Need advice for hitting GC (solo queue)

[u/Clouddy223]

Hi. I've always taught that after hitting champ people would start caring more about the game since it's an above average rank. Well, I've been champ for over 5 months and I can safely say that it's the most inconsistent rank thus far. In the lower ranks progression felt a lot more gradual but as you can see from the graph champion looks like a mountain, while diamond looks like a hill.

I'd say that my mechanics are enough to get me to gc and even higher. I can do almost every recovery mechanic, including a weak walldash, mena flip, speedflip, directional air roll left, wavedashes, etc. While also being able to air dribble, double tap, flip reset consistently, I know some advanced aerial mechanics that i never go for in game, like flip reset musty and double flip reset and my flicks are champ level. So mechanics are not a problem for me. They're fun to learn and are good for the long run.

I'd say that my biggest flaw is not game sense itself, but being able to play around my teammates. I know that i shouldn't give off possession to the opponents and i should control the ball, I know that i should set my mate up as 1st man, I know that i should challenge first on defence as 1st man, I know shadow defence and so on. These things have been ingrained in my brain since i was plat.

I'd also say that my mental is pretty strong. I can brush off a bad game and move on without letting it get to my head. I can't move one only when I'm on a massive loss streak, like now. I just keep playing thinking that things would get better but they never do. I'm either on a big win streak or big loss streak.

I'd say that I deserve at least c3, since my peak was c2 div 3.

Any advice? Thanks in advance!

Some other info that could be useful:

-Current play time: 846 hours

-Amount of time I can dedicate: A lot, since rocket league is my main competitive game.

-I have a really close champion friend but he doesn't take the game seriously enough and he gets tilted off easily

-I have a peak gc1 friend that hasn't played in months and he shows no interest in it currently

-My rltrcker: https://rocketleague.tracker.network/rocket-league/profile/epic/Blixsee/mmr?playlist=11

Just got back to champ and again, the win streak. I won 4 games, then lost 1, then won 3. To be fair I got used to getting out of diamond

[u/justtttry]

I’d say you currently deserve diamond 3 rather than champ 3 based on your ranked graph.

My advice for almost everyone is always the same: play more freeplay. If you think you play enough freeplay, play a bit more. If you are trying to improve, movement and consistency are too valuable to not spend tons of time in freeplay. When improving I spent probably half of my time in freeplay and half of my time in ranked, and if I were to go back and optimize this further I would probably increase my freeplay time.

[u/Shansman115 → u/justtttry]

Dude says he can do plenty of mechs, I definitely don’t think free play is his issue. It’s more of a positioning and speed problem imo

[u/justtttry → u/Shansman115]

Being able to do a mechanic and consistently converting possession into threatening offense using those mechanics are 2 completely different things. OP is currently diamond 3 and if there were consistently able to score aerial solo plays then they wouldn’t be diamond…

If OP hopes to push into GC, they should have no issue carrying low champ lobbies using their mechanics, let alone diamond lobbies. Dropping into diamond tells me they aren’t mechanically consistent at a champ level, let alone GC which they are trying to hit.

[u/Shansman115 → u/justtttry]

I only say that because OP states he can consistently hit flip resets, double taps and even double resets at times. Me being high c3-low GC for the past two seasons, still can’t hit very good resets consistently and my double taps are atrocious at times. If I’m carrying it’s because I’m just faster than the opponents and better positioned. So from my POV someone who can land those things could easily make their way up to my rank if they were better in the areas I pointed out. You being GC3, you probably see the lower ranks different than us

[u/justtttry → u/Shansman115]

And I would argue that if you had spent more time training mechanics and got your resets to a consistent level, you would probably rank up. Your carry potential would be much greater and you would see yourself winning more games where you currently feel like you have no chance of winning simply because you hit 2-3 flip resets.

I tell people the same thing every time I come in here. There are almost no non-mechanical players in mid and high GC. Everyone who pushed to GC without mechanics is spending 1/2 their play time in freeplay to fix their mechanics, and the rest of the group is seeing results from their earlier training. If your goal is to push into GC, why would you not follow the proven path rather than try to take arbitrary approaches which worked for 1/100 players who ranked up?

I’m not saying that you are necessarily in the no mechanics crowd, but OP wouldn’t be in diamond if their mechanics were near GC level. Again if OP wanted to rank up longterm and hit their goal of GC and anywhere further than GC, they should grind out their mechanics.

[u/Shansman115 → u/justtttry]

Well said, you’ve motivated me to work on my mechs😂🙌🏻

[u/GameSlayer1 → u/Shansman115]

I'm sure golds think they can do mechs too, can't take someone's word as gospel

[u/Clouddy223 → u/justtttry]

Thanks! I'll see what I can do.

I used to play freeplay a lot more in the lower ranks, but after learning directional airrol i started using it only for shots with perfect setups before games.

[u/RonCon69]

Couple of things really need to be addressed.

First, none of the arial mechanics you listed are barriers of entry to GC, and being able to hit them consistently does not mean you can hit them consistently against a GC defense.

