One of the biggest revelations in gaming recently has been the massive rise of Rocket League, which has quickly gone on to become one of the most popular games on the market right now. It offers unbelievable replayability, with it being perfect for both casual and competitive players, with the game being easy to pick up but massively difficult to truly master.

Though you may not want to commit to the level of being on the eSports scene, you may still want to really up your Rocket League game to climb the ranks, or just smash your friends the next time you play. Here’s a quick look at 6 key tips that will massively help you out when playing Rocket League, helping you to become a much better player.

Utilise Practice Mode and Custom Tracks

In Rocket League, you’re provided with a fairly wide array of practice settings. On top of the regular Free Play mode - which is great for getting to grips with the game and practicing areas like dribbling - you also have modes for Shooting, Goalkeeping, and Aerials. All of these are available in varying difficulty levels, helping you to work your way up.

One of the newer features within Rocket League - coming along with the new crate and key system - has been the inclusion of custom practice maps. These are user created and are rather similar to CS:GO and their custom maps, albeit much simpler to access. The custom maps you’ll find under the Practice section vary in difficulty as well, with some actually being provided by Psyonix themselves, the developers of the game.

Using the practice mode will help you improve each of the key parts of your game, with the practice tracks helping you nail down the more intricate parts of Rocket League, such as dribbling and hitting more complex shots/aerials.

Adjust Your Camera Settings

The camera settings are something that quite a few don’t tend to change all too often, if at all. The settings that you’re provided with in Rocket League are quite in-depth, with you having the ability to really change your overall field of view and perspective while playing; a key aspect of many parts of the game.

Making the right adjustments to your camera settings can help you generally judge the flight of the ball, see where your teammates are, and generally make everything more comfortable.

Use The Front Of Your Car

In terms of actual in-game mechanics, one of the best things you can do in-game is to hit the ball square on with the front of your car. It’s common for players to roll into the ball, or hit it with the underside of their car - this generates much less power.

If you hit the ball with your front bumper, you’ll be able to hit the ball with much more power, making it harder for the keeper to save. This is particularly pertinent when it comes to aerials. If you’re at the level where you can comfortably hit the ball in the air, the next step is to ensure that you’re hitting it with the front of your car. An aerial shot with power is arguably the hardest shot to stop in Rocket League due to its height, pace, and unpredictability.

Mastering this will have you winning games for your team singlehandedly.

Rotate With Teammates

Moving away from mechanics and focusing on pure teamwork, rotating with your teammates is massively important in Rocket League. This essentially means that there is always somebody in a defensive position, as well as somebody in an attacking position.

Having everybody flinging themselves at the ball leaves you with an open goal for the other team, while everybody playing cautiously will make it harder to score. Parking the bus doesn’t really translate to Rocket League, fortunately.

It’s important to ensure that you’ve always got somebody going for the ball, one person in a fairly similar area available for a pass or a shot, and a player in a deeper position ready to defend. The issue of having everybody going for the ball ties into the following point:

Avoid Chasing The Ball

One issue a lot of new players face is that they focus on simply hitting the ball at all times, at all costs. It’s really important to avoid doing this, as it’s a team game after all.

With Rocket League, it’s all about choosing your moments. If your teammate is further forward or is in a much better position to hit the ball, let them go for it, and focus on what comes next. Go and pick up some boost, position yourself for a save or a counter attack, and then you can go forward.

Manage Your Boost

Boost management is absolutely one of the most important parts of playing Rocket League. Constantly having boost enables you to get to the ball much more quickly, and can even prevent the other team from doing so.

You’ll find boost scattered across the map in the form of the charge pads that you’ll see on the ground - these provide you with 12 boost. The large charge capsules that are found on the sides and corners of the map are worth a full 100 boost, giving you an instant recharge.

Each charge pad takes 4 seconds to respawn, whereas a charge capsule will take 12 seconds.

Here are a few tips for proper boost management:

• When you reach a certain speed, you’ll become supersonic - you’ll notice this when you see the trail coming from your car when you’re not using boost. If you see this, don’t use boost, as you won’t go any faster.
  
  
• Make use of forward and backward rolls to make sure that you’re still getting around the map quickly without using your boost.
  
  
• Constantly pick up small charge pads.
  
  
• Prevent the other team from picking up large charge capsules when possible, this will put them at a massive disadvantage.
  
  
• If possible, always maintain around 15-20 boost, just in case you have to make a last ditch save/challenge.

So, with these tips in mind, you should be able to boost your rank in Rocket League.