Based on the Season 7 rank distribution data provided by Psyonix, 32.89% of the player base was ranked in Gold in the standard 3v3 playlist. That's the highest amount that any one rank holds for that playlist by a significant margin. So just when you bully your way out of Silver and you can taste the glory of Platinum within reach, you instead find the one rank with the single widest distribution of skill that you have to fight through. It takes months for many players to work through and it can be demoralizing, but we have some tips to help you climb out.

Fast Takeoff

Growing competence in your aerial game is what got you out of Silver, but it's time to start evolving. You've got the fundamentals down, but now you need to start working on the details of aerials just as hard as you worked on the whole before. The best place to start improving your aerials is to learn the fast takeoff. You've likely been jumping once, tilting back and boosting for most of your aerials, but now it's time to exchange that for the fast takeoff. There are several variations, but we'll keep to a couple of the most common options for now.

The basic tenet of the fast takeoff is that instead of jumping once for your launch, you need to jump twice. A more entry-level version of the fast takeoff is simply to double tap jump, boost as you see fit based on how far in front of you the ball is, then tilt back for the aerial. This version of the fast takeoff will give you an advantage for a while, but as you get better at this you'll want to start with a single jump, then tilt back, then jump again, all while boosting. This second—more advanced—iteration is the fastest way to aerial but often leads to backflips as it requires you to finish tilting backwards and stop pulling back on the joystick prior to the second jump and then continue any further required trajectory adjustments afterwards. Even a small mistake will lead to a back flip which can be very frustrating while just beginning to learn this method.

As you implement this into your aerials, you'll soon start to see yourself reaching aerial touches faster than your opponents in lower Gold levels even when they launched first. Once you rank up, it will become a necessity to just compete for aerials. We have examples of each type of takeoff below for comparison.



Normal Takeoff - Basic Fast Takeoff

Advanced Fast Takeoff

The differences may appear subtle, but in the context of a full-speed game where the being ahead by a single frame can determine the difference between a goal and a block, fast takeoffs become essential to success.

One factor to keep in mind is that you will not be able to dodge into the ball once you reach it after using a fast takeoff. So in addition to rewriting muscle memory for the takeoff itself, you’ll also need to adjust your line toward the ball. When you're going up for a contested aerial, you'll need to aim for the bottom of the ball. This way, if you’re racing an opponent to the touch that you’re going to reach first, you’ll hit the ball over and past the opponent instead of into him.





Recoveries

If you haven't started to become comfortable with air-roll, now is the time. Any time you jump for anything, you need to be using air-roll to land on your wheels when you come back down. Maybe you've started to pick this up already, but you also need to transition into doing the same thing on the walls. Ensuring that you land on your wheels in all circumstances will improve the speed of your entire game. A player that can go for an aerial and get back down and into rotation quickly not only improves his team's offensive pressure but also its defensive presence.





Half-Flips

While half-flips are a type of recovery in a way, we've separated it due to the fact it's more advanced than just using air-roll. To execute a half-flip, pull back on your joystick and jump. While still holding back on the joystick, perform a second jump. As soon as you initiate the second jump, press forward on the joystick to cancel the backflip. This will leave you in the air with your hood facing down toward the pitch. At this point, air-roll back to your wheels. Many players who play with primarily the multi-directional air-roll will bind a single directional air roll command to an unused button to use solely for half-flips as it does make the input a little less mechanically intensive.

This mechanic should mostly be used when your offense is transitioning to defense to allow you to turn around and get back to defend your net quickly. While just starting you should practice without using boost, but as you get more comfortable, experiment with using boost after you initiate the backflip and before your begin air rolling to land on your wheels. This will increase the amount of ground you cover during the mechanic and improve your recovery speed even further.

Trend Defensive

Many Gold players, especially those in lower gold, still ball-chase more than they should. This can be frustrating to watch as offensive pressure fizzles out while two players with no boost or momentum continue to make plays on the ball. It will be tempting to race forward and power that ball out of the gridlock to rejuvenate your team's pressure. But if you're third man back, don't move forward until you see a teammate coming back. And if you're forward and you see both your teammates are also forward, you need to be the player to take the initiative and get back on defense.

Understand that defense does not mean in your net. During a sustained offense, the third man back should hang somewhere between the outside of your own box and the half line. This allows you to move forward to maintain offensive pressure as soon as you see a teammate rotating out and allows you to retreat following a power-clear.

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