A lot of players get stuck on defence for long because whenever they get a touch, they opt for a very hard clear into the opponents, which in return leaves them stuck under pressure for longer.
Rocket League is a challenge game, meaning there will be a player ready to challenge on almost every play, so being able to follow up your touches is key to escaping pressure with ease.
Getting a strong clear is the best option whenever you are left with no options, but whenever you have space, controlling the ball on the goal line and slowly transitioning into space will result in more options to transition back into offense.
In all gamemodes (3s, 2s and 1s) whenever you have space available, you always want to first check the positions of your opponents’ and teammate’s car, and then once you see that there is space available, you approach the ball slowly, with a soft touch, starting your attack.
How do I practice getting soft touches?
This is what the majority of you guys are probably asking, don’t worry. There is a workshop map called “Aim Training by CoCo”, head into the “normal” mode and then, instead of shooting the ball into the green boxes as one usually would, take a soft touch and get to the ball as quickly as possible like you can see in the attached clip.
This workshop map is useful to start practising the mechanics behind a soft touch, which are as follows:
– Get a touch in between your two front wheels (not a reset)
– Pushing your stick back to instantly recover from your touch
To actually start implementing this in game, one must start to practise this in freeplay as follows:
Go to any of your corners, and pass the ball towards net. Once the ball is close to your net, you want to catch the ball and move out into the sidewall for a transition into offense.
This might seem uncomfortable to control right in front of your net, but if you have the space this is the correct play, because clearing the ball with space makes it hard for you to follow up a touch or gives the ball straight back to the opponents, leaving you under more pressure.
Dedicating your freeplay to look like this will immensely improve mechanics, would definitely recommend to give it a go!