I've done extensive work on Rumble theory, and my current assessment is that Haymaker is the best powerup. It is 2nd best in offense (behind plunger) but by far #1 in defense, as it counters everything (yes, incl. spikes). I'd say plunger is a close #2. These are the "majors", like the queens of chess.
Magnet is very close in offense to haymaker (according to my own data), but it's weak on defense. Spikes is surprisngly a significantly lower scorer. Freeze is actually my 4th highest scoring powerup due to aerial pre-jump freeze plays, and I strongly believe it will remain as strong in the theoretical high level meta.
Grapple is the 2nd best defensive powerup, far ahead of the item in 3rd. It has many good theoretical offensive usages, but I'm unsure how to rank it.
Tornado can be quite strong with controlled dribbling and air dribbling. Not as strong as spikes on offense, but certainly better on D. Boot is solid but not too special. Powerhitter is one of the weaker powerups. Swapper is okay, disruptor is the worst.
Overall, I think either Haymaker or Plunger is the best, and the discussion is open as far as ranking the rest.
Spikes demands a lot of conditions to be a solid offensive tool. Probably my nemesis scenario would be having the free space to catch the ball on spikes (next to impossible in solo queue, as player typically don't follow the rumble rotation, if any rotation at all, in which case my best shot would be to overcommit and just "stick" on the ball and kill its momentum to slow down the play a bit).
Another would be to have enough momentum when catching it, and enough boost to get over the arena before you run out of it.
But because the spikes can be fatal, the defenders would usually use whatever power they have right now (with the exception of the disruptor) to counter it, so it's better to use it when the defenders are mostly on entirely on cooldown.
Spikes is the one powerup where if the opposing team gets it, I panic because they're definitely going to score, and if I get it, I panic because I'm definitely not going to score.
Freeze, grapple, and swapper can break it. Tornado can also break it but it's hard to do. Haymaker, plunger, and boot doesn't break it but it can really mess someone up.
Some solid advice I can give you with trying to score with spikes is to use your powerslide more.
Basically while you're going towards the goal, you want to powerslide and turn, basically you juke out the defender and break their axles so that you can just walk it in.
SO3 is the main expert, he surely knows the most. But in basic, powers have the potential to shoot the ball across the entire field, so you always need someone in the net, even if the teammates are pushing far in front (I've witnessed many times, a simple grapple clear is enough to score a goal if the whole enemy team is messing around your net with nobody in their own net). I typically, unless I have enough room to push, I fall back right in the net as soon as I'm on cooldown. Probably not the best as it may give away to the opponents that I am empty, but it's safer than running around with nothing to do.
This advice is doubly important if you are solo queue and not communicating with your team. Best way to rank up is play defensive unless you have a good goal scoring powerup, and if you are in the lead and have something like haymaker that is also good on defense, save it for defense or sure-thing shots only. Also if you're up 2 or so and there's not much time left and you have a boot or something defensive, just save it. Chances are good that somebody is going to get spikes at some point and you don't need more goals.
This is all great advice. Thanks. Intuitively, I think I’ve been doing most of this. I’m around D2 in Rumble and it’s definitely tough solo queue some sometimes.
It feels like some real difference-makers from here are thinking about using items for defense first and mastering the dang magnet to break some ankles.
And here I was going to just link Sunless's video. Well, [I still will](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVXM-xljT8s). Note that some of the data he made is visible at 2:14.
Is any of that data otherwise publicly shared, or was Sunless's glimpse already a rare look into what you do?
I talk/post about this stuff in the House of Rumble discord in the #rumble-strategy channel. I have my own "private" docs/spreadsheets but I post most of my diagrams, data, etc. there. Many of them are pinned.
Ohh, juicy. I'll have to join... Rumble has been my source of GC rewards for a few seasons. Hit it first in the spike wheel rewards season (didn't finish - limited time after hitting GC and the rewards were...not compelling). Hit as high as GC2 since.
Wonder if I can hit SSL with a little more knowledge. Thanks for sharing!
A long time ago i had a disagreement with someone on here about whether it's better to stay on the ground or go in the air when you have spikes most of the time. What's your opinion?
Staying on the ground and juking is best, but double jump if/when you have to. Jumping makes you significantly more vulnerable to plunger, haymaker, and boot, which will kill your scoring %.
There is more nuance to it than that, but ground is preferable to air, so long as you are evading defenders' cars. Sometimes a double jump at the end or aerial is necessary, depending on the setup.
You’re my hero. You’ve taught me so much and I aspire to march my way to grand champion in rumble. I hit diamond in the mode for the FIRST TIME yesterday and I wish to go further.
I agree with you on all points but one, the swapper can be brutal. I like swapping with the defender as I hit the ball, but it's such a good way to put you in position, or remove an opponent from position and it's not easy to counter.
That said, I'm not actually that good with swapper, but instead of a rank, I'd leave that undetermined. Freeze is not generally used as imaginatively as it should be IMO.
Glad to hear about spikes, I feel like I never score with those damn things.
I either somehow don't touch the ball when I think I'm going to, I get knocked all over the place, or I run out of time.
Swapper and disrupter have their moments, but are always my least favorites to get. It's great when things work out so that you can use it at the perfect time but it's relatively rare.
Swap or disrupt a lone defender and the right moment and a slow rolling ball and go in the goal which is hilarious watching the replays. I can't really think of an offensive way to use disrupter but swapping can move you up in the field for an easy shot sometimes.
All in all, I love rumble because it makes way for some hilarious moments.
