Anyone with even the slightest experience playing Rocket League is familiar with the classic quick chat "Need Boost!" In most contexts, this quick chat is used as an excuse for mechanical errors and poor positioning. However as valid an excuse that an absence of boost may be, there are ways around it. This guide will give some simple tips and tricks to excel without boost in Rocket League.

Don't Panic!

As counterintuitive this statement may be, a clear and controlled outlook on defense is crucial, especially with a lack of boost. Impulsive and poorly thought-out defensive posturing and challenging is perhaps the most common source of conceding goals in 1v1 and 2v2 play. Add on the factor of a dwindling boost supply and you've got yourself a recipe for disaster. The simplest explanation of how to deal with threatening dribbles or passing plays with a lack of boost is to not dive in.

Double Commits

A bane of even the best players in Rocket League are double commits - when two or more players go for the same ball. This can have dire consequences in defensive situations if the ball is not successfully cleared. In a 2v2 or 3v3 environment, a double commit resulting in a whiffed or poor clear can and usually will result in a wide-open net for the opposing team.

Need Boost!

You've just whiffed a wide open clear, double committed with a teammate, or overcommitted on offense leaving yourself stranded on the other end of the field with no boost. How do you recover? A common trap players fall into is to going for full boost pads in the corners and edges of the field. With smart pathing and a strong knowledge of pad positioning, going for 100 boost is not necessary in emergency situations. Shown below is an overview of boost pad positions on a standard Rocket League field.

As seen above, there are plenty of boost pads to go for as opposed to always going for full boost pick-ups. However, if you are in a situation where you have missed boost pads or are against a team suffocating your boost supplies, another option for fast recoveries is wave-dashing.

Wave-Dashing

Wave-dashing is a common technique implemented throughout competitive Rocket League. Instead of trying to explain the mechanics of executing a wave-dash, here is a great tutorial from Sir Timbers.

Credit - Sir Timbers

Wave-dashing is an incredibly useful and, in reality, necessary skill to have in your repertoire if you are looking to play at a high level in Rocket League. Perhaps the most common use of wave-dashing comes in recoveries from offensive scenarios. Imagine you've has just spent all of your boost going for a crazy aerial to win the game. Wait a minute, you just completely whiffed and now you have landed on the opponents back wall. How do you recover? In reality, on the ground, wave-dashing is no more effective than a front flip when you are without boost. The best implementation of wave-dashing in recoveries is when you are stuck on a wall, trying to get back onto the ground as quickly as possible. To do this, simply jump off the wall, air roll to have your wheels facing the ground, and execute a wave-dash just like you had jumped off the ground. Just hurry up! You don't have long before your flip timer runs out.

Along with its potential in recovering from offense, wave-dashing is an equally useful tool in offense itself. Let's imagine another scenario. You're barreling towards goal with the ball under your control and you have the option to 50/50 your opponent in hopes of retaining possession, shooting on goal, or going for a pass. However, you're out of boost. A potential solution to your offensive quandary is a wave-dash, just like G2's Jacob "JKnaps" Knapman shows brilliantly in the clip below.

Despite wave-dashing's undeniable usefulness in ground-based play, a wave-dash isn't exactly helpful in the air.

Using the Walls

A major element of high-level Rocket League is backboard defense, an especially difficult task without boost. As opposed to wasting boost going for an aerial hurtling towards the backboard, a smarter, more boost efficient option is to drive up the back wall and wait for the ball to come to you. If you time your clear correctly, you can send the ball rocketing back towards the opponents' half. Once again, Jknaps shows another example of his boost efficient play in the clip below, booming the ball into the opponents' goal off a backboard clear.

Using the walls to gain altitude is not only effective for backboard clears. If you don't have the boost go for an aerial out of your reach, use the walls to gain altitude and use your flip for lateral movement once at your desired height. Keep in mind this is a difficult skill and whiffing the ball results in extremely slow recoveries, as you are stuck in the air without any boost and have wasted your flip.

Half-Flips and Flip Cancelling

Just like the other mechanics discussed in this guide, half-flips are an essential skill if you want to excel in Rocket League. As the name suggests, a half-flip is when you cancel your car's flip in the middle of the flip animation, allowing for a full 180o flip of your car's orientation. There are a wide range of tutorials on half-flips on YouTube, with a good example being this one from Sir Timbers.

Credit - Sir Timbers

Half-flips, along with smart boost pathing and perhaps a necessary wave-dash, will cut your recovery times drastically, leaving you less reliant on boost to get yourself back in position in time. Now that you are back in defense, you have to make a last ditch save without any boost. Luckily, you now have the necessary mechanics to do so.

Along implementing half-flips in your recoveries, flip cancellations are also a valuable skill in goalkeeping. The ability to perform an 180o flip as opposed to a full 360o can make a huge difference when it comes to making last-ditch saves. Car hit-boxes in Rocket League are obviously much longer than they are tall, so the ability to gain forward momentum with a flip, yet still maintain optimal orientation is a vital skill to make saves you would not reach otherwise.

No Boost - No Worries

Hopefully this guide has helped you on your journey up the Rocket League ranks! With a clear and calm mindset, along with skills such as wave-dashing, half-flips, and proficiency on the walls, you will be climbing the ranks in no time, with or without boost.

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