It’s wild to think about, but Rocket League freestyling absorbs the brunt end of a fiery vengeance these days.
I mean…
At what point did we, as a community, collectively decide to hate watching players blossom skills rivaling the grace of an Olympic diver?
It’s a simple answer, really. There’s no definitive code of conduct.
Players who rose into the scene in 2017 (or later) harbor resentment toward freestyling smurfs. You know, the ones who drop their ranks and flex new players out of the game. They convinced us we needed to learn flashy mechanics to pull into ranks like… Gold 2.
In the end, we discovered the truth. But we felt like we flushed our early training hours down a nauseating, grotesque back-alley toilet.
But those hours weren’t wasted. We expanded our horizons. Adding a little flair to the occasional shot makes you trickier to predict. Competitive Rocket League freestyling is as cool as ever. It’s a rewarding end-game goal.
Even watching a few clips from the top freestylers listed here can level up your game. You’ll scurry home to drill valuable training sequences; and, thanks to the playful nature of freestyling, you’ll rekindle some joy you felt during your early days.
Scoring flashy trick shots adds a boon to your longevity here. Trust me.
Stick it out. Don’t be too harsh on yourself during the arduous road to mastery. Most TikTok influencers and click farmers game the system, setting unrealistic standards. Your wall Musty double tap is still really freakin’ cool, bro. I promise.
And, in the meantime, I’ll hook you up with a list of the most respectable Rocket League freestylers, groups, and orgs to pump your adrenaline.
Rocket League freestyling is akin to watching a Harlem Globetrotters game or an NBA dunk competition.
It’s a showcase of raw mechanical power. It’s prime territory for witnessing humanity tiptoe beyond its limitations – soaring above heights that even RL’s development team couldn’t imagine.
Simply put: Rocket League freestyling is an elegant dance of synchronized car soccer. Freestyles fall into three categories: Team Freestyling, Competitive Freestyling, and No-Flips.
Most freestylers listed formed teams, but I’m omitting their tags to future-proof this article. I learned my lesson after OSM stirred some drama with Pulse.
These boys deserve recognition as individuals, anyway. A handful of them even crash-landed on my Top Rocket League YouTuber list.
I’ll link everyone’s channel in the drop-down menus below. Enjoy!
RL veterans might remember this man as JHZR. Don’t worry, it’s not the Mandela Effect. He updated his brand. JZR is a retired pro whose name appears on a banner in Champion’s Field. More importantly, he’s the OG freestyler. He’s been amassing beautiful car-ball clips since the SARPBC dinosaur days. And he’s still kicking. It was inevitable he’d patent his own flick. JZR is a legend.
In November of 2015, MK forever shifted the RL scene by introducing Pulse Clan. They didn’t yet know the story they’d unfold. The early days of Pulse emanated the vibes of a ragtag team of friends playing their favorite game together. But, with a little added exposure from JZR, MK birthed a legacy. One that still thrives today. Every RL freestyler worth their salt has matched up with MK and his crew.
It’s difficult to emulate Evample’s play style. He’s constantly drifting on the ground all loosey-goosey. Even his fakes involve rotating along two to three different axes. Yet, his game sense allows him to topple SSL lobbies. Evample started playing Rocket League during Season 3. He was the first player to consistently land triple resets. Since then, he’s transformed his style into a full-blown aesthetic.
There’s no doubt in my mind that Maktuf is the best mechanical player in the world. He’s the father of the Maktuf Reset. ‘Nuff said.
Have you ever seen a Hexa Heli? Would you like to? What about a filthy Musty-Sidewall redirect? Spyro slaps.
I never thought I’d see the day a player vibing off triple Heli Resets would successfully go pro. Yet, here we are. Forky signed to PWR and the rest was history. Sure, RLCS pros retire into freestyling seats all the time, but this guy took the opposite approach. He yearned to elevate his stress levels.
This man might boast more signature style than Evample. He pogo’s himself off the ball for high pops. He can hold the ball stationary mid-flight. In unlimited boost matchups, Jakze is nigh unstoppable.
OSM casually flaunts superhuman capabilities. For starters, he’s been freestyling since he was 12. He can chain turtle setups to pogos with natural boost settings. He single-handedly trips up skilled teams with cross-field Psycho taps. Seriously, where does OSM unsheath such raw power from? These days, OSM’s chasing Forky into the RLCS scene, and we’re all rooting for him. I mean, we practically grew up with OSM.
