Rocket League Learning

Intro

This is casual learning journal for trying to improve my rocket league gameplay. I'm not trying to become a pro player, just want to practice learning techniques in a simple enviornment.

It's easy to have a measurement for improvement in competitive where you get a rank and can see the impact of your practice in it. Plus I just enjoy the game.

Game History

Feedback

Getting and using feedback from reviewing games.

2024-04-04

Skills I need to improve:

2024-03-14

I'm testing out a technique of reviewing my performance by looking back on the past 5 games and seeing what I could do to improve. Every 5 games I take a break and then look to see what I could have done better. Then I will take those things and create drills to practice them.

It seems to take to long to review all 5 of the games, So I will be reviewing the worse of the 5 games instead. Then spend some time practicing on my worst skill.

Here are the things I notice that I've done wrong:

• Need to move to far goal post in the 'best' way possible. Meaning that I have the angel to defend or hit the ball away once I get there.
• Went for a ball when defending in goal. Missed ball at 1 hop height straight on.
• Missed ball at 1 hope height.
• Took too long turning around in goal.
• Unable to sink goal from 2 point line.
• Unable to power hit at 1 hop height.
• Didn't go to far goal post
• Went for it when team was going for it.
• Failed challenge at ground level.
• Double jumped over ball.

Resources

First thing I've done is gather some resources and do some research on what I can do to improve. I've found these videos to be quite informative:

How to get out of Gold in Rocket League

This video does a great job of identifying 5 things that I can practice in order to improve. They are:

• Hitting the ball hard
• Aerials
• Wall Play
• Dribbling
• Recovery

Here are some drills I will be trying to see if this improves my overall gameplay:

Power Shots Drill:

• Go into the All-Star Aerial Training Pack.
• Wait for the ball to bounce once before striking it with the nose of your car, using a flip to generate maximum power.

Hook Shots Drill:

• Practice the Power Shot Training Pack.
• Approach the ball from an angle and turn into the ball as you hit it to generate a powerful hook shot.

Aerial Consistency Drill:

• Use the in-game Aerial Training Pack to practice hitting the ball at the apex of its arc.
• Focus on fast aerials by leaning back before the first jump, then releasing the input and using the second jump to reach the ball quickly.

Wall Play Drill:

• In Free Play, hit the ball towards the wall and follow it up, hitting it away from the wall.
• Practice jumping off the wall to hit the ball using the Wall Shots and Aerial Off Wall training packs.

Dribbling Drill:

• In Free Play, practice popping the ball on top of your car and keeping it balanced while driving.
• Use the Pillars map to practice dribbling around the pillars in a figure-eight motion.

3 Simple Tips to Get Out of Gold

This video provide a few simple tips for improving and getting out of gold. They are:

• Dribbling
• Power Shots
• Patience

Dribbling/Ball Control Drill:

• Training pack: Beginner Dribbles Rookie Striker pack
• Practice dribbling on top of your car using the training pack where the ball is set up on top of your car.
• Turn off ball cam and focus on the circle on the ground, keeping it just ahead of the middle of your car.
• Practice carrying the ball on top of your car and turning in circles to maintain control.

Shooting/Power Behind the Ball Drill:

• In free play, practice hitting the ball with power using the nose and corners of your car.
• Focus on booming the ball off the walls without trying to score, just focusing on hitting with power.

Patience and Shadow Defense Drill:

• Practice being patient in-game, waiting for opponents to make mistakes.
• Learn shadow defense by positioning yourself on the same half of the field as your opponent, with your nose facing goalside.

How to Get Out Of Gold

this video.

Air Roll Aerials Drill:

• Practice introducing small air rolls right before you make contact with the ball to make your hit more accurate and powerful.
• Use the custom training pack provided in the video to practice air roll shots.

Dribbles & Flicks Drill:

• Practice putting the ball on the roof of your car and moving it around the field while the ball is off the ground.
• Check out the videos dedicated to dribbling and basic flicks linked in the video description.

Backwards Control Drill:

• Practice driving backwards in free play on both the ground and the wall until you feel like the car consistently goes where you want.

Recovery Drill:

• Practice landing quickly with all four wheels on the ground, facing the direction you're about to travel, and keeping momentum by not having to slow down.
• Start holding down your power slide or drift button when you land on the ground to keep some momentum.

Half Flips Drill:

• Practice the half flip mechanic to turn your car around very quickly.
• Check out the video on half flips linked in the video description for more detail and examples.

Minimize Hesitation Drill:

• Practice making decisions faster in-game, such as going for the ball faster, challenging balls the enemy is going for, and leaving the ground for aerials half a second quicker than usual.

Collecting Boost Drill:

• Focus on when and when not to grab boost, prioritizing the ball over boost.
• Practice picking up small boost pads as you drive around the field.

The Best Mechanics You Should Learn At Every Rank

From this video.

• Bronze/Silver/Gold:
  • Power Shots
• Platinum:
  • Fast Aerials
  • Half Flips
  • Wave Dashes
  • Clears
  • Powerslide Recoveries
  • Aerial Car Control
  • Double Jump Bumps/Pops
• Diamond:
  • Powerslide Cuts
  • Air Roll Shots
  • Flicks
  • Pinches
  • Bounce Dribbling
  • Shadow Defense
  • Directional Air Roll
  • Wall Shots

This video goes over some areial drills

Footnotes: