Playing doubles on Rocket League with your friend can be a blast, but there may come a point where you want to take your game to the next level. Whether it be climbing the competitive ladder or playing in tournaments with your teammate, you're going to need to improve. This is why I'm here. Today I'll give you a few tips that can hopefully help you and your teammate take your game to the next level.

Play with Your Friends!

One of the key components of the doubles game mode that differs from all the other game modes is that, obviously, you are only playing with one other teammate. This means that you aren’t by yourself or with a third player. Playing with one consistent teammate means that there is plenty of room to build a very strong foundation with a player that you are familiar with, like a friend that you constantly play with online. This is why I strongly recommend playing with a good friend as opposed to always playing with random teammates online. If you’re always pairing up with random people online, you’ll never be consistent and improving in the areas that you need to.

Try to find a friend that’s near your level of skill of course, as if you pair with someone that’s way below your skill level, most matches will feel like a two-on-one as opposed to a two-on-two. The same applies the opposite way as well. If you’re teaming with someone that is a much higher rank than you are, then you won’t be able to do much as the other higher-skilled opponents just maneuver the ball around you. Jesus “Gimmick” Parra and Mariano “SquishyMuffinz” Arruda, professional Rocket League players for Cloud9, further explain the importance of good relationship with your teammate in the clip below at around the 1:42:30 mark:

Gimmick strongly emphasizes the importance of having a teammate that you’re comfortable with, and I’m going to have to agree with him. Having a teammate that you can have fun with is not only going to make your playtime together a more enjoyable experience, but it should improve your gameplay as you’re both comfortable with communicating with each other.

Practice, Practice, Practice!

Practicing with your teammate as much as possible is only going to do good for the both of you in the long run. Not only will it build a stronger chemistry between the two of you, but it will allow you to be more comfortable with one another on the field, allowing you to test the waters with more complex plays that can get you more goals. Experimenting with plays and rotations in casual matches before competitive can help you warm-up before you dive into the battles that would happen on the competitive. You can even go into a private match against bots (or against nobody at all) and just practice getting the ball to each other from various angles.

This will not only improve your mechanical skills together, but it will help you familiarize yourself with your teammate's playstyle. This will benefit the both of you in the long run, as you will be able to identify the nuances in your teammate's play, allowing for smoother transitional plays in defense or offense.

Combine with Your Teammate for Better Plays.

Although many goals that will be scored in the twos arena are a result of a play coming out from one player, passes are so important in the twos arena as they serve as a way to relieve pressure off of your car while still keeping pressure on the opponent's half overall. Always try and put the ball in a spot where your teammate can reach it faster than anyone on the opposing side can. This works especially well if you don’t have a shot on net. Rather than giving the opponent's possession by going for a direct shot on net, you can opt for a pass directly towards your teammate or going for a backboard play. The more you do this in games, the more it will keep your opposition guessing in reference to which play your team will come up with to try and score.

Communicate What You’re Doing to Your Teammate.

As mentioned before, communicating is key when it comes to having a teammate in any setting. Communication is at the forefront of creating coherent plays and having solid rotations. It would be preferable that you are in voice chat as it is quicker and more efficient to make any calls while you’re in the game. Just using text chat might be good for a while, but as of August of 2018, the quick text options just aren’t going to be a viable option if you’re planning to communicate at a higher level with your teammate. So, make a friend drop into voice chat and make all the necessary calls, whether it be that you’re grabbing the boost in the back or want a pass so you can score the goal that you need to tie up the game.

This will lead to my next point and that is to not be afraid of telling your teammate what to do. Whether it be calling that you have a better touch on the ball than they do or calling for them to rotate back because you’re pushing up. These calls can make a big difference in games. I’ve noticed that the matches I play where I don’t utilize with quick chat or voice chat will lead to overextensions on my part which will inevitably lead to a goal which I will then turn on my poor unsuspecting teammate. Even using the quick chat to tell your teammate to go for the ball can improve the flow of your rotations and your own positioning, although voice chat is the number one priority when it comes to communications.

Improve Your Rotations.

Rotations are so integral in twos matches. They aren’t in 1v1 matches well, because there’s nobody else to rotate with, and in 3v3 matches there’s an extra player so your rotations can be a bit sloppier. That isn’t the case in twos. If you’re going up against a decent opposition and your team has bad rotations, you will be punished. Rotations are integral to having a decent 2v2 match. If your opposition is giving you a run for your money, try changing the pace of your team’s rotations. In other words, if the opposition is playing very quick and scoring goals, try playing slower rotations to start a counter attack. IFf they’re playing reactively, be sure to pile on pressure and press up a little more on your rotations to keep the ball in your opponents' half to force mistakes out of them.

Trust Your Teammate.

The last thing I’ll leave you with is to put some trust into your teammate. Yes, you may think that you are the greatest goalkeeper to ever grace the Rocket League scene, but if you and your teammate both go for the ball at the same, mistakes are bound to happen. If your teammate is in a better position to make a defensive play, put your trust into them and try and play off of the possibilities of that play rather than both of you rushing for the ball and having a double commit happen in your defensive half. Trust your teammate on the offense as well. If your teammate can get to the ball before you can, rotate behind them. Worse thing that can happen is that your teammate will miss the shot and the opposition will start a counter-attack, but if you rotate back your team will be able to manage the counter attack as opposed to both of you going for the ball and causing a double commit, which would lead to a possible goal opportunity. So put trust in your teammates and position yourself to deal with the ball.

That's going to be all for today everyone, be sure to grab your teammate and play some Rocket League. As always, have fun!

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