I can’t list the top freestylers without mentioning the man who ushered in the iconic Muiri Reset. It’s a backflip cancel into another flip reset, and this guy became crazy consistent with it. If boost isn’t a concern, he’s got the Muiri Pop on his side, too. An infinite flip timer from the ground? Muiri, you broke Rocket League! Mad respect.
Alright, I think everyone’s heard of Breezi by now. He’s invented two household flicks, both of which carry his name on the label: The Breezi Flick and Breezi Pop. Here’s what you might not know: Breezi’s a top-ranked freestyler. He isn’t durdling around in Bronze lobbies where the sky is lava. He’s whipping out methodical Breezi flicks against world-class players. I can’t fathom how he finds the space – but he always does. Gloss his montages. They won’t disappoint.
Want to see what 7,000+ hours of Rocket League does to a guy? Henkovic started streaming as a New Year’s resolution in 2020 and scooped a spot in Pulse Clan almost overnight. He’s a sensation with a lengthy career ahead of him. I’ll promise you that.
This monstrosity could blast pancake resets on repeat from one end of the backboard to the other. He treats the backboard like it’s his personal trampoline. He’s a great team freestyler, too.
Novel is the guy you see clipping the reverse ceiling shuffles and unhinged Batmobile strings. If you’re hunting for a unique, laid-back montage, Novel doesn’t rush for anything. He’s incapable of feeling stress. He’ll make you question RL’s physics limitations. He’ll inject mechanical inspiration straight into your veins, no doubt.
Stuxi is the best enemy backboard cherry picker I’ve seen. His redirect angles are insane. That alone rates him in the top 10 team freestylers in the world, but he brings so much more to the table.
The Sting Pop is probably the dumbest mechanic in Rocket League. You land upside down like a certified bronze – and magically transform it into a mesmerizing second launch. It shouldn’t work. But Sting combos off with it as a competitive freestyler. He’s decimating SSL’s. He peppers his plays with gorgeous air drag catches from underside flip resets. His flip cancels are super clean. He prejumps some of the most difficult reads in the game. Sting delivers.
Here’s a team freestyler who utilizes awesome mid-air bumps from teammates. He’s equipped with a nasty arsenal of ceiling redirects. He’s perfected the Evample-dash flick. I’ve seen him demo in reverse. And, to top it all off, Kusch is a double tap mastermind.
I’m not sure I’ve ever caught a freestyler chain so many ground pinches in a single shot. Moisty ricochet’s the ball across the field like he’s playing psycho pinball with a 4-wheeled paddle. I’m here for it.
Sometimes I wonder if Ganer is the offspring of a cyborg. His inputs are always precise. He’s probably never made a mistake in his life. Ganer is the current world record holder for longest consecutive flip reset chain. He’s robotic, yet it’s so… enchanting.
While this man can chain Mustys into flip resets for days in freeplay, I want to highlight his ground game. Mesko plays in top-level lobbies, often taking advantage of his space to string half flips and reverse driving tech in his plays. He’ll whip up a few 180 death cancels before launching into the sky with a picture perfect air drag. Beautiful.
There’s a reason we call a smooth air roll a “Kuxir Twist” and we call gnarly pinches from the back half of the stadium “Kuxir Pinches.” Kuxir97 never retreated from the experimentation grounds. He knew how to Musty Flick before Musty. He could air dribble fresh out the gate. And he accomplished these things on live streams, in the professional RLCS circuit. He influenced players by the millions. So, despite how much the game evolves, Kuxir shall forever remain on top RL freestyler lists until the end of time. Without him, we probably wouldn’t have a freestyling scene to begin with.
Maybe you want to scout out your own freestylers or try your hand at joining a crew. Here’s a list of RL Freestyling teams you can browse.
If you think you have what it takes, simply apply. They get tons of applicants. I recommend hiring a video editor for montage submissions. If that’s out of your budget, you can always try pulling some clout on the RLFS discord channel.
(In exactly this order.)
More specifically, you’ll want to master the Kuxir Twist. That’s where the corner edge of your car becomes the rotation axis for your spins. You can easily Kuxir Twist by:
1) Turning 45 degrees pre-launch.
2) Tilting straight back after jumping.
3) Learning to Tornado Spin. That’s Pulling your analog stick in the opposite direction of your directional air roll.
