This is the most important part of the match in my opinion. This will determine who's side the ball will be on, and possibly will lead to goals if done badly enough (Screenshot). It's next to impossible to tell what the strategy of your opponent will be (Unless they're a very low rank/level), so this really only applies to the 2nd Kick-Off forward (Unless you feel like it. Then it applies to all). There are 6 main strategies I think are useful, but I really mainly only use 2 (rest are for certain situations or players). The first 2 are my main ones, the rest are if you're losing and want to do something the other team won't expect.

(Short Clip)
Strategy Juan: The Ball-Tap ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

(I promise, this will only be perverted if you want it to be.) So basically, the goal it to get to the ball as fast as possible, and tap it out of the way of the other players Kicking-Off, as the name suggests (told you). This can be perfected and used many different ways, so I suggest going into and exhibition and timing yourself to see how long it takes to get to the ball. On top of the speed, you will want to see how you hit it. There's no point to hitting it strait on, because the ball will wizz right at the player opposite of you, and they'll just lob it right back over you. The key is to chip it in a way that no one will really be able to turn to after seeing that it's suddenly not there. If it's only you and another guy going for it, chip it towards either the boost (obviously getting the boost and taking the ball) or towards the goal (if there's a really really bad defender, or no one there). The thing that helps most is just repeated trails. Literally sit down for 20-40 minutes and do this repeatedly. If that doesn't work, the do another 20-40 minute run. Keep doing these until it is so unlikely to miss that you'd be willing to bet your gaming PC on the 1st touch/following jukes (which I know at least 75% of gamers value greatly).

(Short Clip)
Strategy Dos Arturitos: The Big D(efense)

Basically, I use this on Scribenheimers. This is both a joke and a good way to make people feel bad about themselves. If the score is at least 3 goals per minute over the other team, I strongly suggest this. The main objective is to get back to goal fast, and make a save. If done good enough, it should get and epic save, otherwise a save. If only a clear, or nothing, do it better. That's just a bad risk if that happens. Even the ball is going 1 kph, make the save, get the points and lol the person. And if it is going 1 kph, go for the shot on the opposing goal.

. . .

Depending on the starting position, it's easier or harder. For example, the very back goal position is the easiest. The farthest forward position that's diagonal to the goal is practically impossible, unless either done really well, or the kicker is a scrub.

(Short Clip)
Strategy 3: Aftershock

I tend to use this strategy when the opposing team has a good, strong kicker. Basically, the objective is to wait a good portion of a split second before going to take the kick.... (Sam's edit) Another thing to consider, is the average place of hit on the ball. Meaning, watch where most players hit the ball, and use it against them. Like stated, wait a portion of a second, but, use that extra portion, to position yourself, and prepare to knock the ball sky high.

(Short Clip)
Strategy 4: The Starter Demolish

This may seem scrubulus, but it's actually really useful if done correctly. The goal here is to go supersonic around the ball (without touching it) and demolish the opposite player. This is useful with slow kickers, a team, or a 1v1. Nothing else is really good for this. This takes plenty of practice and will still be difficult (but effective).

(Short Clip)
Strategy 5: The Shaq

This and the next are very similar to previous techniques, but actually can make a huge difference because they're specific to only certain plays...

(Short Clip)
Strategy 6: The Redirection "Error"

The goal here is basically that of the Aftershock, except you go backwards as far as possible instead of stalling a bit. If you're in the forward position, go back and grab a boost. If not, don't move. Do remember though, if the opposing kicker is good, they will put it straight in the goal instead of right at you (in the forward position at least). The other thing you'll need to be able to do is aerial (even if it's occasionally mini). If they chip it, you have to react and see it's going up, and counter it, especially in goal position.

(Short Clip)

(No clip here, sorry.)
Sam's Strategy: Forces. (Not sure what to call it.)

