No Im Never Gonna Make the Same Mistake Again Octane

Rocket League has more than than 30 different car bodies bachelor in total, between the standard models, the unlockable bodies in crates, and the premium add-on offerings. And so why, and then, do the vast majority of pro players today use Octane?

Merely expect at the grand finals of recent major tournaments. At the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) World Championship in June, all half dozen players beyond Northern Gaming and Mock-information technology Esports used an Octane. Last month at the 10 Games, five of the half-dozen grand finalists picked Octane, and and so at DreamHack Atlanta, it was all Octane in the final showdown nonetheless once again.

Car choice is critical to high-level Rocket League success, every bit the hitbox and turning radius tin vary noticeably between bodies. Some cars are better at aeriform hits or dribbling, while others smack the brawl harder simply can struggle with 50-50s when two rival cars get for the ball at the aforementioned time. For many pros, it'south simply a matter of comfort and confidence, and knowing that a bounce will react the manner they await it to each and every fourth dimension.

But bated from a scattering of outliers who have stuck with an alternate auto and congenital their game around it, nigh of the pack goes for Octane — and nosotros take seen some pros make the switch to Octane merely this summertime, too. What makes Octane so dominant in the pro meta? Nosotros asked several pro players about why they've stuck with (or switched over to) Octane, and also got some details from developer Psyonix almost what makes it distinctive.

It just feels right

There's more nuance to that, of class, just when nosotros had a chance to conversation with several teams at X Games last month virtually using Octane (or its ZSR variant), nearly of the responses came down to feel.

Many players say Octane is the best pick because it hits a sweet spot in terms of turning radius hitbox size, and shot impact — and that likewise manifests itself in how effective it is with dribbling and aerial ball control. Marius "gReazymeister" Ranheim, the former FlipSid3 Tactics world champion who recently signed with Team EnVyUs, called Octane "the best all-around car. It's upwardly at that place on everything you lot practice. Air dribbles, aerials, dribbles."

Octane continues to soar in pro popularity

© Psyonix

For some players, it but feels spectacular to smash a shot in the net with Octane. Despite its relatively diminutive size, Octane packs a punch. Rogue histrion Emiliano "Sizz" Benny said his all-time most-played car is Dominus, with some 3,000 hours logged with that longer, stronger body — but he was quickly converted once he swapped to Octane.

"I kind of merely switched over to the Octane for the get-go time and it'southward like, 'This car feels and so much better,'" he recalled. "Everything about the car: the hitbox, it'due south like the perfect size, it's not overly big, and it hits really stiff compared to other cars. You get these boomers that you don't expect from other cars, and it's really prissy to hitting i. You just experience so good afterwards you lot hit it."

It's fascinating to hear the players describe these digital cars in extensive, loving detail, and they clearly have a powerful human relationship with them. But it'due south non surprising: They spend potentially thousands of hours behind the rocket boosters of these roadsters. They know every nuance and rely on them and their consistency to win games, secure championships, obtain organizational support, and ultimately make coin and build a career. Of class they're fixated on finding the best operation and the best fit for their playstyle.

Octane's aeriform abilities are particularly critical in pro-level play, where drivers spend much of their time soaring to meet the brawl in the air — whether it's to take a shot or block an incoming ball. "The Octane has smashing aerials — you tin hit with so much power, especially if you practice with it," affirmed Isaac "Turtle" App, the ex-Rogue starter who is now G2 Esports' sub.

He adds that its dominance in the 1v1 way, which requires more than individual precision and is a little brainier in terms of needing to outsmart opponents, really showcases Octane'south abilities. And those techniques tin can't hurt players on a 3v3 team, either. "It's a fantastic 1v1 motorcar. Everybody in 1s uses Octane, so that's already a adept sign," added Turtle. "Also, the turning radius is actually good compared to most cars. Information technology'due south average, if not better."

It'southward the consistency

The most elite Rocket League pros are incredibly precise with their play. They read the field, read the ball, and fifty-fifty read their competitors' actions and instinctively know how and when to react. And a lot of that has to practice with auto choice. Players want to know that their car is going to do exactly what they expect it to, and that if they do their own function, then the ball will about always react in the expected mode. For many pros, Octane is the best pick for that.

"There's less mistakes to be made with Octane than with some other cars," asserted Remco "Remkoe" den Boer, captain of Team EnVyUs and last season'southward RLCS champion under Northern Gaming. "With a lot of situations, it'southward just easy to get a good hit on the ball instead of missing with a unlike kind of car. I don't exactly know what it is — information technology's only that Octane gives you the feeling that y'all're going to mess up less than with other cars."

Outside of Octane, the side by side most prevalent auto amongst meridian-tier players is probably the Batmobile (from last year'southward Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice), and we've seen some incredible play with information technology. FlipSid3 Tactics' Francesco "kuxir97" Cinquemani is arguably the best-known Batmobile player, and he'south a mechanical master, not to mention an RLCS champion. Likewise, at present-retired season one champion Ted "0ver Zer0" Keil from iBUYPOWER Catholic won with Batmobile. Other notable players who have used Batmobile of belatedly include Jayson "Fireburner" Nunez" from NRG and Nicolai "Snaski" Andersen of The Leftovers.