4) Note that mastering the micro-adjustments related to Tornado Spins yields more overall car control. Top-level RL freestylers rarely use static analog inputs in mid-air.
There’s nothing lamer than that guy who insists he can beat you in a 1v1 exclusively with infinite boost. Pretty shots lose their value when their execution devours 3,000 boost. Luckily, I’ve prepared a few tips to give your freestyles some added potency:
Aerial ball control is the core skill that glues your chains together. Plus, wall-to-air dribbles push your opponents onto their backboard. That buys you valuable field space. Here’s my air dribbling guide.
A solid grasp on ceiling shot physics lays the groundwork for consistent infinite flip timers. But a good freestyler glues themself to the ball. You aren’t aiming for any old ceiling shot. You want a clean spiral leap from the wall with a straight landing. I’ll shed a few tips for consistent wall launches.
Here’s my in-depth guide for consistent ceiling shots in Rocket League.
Double taps separate the competitive freestylers from the Diamond hotheads. Good backboard reads paired with tight angling mop the floor against the most clever opponents in Rocket League.
If you want your shots to have a serious impact on the game, string in double and triple taps. Otherwise, you’ll end up watching dozens of replay clips where you eat a dunk and surrender a point. Any half-decent Plat can stuff a low-hanging air dribble. Keep that ball elevated, and when the moment is right, spike that ball straight into the goal.
Here’s a guide for better wall reads in RL.
Flip Resets are the final frontier for an aspiring Rocket League freestyler. They’ll open up the most opportunities and guarantee you can launch the ball around at high velocities. The most important flip reset to learn is the Rapid Reset. These are the barrel rolls you see between multiple reset trains. Pancake Resets are handy for salvaging plays where you’re inching up too closely on the backboard. And Heli Resets look the cleanest once you master your aerial car control.
Once you’ve laid a solid foundation, it’s time to get creative. Sprinkle in some Pogos. Try turtling. Clean up your Kuxir and Ground Pinches. Slap Musty and Breezi flicks like they’re Frank’s Red Hot Sauce.
A good ceiling shuffle and stall won’t hurt, either.
I’ll list some community-made training packs that anyone can access. These packs are specially made to stitch together freestyling mechanics through hard repetition.
To access custom training packs:
Now for the training codes:
If you’re on PC, you can also check out some workshop maps. They’re tailored for testing the limits of your ball and car control.
I’ll link tools for tracking down freestyling buddies. People you’ll get to brew team plays and friendly competitions with.
Discord:
Reddit:
Steam:
Show good freestyling etiquette. You want to be a figure that inspires players to continue their grind. Not someone who shrinks the community.
Freestyle responsibly! Smurfing will end your RL career. New accounts earn the benefit of the doubt, but once you’re caught purposely throwing ranked matches, you’ll be suffocating beneath a massive ban hammer.
In private matches, the freestyling community often speculates you’re abusing mutators, namely slow-mo, altered physics, and infinite boost.
And, to worsen matters, we now live in a world where Tool Assisted Software (TAS) can leverage the RL engine one frame at a time.
So what do I recommend?
If you don’t mind keyboard warriors coming at your private match clips, you’ve got options for more engaging game modes. Like tournaments and show matches with friends.
A game of H.O.R.S.E. Over comms could become one of your fondest RL memories. Here’s the best way to get started:
If you’re playing on PC, you can fire up a custom workshop map designed for firing off air dribbles. Players take turns defending from defensive spawns.
The map is called “Air Dribble Melee” by TJBrother.
Freestylers often stray from traditional camera settings. Sometimes they’ll hike their camera up so high you can’t even see the back of their car. Generally, the community agrees that these camera settings make freestyling in Rocket League easiest:
Note that we’re aiming to keep the camera as close to the ball as possible without losing any competitive edge. Many pro players use different settings. That’s because they aren’t aiming to hit nasty shots, they’re vigilantly eyeballing skilled opponents.
While we’re toggling in menus, I’ll link a data dump on popular RL video and control settings.
I’ll sign off with a little easter egg. Did you know somebody programmed a Rocket League freestyling bot for you to challenge in private matches?
He can do just about anything with picture-perfect precision, and he’ll understand command prompts.
The RL freestyle bot is named Stallion. It was programmed by VirxEC. If you’d like to see Stallion in action, Sledge created a video pitting the bot against Retals in a game of Horse.
Happy clip hunting!