At its core, Rocket League is intended to be a team game; the default game mode is 3v3, and it mimics the teamwork aspect of traditional sports. However, not all players have access to consistent teammates, which can make the ranked climb that much harder. This article will explain how to effectively solo queue, using the tools at your disposal to rank up quickly.
Teammates in Rocket League have the largest effect on one’s experience of the game; though you are only paired with them for a few minutes, their attitude and how the game goes can change your mentality entirely.
However, teammates don’t define your rank, no matter how much you may hope. Players with consistent teams find massive benefits in the ranked scene, as playing with somebody whom you know how to play with is always good, but that luxury is not common to all players. However, with the right ideas and initiatives about how to climb solo in the ranked team game modes, you can go even further than you may have been able to with a consistent teammate.
Today, I will delineate what the solo queue is, how it compares to playing with a team, its advantages and disadvantages, and strategies to succeed no matter who your teammate is.
To more casual players, the term “solo queue” may be a bit unfamiliar. However, the concept itself is as simple as the name; you queue for a ranked game alone, and are assigned a random teammate to play with, rather than a player of your choice. For most, this is the primary way of playing the game. If you solo queue in a ranked game mode, you are less likely to match up against full parties, as the odds for such a match are greater when you yourself are in a party.
Generally, solo queue is seen as less competitively viable, as it tends to be more difficult to cooperate with players with whom you have never played before. Though you are still playing the same game at the core, solo queuing and team queuing can lead to fundamental differences in gameplay, leading to different outcomes in the short-term, and possibly the long-term depending on teammates.
Generally, playing with a team is greatly preferred to playing individually; the elevated synergy and familiarity can be great boons that many players would rather have. However, solo queuing has its merits, but also a few disadvantages that also come with it.
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
The image below humorously captures the main qualm that many players have with solo queuing: the teammates. However, with the right strategies, any obstacle is surmountable.
Image courtesy of Reddit user u/markedln in this post
When solo queuing, the biggest variable in your game will be your teammate. Especially if it’s a player you haven’t seen before, it will be very difficult to know how they will respond to certain situations; as such, you should play a more passive game at the beginning of these matches, as a way to gauge how your opponent wants to play. By working with your teammate, rather than around them, you can gain a massive advantage over less coordinated teams.
Let me elaborate on what “passive” would mean in this context. You should not take an overbearing role on offense or defense immediately, as this can marginalize your teammate and make it more difficult for them to have any impact; however, you should aim to play safely, setting up opportunities and seeing how your teammate reacts to them. It’s a litmus test of sorts, where if your teammate makes more offensive plays, you can take a backseat and focus on a more assist- and defense-based playstyle, or if they seem reluctant to make an offensive play, take that initiative upon yourself to allow them to settle into a more comfortable defensive role.
However, beginning with defense is key in a solo queue game; being too defensive at the beginning may not lead to problems due to a lack of synergy, but if you push when a teammate decides to do the same, a goal can be conceded rather quickly.
This video, by HK Boba, is an excellent resource for tips that you can use to be a better teammate regardless of how your own teammates play:
A key idea that is critical at the lower ranks is to rely on your teammate to make critical clears and touches, while preparing for the possibility of the worst-case scenario; more concisely, you should hope for the best and prepare for the worst. As ranks increase, however, reliance on teammates should also increase; if they’re in the same rank as you, taking an equal role in the game can lead to an optimal level of play.
By allowing teammates to shape the game, and filling the gaps that they are unable to cover, you can prosper in solo queuing and gain much more MMR; however, wins aren’t always feasible, and one must always be prepared for a loss or an unruly teammate with the right mentality…
Rocket League is a significantly mental game; though the objective is to score, the right mindset goes a long way in making sure that you maintain optimal play and are able to perform mechanically and strategically. Solo queue is one of the most mentally challenging experiences, which I personally attest to.
When you have a teammate with whom you have never played before, it becomes far easier to blame your shortcomings on them, believing that they are at fault and that you are playing impeccably. However, this will render you blind to your own mistakes, and can lead to situations where you cannot improve, believing that your teammate is the only reason you aren’t in a higher rank; barring extreme situations, your teammates should be around your level, and if you can’t rank up with various different teams, the problem may not be them.