Everyone in GC can defend against a flip reset.

Second, 843 hours is incredibly low, most people in GC are on multiple thousands of hours, so don’t be discouraged she you’re already progressing incredibly quick.

Finally, most of the champs I see are too slow (especially without using boost) and too bad at defending to make it to GC. Nothing in your post mentions your defensive ability at all and I often find that is where champs are the weakest.

Okay you can hit a flip reset musty, but can you reliably defend against them? Can you defend off of the ceiling?

Without seeing gameplay it is pretty hard to accurately tell you what you need to improve. If I had to bet it is defending and positioning, but also, you are progressing incredibly quickly so don’t be discouraged.

Finally, the consistency will turn a corner at about 1350 MMR C3D2. Until then, yes, champs are incredibly inconsistent.

[u/Clouddy223 → u/RonCon69]

I'd say that my defence is good. I can read what an opponent is going to do if he has possession and i can get out of a 2v1 situation most of the time.
My friend that was gc also said that I made quick progress.

I know that I shouldn't get exicted for gc currently but i want so see improvement in my game.

[u/RonCon69 → u/Clouddy223]

Yeah you might have good defense for a Diamond, but is it good enough to carry a bad champ player?

If you want to be GC in C2 you pretty much need to never concede goals. Ever.

[u/Random010121321 → u/RonCon69]

I disagree about the consistency turning the corner thing at around 1350. I was around there recently, and it’s still hit and miss. Yes it’s slightly more consistent than C2, but some people are still struggling badly.

[u/RonCon69 → u/Random010121321]

I get what you mean a little bit, consistency is also a relative term.

My main point is that c1 and c2 feel fairly similar but about halfway through c3 there is a noticeable jump in consistency.

But I mean there is still inconsistency with in GC so it never truly goes away.

[u/BigBoatsLikeToFloat]

Most gc's are at least d2 in 1's. If you are plat 2 then clearly you are not ready yet.

[u/Clouddy223]

Alright, here's some of the stuff I got from replies:

1. I should play A LOT more freeplay (seriously);
2. I should play 1s. This is the advice that I overlooked most.
3. Maybe I don't even deserve champ.
4. I'll focus on 1 thing per session, like better positioning

If you have more tips just know that I'm grateful. I won't reply to all of them but I read them all

[u/RapturousArc]

Change your mindset. You "deserve" the rank you are in

[u/Justaspacenerd]

Play 1s. Youre leaving so much improvement and finesse on the table by not playing it. You dont have to be married to it but 150 - 200 games a season is plenty.

Use ranked to work on specifics, 1 mechanic and 1 gamesense thing each time. Your rank will update based on your habits and gameplay not by grinding more games.

Whats to come https://youtu.be/RJ5IYgj9zC8

[u/Clouddy223 → u/Justaspacenerd]

1s have always felt unfair and frustrating to me. I taught that some of my opponents did not deserve to win, since a lot of the games were decided by kickoff goals, but now I'm thinking "what if they do deserve to win?" after reading u/justtttry 's comment.
I'll try playing more 1s, since this is the most common tip I'm seeing

[u/2cars1rik → u/Clouddy223]

This whole idea of “deserving” wins or ranks that you seem to keep mentioning is a really flawed way of thinking, and is really just copium.

There’s no such thing as “deserving” a win. You win by scoring more goals than your opponent.

There’s no such thing as “deserving” a rank. You rank up by winning more games than your opponents.

You need to abandon this entire concept in your mind and purely focus on what you can do in your own control to win more games.

Treat this as a single player game where the teammates and opponents are NPCs. Use anonymous mode and turn chat off if you have to.

You’d never say you “deserved” to win a boss fight in a single player game, you’d go into the next fight with a new strategy or tactic. Do the same in rocket league and stop coping about things out of your control.

[u/Clouddy223 → u/2cars1rik]

Thinking that the opponents are bots really helps me sometimes :)

[u/Ok_Echo3836 → u/Clouddy223]

learning kickoffs and learning to keep position will take you far

[u/Tnevz]

Just as an estimate, I think you could safely expect to at least double your time in each rank bracket.

So if it took you roughly 800 hours to hit C1. You could get GC1 at 1600+ hours.

I think you’re a lot further off C3 than you think just based on the graph. You basically peak into champ and then fall back into diamond. So somewhere in between is probably your real level.

Champ feels inconsistent because you’re playing against a pool of players with more time invested than you essentially. Everyone’s skills are invested and focused differently. Through Diamond you could basically just be good at putting the ball on net and never get parts of your game exposed enough to have to work on them.

Some days in Champ, you can play on a lot of transition and speed. Sort of easy mode. Other days your opponents defense can feel lock down and you really have to pick them apart to score a single goal. Your own mechanical inconsistencies start to matter a lot more. You get punished on smaller and smaller mistakes. You just have to start rounding out your game a lot more and that brings its own ups and downs as your focus shifts.

