Rocket League: A Beginners Guide

This guide is a beginners guide to the beloved car-soccer/football game, Rocket League. In this guide I will be going over what cars to choose, camera settings, trading, and more!

What is Rocket League and why Should I Play it?

Rocket League, for those that don't know, is essentially car soccer (or football). It involves two teams driving around trying to hit a ball into the other teams net. Although this concept might seem boring, which it did to me at first, I quickly grew addicted to this unique game. I currently have over 1000 hours in the game and my rank is champion II (ranks will be explained later if you don't know about them yet).

I recommend playing Rocket League for multiple reasons. Firstly it is relatively unique concept. The game itself felt like nothing I've ever played before and was a refreshing break from games like CS:GO. Next, I would also like to mention its low price, I've gotten more enjoyment out of this 20$ game than all other triple A games I have ever played, even though those cost around 3 times the price. Lastly, the only DLC or paid expansions that are put in the game are other cars. These cars are not better than the standard non DLC cars. In fact, most of the DLC cars flat out suck. With only about 1-2 DLC cars being commonly used in the higher ranks.

What Car should I play with?

There are many different cars to play with in Rocket League, and most people believe that there is no "best" car in the game. But some cars are better than others. The easiest way to figure out which cars are more viable for competitive play, is to look at what cars pro players are using. Easily the most used car in the game right now is the octane.



Although the octane is the most used, cars like the bat mobile, dominus, and breakout see a fair amount of usage as well. In the end it comes down to personal preference. Even though it is likely that the car you will end up using is the octane or another frequently used car, you might just end up liking another car more.

Hardware and Settings

Hardware

There are two types of hardware you can use to play Rocket League. The first being and keyboard and mouse, the second being a controller. If you ask most players they would say the controller is better. This is proven by the fact that only 1 pro player, going by the name of Torsos, is the only professional player who has reached a LAN tournament using a mouse and keyboard.

Settings

When it comes to settings in Rocket League it is very subjective, as there is not a singular best setting only your personal preferences. Although there is in fact no way to tell the best setting, some are definitely better than others. I recommend copying the settings of a pro player and the editing the to your personal preference, if needed. I will not be going over the control settings of the mouse and keyboard since all you need to do is decide which keys you want for your Air Roll (Rolling in the air)

Controller Settings

There are two main ways to hold a controller. I personally claw. Clawing is when a person brings his in an awkward position so that more fingers can be used on the buttons of the controller.

Example:



Although it might seem uncomfortable at first it can help you improve a lot. I recommend using it for a week to just try it out. I myself tried clawing a few times before I had the motivation to start playing with that technique.

Video on a Pro Players Setting Who Claws:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRzFaC1Dpak

Although many good players claw, there are also many who don't. If you tried clawing and it is absolutely not your thing, then don't worry. There are a lot of good player that dont claw.

Good Settings with no Clawing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URCmv98ifaQ&t=135s

Camera Settings:

As stated before hand, I recommend taking a pro players camera settings to use or base your camera settings off. These camera settings can be found here:

http://liquipedia.net/rocketleague/List_of_player_camera_settings

I personally prefer Turbopolsa's settings:

Skills and Mechanics

Introduction

There are many different skills and mechanics that you will need to learn to be able to successfully keep ranking up in Rocket League. There are quite a few, and to new players it seems like a daunting task, but I have listed the most important skills to know and tutorials for them. I recommend slowly learning them as you start to improve in the game. The better you get at the game, the quicker you will also learn these skills, so the more advanced skills should be learned later, if its too hard for you in the beginning.

The Half Flip

Possibly one of the most useful movement skills to have in the game, the half flip is use to quickly turn the other way so you can get back to defend or push up to counter attack quickly. You half flip by flipping backwards, stopping the slip an then air rolling your car to the right angle.

Tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9920AGZg620

Aerial

Although the Half Flip might be important, the aerial is most definitely the most useful and required skill the be used even in low ranks of competitive play in the game. The Aerial involves you flying up, using your boost, to hit the ball in the air.

Tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk4k-6XHHRw

Rotation

Most game modes in Rocket League are a team based game mode. That means you have to be able to work well with your teammate/s to be able to win matches. Many new players tend to chase after the ball, and then your whole team pushes up and gets destroyed because the ball bounces weird and you have no defenders back in the goal. This is where rotation comes in, you rotate possession with your team mates so you aren’t in the same part of the field. Rotation does not mean you will start making insane passes, just that you don’t mess up your teammate/s and have people spread out on the field.

Tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiBzXZ4pNH4

Air Dribbling

Air Dribbling is a more advanced mechanic compared to the previous ones. This is quite hard to learn and I wouldn’t recommend learning it until you are quite confident in normal Aerials. A good air dribble can catch the enemy team off guard and catch them out of position as you carry the ball over their cars.

Tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU4hUqS5IS4

Fast Aerials

Fast Aerials or Double Jump Aerials are a more advanced version of the normal aerial. This aerial uses the double jump mechanic to build up momentum while going up for an aerial so that you fly a lot faster.

My own Tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vUb1naY_-o&feature=youtu.be

Other Tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkBZg0Ldhls

Trading

Preparing to Trade

Trading is a big part of Rocket League. If you want your car to look good then this is the ways to go. I recommend starting to trade by buying 10-20 keys and going from there. Keys are basically the unofficial currency of Rocket League trading. Keys can also be used to open item crates, but chances to get good items or profit are insanely low, and you would most likely be throwing away your items. Before you start trading you should probably check the item prices so you don’t get scammed. These can be found on many different internet sites, but a lot of them are old and not relevant any more.

The Site I Use to Price Check:

https://rltracker.pro/prices



Actually Trading

Finding someone to trade with can be quite confusing to new players. They often ask people in game if they want to trade. This is often unsuccessful and more often then not the other player wouldn’t even have the item you are looking for. I recommend going to separate websites where other users have posted trade offers on. Also never go for the first offer of someone, most people will lower their price and take your time looking for the best deals.

Recommended Site for This:

https://rocket-league.com/trading

The Esports

Introduction

Although the esports scene isn’t as big as some other games. For example CS:GO or LOL, it is still quite popular. Many players dream of becoming a professional and the best players are even able to make a living out of of playing Rocket League professionally. Psyonix, the developer of Rocket League, has recently been expanding esports and more and more people are starting to watch Rocket League tournaments.



The Best Teams

There are quite a few top level teams In Rocket League. Although I would say there is no best team, I will be listing the most recent big LAN tournament winners and their players.

Gale Force Esports:

Gale Force has one the most recent RLCS Tournament (biggest rocket league tournament and is consistently getting good ranking in other tournaments.

G2:

G2 has been doing amazingly for the last couple tournaments. They have won and gotten second place in the last two decently big Rocket League tournaments.

PSG:

Yes, the football team does have an Esports team. PSG is doing well in the Rocket League scene and has recently won Dreamhack Leipzig.

[Wudumaster]

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[Koji23]

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[CroveN]

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[hamlee]

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Wildcat Ears CRIMSON

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Magic Missile / 1K
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Hypernova / 1K

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Octane: MG-88 (Paragon) / 1K
Octane: Kilowatt / 1K
Breakout: Snakeskin (Playmaker) / 1K
Dominus: Snakeskin / 1K
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