This strategy is a hard one to master. But, if you do, you can take on two players in the kick off, by yourself, and manage to direct the ball where you want it to. Also, during a face off, where you're across from the other player, you can make a kick-off goal. The whole goal (get it?) here, is kind of like the Aftershock, except minus the wait time. If the other player does a jump start, this may not work. However, if they do not, you have to meet the ball at the same time they do, except, guide the ball where you need it to. So, don't jump left, if you spawn on the left, jump right. And vice versa. I've made countless kick off goals doing this. It's very effective, for one, it doesn't start on your side, and for two, you can make a goal, if you've mastered this...

DONE

This part is always a bit different than most other parts of Rocket League, and applies to literally almost all of them. One of the most important and crucial section of judgement is anticipating the ball. Whether its where the ball is going to be next or going for an aerial, you will need this to get anywhere. Now, given it is gained through playing, this kind of an unnecessary section. But there are a few things I recommend.

First: Watch the pros

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwGFZk9NLaU

Watching professional players will give incite to certain things you do in-game. Seeing how the professionals play should get you to try things in-game that you'd either never really thought about, or thought wouldn't work. Watch a few matches each week and try some of the things you see them doing. You'll also see how they judge shots, aerials, and hits.

Second: Look at your own replays, especially your bad times

I know, I know, this is no fun. You see yourself mess up and see other people doing good. But this will show your mistakes and you can see what you did and improve it. Look at all of the angles you'd be in and see how the ball bounces. Sometimes, if not usually, the ball appears to go at an awkward angle if you're across the court, below or above it, or being in line with it. Watching the replays and seeing how it looks at different places will make you see it in-game, and in turn you won't miss as much.

Hawken's Two Cents:
Watching replays can be crucial to success if you are patient enough to do it. In the first inaugural RLCS, The Flying Dutchmen were huge underdogs. They threw together a team of people that the captain, Vogan, met in random matchmaking a few weeks before the tournament, and yet ended up finishing 4th in the world. How could they become such a competitor? Vogan says that it is through hard practice, and says that not only did his team practice every day, they analyzed all their replays after their matches all throughout the tournament. The main quality they were praised for was their adaptability, to adjust to new opponents' play styles to beat them. Through watching all their replays and breaking them down, they were able to be more prepared for opponents and showed them what they needed to focus on in practice and implement in future matches. I believe that if you are patient enough and put in the time, this same strategy of analyzing replays can really make you a better player or, if you are on a team, improve your team's chemistry and play style.
Last: Try to play people a lot better than you

I wouldn't say the annoying kids that say "What a save!" each time you miss the ball and the score being 8 to 0, but the people who just keep their mouth shut and be good sports about it. Playing them will probably make you lose, but it will show you how they play and think in-game, not just watching from a "Fly" POV.

(Samurai here down)

Ball anticipation

I'm sure this was mentioned before in the guide, but i'd like to go in depth with how to anticipate ball movement, which is hard, and requires a bit of skill.

Readjusting on the fly


At times you may be wrong with anticipation, so, what ends up happening is the ball flys past you, and perhaps takes center, it has happened to us all. What is important, is knowing how to readjust where needed
Perhaps, if you're center, and they clear the ball to your side corner, and it's rolling towards center, perhaps there's no goalie. Take goalie immediatley, or at least try to save the ball before it goes in.

Prediction

Predicting future moves is essential, it can be the difference between a save, and a goal.



As you can see, he was taking the shot, and we were there. I did save that, I hit it up, and it bounced way up. The whole "key" to mastering to predictions, is knowing which direction you would hit it. If you know how you would hit it, then make sure to keep it in mind.


The hit

If you successfully predicted the ball's course, keep in mind the other players. They might know where it's going, especially if you hit it last second. Other players might be expecting it, and perhaps make a play off of it. So, be cautious of other players/

Done

Aerials are a pain in the wheels. They take a while to learn, they're difficult once you know them (only for a short time though), and most other people can probably do them better. But what you forgot that this is a guide.



So the first thing you'll want to do is know what an aerial is. No seriosuly, literally like 20% of Rocket League players don't know what an aerial is. Completely honest. But that's beside the point. Learn what they are and how to do them. See below if troubled.