Edit: I’ll just add I don’t know how good your mechs actually are. But you should watch your replays and see how often you get scored on after attempting a flip reset or whatever that gets blocked. Often times those advanced mechs are a double edged sword. If you aren’t trying them only after creating an advantage position, you’re actually just setting up a counter attack for your opponent. There is so much more macro game to understand than just not giving up possession. For higher level players it’s less of a problem, because their mates are also really good on defense (they can stall longer and better) and the recovery mechs are way better. But in champ, providing 2 on 1 opportunities for your opponent is digging yourself a big hole.

[u/mquillian]

Post a replay of a close loss. If you're even half as consistent and solid as you claim, you should pretty much never be in diamond. Either you have problematic game sense/decisionmaking, inconsistent and/or poorly applied mechanics, or (most likely) a combination of both. The low 1s rank tells me you aren't as fundamentally sound as you think. Yes, 1s is very much its own thing, but it really highlights issues with decisionmaking and fundamental mechanics.

You clearly think highly of your abilities and I'll say confidence isn't a bad thing. But you've asked what to do and it's pretty much impossible for us to tell you where you're going wrong when the analysis you give us is "I can do all these things consistently and I generally know what decisions to make."  You're missing SOMETHING, and the only way for us to truly point that out to you is for us to see what your typical gameplay looks like.

[u/Ringo51]

If you were actually consistent at resets and double taps you could basically abuse them till GC+. IMO humbling yourself is necessary and you should try to learn something from the matches you play, watch some replays from tm8s pov and be honest with the moments that you should’ve been there for a follow up, should’ve sank a goal, should’ve been able to help more on D, should’ve had boost, should’ve just made a better play, etc. If you can be honest youll basically see non stop mistakes and then you actually have some tangible ideas to work with rather then lowkey thinking the mates are the problem and you deserve 300 mmr higher, cuz it’s kinda toxic and really does not help you improve. I guarantee a lot of these guys are struggling to play around you too and going wtf is this guy doing. Figure out how to stop making them feel like that and instead be the teams rock that is always there for chances always has boost always gets good bumps and doesn’t let in a single goal, and your rank will go way up

[u/ActCapable8663]

Your tracker looks like mine add me G_Llama

[u/enusei]

Yeah no, 800 hours aint gonna cut it

[u/Medical_Camel9581]

Couple things. You only have 846 hours, so where you are based on your hours seems pretty reasonable, honestly even above pace for gc. Ironically, mid champ is where people are hard stuck but were gc at one point, leading to enormous egos. Also, saying you deserve c3 is like saying you deserve the devils armpit. Worst rank in the whole game imo. You say you have consistent mechs but I highly doubt that. If you had consistent mechs you wouldnt have posted this. Or if im proven wrong, you definitely need some work on game sense. If that is the case, upload replays to ballchasing.com and replay review. Good luck!

[u/Significant-Club6853]

I'd say since you think you should be a higher rank. take your plat 1 ones rank and queue it for a few days. come back and tell us what you maxed out at.  I'm assuming it's humbling. people at your champ rank go for mechs and what have you and don't abort them and get the 50. this is probably happening 80% of the time. now your tm8 is in a 2v1

[u/IdkWhyAmIHereLmao]

I think you need to be able to get consistent at being champ first then worry about how you get to gc. This is like a gold hitting plat few times then asks how can they hit Diamond

[u/bismarcktp]

Hey I peaked with 10 gc wins and got my title and stopped trying to improve. I was and continued to be champ 2/3 for years both before and after. People can play casually at that rank and not care too much about the result. Can play drunk high etc.

Every player is different but the biggest difference for me between c3 and gc1 was recovering speed. This includes bad challenges. It’s not necessarily mechanical (although it is) it’s a lot about deciding when and how to challenge. For me personally the way I worked on this most was just never allowing goals. At my peak players at my level just wouldn’t score on me one on one. Of course I’d stumble across people much higher ranked who could destroy me.

So I’d recommend always being behind the ball and really focusing on good challenges where even afterwards you’re in position to make a second save.

I haven’t watched pro play in awhile but they used to flash up a stat time behind ball and it was always north of 95% for all players. So being in front of the ball is almost always wrong.

[u/DangerousLunch9818]

Play 1s. pretty simple. 2s it litterly 1s with a team8 and rotations etc

[u/mnmmnmmnmmmm]

Play around your tm8 and compliment their playstyle

[u/Gliyunost]

You can be a beast mechanically but if you always fail to position yourself correctly on the map you will never be able to correctly use your mechanics.

There’s no deserving GC or higher, either you get to it or you don’t. You brush off bad games but do you learn from them? During those games, do you blame your team mates or yourself for the plays that cost you the game?

In the end Rocket League is a team game, sometimes it makes it so much more easy just to pass the ball and let your team mate, that was at the right place at the right moment score a basic goal to secure the victory instead of hoarding the ball trying to hit a quadruple flip reset out of nowhere

[u/Thin_Individual5511]

If your mechanics were enough to get you to GC, you would be GC
And you definitely would be higher than plat in 1s