Even as a Grand Champion for four seasons, I do not know how many times I have been caught trying to get boost while I should have been challenging the ball and keeping rotation. There is some instinctual impulse within us all to grab the full boost canister as we rotate out, even though we know we do not need it. However, after resisting that impulse, sometimes you can be quite surprised at what you can do with only twelve boost, much less thirty.

Here are a couple techniques on managing boost while still rotating efficiently and resisting that impulse to grab a full boost canister every single time you rotate out. Keep in mind that these tips do not guarantee one-hundred boost all the time. Rather, they guarantee an average of thirty boost, which is more than enough to make a play on the ball.

Feathering Your Boost While Aerialing

Feathering you boost is the key to efficiently aerialing. Not only does feathering help conserve your boost, but it also gives you more car control in the air. Feathering your boost while aerialing involves quickly periodically tapping your boost button rather than holding it down after you have initially lifted off. Sometimes while holding down the boost instead of feathering, you overshoot the ball. Doing this allows more car control while still ascending towards the ball. The less boost you use to aerial towards a ball, the less your car accelerates, giving you more time to react to the situation. Feathering allows you to adjust to the aerial ball's arc rather than holding your boost and sticking to one trajectory to meet the ball. Not only do you increase your aerial car control as you feather, but you conserve more boost as you efficiently aerial.

Fast Recovery

Deceptively simple, fast recovery involves landing on your four wheels every time you come from the air or off the wall. Recovering quickly from off the wall or from the air is imperative when you want to conserve boost and maintain your rotations. The more efficiently you recover, the more boost you save. For instance, landing on all four wheels on the slope of the walls accelerates you as you come down, allowing you to get back quicker and conserve boost. A mechanic that works well in tandem with this is the wavedash technique.

Wavedashing is essential to learn at a higher level to become a quicker player as it conserves boost and greatly increases your recovery speed. This technique requires good mechanical skill which comes with time. To help learn the foundation of wavedashing, here is a good tutorial video from Cameron "Kronovi" Bills which elaborates on it.

Flipping to Maintain Speed

This tip to conserve boost is the simplest, yet sometimes I still find myself doing it. When you have finally gone supersonic, or max speed, there is no need to boost anymore. Boost accelerates your car, and when supersonic, you cannot accelerate anymore, so there is no need to boost. Rather, flip to maintain your speed and conserve that boost you could otherwise use to accelerate later.

Boost Stealing

Boost stealing involves taking the boost canisters in your opponents' half as you rotate out of theirs. This is mostly involved with “boost starving”, another technique used to maintain pressure in your opponents' half. However, this technique mainly hinges on communication with your teammates and recognition of your current situation. At the higher levels, boost stealing canisters in your opponents' half is instinctual, but only appropriate if your teammates allow you the time to do so. It is not the right time to boost steal if your opponent is about to counter-attack. Rather, make sure your teammates are maintaining possession of the ball, then make the decision to boost steal. Boost stealing is an efficient way to gain one-hundred boost while simultaneously depriving your opponents of one-hundred boost. However, with the boost canister being all the way in their half, make sure you are not caught up the field getting boost when you should have been back. If you are in a situation where you are rotating back from your opponents' half to defend in yours, there is another method to gain boost while maintaining that rotation.

Rotating on Pads

On the Rocket League pitch, it is easy to think that the boost pads that give you twelve boost are randomly placed. However, they are placed in very advantageous positions. On the graphic above, I have drawn lines showing you rotations back to goal from the right side on top of the boost pads that give you more than enough boost to defend. Notice how each one goes through at least two boost pads while ending at the boost pad nearest to goal. In the case that all the full boost canisters are gone, you can use rotations one, two, or three to make as sharp of a rotation as you need back to goal, depending on how dire your situation is.

Rotation one is the quickest back to net and involves going straight down the middle. This should be used when you need to be back to net as quickly as you can. Rotation two requires a little more time but gives you a more advantageous position compared to rotation one as it rotates to the back post instead of directly into your goal. Finally, rotation three is the longest rotation, but it gives you the greatest chance of picking up the one-hundred boost canister in your corner. This should be used when you already have teammates back defending the goal, and even if the one-hundred boost canister is gone, you will still pick up thirty boost as you rotate to the backpost. These are the rotations I have found to be the most efficient, as they allow you to gain at least thirty boost to defend your net. These can also be applied when rotating from the left side. The rotations would then just be flipped on to the boost pads on the left side instead of the right. After you use that boost to clear the ball and give your team breathing room, then you can pick up a full boost canister and begin pressuring again.

In conclusion, boost is a fickle thing. While it is necessary in Rocket League, it is not necessary to have one-hundred all the time. When you feel that impulse to go for that far boost canister, consider rotating on top of the boost pads to keep your rotation and get to goal quicker.

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