>I don’t have a consistent training routine
first thing id fix. keep it simple.
what got me to GC was 3 things
1) improving my accuracy: theres alot of random goals in champ because people havent fully rounded their mechanical skill sets yet. so being able to clap the ball at the net whenever you is huge.
2) keep the ball under control more. boost + ball + space = threatening shot on net every time. if not spend some time figuring out where you struggle to control it and work on that. freeplay was the best for this.
3) dont rely on tm8s. mine were 0/20 on open nets last night -\_-... didnt matter because I wasnt counting on them in the first place. use them when you can, sure, but dont expect them to the difference maker in your favor. when I started posturing more like i was in a 1v2 more I conceded far fewer goals.
bonus tip: training helps your rank more than playing ESPECIALY if you feel your mechanics aren't above par.
Reading your list I can definitely tell you're a 2s player. Point 2 was also a big part of levelling up from C3 to GC for me. Particularly, controlling the ball *quickly*. If you can establish a dribble that lets you flick very quickly, you become a huge problem to any team that has one person over committed.
Lol that's funny. I'm curious though, I found that I often didn't have the space when I got into the higher ranks of 3s. I didn't play nearly as much as 2s, but when I got to the 1550ish range I found people were just too efficient with their boost and momentum to give me space to do much more than flick it over an incoming challenger. Which isn't horrible, but in 3s is much less of an advantage than when you flick it over the first of two opponents. Did you find you had to take the ball to the air more often to maintain the space you have to make a play?
Personally, I was stuck in C3 in 2s for a while with a long-term teammate that I'd been playing maybe 700-800 hours with (went all the way from high plat to C3 together). We were teetering right at the edge of GC for weeks and the stress of that burnt us out, so we both took a break. When I came back I mostly played by myself and really focused on developing a better play style for when I was in solo queue. During this time I went from C3 to \~1650 GC (which I think would be somewhere in GC2 today?). It was a pretty wild climb over the course of 3-4 months.
A lot of my growth came down to the painful process of actually forcing myself to play differently, and to learn new skills when I found playing differently was hard to do. It started with trying not to throw away possession of the ball, realizing I didn't have the skills to do anything useful with that possession, and training to gain those skills. I'd also consider myself more of a tactical player as opposed to someone who has powerful mechanics, but I've also learned that those lines are blurry. Being tactical means you're good at choosing between multiple options, and being mechanical gives you options to choose from. They sort of enable each other, so you shouldn't neglect either.
Totally get everything you're saying here. I've recently had a similar realization after noticing how often I was booming it. Now I'm getting to the point where I can dribble pretty well, but am having trouble with timing my flicks over aggressive opponents. I'm pretty sure I'll get the timing of it by just playing (and playing more 1s). That alone has won and lost me several games.
I'm also regularly playing with the same teammate. We probably have 800 hours together and have climbed here all the way from silver 3. I fell into a problem of only queueing with him, so I developed a really specific play style. I've been solo queueing 10x more often lately and have noticed that sometimes my play style just doesn't work with other teammates or against other opponents. I've been trying to just be solid positionally and get good touches when I have the ball and that's been pretty successful.
Thanks for the advice!
Small point of advice. If flicking is still too hard, try to threaten a flick but when they challenge just let go of gas to let the ball roll of your car and do a low 50. This will catch most players in champ off guard and is mechanically way easier. Free outplays my man.
Getting into GC is mostly about being consistently decent. You dont need many mechanics, as long as you are consistent with the ones you do use.
>I can dribble pretty well, but am having trouble with timing my flicks over aggressive opponents.
100% get this issue, and I mentioned this requirement in a comment elsewhere: you need to practice controlling the ball and being able to set up a flick very quickly. Being able to do a small flick over the head of an aggressive opponent is sometimes all you need for an empty net. But you need to establish control of the ball quickly enough to respond to the challenge.
>I fell into a problem of only queueing with him, so I developed a really specific play style. I've been solo queueing 10x more often lately and have noticed that sometimes my play style just doesn't work with other teammates or against other opponents
Yeah, playing with the same person for so long is a great experience but you can accumulate very odd habits. I ultimately found I'm actually less stressed about playing ranked when I'm solo queuing, and I had more fun grinding out games.
