Speed is a critical factor in most everyday activities. Rocket League is no exception to this. It is frequently heard in a negative connotation, “Ah, I got beat to the ball.” Or, “Darn, he’s fast.” The fastest players are the best players. Retaining momentum is a undoubtedly one of the most important aspects of high level Rocket League, so in this article I will educate you on some key methods regarding your momentum.

The Benefits of High Speed

Keeping your momentum throughout each play is an important skill. High speed players mean a fast-paced level of play, and failing to keep up with your opponents will make you feel lost, like you aren’t benefiting anyone in the ongoing play. At any skill level, whoever is the fastest to the ball controls the game. Or rather, if your opponent can’t touch the ball, they can’t score on your net.

One way to make sure that you are going fast is to see if you are going supersonic. In case you don’t understand what that means, it is when your car trail activates and you see small lines of wind noticeably coming at the camera.

However, just going supersonic is not enough. For it to really benefit you, you have to be able to control it. One easy way to do so is during a retreat or when you are pushing up to offense after grabbing a boost canister from your corner. Boost a little to gain your initial speed, dodge, and you should be going at supersonic after that. Supersonic speed is easily lost due to turning decreasing your velocity. To combat this, simply use little bits of your excess boost here and there to make sure that after each turn you are still going at supersonic.

Another way to keep going fast is to minimize how often you allow your car to come to a complete stop. Unfortunately, sometimes this circumstance is unavoidable, like if you flew for an aerial and landed on a wall perpendicular to your direction of travel. This stunts your speed, and you have to start back from square one. Besides those kinds of situations, you should always try to have your car moving around, even if you are waiting for something to happen with a current play.

For instance, say you are rotating back towards your net, but the ball got past your team and now there is an opponent dribbling the ball towards your net threateningly. In this situation, lots of players would choose to speed back towards the net and wait for the attacker to shoot or flick. Despite the fact that it may seem right, Rocket League is usually not a game of waiting. Sitting in the net will completely stop your car, leaving you with zero momentum to defend any powerful or well placed shot.

Instead, try shadowing your opponent. This action allows you to maintain your speed while giving you a better chance of saving any shot the attacker throws up (if you do not know how to shadow, check out my article on defensive positioning here).

Dodges

The most frequently used action in Rocket League, dodging is the reason so many outrageous mechanics and plays are made. Despite its usual use for hitting the ball with more power, dodging is also a great way to get your car going faster and can get you up to supersonic from about 30-50% initial speed.

After grabbing a boost canister, it is tempting to want to use your boost right away to get going fast. Despite your desire to do so, keep boost management in your mind and instead use around 30 of your boost, while dodging immediately after. This allows you to save boost for feathering during supersonic and other situations as well.

This same action is also done at most kickoffs. First, use the majority of your boost to gain some speed, and then stop boosting and dodge forward, timing it so that you land just before the ball. This way, you can dodge into the ball again and still save around 5-10 boost for post-kickoff. For a more in-depth explanation of kickoffs, consider checking out anonymousalan’s article on the subject.

Recoveries

As stated many times previously in this article, speed is of utmost importance and even more so in your team’s rotations. When on offense and occasionally defense, having quick recoveries is essential to keeping your rotations clean and unopened. Someone with slow recoveries can slow down your team’s rotations drastically and will give your opponents more chances for possessions and clears.

Using Powerslide

First of all, let’s address the unexpected events that throw you out of position, and what to do when they occur. The current meta in Rocket League has been shifting to a more physical playstyle recently. In high level matches, you will frequently see at least 1 goal a game resulting from a bump or demolition. Now, let’s say that you got bumped by an opponent. Typically, a bump will rotate your car in an unfavorable direction relative to where you would like to go. Instead of letting the traction of your wheels kick in and bring you to a dead stop, try utilizing the powerslide button.

Powerslide lets your car drift around as if the wheels have little to no traction. So if you get hit slightly and are thrown off course, press your powerslide and turn your car around to keep going in your original direction of travel. This can even be coupled with a dodge in the desired direction, giving you more time to turn your car around while also gaining more speed.

The default button for powerslide is X (Square on PS4), but I personally have my powerslide button bound to LB (L1 on a PS4 controller), along with my air roll button. This allows me to press it at any time while still being able to freely press my jump, boost, and ball cam buttons. Just keep in mind that if your car is going to land at an odd angle, hold powerslide to allow your car to continue going where you would like it to.

Wavedashing

Wavedashes are another great recovery technique that can be coupled with the powerslide button and dodging. They let one easily gain a quick burst of speed after jumping off of a surface close to the ground. If you do not know how to wavedash, watch Sir Timbers’ video on the subject:

Now that you understand how to wavedash, let’s apply the technique. For example, you are driving low on the wall towards the middle boost, rotating back. Jump off the wall, orient your car parallel to the ground, and execute a wavedash, followed up with a dodge. This quick combination of mechanics lets one get up to supersonic speed without using an ounce of boost.

There are some players such as Mariano "SquishyMuffinz" Arruda who have taken wavedashes and gone even further with the mechanic, like inventing his own move named “the Squishy Shuffle”.

An example of "The Squishy Shuffle", demonstrated by Mariano 'SquishyMuffinz' Arruda himself.

If you have already mastered basic wavedashing and are interested in learning how to do “the Shuffle”, watch Squishy’s explanation and tutorial on the subject.

Awkward Wall Angles

One of the most frequently occurring awkward situations is when you land on the wall. The physics of the walls in Rocket League are quite hard to understand, especially for a less experienced player. However, when one starts to break through that barrier into the next level, it is important to know how to quickly recover from any wall situation.

For example, players often find themselves flying through the air with no boost after an aerial. Before hitting the wall, take care in orienting your car so the nose is pointing down to the ground, and so the wheels will hit the wall. What this is doing is basically cutting seconds off of your recovery time by combining two steps of the recovery process. Normally, one would land on the wall, turn themselves around in the desired direction of travel, and proceed to drive. Instead, one could think proactively and rotate their car so it is already turned in the direction of travel. This will shave multiple seconds off of your recovery time because turning your car in the air is much quicker than turning it around on a surface. Cars turn slower when on a surface due to friction, so rotating in the air will be much faster.

Combining The Methods

Now that you are more educated on the uses of dodges, powersliding, wavedashes, and proactive car rotation, it is time to mold all these techniques together.

First, you land on the wall with your car already oriented downwards. When nearing the floor, jump off the wall, wavedash on the ground, and follow it up with a forwards dodge. Keep in mind that these actions were all done with little to no boost, and the player will still be able to participate in the team’s rotations easily.

Half flips

A half flip is another great recovery technique that can be implemented into our equation. For instance, if you do not have enough time to rotate your car to face downwards when landing on a wall. Instead of turning your car around fully by driving, continue driving down the wall backwards. Once you reach the bottom execute a half flip and turn yourself around while gaining speed from the dodge used.

If you are new to half flips, consider reading one of my other articles on the topic that focuses completely on half flips and how to do them.

Final Notes

Retaining speed in a high level situation is a valuable skill to have, and being faster than your opponents will help catapult you through those lower ranks. The recovery techniques explained in this article can be manipulated and applied in situations other than the ones I addressed. Explore with these mechanics, and try out new combinations of your own!

I would also advise you to check out SquishyMuffinz’s video all about recoveries. Watch it here:

Another source I would suggest is RobertFitch’s article on recoveries. He does a great job going more in-depth and explaining how to execute some of the mechanics I talked about in this article.

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