When you first start playing Rocket League, it’s going to take you a while to get the gist of things. Once you do, you can take advantage of these tips.

One of the most important things is defending your own goal. Position is key, so you always want to position yourself between the ball and the goal.  This way you can capitalize off a blocked shot and guide the ball towards the opponent’s goal.

While on the offensive, the biggest mistake you can make is chasing the ball. Position applies to offense too, because you need to put yourself in a spot where you can score a goal off a setup.

When racing towards the ball, you want to go as fast as possible. While boosting, at top speed you’ll notice purple streaks behind your car, after you see the streaks stop boosting because you can’t go any faster. Also when you’re out of boost you can flip forwards a couple times to reach top speed.

Being a team player is important. Most players will focus on goals for themselves, which usually doesn’t work out. You should always look out for your teammates and pass them the ball when you notice that they’re open. Most goalies expect their opponent to shoot the ball instead of passing it, so passing the ball is essential to scoring goals. Using chat call-outs to notify that you’re defending or that you’re open for a shot helps coordinate your team and improve the team chemistry.

While being a team player is important, improving your own skill helps your team a lot as well.  A very important skill is learning how to hit aerial shots. This is a pretty easy skill to pick up with enough practice, and with even more practice you can learn how to air dribble and freestyle. You can even start an air dribble off the wall with enough practice. If you ever find yourself in a game where the opponents can’t aerial, then that gives you a chance to take advantage and score or pass from above. Dribbling on the ground is just as effective. If you can learn how to fake out the opposing team and score a goal or pass the ball to your teammates for an open shot you’ll be able to create a lot of opportunities throughout the game.

Defending the goal is relatively easy during your first couple games, but as you progress through the ranks you’ll notice your opponents have tricks up their sleeves to get the ball through your defenses. You’ll face dribblers, air dribblers, and you’ll probable even see your opponent freestyle a goal. A trick to saving goals from dribblers is to stay in goal until they get close. If you come out too early they can, “break your axles” and dribble the ball right by you and into the goal. The same thing goes for air dribblers, although it may be a little harder for them to get around you they can still do it. People who freestyle are really good at aerials and will probably get the ball around you. Again you’ll want to stay in the goal until the opponent is too close to redirect their shot and you can block it. Also an extra tip for getting back to your goal is half flipping. Half flipping essentially is doing a back flip but halfway through it redirecting your car to face your side of the field so that you can quickly get back to goal.

A lot of skill in Rocket League is earned by consistently playing the game. You can always find tips and tricks online, but you’ll find a lot of tips and strategies yourself and you’ll find your own playing style. Usually by the time you reach the rank expert, you should be an above-average player. The easiest way to improve your skill is to go into free play or custom training. Eventually you’ll be able to give tips to other new players.