Ok, you know what an aerial is and how to do it. Now you have to do it. Go into exhibition matches, unranked matches, and training (I don't recommend Aerial Training of all training though, mainly because you almost never see anything like it in actual games. But I recommend trying it once you've mastered the concept of aerials and seeing how different it is, so then you can be the one to pass the knowledge down to other new players). Anyways, just start out with mini aerials, ones only a few car-lengths off of the ground.











Once you get to the point where it's a surprise not to get it rather than a surprise getting it, get higher. Go for ones halfway to the ceiling, or even practically on the ceiling (these ones especially hog boost, so you need to be able to get boost without issues.













If you're stuck, there's a whole section on it). After doing this a lot, you'll eventually get to the point where it's easy enough. Go into ranked matches and try it. If someone your same skill level gets more aerials and gets to them faster than you do regularly, go back to unranked and exhibitions to practice more. Even if this doesn't apply to you, still do unranked and exhibitions to keep yourself sharp.

Just Jesus's section on an aerial

If you notice you're not gaining alititude with your aerials, and you're just flying acorss, just in the air, try doing this.
When you're about to aerial, after you jump up, angle yourself up slightly if the ball is short to the ground.
It depends where the ball is, where you point yourself
One thing to note DON'T POINT YOURSELF COMPLETELY UPWARDS It won't be a good thing to do, because you'll move slower, and by the time you get higher, the ball will be long gone.
So, point yourself upwards, byt only slighty. Never straight up and down.

DONE

Although it may seem easy, this is actually an issue in a lot of cases. Ya, 6 full boosts around the sides and what, like ~30 mini-boost pads? (Note: 9 mini boost pads will fill up a tank entirely) That's not it though. If you're in game with a bunch of players who can aerial, and do so a lot, those boosts won't be there long.







The main thing I say about boost is conserve it as best you can. I don't mean never use it, because you need boost to be effective, and the pads will regenerate. What I'm saying is only use it when you have to. If you don't need it and all you're doing is heading back to your side just in case, double jump forward (or boost down the side if an opponent is following you). If there's a shot that will only be open for 2 1/2 seconds, by all means, get over there and stick it in. By playing lots of matches you'll eventually learn the patterns of when and when not to use boost.



Another thing I tend to stress a lot is try to screw your opponents over. If you've ever played with me, you know I am pretty good at enraging the opposite team's members. Not only that, but also keep tabs on your team members to see if they need boost or not. Unless you're in a fight with a teammate (which I find amusing anywhere outside of ranked matches), don't take the boost. It seems easier than it really is. Most times, there's a 1-3 second time-frame of you getting the boost or not, which seems like a lot, but is really not.



Get good at communicating with teammates (entire other section if stuck) to know if they need a boost or not. I've also figured out that even if a teammate needs a boost, take the boost if an opponent who also needs it is closer (again, use your stategies).

[This section was written by Samurai]

Let's say, you're going for a goal. You get the ball upfield, and the ball is up in the air in front of the goal. You jump up for it, but uh oh, a teammate is there, you both bump into each other, and miss the ball.
We don't want situations like those.
Why don't we work on that?
Now, the most important part of awareness is to know the playstyles of your teammates I don't know why this is hard to understand, but for some teams i watch, they don't know how each other play. And that's the whole problem. If you know one of your teammates is agressive, be careful when going up for a ball. Or communicate it. But, in the scenario you have no communication, you'll have to guess, or use the camera.
Now, the second part of situational awareness, is acting on it. I could tell you to sit back, and just play goalie, but that's for all-time goalies. Here's the thing, you have to know. As stated above, Keep their playstyles in mind. If you set up a ball, and you know you're teammate is agressive DO NOT GO FOR IT However, if you are the agressor, but you noticve a teammate going for it Don't go
There is a lot that goes into this, and would take me a bit to explain, (I will do later) so let me put this in short.
If you are communications, COMMUNICATE, if you are not then you better play a weary, as your teammate might be there. ROTATION IS THE LITERAL BEST THING FOR EVERYTHING ROCKET LEAGUE. IF YOU DONT ROTATE, SCREW YOU.

Personal playstyle:
My playstyle is a little more patient than most. I sit at mid-field for a short while before it is necessary for me to advance. So, I get an easy view on my teammates.

