Unless you’re completely new to the game, you’ll know that playing fast and speeding up in Rocket League are vitally important.
Going supersonic is only the beginning. To really rank up, you have to start implementing some of these tips and tricks to beat the opponent to the ball and keeping possession as much as possible.
Do you find yourself struggling with any of the following:
- Never getting first to kickoffs?
- Too slow when going for 50/50s?
- Trying to get back to net but not fast enough to save the rolling ball going in?
- Getting lobbed by opponents?
The list could go on but if you found yourself nodding along, then this is the article for you!
#1 Getting supersonic as quickly as possible
At a basic level, you should know that:
- Flipping (or dodging) adds speed, boosting adds speed.
- The top speed you can get is supersonic (and you actually go a tiny bit faster if you are going supersonic and hold down boost).
- From bronze to gold, simply boosting everywhere and stealing other people’s boost is a really effective strategy.
- However, it’s not all too effective at getting long-term teammates if you’re constantly stealing the boost from your teammates…
At the intermediate level, you should be looking at:
- Doing simple wavedashes in certain scenarios to keep control of your car rather than doing a straight-up flip where you have to wait a second before your wheels hit the ground again.
- Using boost pads effectively and learning the small boost pad pattern on the map is essential.
At advanced levels, you will start to see:
- Players will barely even grab big boosts because they really aren’t needed for most situations.
- If you always have a tiny bit of boost, then you’ll be even faster to get your next refill.
- Making sure to get a boost pad on your way to your next boost will really speed up your play.
At the most advanced levels:
- You’ll see players doing wave dashes everywhere, picking up little boost pads.
- Adding drift to your gameplay will also make you faster to reach the ball after grabbing a big boost.
- Using flips to reserve boost is very important.
#2 Mechanics you can practice
Here are some useful mechanics you can use to preserve your speed:
Tornado Twirl:
The tornado twirl can help you to get max speed from a standing position.
You can do the Tornado Twirl in three simple steps:
1) Tilt your car slightly to the side
2) Boost the entire time
3) Side flip.
The reason this is better than a normal front flip is that you can keep boosting the whole time.
Half flips:
The half-flip is a beginner mechanic that I recommend all my students learn if they haven’t already.
Doing the simple half-flip with an air roll is only the start to this mechanic. You can half-flip in any direction if you take the time to practice it and understand the mechanic behind it.
Drifting:
Drifting adds speed to your game. Period.
Drifts make you turn quicker, more precise, and if you combine a drift with reversing your car for a split second, you can do the fastest 180 stop in the game.
Empty jumps off walls and ceiling:
Empty jumps speed up recovery from ceiling and walls.
All you have to do is a jump off the wall, air roll your car so the roof is facing the ground and do an empty jump to reach the ground quicker.
Flip resets off the ball to recover:
Alright, so this one isn’t really something people go for except for in some situations where it might be extra fancy to get a flip reset off the ball and do a wavedash into a dribble play.
When you do get a flip reset off the ball and can’t go for a shot, don’t waste the flip. Use it to either wavedash or flip away to recover after the play.
Wall aerial jumps:
This one is pretty obvious but at lower levels, people tend to be really nervous on the wall.
As soon as you jump off the wall, boost. Ok? Don’t feather the boost. I don’t know why people feather the boost. Don’t.
Boost to the ball with your nose pointing at the ball as soon as you jump off the wall.
If you master this you’ll beat, everyone, to the ball.
#3 Boost Management
Here are a few more ways you can manage your boost to play faster:
10 second boost:
In 1s, it’s really important to keep your opponent boost starved.
If you have been playing this game for a while, you’ll start to develop a wicked sense for when the boost spawns.
In a lot of situations, taking a super quick look at the time when you grab a boost will give you the aim hack flippin’ ability to magically summon the boost 10 seconds later.
Use this and your opponents won’t even see the boost spawn.
Mini Boost pads:
I’ve been coaching for a little while now and I’ve noticed people below champ rely heavily on the big boost, only feel confident to go for aerials with 100 boost and almost completely ignore all the little refills on the map. It’s like they don’t even exist.
Seriously! Try using mini-boost pads for a change!
In conclusion…
I hope these tips are a whistle-stop tour of things you can work on.
Ultimately, you need to be pro-active in the way you think and play the game. When you think you should go for the ball then just go for it.
Over time, your judgement will become more accurate and you’ll make better decisions. But it’s better to go for it rather than sitting back in net.
I made this video which goes over the points we discussed with some examples. Make sure to check it out as well as my coaching profile too.
Good luck!
