Rocket League Diamond up to Champion Tips - How To Get Out Diamond and Rank To Champion?

In our previous articles, we have talked about some basic Rocket League guides for Rocket League play skills, hoping to help you improve your game. While a lot of questions from Diamond level players requesting advice on improving to the next level, today we are going to showing you a guide to breaking through the barrier to help you level Diamond up to Champion. We hope this list helps at least a few of you to make some changes for the better and break the plane to Champion.

We have checked a lots of tips to improve gaming and ranking, one guide from reddit which made by ytzi13 are professional and detailed, outlining the common problems with brief explanations for those who are looking for help now. Now follow us to check out his below tips for ranking Diamond to Champion. Keep in mind that a lot of these explanations are kept pretty general in order to keep this already long post as brief as possible while remaining helpful.

Creating offensive pressure.

Cheating for passes.

When you lose a challenge on the ball or when you're rotating back and you see that your teammate is going to challenge the ball uncontested, open up wide and give them the passing option.

Passing as the last man/not giving up possession.

Whenever you're the last man back and challenging a ball uncontested, look to the sides for a teammate to pass to, or clear the ball to the opposing corners. Hitting the ball directly to the goal (forcing a shot) is often giving up possession and generally results in a pass to the opponent.

Defensive rotations.

Wide rotations.

Take wide routes when rotating back so that you can maintain a full view of the field and the players as well as give yourself a favorable angle to approach the ball from. This means not driving backwards into the ball or into your teammates and not immediately turning to chase the ball when you lose it, but instead considering opening wide for a pass, or rotating away from the ball back to the goalie/sweeper position.

Goal-line rotations.

When you rotate back to goal, you want to go all of the way back, at least onto the goal line. A lot of players leave a gap between themselves and the goal line which makes them vulnerable to a cross into the middle or high above them while also limiting their vision. If you challenge from the goal, you guarantee that you're covering some of it and that your approach on the ball is providing force away from your side of the field. If you challenge at an angle from a outside of the goal, you're leaving the goal open and hoping to meet the ball at just the right moment. Any hit will also be angled towards the side wall or possibly back into your corner.
Now, in terms of where to position yourself as the goalie defending a cross, I like to look at it in terms of angles and approach. You, as the goalie, are the middle point. The front post is the first point (where the ball is coming from and the closest goal scoring position) and the player receiving the cross is the 3rd point. The 3 points creates an angle that you need to defend, meaning the cone of potential goal scoring positions. Your job is to make that angle as small as possible so as to limit the area you need to worry about. So, if the receiver is positioned in the middle, you want to angle yourself further back to decrease that angle. If they're far post, you want to be more towards the far post and also inside of the goal to get a better approach on a high, far post cross. If they're supporting for a near post cross, you can position yourself near post and not worry about the rest of the goal because it's not at risk. As for how to angle your car in these situations, you're in pretty good shape if you're facing half way between each point so that you can react to inside or outside crosses with ease.

Spider-Man defense.

Knowing when to protect the back wall is important. Keeping it as general as possible, you want to keep an eye out for moments where you have a goalie in place and the ball has the potential to launch high above the net. That's where the goalie is vulnerable and that's where you want to rotate through the far post and make the decision to drive up the wall and contest. This is a vague description and there are several exceptions, but it's good starting point.

Challenging dribblers early/disrupting as recovering player.

Never give a player room to dribble; it's incredibly dangerous. If you're rotating back and can catch a dribbler, your job is to challenge them (if your teammate isn't). It's the challengers job to disrupt them, so that the defender can easily challenge the result if not already won. If a player is dribbling down the line, there's no immediate threat to the goal. If the player is dribbling down the middle and you are last man, you have to challenge early and be sure to attack the top of the ball.

Trusting teammates.

Double commits are bad. If a teammate is in front of you, let them attack the ball. They make mistakes, but that's part of the game. Have their back. If you have a nice shot on goal and a teammate cuts in to attack it, let them have it. It's not worth the double commit. If a teammate cuts you off in rotation, let it be and cover for them. Be the best teammate you can be.

Buying time.

As the last man, your job is often not to challenge the ball, but to buy time for your teammates to recover. This means slowing down a dribbler by shadowing them if they're in mid field and not close to the goal. This also means not challenging any ball that isn't a certain win. Most importantly, this means staying in the goal when there isn't an immediate threat to it.

To elaborate on the last point, it's all too often that players will cheat out of the net to challenge someone dribbling down the line or into the corner. There's no immediate threat to the goal and your teammates are recovering. Worst case scenario when you stay in goal, they cross the ball and you have to defend it. Best case, you're patient and your teammate rotates in behind you, allowing for you to step in and challenge. Don't be the guy who rushes out for a 50/50 and leaves the net open. Too many stupid goals are scored this way.

Playing the supportive role.

Playing the probability game.

Reading the game is difficult but important. It's about rotation, but it also about positioning, distance, and angles. The way your car is facing matters. So, I suggest playing the probability game.
In any case when you're not the player contesting the ball and are playing the supporting role, you want to be constantly adjusting according to the likeliness of outcomes.
For example, let's say that the ball is in the air and your teammate is contesting it. There are 3 primary scenarios to consider:
1. Your teammate has a clear win. In this scenario, you want to be cheating up either in line with them or slightly ahead, looking to receive the ball, angling your car towards the opposite corner.
2. Your teammate enters a 50/50 with the opponent. When this happens, you want to be cautious and recognize where the ball won't go (directly behind each player). You want to then be positioned a bit more cautiously behind them and facing slightly backwards in a manner that will allow you a quick recovery if need be as well as the ability to quickly turn in and challenge a ball deflected in-field.
3. The opponent is going to win the contest. In this case, you want to be far enough back to be able to receive the hit, likely angled towards your back corner so as to cover a shot on net while also allowing you to step in and challenge a pass or and soft hit.
That may not be the greatest illustration, but I hope you get the idea.

