Demolitions are arguably the most divisive aspect of Rocket League’s gameplay, as they require players to reach supersonic speeds in order to eliminate an opponent from the game. While players may have strong feelings about this aspect of the game, no one can deny the effectiveness of demolitions when they are utilized effectively. This article will walk you through the mechanics of demolitions and show you how to make the most of them to take your game to the next level.
Rocket League is essentially a combination of soccer and racing cars. The goal of each match is to score goals in your opponent’s goal while preventing them from doing the same to you. One thing, however, that does not translate from its real-life inspirations, and that is the idea of demolitions. It is possible to gain a significant advantage over the other team by eliminating one of their players from the game and putting them in a precarious position. Demolitions are an essential part of Rocket League, despite the fact that they are frequently overlooked. They are firmly establishing their place in the meta, and are becoming increasingly important to supplement both offensive and defensive efforts.
I will walk you through the technical aspects of demolitions, their place in the current Rocket League meta, and the best way to utilize them in this article. There is a right way and a wrong way to use demolitions. If you use them incorrectly, they can throw you out of position. But if you use them at the right time, they can win the game for you. Demolitions have a rich history that is replete with controversy and various iterations of game mechanics. But they continue to be valuable assets to any organization, regardless of competition level.
The Process Behind Demolitions
First things first, before we can put demolitions, which will be referred to as “demos” from here on out, to use, we need to find out how they operate. According to a Psyonix developer who goes by the username u/Psyonix_Cone on Reddit. In order to have a successful demo, there are three requirements that need to be met:
- The front of the vehicle has to be where the impact occurred
- It appears that you are traveling at a supersonic speed in the forward direction
According to a tweet posted by Psyonix developer Corey Davis, the vector extends from your center of mass to your opponent’s center of mass.
It must be within 45 degrees horizontally and 37 degrees vertically of your car’s forward direction. This requirement applies to both the horizontal and vertical components of the vector. Let’s do a quick run-through of each requirement and the various ways in which they can be fulfilled. It doesn’t matter how fast you are, you can’t demolish an opponent backward or sideways. The first condition simply requires that you make contact with the opponent using the front of your car.
It is possible to define the front of the vehicle as the portion of the rectangular hitbox that is located in the front of the vehicle. The second criterion establishes the benchmark for speed. Although supersonic speed is frequently associated with demonstrations, its precise meaning is not always made abundantly clear. The common misconception is that the supersonic is the same as the maximum speed. However, the maximum speed is actually 2300 Unreal Units per second, while supersonic travels at 2200 uu/s.
It is possible to achieve supersonic speed without the use of a boost by simply flipping; once a trail appears behind the wheels of your car.
This condition has been achieved provided that you are driving forwards. Supersonic speed can be achieved without the use of a boost by simply flipping. The very last requirement is a little bit more difficult to fulfill. Assuming that all of the other requirements are satisfied. This vector would be used to make the decision as to whether or not there would be any contact at all. Whether it is a demolition, a bump, or nothing at all.
It is important to keep in mind that the location of the center of mass varies from vehicle to vehicle. Due to the length and height differences between the vehicles. Your opponent needs to be within 45 degrees, forming a 90-degree cone on the front of your car horizontally. In order for you to successfully demolish them.
The vertical requirements are a little bit more stringent, despite the fact that aerial demolition plays. The exception of the air-dribble bump, do not occur nearly as frequently as it used to. If your opponent is too far above or below the nose of your car, a demo will not take place. This is because the 37-degree requirement simply means the same things as the requirement that came before it. But in a vertical orientation.
A speedy topic that I’d like to address before moving on is the fact that demolitions were changed in a temporary capacity in update 1.78 of Rocket League. Which was released in June 2020. However, these changes were reverted about two weeks after. They were implemented, leaving us with the older demolition rules that I outlined. Before moving on, I’d like to address the fact that demolitions were changed temporarily in update 1.78 of Rocket League.
The Resurrection of the Meta-Demolition
It is essential that you have a solid understanding of the function that demos currently play in Rocket League. Even though demos were held at the beginning of the Rocket League competitions, they were not particularly noteworthy. Although they were possible, they were not very common in the scene. Nevertheless, throughout the course of Rocket League’s existence, there has been a discernible upward trend in the rates of destruction.
Both graphs show what is plainly discernible to be a dramatic uptick in the number of demolitions carried out. To begin, let’s talk about the different ranks’ uses of demolition.
There is a sizeable increase in the gap between each subsequent rank due to this fact. The average number of demolitions performed by players increases significantly with each new rank. At the level of Supersonic Legend and at the RLCS level. Defense is on a completely different level than what most players are used to seeing in typical games. This is one of the primary reasons why this trend has emerged.
When there is a position with one defender against one attacker, is typical for the defender to have an advantage because the defense has been incredibly refined in recent years, and two against two is even more difficult for the offensive side. Because of this, rocket leauge items is necessary for there to be a strategy that can subvert such an impregnable defense. To begin, players are allowed to attempt a much greater variety of mechanical plays, such as backboard touches, fast passes, and flip resets. However, despite the fact that these can be lethal, as shown by top teams like G2 Esports and Team Liquid. They require a massive amount of time to refine and have the potential to fail due to human error.
Demolitions, on the other hand, are the subject of this entire article because they are the alternative method. At the highest level, demolitions have the potential to turn a scenario into an unfair situation for the defense by depriving them of one player beyond what they require to cover the play. This makes it much simpler to score goals because most credits in rocket league is impossible for the defenders to stop more players than they have on their team, regardless of how skilled they are.