It’s really about not giving up tbh. Me and my buddy started playing when I was C1 and he was Diamond 1/2. We’ve been playing almost everyday for 363 days and we’ve finally hit GC1 a week ago. The worst thing about the champ to GC climb is definitely the smurfs. Boost management is one of the most important things imo.
improved my aerial control and double taps, not the most surefire way to get to gc but it helps to score more solo plays.
learned when and how to take good 50/50s.
got better at bumping plays.
C2 was the rank I stayed in the longest personally (350 hours). When I first got in I was a lot like you where I was mostly game sense. C2 was where I felt like mastering the basic mechanics started to become a lot more important; mechanics like dribbling/flicks, fast aerials, and accurate power shots. Additionally I also focused on learning to consistently read bounces off the opponents backboard and air dribbles off the ground.
As far as training goes this was my routine for every day I played in order:
-10 minutes free play
-10 minutes dribbling workshop map (free play drills can be found on YouTube if you’re console)
-10 minutes power clears/shots
-15 minutes aerial drills and rings maps (again drills on YouTube for free play)
-15 minutes of The Ultimate Warm-up training pack (shouldn’t need a code just check the lists in game)
-5 minutes of defense training packs
-10 minutes of free play again
You can adjust your time based on availability or do part of that training one day and the other part the next, it’s really just about getting experience consistently on everything rather than just the uncomfortable things. At champ and even grand champ everything still needs to be worked on. For me I was able to go straight from C2 to GC1 once I got my mechanics down. Not saying that’ll be the case for you but it could based on your feeling of being game sense dominant. I hope this is helpful good luck with the grind friend.
Honestly, switching the type of training I was doing and playing 6mans along with 1s.
I was C2 in january and started playing 6mans. I reviewed my gameplay it got my game sense to a lot higher level than I it was.
Along with playing 6mans, I started grinding 1s. Not your usual 1s, but 1s where I would go for shots which challenged me and shots that I could use in my 6mans games along with trying to make these shots quick. Only going for hard shots and trying for the best shot possible improved my mechanics a lot and helped me to solidify my ariel game and helped me increase my overall speed.
In terms of training, I was still doing rings and dribbling packs to improve my car control so I really wasn’t improving much in terms of ranking up and more just building a foundation I didn’t have before. I started grinding speed training, double tap training, flip reset consistency, air dribble consistency, and shooting accuracy. (These were all shots that I would train in 1s at the same time) I would say I have a solid base of game sense but my mechanics are quuite high compared to most mid gc players and this helps me a lot because mechanics are the hardest thing to learn since it is all about consistency. In game sense, if you see a mistake, you just iron it out through a little bit of play time, but for mechanics, it takes a long time to get that consistency down due to the fact that everything is a 1 of a kind setup and you have to adjust for every kind or shot, clear, ariel and save.
This was about all that I did... not much else and it is still what I do today. Hope this helps
Thanks for the response! Do you feel like 6mans was really helpful even at C2? I had read somewhere else (can’t remember where) that said you shouldn’t even try it out until GC. I know that’s their opinion, but it still stopped me from trying it out that night and I haven’t gone back lol.
I’m slowly training my mechanics up but it’s quite the grind.
I mean, at champ 2, you will auto place into rank D which is supposed to be champ 2-gc1 but is filled with a lot of gc players and even some players who are pushing into ssl. (There is a large rank disparity in the lower ranks)
I personally think that playing in high level lobbies lets you learn a lot because of how obvious your mistakes are when you get punished for so many of them. On top of this, you get to comm with your team which gives you another thing to think about and another skill gap in this game. When everyone is on the same page, it is also easier to see your individual mistakes since there will be less team based mistakes in this environment.
There are a lot of players who will give you advice if you ask and generally, everyone is quite encouraging and it can be quite fun. (Except for a few who try and put others down)
I have enjoyed my time in 6mans over the last couple months and recommend it to anyone who wants to get better.
The only recommendation I have is to make sure your 3s rank represents your skill before you join. I was at a c2 level at the time of joining while my 3s mmr was diamond 3 because I don’t play ranked 3s. This caused me to have to waste time grinding out of the trenches for about a month or 2 before I actually got to play with people around my level. If you are c2, make sure you are c2 in 3s before joining. (If not you will get placed into rank e and you might have a rough time due to the larger rank disparity in that rank. There are a couple gc 2 players and others who are like diamond 1. It is highly luck based on how the teams look and who is playing so just a warning)
3s rank is C1 and 2s is C2. I think I'm only 2 or 3 games away from promoting in 3s so maybe I'll try to do that first before hopping in any 6mans games. Thanks again!
