Rocket League is a competitive game, pitting players against one another in a battle of skill, knowledge, and prowess. There is a defined system that separates players based on skill and this system can be used to accurately determine a player's ability. Looking at the leaderboards, you will find a neat list of players that are all quite capable, the best of the best. This list is home to many of the professional Rocket League players, but there are also some names that you have likely never heard of before. These people are ranked among the best of the best, so what's separating them from the realm of Professional level play? I went in-depth to analyze professional gameplay and Grand Champion ranked play, and here are the possible answers to this question.

Personal Conflicts

This may jump out as obvious to some, but to others, this thought probably hasn't even crossed the mind. If you were friends with a Grand Champion in the top 100 on the leaderboards, you might even encourage the player to find a team and go for the RLCS. The simple truth is, though, that the player might just simply not want to.

Many people have different views about the world of eSports, and to some, it just isn't a path that they would want to take. Being a professional in any field takes a lot of time and dedication and some people just aren't able to fully make that commitment. I personally have a friend that has achieved Grand Champion since Season 3, and inevitable tried to prompt him into finding a team and trying to step foot into the RLCS. The problem he faces is he has a full-time job and a family to look after. Like many other people, Rocket League is something that is played during one's free time and time cannot simply be made for it. A true testament to the skill being there, but a personal conflict holding him back.

Professional Rocket League can also feel like a daunting stage. During ranked games, I start to lose confidence after an absolutely horrible couple of games and opt into a more casual setting. Apart from Professionals rarely making even a bad play, they always maintain confidence and composure. Many simply don't have to confidence to join the pros on stage at a World Event and would rather keep it casual.

Speaking of the RLCS World Championship, financial stability also comes into play. Unless your already signed to an organization and actively competing in the RLCS, money can definitely be a drawback. It takes time to find a team, nurture and grow as a team, compete in the tournaments, and then, hopefully, make it onto the professional scene. During all that, most of the time, players have their own financial responsibilities. Remember, every person you encounter in any game is another human being. Many people can't dedicate themselves to the game long enough to make that dream a reality.

Consistency

We've all had those games. The games where we absolutely crushed the opposition. Aerials felt so fluent, both you and your teammates were exactly where they needed to be to pull of an absolutely brilliant passing play. You boost starved your opponents and gave them the beat down, outmanuevering and outpacing them all the while greedily taking the MVP of a dominant game and you feel untouchable. But how often can you do that? Well, probably pretty often if you're smurfing, but at the top of the leaderboards? It already sounds like it's hard to do, but that's exactly what happens when a professional is holding the controller.

Consistency is the biggest dividing factor when determining the average Grand Champion from a professional. When the Grand Champion is having a great match, he or she will still be hard-pressed to defeat a professional team. Over the course of a few games, you'll likely find yourself losing more and more, despite having played a good game throughout. That's because these top tier players are constantly making the best decisions, adapting to your play, and devising new strategies.

At the top, players will consistently steal that boost. They will always capitalize on that double commit. That one bad touch will most likely result in a goal. Watching a professional player's stream or YouTube video, the player, even they aren't taking the game seriously, is seriously outmanuevering their opponents on a consistent basis, beating them to the ball, the boost, and, ultimately, the win.

Then we've had those other games. We were obviously the weakest link. Replace us with anyone else and the team probably would've won. Whether it be poor decision making, missing boosts, beaning easy shots, whiffing easy aerials or saves, we've all had those games. The difference is that a top tier player will rarely, if at all, be that weak link. Everyone will mess up a shot or a play, we are not perfect. Professional players, time and time again, always adapt, overcome, and recover from mistakes. Whenever a problem occurs, it is immediately reviewed and corrected on their end. The biggest problem for the average Grand Champion will be that this can last entire games, most likely tilting the player.

Remember, though, that even the best miss that stationary boost.

Pace

What was your fastest goal? The exact speed probably can't be remembered, but it was probably pretty fast, right? An absolute banger of a shot that nails the empty space of the net. But look at the play. How fast was the pass that gave you that shot on net opportunity? How precise was the clear that got the ball out of your half, and how quickly did you react in the situation? The pace of the play vastly increases as the ranks do, and a professional match is the fastest level of play there is.

On a defensive rotation, most will try to get boost to defend the attack, but the boost is already gone. The opposition has beat you to the boost. As the ball floats through the air, you know that you have to attempt a challenge to block either a shot or a pass, but you were beaten to the challenge. Your last defender tries to read the pass but was late, and another opponent flies in and scores the shot. On three different fronts, you were outpaced. This very same scenario happens in the top tiers of gameplay. It's often speculated that whichever team plays faster wins more and this isn't entirely false.

Excellent communication and chemistry, coupled with superior mechanics, gives devastating results. This is why comparing players by the individuals is rather unfair. If three random teammates with excellent mechanics played at a fast pace, they would lose almost every time to a full team of players with chemistry and communication, especially in a top 100 game. Just hitting the ball hard doesn't increase the pace of the play. It's how fast the team reacts in a given situation and capitalizes on mistakes. Reading the ball, anticipating challenges, and stealing boost are all factors that have to be looked at when determining pace.

After viewing and playing numerous games, I can confidently inform you that top tier teams play at a faster pace than the average team of Grand Champions.

Conclusion

As Rocket League continues to age, more new strategies continue to develop, but right now we've reached a meta stalemate that revolves around team play. During Season 3, many Grand Champions arose due to the fact that a more individual plays type meta was around, but now it takes a bit more reach that summit. Looking at the differences between a Professional and an average Grand Champion can seem a bit daunting, but all hope is not lost. Thinking back, several different players emerged from the shadows after being nurtured in a team environment and are now competing well on the professional stage.

Aside from personal problems, the only things that are really holding a Grand Champion back are slight mechanical and technical issues, which means that these problems can be addressed and improved upon. As Rocket League continues to mature, we can expect this line of separation to become thinner and thinner.

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