6 tips for rotating in Rocket League

This is the article you wish all your solo queue teammates would read before they play a game with you. Rocket League is a simple game on its surface but once you dive in, you quickly realize there is an extremely high skill ceiling. There’s a reason Rocket League esports has been going strong for six years now without any major adjustments to the actual game.

The fun of Rocket League is tied to how difficult it is to play. There is no overall correct strategy. Besides the kickoff, Rocket League is a game of free-flowing decision-making and instincts. There are two main areas that people have to learn to rank up in Rocket League: the mechanics, basically how to control the car and actually hit the ball, and positioning, often called rotating. This article will cover the latter.

How to rotate in Rocket League

If you’re already good at Rocket League, there likely won’t be much here to learn, but even diamond and champ players have likely developed a few bad habits when it comes to how to rotate. In this, we will assume players have a solid level of mechanical ability, at least they can hit the ball with reasonable consistency. From my time climbing the ladder, platinum feels like the rank where you have the highest mechanical skill while still missing a lot of the positioning aspects, so that’s the general skill level I’ll assume people have.

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Also, this will be a general guide for playing threes 3v3 as that’s the mode with the most complicated rotating decisions. Many of these tips will also be beneficial for 2v2, but rotating with a duo is a bit more cut-and-dry. So for people who are on their way up the ladder, here are six key lessons to keep in mind when playing Rocket League.

No. 1: If your teammate has the ball in control, let them keep that control

Control in Rocket League is a tricky thing because most of us don’t have it. You go from just trying to hit the ball to stringing together a few touches to hopefully having the ball in complete control on top of the car. If someone is actually keeping the ball on their car, please, please let them continue to do so. This tip is more for that person that has a stringent grasp on control but the idea is there.

It can be so tempting to see a ball where you feel like you have a chance at a shot on goal to just go for it. And sometimes it might even work. But most of the time, the end result is chaos on your end and open net for the opponents to counterattack on. Usually, a person’s hit is going to be more to themselves than to a teammate. Your goal is to react to what happens off that hit whether it’s following up a cross to shoot or falling back after they lose possession. Even if the control isn’t really there, it’s best to let your teammate try to move it along if they can.

No. 2: When you have the ball, know when it's time to leave it for your teammate

This is the flip side of tip No. 1. Your teammates are going to start crashing your possessions if you are constantly on the ball. Often a player will make a solid cross in the middle and instead of trusting the teammate in position, they will try to “Doomsee dunk” it in from the back wall.

That puts your teammate in a weird spot. You’ve committed yourself to scoring, so if they commit as well, that ball better go in the net or you’re in a tough spot. After a cross to the middle, that’s a great time to circle back. By turning after a shot, you give the green light for your teammate to commit and try for the goal.

No. 3: Trust your teammates

Sometimes your teammates aren’t playing their best. That happens. There will be times you play the game and you aren’t playing your best. Ultimately, the only person on the field you can control is yourself. By trusting your teammates, you build the good habits that will only get better as you rank up. Sure, you may be able to ball chase in gold and get some wins. But that strategy only works for a little while. It’s a team game, and if you’re queuing up for 3s with no intent to actually trust the people alongside you, why are you queuing up for 3s in the first place?

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No. 4: Sometimes, you just have to commit

When talking about rotation, most people focus on the ball chasers who are doing it wrong, but there are also the players who are too passive. This becomes an issue when players are ranking up.

The game speed goes up quite a bit even from Diamond 1 to Diamond 3. Once you reach higher ranks, there might not be a clear time to go for the ball. If your teammates are behind you or circling back, not going when it’s your time to challenge can be just as damaging as cutting rotation. By sending yourself at the ball, the results are either hitting the ball and causing a 50/50 or forcing the opponent to get rid of the ball.

In high ranks, you’ll see players just dive in forcing their opponent to flick it, allowing their teammate a much easier challenge. Even when players don’t have pure control, the sooner you dive at a ball, the more time you have to back up your teammates assuming it doesn’t go well.

No. 5: Just because RLCS players cut rotation doesn’t mean you should

There are cases where a good player will cut rotation and it’s the best play. But it's one of those cases where you need to learn the rule first before you can break it. Rogue is a great example of a team that cuts rotation when needed. Alexandre “Taroco” Reis Pedrogam plays a defensive game helping support the more aggressive playstyles of Jason “Firstkiller” Corral and Leonardo “Turinturo” Wilson.

That’s a strategy those players have developed that works for them at the highest level of Rocket League. When people see those types of moves being made by the pros, it’s easy to assume that’s the best way to play. But unless you are the best of the best, the most consistent way to rank up is following rotation whenever possible.

No. 6: Be predictable

Unless you are good at voice comms and in a lobby with your teammates, it’s hard to predict what someone is going to do in Rocket League. The more that you can do to help your teammates understand your plan, the better. This takes the form of clearly dropping away from the ball after a pass, committing hard toward a challenge or even tactically using a quick chat to get across a short message. In general, I prefer to use actual gameplay over quick chat as I feel like Rocket League moves a bit too quickly for the quick chats to actually convey a message and give a teammate a chance to act on it. Still, dropping a tactically timed “defending” in quick chat can convey a crucial bit of information when done well.

Lead image credit: Psyonix