of Rocket League.
They have mastered car control and can learn these mechanics in next to no time. There’s very little point in you learning them at your current rank because they will take a lot longer to learn, even longer to perfect and most likely won’t be something you’ll be able to pull off in-game without a lot of practice.
While it’s fun to learn them, it’s not something that should be prioritized because it likely won’t be useful to you until you’re a much higher rank anyway.
2. Talk In-Game
Okay, so personally, I never got the hype behind this but some people have full-on conversations in a ranked game literally even during the play. That’s not going to help you and it’s going to drive your teammates wild.
Not to mention that toxicity is often started in chat. Maybe it’s best to avoid it as much as possible, at least during the match.
While its cool to make a friend, maybe add them after the match and chat with them then?
3. Skip Training
This is a massive error people make: they don’t warm up; they don’t practice; they don’t even use training. They just hop straight in.
I cannot stress how important it is to warm up and actually practice what you’re trying to learn/perfect.
You should spend a decent amount of time in training as it is important, maybe even make yourself a training schedule that’s 30 mins – 1hr long you can do daily.
Just going for it in-game isn’t going to help you need to actually learn to be consistent at it both in and outside of a game
4. Forgetting about the Basics
A lot of people also make this error. Think of it like this: you’re trying to build a house. If you have a bad foundation, the house won’t be stable.
The same goes for your mechanics: you need to learn the basics.
Yes, it’s a little boring, I know. It’s not meant to be as fun compared to going for cool shots in ranked/training but it will help your long term enjoyment of the game.
You need to learn the basics, even the most basic of things that sound simple: shooting; aerialing, recovering, positioning, controlling the ball and your car, kick offs and how to 50/50.
Its crucial you learn these because, if you don’t, it makes things harder down the line.
5. Copy Pro’s Settings
This is another mistake people make. It’s not so much directed at camera settings but more controller settings.
Some pros use high sensitivities. That’s because they have mastered car control and can use that as an advantage.
They have thousands of hours so they’re well experienced. But people who aren’t will still use insanely high sensitivities. That’s just putting you at a disadvantage.
Stay on 1.0. Learn on 1.0. It’ll make learning how to control things a lot easier and you can build speed and consistency up at a natural rate.
6. Copy What You See on YouTube
When you see pros playing, keep in mind they’re playing in extremely high-ranked lobbies. What they are doing reflects the lobby they’re in and the players they’re playing against.
At extremely high ranks (2k MMR), the people who play there play against each other all the time because there’s not a lot of people who are ranked that high.
That doesn’t mean you can take what you see them do and do it in your Diamond 2 twos game. It won’t work. Opponents won’t react the same. Teammates won’t react the same.
7. Watching Replays During a Match
This is a pet peeve of a lot of people but it’s self-explanatory: skip replays.
If you want to watch how something happened, save the replay and watch it back.
If you’re taking a drink or whatever that’s fine but it’ll make things a lot smoother to just skip and keep going.
8. Blame Teammates
Always remember that, whenever your teammate makes a mistake, they are usually the same rank as you in most cases.
For example, If you’re better at power shots but your teammate is better at aerials then who deserves to be at the rank? Both because both players would have different qualities. If someone is in a rank (and they weren’t carried or boosted) they deserve to be there.
Don’t get on their back about making mistakes, you should treat team mates equally. It’s part of the learning curve.
And remember: you make mistakes too. And that’s ok. Rocket League (especially at lower ranks) is all about getting to grips with how it works and improve. That’s how you’ll enjoy the game more.
Good Luck!
While these are opinion based and of course some people will disagree these are some of the biggest things I see people do at lower ranks, eliminating these things can make for a more enjoyable game it’s not something that you should be dumping hundreds of hours into. These are the biggest things you can change quickly and hopefully see some improvement.
If you’re looking for further improvement you can check me out here for a coaching session!