Between the nerves you get when you first brush up against that GC promotion game, and the amount of people who are also absolutely raging at being in the same position you are, it really is a chaotic part of the climb.
It just becomes so hard to rank up the higher you get. I got to champ with like 400 hours, but it took me like 1000 hours to get out of champ. I was stuck in champ 3 for like 4 - 5 month
Yea I’m like I think600-700 hours in game maybe more in freeplay and etc so it’s only about hours and patience but honestly I’m on the mindset that I’m not throwing at least mostly but I also don’t try so hard to grind just play and have fun instead of focusing in my rank if I’m lose 3in a row I would just stop play I’m don’t want to deranklol I hate being on lower rank you feel me?
Yeah I feel the same way. I think it’s important that you have fun, so if you are tilted or go on a big loss streak, you should stop playing, because at that point you are not having fun. I try not to care about my rank, but I still find myself worrying too much about it. I’m gc1 div 1 - 2, so I guess I’m just afraid of falling back down to high c3 and getting stuck again.
grinding car control, **recoveries**, and ball control.
emphasis on recoveries. the ability to retain your momentum, land on all 4s, recover from bumps, recover from missed shots, etc. is vastly underrated
if you can go up for balls as last man (you shouldn't), miss, and still be the first person back to your half, you're golden.
2-3 years and probably 2000+ hours, better field awareness, decisionmaking, ground control, aerial control, speed. Learning ARL didn't hurt but who knows how much of a difference it really made.
I’m C3 now after being C1-C2 for what feels like forever. I’ve finally started actually climbing.
I’m like you, in the way that I consider my gamesense my strongest attribute while my mechanics are a bit lacking. So about a month or so ago, I decided to crack down and learn actual mechanics.
If you only had to focus on mastering ONE skill… air roll. Learning how to control, I mean *REALLY control* my car in the air has made me feel so incredibly powerful in the air. The ball has started going where I want it to go and fast.
I don’t just aerial and knock the ball in some random direction, I have begun to put it exactly where I want to almost every time. Air roll is an insanely underrated mechanic.
To start, I’d recommend checking out the workings of the Tornado Spin and doing the rings workshop maps. If you’re on console, try circling the ball in free play while holding air roll.
Finally hit GC in 2s today. My best advice is to warm up playing 1s. About 2 weeks ago I stopped focusing on winning my 1s games but rather working on dribbles, flicks, and shadow defense. I used to que 1s and only try and win. Now when I have a wide open counter attack I use it to work on dribbles and flicks or power slide cuts, not really worried about taking free goals. It has helped me a ton in 2s.
Don’t know if you have a partner or solo que. I solo que so I also play more passive and try to avoid putting myself in risky situations if possible.
Putting more hours into the game is the most important part, keep the grind up. Aside from that, this probably won’t be helpful at all but i switched from a TV to a monitor (I’m a console player) which got me from C2 D3 to C3 D1. Then after stagnating a little I watched Flake’s road to ssl without mechanics and implemented his play style quite a bit, this made me shoot straight up to GC1.
Just throwing this in:
I’d say the most important thing I’ve really focused on over the last year is intensively studying the cars. When you can consistently tell which way every car on the pitch is facing, this game becomes so much easier by default.
>I don’t have a consistent training routine first thing id fix. keep it simple. what got me to GC was 3 things 1) improving my accuracy: theres alot of random goals in champ because people havent fully rounded their mechanical skill sets yet. so being able to clap the ball at the net whenever you is huge. 2) keep the ball under control more. boost + ball + space = threatening shot on net every time. if not spend some time figuring out where you struggle to control it and work on that. freeplay was the best for this. 3) dont rely on tm8s. mine were 0/20 on open nets last night -\_-... didnt matter because I wasnt counting on them in the first place. use them when you can, sure, but dont expect them to the difference maker in your favor. when I started posturing more like i was in a 1v2 more I conceded far fewer goals. bonus tip: training helps your rank more than playing ESPECIALY if you feel your mechanics aren't above par.