Batmobile: the best thing about that motion picture?

© Psyonix

The Batmobile, similar other longer cars (including Dominus), hits balls with an incredibly hard punch — even stronger than the Octane. The extra length besides offers a slight edge, and the Batmobile is a hair wider than other long cars, which helps explain its popularity exterior of Octane. Also, according to Sizz, "The air dribbling with the Batmobile is definitely the all-time in the game, past far. That auto is then like shooting fish in a barrel to air distill with. It's insane."

And so why don't more people use the Batmobile? It comes downwardly to 50-50s, in large part. Octane is a chip taller than the Batmobile and other long cars, and that ways players have more than surface area to win that head-to-head smash-up against the shorter, flatter Batmobile. That can result in near-misses when going for the ball, but Batmobile players tin can turn their cars slightly to try and compensate. Even so, it's much easier to get a favorable result with Octane.

As Remkoe said, information technology'south all about minimizing mistakes — and many players believe the Octane does the best chore of that. Another attribute of that is how Octane looks in relation to how information technology reacts. This varies from motorcar to automobile, merely multiple players said that Octane offers the best friction match.

"You tin see the hitbox as you lot're using the car. Information technology's so defined," Sizz affirmed. "You lot don't have to worry near, say, maybe you striking some weird affect a corner you didn't realize was there."

"Octane feels adept. The way it looks matches what you expect to happen," said Cameron "Kronovi" Bills, captain of G2 Esports and season one RLCS champion. "People who play Batmobile — Batmobile plays exactly the mode you would expect information technology to, it's just that [some] people don't like how it plays. But it plays to expectation. I retrieve Octane plays the almost to expectation, and it'southward just so common. People don't similar to devious from the norm."

It'due south what they know

Octane is undoubtedly the norm in competitive play, so what Kronovi says rings truthful. And Corey Davis, Psyonix's design director, thinks that has helped keep Octane's star bright in the esports scene. Asked why he thinks that machine is so prevalent, he responded, "Some combination of comfort level from hours of play, community consensus influence, and — a very distant tertiary — bodily mechanical differences."

In other words, he doesn't remember that the slight dimensional variances are the biggest reason why Octane thrives in the pro scene. Of course, it'due south his chore at Psyonix to ensure that the cars are counterbalanced, and that i doesn't mechanically tower over the others. But that's not the aforementioned as players gravitating toward, mastering and ultimately sticking with certain cars over others.

Just two? Needs more Octane

© Psyonix

Some players have pumped thousands of hours, and a couple years' worth of play, into Octane. A large role of that is that Octane is a Rocket League starter car. It's one of the few cars yous find when you first fire upward the game, and it was there for the pre-release alpha and beta tests, which many of the pro players — some coming over from Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Boxing Cars (SARPBC) — participated in. Even SARPBC had Octane as a starter automobile. All told, that may have helped establish information technology as the competitive standard, and pro players' success with it only begets more than and more than Octane users.

"It's been the default car for a long time," Davis said. "Consider the amount of hours played on it even during our beta, and a lot of pros have a comfort level with it far [beyond] other options due to fourth dimension invested."

"There's no signal in switching at this indicate afterward like 3,000 hours on it. Personally, it has to do with it being the default car in the alpha and beta," said Garrett "GarrettG" Gordon of NRG. "When you lot picket a pro, you desire to exist similar them and copy what they're doing, so I think everyone simply follows in the blueprint of following Octane and getting used to it."

His own attachment to Octane includes the look of the car — so much and then that the marginally different Octane ZSR throws him for a loop, even if they're officially identical in mechanics. "I feel like a lot of it is mental: how the car looks changes how you feel about it. Even Octane ZSR — I feel like it's different, but information technology's probably non that much different," GarrettG explained. "Something looking unlike in my listen merely makes me think that there's something unlike [nearly it]."

A couple of pros said that they still like to try other cars from time to fourth dimension, but that they always come dorsum to Octane in the terminate. "I play a pocket Breakout. I similar playing Breakout," Kronovi conceded. "I might play for a week with Breakout in our scrims, and and then switch to Octane last-second because I don't know how I feel. I go common cold feet about information technology."

"Sometimes I similar switching around," Remkoe said. "I get a honeymoon phase where I play a new car and perform well, so later on that it falls apart. You get back to Octane and information technology'south like, 'Why did I always switch off of Octane?' I exercise have these phases, but Octane is mostly the primary machine for pretty much every pinnacle player."

Making the switch

We've seen a couple of notable pro shifts to Octane this summer. NRG's Fireburner is a high-contour one in the competitive scene, every bit he had been 1 of the height Batmobile players for some time, guiding the squad to 3 straight North American regional championships in the RLCS. Yet, a bug in a game update this summer caused the Batmobile to expect taller for a brusk while. According to Psyonix, information technology didn't affect the actual physics of the auto — only every bit Garrett suggested, a lot of motorcar choice and usage is mental. Fireburner admitted that it significantly threw off his game, so he went with the customs consensus choice of Octane.

