Physical play has always been an important part of Rocket League. Although they are often overshadowed by the flashier aerial redirects and ceiling shots, taking a player completely out of the play gives one’s team a surprisingly large advantage. Rocket League is a game in which split-second decisions and plays are made, so demolishing a player and making them wait for 3 seconds to respawn is incredibly beneficial. Plays involving bumps and demolitions have become more frequent, especially in this past RLCS Season 6. Since professional teams now have near-perfect defensive rotations, demolishing a player is one of the few ways to actually break through an ironclad defense.

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This incredible mid-air bump by Jayson 'Fireburner' Nunez was performed during the RLCS Season 6 World Championship Grand Final.

Why Physicality Works

Getting in your opponent’s face and bumping them around can be an incredibly successful playstyle when done correctly, and frustrating to play against as well. Bumping and demolishing the other team is often one of the most unexpected plays to be made. It can break down the cleanest defensive rotations and create chances for shots or clears by taking a defender out of play for multiple seconds. Confused and frantic decisions on the opponent’s end are direct results of a demolition and can be detrimental to the defender’s game.

Being a physical player can also make easily aggravated players become angry fast. As mentioned in one of my earlier blogs on “Keeping a Calm Mentality”, these players just keep getting angrier and angrier, resulting in them playing recklessly and brashly.

Despite how badly you want to go and start blowing up your opponents, it is important to know when to go for a physical play. Going for a demolition is a potential High Risk, High Reward play. In 2v2s, for example, your teammate has the ball, and there is one defender in net. You go for the demolition and miss it, resulting in the defender clearing the ball. Both you and your teammate are retreating back from the opposing net, and the other team has an open net to shoot for. It is easier to get away with out of position demolitions in a standard 3v3 game, but still consider if you will be able to recover in time if you do end up missing the demolition.

Offensive bumps

Offensive bumps are the riskiest types to go for because they leave you in an unfavorable position after they are performed. So, as mentioned earlier, be thinking about the risk versus reward potential.

Some of the situations in which I have found offensive demolitions or bumps can be most effective are as follows:

If a teammate has the ball:

• When a defender challenged, missed, and there is only one defender left in net. Your teammate has ball control, and you are either closer to the net or going faster towards it than your teammate. A successful demolition leaves an open net for your teammate to shoot at.
• When you just went for an aerial shot, missed, and you are coming out of the inside of the opponent’s net. When coming out, the player in the goalie position will most likely be paying attention to the ball, not you. Hitting them out of the net leaves it wide open.

If you have the ball:

• When dribbling towards the net in a 1v1 situation, leaving the ball rolling towards the net and demolishing the goalie can work. The goalie will almost always expect a play to be made on the ball, so this play can catch them off guard.

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This solo demolition by Dillon ‘Rizzo’ Rizzo shows just how unexpected these types of plays are, especially with the announcer’s reactions to it.

• For higher level players that can air dribble the ball, leaving the ball behind you and instead flying towards the defender to demolish them can be a completely unexpected move.

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The air dribble-to-demo play, popularized by Connor ‘Jessie’ Lansink, became known as “The Unstoppable Move”, and even has an entire showmatch where the two participants can only use that move.

Defensive Bumps

Though not as common, defensive physicality can be very useful in tough situations. Because you are in a defensive situation, however, these demolitions should not take you out of position, and should only be done when an immediate opportunity for one is presented. Taking too long on a demolition breaks your team’s rotations and brings you far out of position.

Here are some situations in which I have found defensive bumps to be very effective:

• When an opponent is dribbling the ball slowly around midfield, and you are retreating back to defense. Recognize that you are moving faster than them, and they have no way of seeing you coming up from behind them. After demolishing the dribbler the ball will be left rolling slowly, waiting for your teammates to clear or shoot it.
  
  
• When you are rotating back from a challenge or just driving back to help defend on a fast break, there will sometimes be an opponent sitting in front of your net, waiting for a pass down from the wall. Demolishing this player gives the passer on the wall no options, and usually results in a turnover. This action can save you from many potential goals. The attacker can’t shoot the ball if there is no attacker!

Remember that defensive demolitions should only be taken through convenience. Do not go chase an attacker around while on defense.

Extra Tips and Tricks

If your opponents are smart enough, eventually they will catch wind of what is going on and start dodging your demolition attempts by jumping over them. An easy way to counter this is to dodge into your demolitions. This way, you can still catch them mid-air if they try to jump over you. Dodging into normal bumps as well can generate extra power to really send your opponents flying across the field.

Also, if it was not already evident, taking ball cam off can make it easier to time your demolition.

If you are playing with friends, make sure you let them know you are going for a bump. If you end up being unsuccessful with your demolition attempt, then your teammates are already adjusted to cover your position.

Lastly, as repeated numerous times throughout this article, remember that demolitions are a high risk, high reward action. They should primarily be used while in the process of accomplishing a different action, such as recovering/rotating back to midfield, after a shot attempt, racing back to defend, a 2v1 fast break, etc.

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This demolition play by Garrett ‘GarrettG’ Gordon helped NRG beat Cloud 9 to secure NRG’s undefeated season of league play.

Final Note

There is a YouTube channel named ‘Rocket Sledge’. This player plays extremely physical, and makes fantastic tutorials regarding demolitions, so if you are inspired to go more in-depth with physical play, go check him out by clicking above.

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