1v1 matches (one on one) | Types of matches depending on the number of players Rocket League Guide
Last update: 11 May 2016
Matches involving only two players are very different from 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4 events. There are two main reasons for that. First of all, since there's no one else in your team you don't have to organize any actions with other players or bots. This can be viewed as a good thing, but on the other hand winning the duels relies only on how good you are. You can't just sit back and let the remaining players to do the hard job. This can be troublesome, especially if you're having some difficulties with sending the ball exactly where you've planned to.
Another important difference is that there are no roles to be divided between players in 1v1 matches. This means that you must change your current tactic based on where the ball is and also based on what your opponent is currently doing. You must know that there's no room for passive play in two-players' duels so you can't become a goalkeeper or a defender and stick with that choice until the end of the match. Instead you must continue playing aggressively and switch to the defensive only when the other players has successfully taken control over the ball and is close to scoring a goal. You also can't spare any time to plan your moves from a distance or to observe the trajectory of the ball, because if you do that your opponent may take control over the ball in the meantime and that'll most certainly complicate things. The only good tactic is to keep following the ball and continue fighting for control over it before the other player does the same thing.
Generally speaking, winning 1v1 matches may be considered harder than succeeding in other types of matches described on the next page of this guide. The duels are much more dynamic and everything depends on how good you are at getting to the ball quickly and sending it where it's supposed to go. Make sure to take some time training with bots before trying your chances against other players. I recommend choosing at the least the Pro difficulty for the bots (even if you haven't tried duels before), because they're practically defenseless on the Rookie level and you won't learn anything by playing with them.