So in matches, communication is the second-most important thing (besides kick-offs, unless it's a slow game, then this is the most important). If you haven't already discovered, the two main types are Voice and Text comm. I personally don't like Text comm as much, but sometimes it's what you've got.

. . .

If you have a team of 2 or more, I suggest using Teamspeak or Skype (the in-game Voice chat is not too good, and I seriously don't reccommend it. In fact, try to turn off other peoples Voice chat, because anyone that uses it either is inaudible or annoying). Now obviously, Skype is a bit better for Rocket League because it's a one-tap call and one-tap add-to-call. Now, if your members have a Teamspeak and like that better, nothing is stopping you. I just tend to hate TS, but that's just me. Either way, now you have either a Skype or TS, now comes the hard part (yes, deciding between Skype and TS should have been easy). Verbalizing and communicating your movements throughout the game will be difficult for a while. Even after as much as I've played, I still find it difficult to communicate effectively in some situations.



This is key to success, because most often, there's a quick move between the teams. Knowing if a teammate has it or if you need to grab it is the difference of a goal or not. If no one goes for it, then a goal is either scored (goalkeeping) or missed (striking). If multiple people go for it, it could be a goal (goalkeeping) or a hard miss, sending it back to your side (striking). Besides, in these situations, people run out of boost. And if you don't, you're either doing good with the boost pads or not using it nearly enough.

. . .

. . .

Same kind of thing in kick-offs (I'm just assuming you've already read over it. If not, read it because it is very important). Really, if you have a good enough kicker, then only one person needs to go for the ball, one person goes and gets boost, and one person stays in goal, in case there is an unlucky chance it gets pinched and goes to an open goal.





Everything previous to this was voice chat. If you think that's hard, then, idk go eat a sandwich. Text chat is insanely more difficult to do, especially specific types. There are the quick commands (#1-4 on the top row of numbers, my keypad doesn't work (yes, my num lock is on)). 1 is info (Team Messages, opposing team will not see these.), 2 is compliments, 3 is reactions, 4 is apologies.

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

(#, #: Chat message given)

1, 1: I got it!
1, 2: Centering...
1, 3: Take the shot!
1, 4: Defending...

2, 1: Nice shot!
2, 2: Great pass! **
2, 3: Thanks!
2, 4: What a save! *

3, 1: OMG!
3, 2: Noooo!
3, 3: Wow! **
3, 4: Close one! **

4, 1: $#@%!
4, 2: No Problem. * **
4, 3: Whoops...
4, 4: Sorry!

*Usually sarcastic
**Be careful using against some people

Memorizing these will save you lots of valuable seconds, seemingly not a lot, but in actuality could be the difference of a goal or save. Now, don't get me wrong. Half of these are not ones I use. Ever. Period. Literally, I have only typed them to memorize them. Try to find out which ones you tend to use more. Now obviously, the community as a whole uses them, just I don't ever need to. Personally, I recommend going into an unranked matches (they don't function in exhibition, and ranked matters) and doing this, so it doesn't matter if you get scored on or anything. Time yourself and see how many times it takes to learn these and you're comfortable using them in game. Now take this time, and double it. Force yourself to continue using them and get really fast, so you don't miss anything.

At this point, you've got the quick commands down. They are almost as easy as the game itself, (if not 2437562341957389617840095645361348 times easier). Now you have to learn typing. My suggestion is same as that for Quick Commands (that you again go into unranked matches (not exhibition or ranked) and learn the judgement). You need a rather large gap of time to type any message, and you need to type fast so you get the message in in time. Again, it's all about the judgement. If you don't want to risk it, don't type it, because you'll make mistakes going fast and it will take longer. If you do think you can make it, try to do it fast, but fast without mistakes. Mistakes slow down speed typing. Outside of the game, work on speed typing messages you find that you type a lot. And the thing is with swearing, since this is a guide, I'm not really allowed to say it's ok, so don't swear. Not really tho. As long as you're able to keep it to a minimum, no one really cares. I mean, even though I swear, it's only on occasion and people just call me salty. So, take that as you wish... .