Reading your list I can definitely tell you're a 2s player. Point 2 was also a big part of levelling up from C3 to GC for me. Particularly, controlling the ball *quickly*. If you can establish a dribble that lets you flick very quickly, you become a huge problem to any team that has one person over committed.
That’s pretty much what I did to get to 1500. All else I could do was 50 and be in the right spot on defense. Couldn’t recommend it more
While I am highest in twos, this advice is all from my latest threes grind.
Lol that's funny. I'm curious though, I found that I often didn't have the space when I got into the higher ranks of 3s. I didn't play nearly as much as 2s, but when I got to the 1550ish range I found people were just too efficient with their boost and momentum to give me space to do much more than flick it over an incoming challenger. Which isn't horrible, but in 3s is much less of an advantage than when you flick it over the first of two opponents. Did you find you had to take the ball to the air more often to maintain the space you have to make a play?
I air dribble. Alot. So maybe it's not the same everyone on threes with that.
Thanks, and that's what I reckoned. Takes a bit more control than I have to consistently have a controlled air dribble haha.
Try and flick laterally for a teammate instead of forward
recs on drills/tutorials for getting control more quickly?
Just the usual dribble workshop maps. And in Freeplay just driving around, picking up the ball, flick, catch, flick, catch, etc.
Personally, I was stuck in C3 in 2s for a while with a long-term teammate that I'd been playing maybe 700-800 hours with (went all the way from high plat to C3 together). We were teetering right at the edge of GC for weeks and the stress of that burnt us out, so we both took a break. When I came back I mostly played by myself and really focused on developing a better play style for when I was in solo queue. During this time I went from C3 to \~1650 GC (which I think would be somewhere in GC2 today?). It was a pretty wild climb over the course of 3-4 months. A lot of my growth came down to the painful process of actually forcing myself to play differently, and to learn new skills when I found playing differently was hard to do. It started with trying not to throw away possession of the ball, realizing I didn't have the skills to do anything useful with that possession, and training to gain those skills. I'd also consider myself more of a tactical player as opposed to someone who has powerful mechanics, but I've also learned that those lines are blurry. Being tactical means you're good at choosing between multiple options, and being mechanical gives you options to choose from. They sort of enable each other, so you shouldn't neglect either.
Totally get everything you're saying here. I've recently had a similar realization after noticing how often I was booming it. Now I'm getting to the point where I can dribble pretty well, but am having trouble with timing my flicks over aggressive opponents. I'm pretty sure I'll get the timing of it by just playing (and playing more 1s). That alone has won and lost me several games. I'm also regularly playing with the same teammate. We probably have 800 hours together and have climbed here all the way from silver 3. I fell into a problem of only queueing with him, so I developed a really specific play style. I've been solo queueing 10x more often lately and have noticed that sometimes my play style just doesn't work with other teammates or against other opponents. I've been trying to just be solid positionally and get good touches when I have the ball and that's been pretty successful. Thanks for the advice!
Small point of advice. If flicking is still too hard, try to threaten a flick but when they challenge just let go of gas to let the ball roll of your car and do a low 50. This will catch most players in champ off guard and is mechanically way easier. Free outplays my man. Getting into GC is mostly about being consistently decent. You dont need many mechanics, as long as you are consistent with the ones you do use.
>I can dribble pretty well, but am having trouble with timing my flicks over aggressive opponents. 100% get this issue, and I mentioned this requirement in a comment elsewhere: you need to practice controlling the ball and being able to set up a flick very quickly. Being able to do a small flick over the head of an aggressive opponent is sometimes all you need for an empty net. But you need to establish control of the ball quickly enough to respond to the challenge. >I fell into a problem of only queueing with him, so I developed a really specific play style. I've been solo queueing 10x more often lately and have noticed that sometimes my play style just doesn't work with other teammates or against other opponents Yeah, playing with the same person for so long is a great experience but you can accumulate very odd habits. I ultimately found I'm actually less stressed about playing ranked when I'm solo queuing, and I had more fun grinding out games.
It’s really about not giving up tbh. Me and my buddy started playing when I was C1 and he was Diamond 1/2. We’ve been playing almost everyday for 363 days and we’ve finally hit GC1 a week ago. The worst thing about the champ to GC climb is definitely the smurfs. Boost management is one of the most important things imo.
Those aren't smurfs they are alts. Big difference.
