As someone who is competitive in nature, I sometimes find it difficult to take things slow and fully prepare before jumping into the competition. The highs and lows of gameplay with stakes can be equally exhilarating and exhausting. However, as tempting as it may be, jumping straight into shark-infested waters immediately after loading up Rocket League is not exactly the best recipe for success for most people.

In this guide, we’ll be looking at some ways you can make you are at your peak at the start of your ranked session as opposed to struggling during the first couple of games.

Free Play

It really is true that free play can be your best friend and it should be your go-to when you first get on Rocket League. To start with, just work on hitting the ball as hard as you can and following it up as fast as you can. This technique will do a couple of things for you. First of all, it will help you get into the flow of playing the game. As you climb the ranks, your opponents will get faster and faster. So, when you load into a ranked lobby, it’s good to make sure you’re warm enough to match that speed. Doing this will also help you improve at reading the way the ball bounces off of the wall and getting clean, powerful hits on the ball.

Another way to utilize free play is by doing drills. There is a variety of drills you can create for yourself to practice, and the best ones come from areas where you feel you can improve. For example, if you struggle with boost management, try doing laps around the field using as little boost as possible while going supersonic or identifying paths you can take to quickly refill your boost using the pads. If you struggle with aerial car control, try flying across the field and hitting the crossbar of the net on the other side. Identifying your weaknesses is a great step in the improvement process, and free play is where to go to remedy them.

Free play is also where one goes to work on getting consistent with your mechanics. When you jump into the game and attempt your first air dribble of the day, there is a good chance it won’t quite land. That’s why it’s a great idea to head into free play and make sure your mechanics are at the level they should be before facing opposition.

Oftentimes, in free play, people enjoy using unlimited boost. This is understandable, but I’d venture to say you should try occasionally turning it off. When you do this, you’ll be able to get a feel for how much boost you need to pull off certain mechanics and it will help you with boost management. In a real game, you won’t always have 100 boost, so try practicing without it from time to time.

Doing free play for around 15-30 minutes before you do anything else is a great first step, but it’s not the only way to warm up. Some people may feel ready to go at this point, but there is still more that can be done to get yourself ready.

Training Packs

Training packs are a great way to help you nail down that one mechanic that you’re really struggling with. The good news is that there’s a training pack for pretty much everything. However, try not to marry yourself to just one or two training packs. These packs are set up to help you in super specific scenarios that are unlikely to appear on a regular basis. That’s why it is smart to mix up your training packs. Go to the menu and try out some new ones on a regular basis, this way you will be prepared for plenty of different situations.

You may remember the phrase “practice makes perfect,” and you may also remember the add-on to this phrase, “perfect practice makes perfect.” The latter applies to training packs. There are several different ways you can score or save a shot, but remember, in an actual game, there will be opponents trying to do the opposite. So, in training packs, try to be as quick and efficient as possible on each shot.

Playing Casual

For some, playing a game or two in casual may not seem worth it. I get it. However, I have found that it can be useful for getting yourself into top form. The key to casual is to play the game like you normally would play a ranked game. Doing this will help you to get prepared for facing actual opposition. Spending all kinds of time in free play and training packs is fantastic and will absolutely help you improve, but ultimately, there is no real substitute for playing with and against other people.

One thing that playing a match or two in casual will help you with is getting mentally into the swing of the game. Things like rotation and positioning are tough to practice in training, but casual is the perfect place to practice them. These are very situational moments in Rocket League, but are critical to your success as a player. So, don’t be afraid to hop into a casual game or two to make sure you’re making the right mental decisions before playing ranked.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the best warm up regiment in Rocket League is going to vary from person to person. Some of you will likely want to do a full warm up routine before playing ranked, and some of you will just want to do a few minutes of free play before jumping in – and both are ok. My hope is that this guide will help give you some ideas on a few different strategies and how to best utilize the resources available to you. So, get out there, get warm, and rank up!