[This section is directed mainly towards Rookies and Semi-Pros]

So the first thing I like to stress the most is staying in goal at all times [Unless it's a 1v1, that's different]. The markers on the goal are slightly tinted the color of the team (except Wasteland, but they have bright white lines).



You'll see there's a part where it is diagonally dashed with white lines (this is the inner goal), and a part that's just outlines in white lines (this is the outer goal). Outer goal is for when the ball is not being shot, and obviously the dashed lines are your defending point.

This is where you want to be most of the time, so you can see a ball coming in at most speeds from anywhere. Now, depending on where the ball is, there are different places you should be in goal. For example, if the ball is all the way on the other side of the court and no one's near it, feel free to go grab a boost and position yourself accordingly;

. . .

However, if the ball is nearing the goal and a shot is being taken, stay in goal.

. . .

[This section is directed mainly towards Pros and Veterans]

This is the point when people start to know what they're doing. They can do much better shots, blocks, and are a lot more challenging. To match this, so do you. The thing you want to start doing when goalkeeping is stay in the goal. I mean literally, in the goal (1st Screenshot). This takes more training, considering that you'll have to anticipate shots and know what to do/where to go before they're even taken. Obviously, there are different parts of the goal to be in at certain times. For example, (2nd Screenshot) again, if the ball is all the way on the other side of the field and no one's near it, feel free to go grab a boost and position yourself accordingly; However, (3rd Screenshot) if the ball is nearing the goal and a shot is being taken, stay near the side of the goal the ball is on.

DONE

This is actually just a joke. Move on with your life.

[b[u]NOT DONE[/u][/b]

These 3 categories all relate, as you might be dribbling, to get it up the wall, and then air dribble it into the goal.
One HUGE tip is to turn off ball cam when dribbling it sounds silly, but in reality, when you have ball cam on when dribbling your camera shifts, and you miss the ball.
So, turn off ball cam.

Another tip LEARN YOUR HITBOX [/b] I can't stress that enough how your hit box effects your gameplay tremendously
Examples:
I personally like the Takumi, I've used it numerous amounts of times, and I think it's learned it left, right, backwards, upside down, and forward. However, when dribbling, I believe the Takumi takes the cake. It's got a flat (almost) front, but it's also curved, so if the ball is rolling towards me very fast, it hits it up. which is helpful, because then I can dribble it through the air. Which is good to know. But also, if the ball is rolling away from me, I can get behind it, and dribble it.
Same with the Octane.

Another tip I would say is important, probably more import than the others, is
WATCH YOUR OPPONENTS [/b]
There have been millions of times when i'm dribbling, and I go for a juke, and the other guy gets it first. What I do mostly is calculate where the other players are so, if there's a goalie, I watch which way he's facing, dribble it in front of him, then quickly cut the direction, and go the opposite way. You can usually get a goal, if you don't miss. [/b]


To get some context, the other guy was sitting in goal, and I managed to dribble it inf ront of him, then cut off to the left, meanwhile, he missed, and was way back




(Also, there's a problem with this part, and for some reason, the bold is everywhere, so sorry for all the bold in the text, but i'm trying to fix it.)

NOT DONE
(Need pics)

This positioning is rather important, but if you have 2 strikers and a goalie you're good.
However, if it comes time where the goalie is out of position, and there's one striker left at goal, that becomes a problem. That's where Rotative players come in.
A rotative player is a well-rounded player, who can get back to defense and get up to offense fast. At least, thatr's who I am.
Rotative players are also able to get a play from Defense to Offense on a moment's notice.
If you have a great rotater, they can juke, and make a goal from defense.
Or, a rotater can pass up the field.
Honestly, a rotater can really come in clutch.

Now, for a short description of a Rotater

A rotater can play both offense and defense well, and can get up field. They can also juke if they're good.

Pretty much a player who sits in goal, until the ball comes near, usually passes to a teammate, perhaps a rotater, who will then bring it up to the Striker.
The AT Goaler can come in handy when you have 2 strikers on your team, and need a defensive line.
An AT goalie usually likes to clear the ball far, so they don't have to deal with shots much.
An AT goaler doesn't come out of goal unless they need boost, or they need to aerial clear.