The first thing to do is to minimize tilt. Tilt, in the context of Rocket League, is a mental state wherein you are frustrated or angry due to the game state, and as a result play sub-optimally, further widening the gap. Tilt can lead to questionable plays, unusual inaccuracies, and frequent losses, and teammates, especially those who are unpredictable, can make you tilted quickly if you are not careful. The first thing to keep in mind is that your teammate is also trying to win; though it may not seem like that, this perspective can elucidate that they are attempting to play optimally to gain MMR, and that you can adopt a more passive approach as mentioned earlier. As such, the playstyles will be able to mesh together more easily, leading to increased synergy and more wins.
Voice chat can also make this easier; it was introduced back into Rocket League, and it is an indispensable tool for solo queuing players; this allows them to communicate with players who have it enabled nearly as fluidly as those who are in a party. If you are interested in climbing to the highest rank that you can, voice communication is essential; utilizing the reinstated voice chat feature is something that can help overcome the communication barrier that sets solo queue teams apart from partied players. In this video by GamersRdy, you can learn more about how to optimally communicate, both on the verbal and nonverbal sides, to make your play most effective:
Even with such a strategy, however, you may eventually end up dropping games left and right; however, why would you stop playing? You put all the time in, so you can play a few more and try to climb back up to your peak, right? This is an example of the sunk-cost fallacy, and can be detrimental to advancing up the ranks in Rocket League. You must know your limits, especially when playing alone; you don’t want to push yourself beyond your optimal play, as that can result in worse results and an overall negative trend.
A trick that I personally use, and one that can be helpful for realizing when you may be ready to stop playing ranked, is a strike system. You can choose any number of strikes—I use three—and then assign one to yourself for each loss you suffer in a ranked session. When you reach the number you set, you’re done! Of course, you can stop long before this, but once you lose so many times, it may be in your best interest to take a break; though Rocket League isn’t as physically demanding as traditional sports, fatigue can definitely play a significant role.
On the mental side of Rocket League, it is important to be able to cope with things not going as planned, be it with teammates or results. If you are able to know your limits and only play optimally, solo queuing will be much easier. However, there is one more component essential to solo success; without this, no matter how strong of a player you are, you will inevitably fall short.
When solo queuing, everything changes from game to game: opponents, teammates, goals scored, and all sorts of other variables that can change the outcome. However, there is one thing that is entirely in your control, that is the ultimate key to doing well in a solo queue environment: your routine is essential to doing well in the higher levels.
To briefly cover this, you should always bring your A-game to ranked matches, and you will be able to do well regardless of your teammate, assuming you stay composed and adaptable. A consistent schedule is the best way to do this, keeping up your level of play and allowing you to retain the progress that you’ve achieved. Motivation may be a bit harder without somebody else beside you, but if you are able to keep it up, you can make it anywhere individually.
The two most important things are to play consistently and train consistently, and these only work when they are done with intent. Playing is simple enough; if you play games with the intent to win and do better and better, you will be able to carry that momentum across sessions, culminating in peaks beyond what you ever thought possible. However, sudden, jarring breaks may lead to a disruption, meaning that you may not be able to perform up to par. As such, it is imperative that you play consistently, to keep up your solo queue performance. Training, though not something that you queue for, is indispensable in such a scenario. Focusing on weak points of your gameplay with intent can allow you to improve aspects of your game that are lacking, meaning that you can fill in more niches that teammates may not be able to cover. This will make you the ultimate solo queue teammate, so you can accelerate through the ranks regardless of your company.
Figuring out how to solo queue is one of the most difficult, yet most important, parts of Rocket League; as unpredictable as it is, solo queuing is the way a significant number of players play Rocket League, and it’s crucial to understand how to optimally play, to give everybody a better experience and, more importantly, more MMR. Adaptability is the first key point in gameplay, as shaping yourself around your teammates will enable you to act like the glue of the team, holding together the areas that your teammates cannot cover to create a cohesive team. This can further be bolstered by communication, through text or voice, to allow for quicker communication to execute plays more efficiently.
A positive mindset is also a must, as not every game will go how you want it to; instead, you must prepare yourself for all possibilities, and stay ready. A system to know when enough is enough is perfect, as knowing when to stop playing in a session can help you avoid fatigue and get you ready for the next time. Finally, consistent playtime and training are essential, as they are the key to impeccable performance that will stay regardless of teammates. Solo queuing is nuanced, but I hope that this article was able to guide you through the intricacies of it, and how to effectively utilize it. Good luck in your solo queuing adventures, and, most importantly, have fun!