Not getting sucked in.

As the last man, it's easy to get sucked in and let yourself drift out of position, especially when the play lingers in a single location. Be patient and keep your space because getting sucked in often gives the opponent a free goal if the ball deflects over you and you're forced to turn around to recover.

Staring at the ball/angling the car.

Referring again to angles, you don't want to stare directly at a ball that you're not contesting. If you have no chance of winning a ball, or if you're supporting a teammate with the ball, when the opponent contests it you want to be able to give yourself the freedom to react to wherever it goes. If you're staring straight at it, you're only allowing yourself to challenge a ball hit right to you or one that drops softly, or in the case of supporting your teammate on a 50/50, you're only making yourself available to help out in the case where they win the ball, which kind of defeats the purpose of playing the supporting role. Don't put yourself in a situation where a ball hit in the air or to the sides renders you useless and slow to track back.

To make this situation clearer, imagine the opponent is about to hit the ball from their goal. You're too far away to challenge it but too close to directly intercept a good, high hit. If you stare at the ball and they get that good hit high and on target, it's a goal that you won't be able to save. But if you position yourself more towards the side of the field and angle your car back towards your opposite corner, you are able to comfortably challenge that ball while also allowing yourself to turn in and challenge any softer hit.

Maintaining pressure and minimizing space/learning to play with partial .

The ability to pressure as a team is important. If you create too much space and go way out of your way to grab your back , you create a gap in your offensive pressure and leave yourself vulnerable to a counterattack with your teammates recovering. Learn how to play with partial and prioritize positioning over pads. Grab small pads and pay attention to the play. Too often do players panic and rush back to defense when they have 30 , their team is pressuring with an advantage, and end up not being there to pressure a ball or hit an easy tap in goal.

Controlling the midfield.

Ground passes

If you're taking over possession from your side or are dribbling down the field with space, look across the field for your teammate. Ground passes are so incredibly useful and difficult to defend it's not even funny. Look for that pass and learn how to hit it hard.

Forcing shots.

When you don't have an obviously dangerous shot on net, meaning you aren't in close proximity with a direct approach, or a decent angle with a goalie who is absent or not ready, then don't take the shot. Hit the ball to the side and follow it for a cross, or pop it over the net for a pass. Don't give up possession. The same goes for when you have space in mid-field and hit an uncertain shot when you have a teammate open or space to take another touch or 2. Be smarter. I mentioned it earlier, but don't hit your clears directly to the defender in the center of the field. There will always be exceptions, but if you're going to shoot the ball, be sure that it has a good chance of going in, or that the goalie will be forced to make an uncomfortable save that can potentially be rebounded or crossed back in.

Taking to the wall.

Especially in 3s, you have to be quick. Learn to trap the ball and dribble immediately to the wall to create offensive pressure. Don't dribble through the middle of the field unless you're absolutely comfortable doing so. There is so much pressure in 3s that often times the only effective solution is to flick the ball within 1 or 2 seconds.

Pressuring the midfield.

Respecting opponents.

Never assume that your opponent is going to miss the ball (unless it's blatantly obvious). So, the moment you realize that you're going to lose a challenge, don't go for it. For example, if a ball pops in the air and you want to get an aerial challenge, the moment you see an opponent go into the air before you is the moment you should assume the challenge is lost. Rather than going in late and risking missing the ball and landing on the opponent's side of the field with no , position yourself to receive the next hit or the one after. If you're last man, rotate back and look to receive the opponent's hit for a clear, a pass, or a controlled dribble. If you're not the last man back. Be patient, watch the hit, and if you're teammate is going to get a free hit on it, open up for a pass. Otherwise, rotate back and be ready to cover in goal after they challenge.

Awareness driving away from the ball/using the camera.

This is a big one. Any time you're driving away from the ball, meaning your car is angled close to 90 degrees or greater in relation to the ball and you can't see what's in front of you, you need to use your camera to take a look. If you don't, you won't have the awareness to open up for plays or position yourself properly and you risk getting in your teammate's way, bumping them, and double committing.

Patience.

It's been discussed here already, but the ability to control the pace of the game is important. Don't force shots or clears when you have time. Don't rush a hit on the ball from a tight angle when you have time to widen your approach. Don't challenge an opponent who has a clear advantage when you can slow down and make yourself available to challenge a dribble. Don't cut in on your defensive rotation to challenge a ball in the corner only to hit it directly into the wall. Instead, take a wide approach to the net and challenge it from there.

General rotation.

Lingering around the ball / decisiveness.

Something I tell people a lot is that the most important thing they can be is decisive, even if it's the wrong move for them to make. Take for example a ball in the air that you're thinking about contesting. If you don't go up right away or you don't immediately turn back, your teammate won't know your intentions. Rather than confusing them and forcing them to either challenge a ball that you then challenge and double commit on, or forcing them to stay back on defense when they did have a really good approach on the ball only for it to go unchallenged by both of you, just make a decision. As long as you make a decision, right or wrong, your teammate will have all of the information necessary to make a decision of their own. So, if you ever find yourself lingering or contemplating a challenge, it's probably better to just turn back.

Disrupt players in your natural path.

Demolitions are great and very useful, but you don't want to go out of your way to attempt them. Instead, look for openings in your natural path to make some trouble. For example, if I challenge the ball in the opponent's right corner, the moment my job is done, I know that I have to rotate away from the right wall, through the midfield and into the last man role. Because the goal line is in my rotational path, it's a good idea to take ball cam off and look to get a demo or a bump. But don't take too long chasing a player, bumping them multiple times, or letting yourself chase them into their goal because you want to keep rotation quick and fluid.

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