One of the often overlooked modes in Rocket League is Training. Training is an essential part of improvement to a certain extent. For most players, Training is a good way to warm up before starting competitive. For others, Training is what they spend the majority of their time in. And for a handful, Training is completely unused.

If you go onto any professional player’s livestream and ask them what the best method to improve is, the most common response you will receive is “Training”. Of course things like, game sense, rotations, and heads-up plays are skills that only come with in-game experience, but the majority of other skills can be learned and mastered through Training. This makes Training the next best way to practice besides actually playing online; thus, the name “Training”.

There are two main options for training: Free Play and Custom Training. Let’s begin with the former.

Free Play

Free Play is arguably the most important component of Rocket League that allows for improvement. Free Play is where most new mechanics are discovered, understood, and then mastered. Without Free Play, the mechanical skill ceiling would not be nearly as high as we have pushed it so far, as it is where experimentation thrives.

Free Play is also very flexible in how you practice your skills, whether you are focused on learning something specific or just hitting the ball around as hard as possible. Even though smacking the ball around the pitch seems pointless, it is actually incredibly effective in helping you learn how to read bounces. Free Play, being the playground that it is, has the potential to let you learn every possible bounce the ball could take off of a surface. The way to utilize this capability is to do this drill:

1. Hit the ball as hard as you can
2. After hitting the ball, try to get to the ball as fast as possible
3. Hit it again
4. Rinse and repeat

This drill does three things: it helps you learn how to read bounces, helps you get faster in your approaches to the ball, and develops more powerful and consistent striking skills. Although simple in nature, hitting the ball around is subconsciously training your mind to remember different bounces and how to get to them as efficiently as possible. Once again, if you go onto any professional player’s livestream, you can see them train in Free Play in between matches and watch them just knock the ball around, chasing it down immediately after each hit.

Free Play can also let you practice specific skills, primarily non-ball mechanics and dribbling. The obvious one is dribbling. Upon entering Free Play, the ball is placed motionless in the middle of the pitch, and your car spawns on a random kickoff position. The ball is actually propped up off the ground, so when you drive into it lightly, the ball will pop up and onto the hood of your car. From there, try to keep the ball on top of your car for as long as possible. Or, if you are practicing a flick, drive towards the net and attempt the flick. After an attempt, press the right bumper to reset the ball to the center. However, when the ball is reset, it will not be propped up unless you restart Free Play.

Non-ball mechanics are best learned and practiced in Free Play as well. By “non-ball,” I mean mechanics that solely involve your car without the presence/interference of the ball (i.e. Wavedashes, Half-Flips, Flip Stalls, Tornado Drifts, etc.). Since these skills do not necessarily involve the ball, it would be impractical to try to learn them in competitive at the expense of your rank, so just set aside some time to spend in Free Play dedicated to learning, and eventually mastering one of those skills. I personally spent two hours straight learning the Tornado Drift one time, and now I can do it whenever I want because of that dedicated time.

Free Play is such an important part of improving your skill set that it cannot go untouched. The majority of professionals agree that it is an incredible component that should be used, even if only for 30 seconds in between matches. Instead of sitting on your phone while waiting to find a game, go into Free Play and practice that new flick you’ve been trying to learn or learn how to Wavedash. With Free Play, the possibilities are almost infinite.

Custom Training

Custom Training is the other option for the training mode in Rocket League. Custom Training is comprised of player-made training packs, with each pack consisting of a number of shots. Your car will spawn in a certain place, and the ball will be shot off at a certain speed and direction. You have to score the ball within the time limit by executing the shot “the way it’s supposed to be done,” which means not by waiting on the ground for the ball to fall in front of the net (unless that is what the training pack is). These player-made packs have a variety of different focuses, ranging from ground shots to freestyles. If you are looking to practice a specific shot, you will most likely find a training pack that emphasizes only that type of shot.

Custom Training is something that much of the player base had been requesting from Psyonix for a long time and it was added in the Fall Update of 2016. Custom Training allows one to practice very specific movements and shots in a controlled environment. This means that there is no pressure to execute because you are in training, you don’t have to worry about correctly setting up the ball, and most of the time your car is already in the right position for a scoring attempt. It allows players to learn and eventually master specific shots by practicing them repeatedly by resetting the shot after an attempt.

Take flip resets for example. They aren’t something that you can just eventually learn from game experience, and they can be challenging to correctly set up in Free Play. The best option for practicing these kinds of difficult shots is a Custom Training Pack, more specifically just a single, pre-set up shot. I have trained for flip resets on a single shot for about five hours cumulatively, and it has proven to show great results. Custom Training is the perfect solution to becoming an expert in the specific situations that maybe only come once or twice every two games. But whenever those circumstances do arise, you will be able to perform exactly what you need to do.

Workshop

Rocket League Workshop is another community-focused method of training. Workshop levels are custom maps created by players and are sometimes published by Psyonix into the game. They can be training focused, like the “Dribbling Challenge #1”, or just used for fun game modes, like the “Volleyball” map.

Like Custom Training, Workshop maps made for training emphasize one specific skill and make you hone it as you progress through the levels. This is one mode that should not be overlooked, and I recommend you try it a couple times and see how enjoyable some Workshop maps can be.

Final Notes

Training is one of the most useful components available to you in Rocket League. In order for it to be used effectively, however, you must know what skill you want to work on, and which training option would allow you to learn that skill in the most efficient way. So keep this in mind:

- Free Play is best for experimentation, practicing ball reads, and non-ball related mechanics.

- Custom Training is best for learning and mastering very specific shots & mechanics through repetition.

- Workshop Maps are a unique way to hone general skills, like aerial car control and dribbling.

Lastly, I have also personally found that while Training is a good way to warm up before your first game of a session, it is also a relaxing way to wind down if you are getting frustrated or are just tired of playing ranked.

Training is such a beneficial mode in Rocket League that it cannot be overlooked. Make sure to utilize these practicing methods in order to add more mechanics to your skill set, as well as hone skills you already possess. Good Luck!

Like our content? Support us by getting our merchandise in our shop