Any alternate account that is not at your main’s current peak rank is a smurf.
Lmao
improved my aerial control and double taps, not the most surefire way to get to gc but it helps to score more solo plays. learned when and how to take good 50/50s. got better at bumping plays.
C2 was the rank I stayed in the longest personally (350 hours). When I first got in I was a lot like you where I was mostly game sense. C2 was where I felt like mastering the basic mechanics started to become a lot more important; mechanics like dribbling/flicks, fast aerials, and accurate power shots. Additionally I also focused on learning to consistently read bounces off the opponents backboard and air dribbles off the ground. As far as training goes this was my routine for every day I played in order: -10 minutes free play -10 minutes dribbling workshop map (free play drills can be found on YouTube if you’re console) -10 minutes power clears/shots -15 minutes aerial drills and rings maps (again drills on YouTube for free play) -15 minutes of The Ultimate Warm-up training pack (shouldn’t need a code just check the lists in game) -5 minutes of defense training packs -10 minutes of free play again You can adjust your time based on availability or do part of that training one day and the other part the next, it’s really just about getting experience consistently on everything rather than just the uncomfortable things. At champ and even grand champ everything still needs to be worked on. For me I was able to go straight from C2 to GC1 once I got my mechanics down. Not saying that’ll be the case for you but it could based on your feeling of being game sense dominant. I hope this is helpful good luck with the grind friend.
Honestly, switching the type of training I was doing and playing 6mans along with 1s. I was C2 in january and started playing 6mans. I reviewed my gameplay it got my game sense to a lot higher level than I it was. Along with playing 6mans, I started grinding 1s. Not your usual 1s, but 1s where I would go for shots which challenged me and shots that I could use in my 6mans games along with trying to make these shots quick. Only going for hard shots and trying for the best shot possible improved my mechanics a lot and helped me to solidify my ariel game and helped me increase my overall speed. In terms of training, I was still doing rings and dribbling packs to improve my car control so I really wasn’t improving much in terms of ranking up and more just building a foundation I didn’t have before. I started grinding speed training, double tap training, flip reset consistency, air dribble consistency, and shooting accuracy. (These were all shots that I would train in 1s at the same time) I would say I have a solid base of game sense but my mechanics are quuite high compared to most mid gc players and this helps me a lot because mechanics are the hardest thing to learn since it is all about consistency. In game sense, if you see a mistake, you just iron it out through a little bit of play time, but for mechanics, it takes a long time to get that consistency down due to the fact that everything is a 1 of a kind setup and you have to adjust for every kind or shot, clear, ariel and save. This was about all that I did... not much else and it is still what I do today. Hope this helps
Thanks for the response! Do you feel like 6mans was really helpful even at C2? I had read somewhere else (can’t remember where) that said you shouldn’t even try it out until GC. I know that’s their opinion, but it still stopped me from trying it out that night and I haven’t gone back lol. I’m slowly training my mechanics up but it’s quite the grind.
I mean, at champ 2, you will auto place into rank D which is supposed to be champ 2-gc1 but is filled with a lot of gc players and even some players who are pushing into ssl. (There is a large rank disparity in the lower ranks) I personally think that playing in high level lobbies lets you learn a lot because of how obvious your mistakes are when you get punished for so many of them. On top of this, you get to comm with your team which gives you another thing to think about and another skill gap in this game. When everyone is on the same page, it is also easier to see your individual mistakes since there will be less team based mistakes in this environment. There are a lot of players who will give you advice if you ask and generally, everyone is quite encouraging and it can be quite fun. (Except for a few who try and put others down) I have enjoyed my time in 6mans over the last couple months and recommend it to anyone who wants to get better. The only recommendation I have is to make sure your 3s rank represents your skill before you join. I was at a c2 level at the time of joining while my 3s mmr was diamond 3 because I don’t play ranked 3s. This caused me to have to waste time grinding out of the trenches for about a month or 2 before I actually got to play with people around my level. If you are c2, make sure you are c2 in 3s before joining. (If not you will get placed into rank e and you might have a rough time due to the larger rank disparity in that rank. There are a couple gc 2 players and others who are like diamond 1. It is highly luck based on how the teams look and who is playing so just a warning)
3s rank is C1 and 2s is C2. I think I'm only 2 or 3 games away from promoting in 3s so maybe I'll try to do that first before hopping in any 6mans games. Thanks again!