"They said [the visible height] was the only change, just for me playing Batmobile and then much, the turning felt heavier and the hits weren't as good anymore," claimed Fireburner during the X Games. "I was playing really bad with information technology for a few days, and then I decided to change cars. I decided, 'Well, I'd better switch to Octane. Everyone else uses it, then it must be good.'"

"Batmobile tin get those really powerful hits that no other car can get, just Octane is more consequent with hard hits," he continued. "I feel like that's been the large benefit so far for me using it, because I'm way more consistent with harder hits on defense force and even with shooting."

Later that weekend, NRG won the Ten Games title with Fireburner using Octane. Prior to the win, he suggested that he would consider returning to Batmobile once he had a chance to play around with the fixed version at home — simply after hoisting the Ten Games trophy, he affirmed that he was sticking with Octane.

Some other intriguing change toward Octane has come up out of Oceania afterwards Alpha Sydney and JAM Gaming returned from the RLCS Earth Championship. Both teams played every bit singular full Dominus squads at finals, because, as OCE annotator David "yumi_cheeseman" Lane explained, "they highly valued aerial striking and big flicks over anything else." But when both teams returned home to their region, they all started using Octane.

Did Oceania shed its unique meta because of the RLCS? No, non exactly. Co-ordinate to yumi_cheeseman, the full Dominus trio wasn't the norm in OCE before the RLCS, and that a mix of Octane and long cars like Dominus and Batmobile was common. Also, some of those players had previously used Octane or were starting to shift over before the RLCS LAN. However, it is true that about of these players went through with the switch after finals, although one role player inverse his mind. "It was the international players that convinced those two teams to make the switches to Octane permanently," said yumi_cheeseman, "with only Torsos sticking with the Dominus."

"I switched back to the Dominus because I'one thousand much more confident with knowing its hitbox, considering it's just a rectangle," said Daniel "Torsos" Parsons, whose squad recently signed with Chiefs Esports Gild later leaving Alpha Sydney in July. And as seen in the dazzling highlight to a higher place (around 0:40), Torsos has incredible control of the Dominus.

"I notice mechanics similar hard clears, shots, dribbles and solo plays while using the Dominus much better than when using the Octane. I think my teammates inverse considering — other than being peer pressured by EU — information technology is a lot more consistent in only hit the ball due to a taller hitbox, which the Dominus lacks."

Preference or consensus

Torsos added that his option to stick with Dominus came down largely to preference and playstyle. Likewise, we heard the aforementioned thing from many pros at 10 Games well-nigh using Octane. But when you run across and so many top talents making the same conclusion to utilize a single car amidst a large pack of options, in that location must exist more than to it than just personal preference, right?

And yet there are outliers who testify that an immensely skilled histrion can find great success with something other than Octane, given the fourth dimension and conclusion. For example, NRG's Jacob "Jacob" McDowell — known for nutty plays on a regular basis — seems to swap cars at will. While using Dominus during X Games weekend, he told us, "I only change the car I use every tournament. I was using Venom last calendar week."

Meanwhile, every bit mentioned earlier, FlipSid3 Tactics' Kuxir97 is synonymous with the Batmobile. And as Davis pointed out, Kuxir97 won this summertime's Gold Rush community 1v1 tournament with Batmobile, "despite the consensus saying that you have to play Octane in 1s."

"Kuxir is playing against a foyer full of Octanes and he's the all-time one in in that location with a Batmobile. And it's considering of his playstyle," suggested G2' Kronovi. "Enough of people can pull off something. It's kind of like in Boom, where you might have top-tier characters like Play a trick on or something. But people can easily vanquish these characters with a low-tier character, considering of the way they play or the strengths they play to."

And despite those notable breaks from the norm, Octane still commands the most attention. Psyonix keeps pumping out new cars all the while, and y'all'll see a wider assortment of them used in coincidental playlists or the lower levels of ranked play. Every so often, a new automobile will pop upwards in high-level competition for a brief spell — but pro players aren't going to whip out a Proteus or Esper when coin, reputation and championships are on the line.

Proteus: not a big pro pick

© Psyonix

"We would certainly dear to see more variety," Davis conceded. "Simply we're non a MOBA where you lot exercise a residue update to shift abroad from specific heroes dominating a meta. Changing Octane simply to forcefulness variety would be a huge disruption to not only our pros, but the millions of players who also love that car. It's non something nosotros're open to doing at the moment."

That said, Psyonix made some changes last month with the two-twelvemonth ceremony update, employing a new standardization model for cars. Information technology sorts all cars into five categories, and the bodies in each now have similar hitboxes and handling. Only some cars (including both Octane models) were standardized final month, but Psyonix said that more will be standardized in a future update. We'll accept to see if any further tweaks raise the popularity of cars in the pro scene — likewise every bit if any new cars commencement to take away from Octane's rule.

"At the end of the twenty-four hours, it's non so bad for the default 'gratis' motorcar to be the consensus selection of pros. You don't need DLC or special skins to win a tournament. That's a practiced matter in my book," Davis said. "We'll certainly proceed trying to create new content that could hopefully mix things up."

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Source: https://www.redbull.com/ie-en/rocket-league-most-popular-car

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