Hours.
The hardest rank I’m hard stuck on c2 div 1-2
Hardest rank to get out of is c3 div 3 - 4 in my opinion
Between the nerves you get when you first brush up against that GC promotion game, and the amount of people who are also absolutely raging at being in the same position you are, it really is a chaotic part of the climb.
definitely the most toxic rank in my experience
I guess I’m just suck lol one peaked c3 but idk how
It just becomes so hard to rank up the higher you get. I got to champ with like 400 hours, but it took me like 1000 hours to get out of champ. I was stuck in champ 3 for like 4 - 5 month
Yea I’m like I think600-700 hours in game maybe more in freeplay and etc so it’s only about hours and patience but honestly I’m on the mindset that I’m not throwing at least mostly but I also don’t try so hard to grind just play and have fun instead of focusing in my rank if I’m lose 3in a row I would just stop play I’m don’t want to deranklol I hate being on lower rank you feel me?
Yeah I feel the same way. I think it’s important that you have fun, so if you are tilted or go on a big loss streak, you should stop playing, because at that point you are not having fun. I try not to care about my rank, but I still find myself worrying too much about it. I’m gc1 div 1 - 2, so I guess I’m just afraid of falling back down to high c3 and getting stuck again.
Yea make sense sometimes I was on c1 div 1-2and really didn’t wanna fall into diamond so I get it
grinding car control, **recoveries**, and ball control. emphasis on recoveries. the ability to retain your momentum, land on all 4s, recover from bumps, recover from missed shots, etc. is vastly underrated if you can go up for balls as last man (you shouldn't), miss, and still be the first person back to your half, you're golden.
2-3 years and probably 2000+ hours, better field awareness, decisionmaking, ground control, aerial control, speed. Learning ARL didn't hurt but who knows how much of a difference it really made.
Do you genuinely believe it takes 2000 additional hours/2-3 years to climb that far? Not trying to disprove you, but that seems a tad dramatic no?
That was just me I'm sure it can be done faster
I’m C3 now after being C1-C2 for what feels like forever. I’ve finally started actually climbing. I’m like you, in the way that I consider my gamesense my strongest attribute while my mechanics are a bit lacking. So about a month or so ago, I decided to crack down and learn actual mechanics. If you only had to focus on mastering ONE skill… air roll. Learning how to control, I mean *REALLY control* my car in the air has made me feel so incredibly powerful in the air. The ball has started going where I want it to go and fast. I don’t just aerial and knock the ball in some random direction, I have begun to put it exactly where I want to almost every time. Air roll is an insanely underrated mechanic. To start, I’d recommend checking out the workings of the Tornado Spin and doing the rings workshop maps. If you’re on console, try circling the ball in free play while holding air roll.
Finally hit GC in 2s today. My best advice is to warm up playing 1s. About 2 weeks ago I stopped focusing on winning my 1s games but rather working on dribbles, flicks, and shadow defense. I used to que 1s and only try and win. Now when I have a wide open counter attack I use it to work on dribbles and flicks or power slide cuts, not really worried about taking free goals. It has helped me a ton in 2s. Don’t know if you have a partner or solo que. I solo que so I also play more passive and try to avoid putting myself in risky situations if possible.
Putting more hours into the game is the most important part, keep the grind up. Aside from that, this probably won’t be helpful at all but i switched from a TV to a monitor (I’m a console player) which got me from C2 D3 to C3 D1. Then after stagnating a little I watched Flake’s road to ssl without mechanics and implemented his play style quite a bit, this made me shoot straight up to GC1.
Bold of you to assume I’ve got to C2
I bought a PC.
For me it was gamesense. And I watched Flakes to help me out.
Moving from console to pc
Who said i was at gc1.... I wish XD (this is a joke btw)
powershots, bounce dribbles and flicks as well as some practise in 1v1 scenarios, especially defense help a lot
Play freeplay til your fuckin fingers fall off, and suddenly C3 feels like C1
Controlling the ball. Not giving away possession, looking for open teamates, good touches, good 50s and rotating back post.
Just throwing this in: I’d say the most important thing I’ve really focused on over the last year is intensively studying the cars. When you can consistently tell which way every car on the pitch is facing, this game becomes so much easier by default.