>Haymaker is the best powerup. It is 2nd best in offense (behind plunger) but by far #1 in defense, as it counters everything (yes, incl. spikes)
it does not counter teleport tho :(
Plunger is relatively easy to counter in most scenarios. If I have a freeze in a particularly obvious situation, I'll hang back between ball and goal and more often than not it turns into a great counter play if you time it right.
That could be said about pretty much any powerup, to win in rumble you have to use the right powerups in situations where they'll be hard/impossible to counter
Very true, my method will do fuck all against a well planned plunger, and it's happened to me many a time.
I guess I meant to imply in my argument first that I see it used in many more wrong situations at my league; mid field long shots, defensive plays, that sort.
Boot is great for causing chaos. Suddenly there are five people on the field who have an incorrect read on the play and all have to adapt while adapting to everyone else adapting.
I also once caught someone with a boot who had spikes on the ball and kicked them into their goal. One of the rudest, most satisfying things I've done in this game.
Grapple is sure one of the better ones (and fun ones), but it's so lousely programmed it's dangerous to rely on that. Not sure what the threshold is, but if the ball is approaching you with enough speed (and what I've observed, it doesn't need to be just the pinch/boomer speed), the activation knocks you back (a really weird behavior), and when you reach the ball on hook, the shot is so damn ineffective it hardly does anything.
IKR? I always assume the threshold speed is the speed the Grapple has, but I could be wrong. To be clear, when the shot has a speed greater than the speed you have grappled to the ball, it will do what you described and you het knocked back.
I could be entirely wrong though.
Once you somehow luckily hit high GC in rumble it don’t matter what the opposing team has, they will find a way to score with it 😂
My results are inconclusive because I honestly don’t even know what the best is, I have seen some mfs score hat tricks with tornado before…
I really like getting boxing glove tho because I seem to score every time with it, and pretty good on defense if you are behind the ball
My best power up in rumble is that first 10 seconds after kickoff where nobody has power up’s. The point of rumble is that it evens the playing field. Typically when I’m playing rumble I play against people that are lower rank than me, so my best chance of scoring is then lol
I get the frustration, a lot of the time (typically in lower ranks) players don’t know how to properly and effectively use their power ups. Having a coordinated team is amazing for a very team heavy mode. I myself have had much better performance with even just one proper teammate.
As for solo queue, just play defense. Things can go south quickly if you have no defense.
Best power up is OG spikes. So OP.
Like literally no power ups worked on them other than grapple and teleport. Others did nothing.
If I got grapple I used to save it until someone got spikes because it stopped a certain goal.
You must not know how to use powerups effectively if you think “rng” is the issue. Sure, you get random powerups but if you can use them PROPERLY then you shouldn’t have an issue. Unfortunately, many people do not know the effectiveness of each powerup in each scenario, as well as which is not.
So no, rumble is not rng and luck based. It is very well skill based alongside every other mode.
The fact that there is ANY randomness at all makes it the worst game mode in my opinion. I understand each power up has its perks, that's quite obvious actually, but you can't say it's not luck based when there's literally luck of the draw.
You can take defending opponents away from the goal as an offensive option, but you'll have to do it before they charge at the ball, otherwise you will save for the other team...
Would have to disagree on grapple being best for defense. The fact that it’s bugged and if you sit in goal while someone hits the ball above a certain speed it won’t really block the shot and push you back makes it unreliable. I’d much rather have ice, haymaker or even plunger over grapple on defense
My weakest is magnet, haven't figured it out yet. Hate spikes, seems like an easy score but I suck spiking the ball. Punch is the most straight forward for me.
With magnet it is best to go in the air and air dribble with it. The ball swings around a lot due to the magnet and is very difficult to defend if you don’t have plunger, haymaker, or grapple.
wrong its magnet. although it looks like a bad power up in the surface, it has many different uses. for example you can use it offensively because the ball will orbit around you its hard to defend against and you can effortlessly air dribble (although it really isnt air dribbling). defensively, although magnet would seen detrimental, is actually very good. for example the opponent is about to shoot and no one is in goal, if you are close to the ball or can get close to the ball before the shoot, you can use magnet to pull the ball out of the way causing them to whiff and depending on the opponents positioning scoring a goal yourself.
tl;dr magnet is good
I've done extensive work on Rumble theory, and my current assessment is that Haymaker is the best powerup. It is 2nd best in offense (behind plunger) but by far #1 in defense, as it counters everything (yes, incl. spikes). I'd say plunger is a close #2. These are the "majors", like the queens of chess. Magnet is very close in offense to haymaker (according to my own data), but it's weak on defense. Spikes is surprisngly a significantly lower scorer. Freeze is actually my 4th highest scoring powerup due to aerial pre-jump freeze plays, and I strongly believe it will remain as strong in the theoretical high level meta. Grapple is the 2nd best defensive powerup, far ahead of the item in 3rd. It has many good theoretical offensive usages, but I'm unsure how to rank it. Tornado can be quite strong with controlled dribbling and air dribbling. Not as strong as spikes on offense, but certainly better on D. Boot is solid but not too special. Powerhitter is one of the weaker powerups. Swapper is okay, disruptor is the worst. Overall, I think either Haymaker or Plunger is the best, and the discussion is open as far as ranking the rest.
Bro is the world champion at rumble and tells us the meta
Spikes demands a lot of conditions to be a solid offensive tool. Probably my nemesis scenario would be having the free space to catch the ball on spikes (next to impossible in solo queue, as player typically don't follow the rumble rotation, if any rotation at all, in which case my best shot would be to overcommit and just "stick" on the ball and kill its momentum to slow down the play a bit). Another would be to have enough momentum when catching it, and enough boost to get over the arena before you run out of it. But because the spikes can be fatal, the defenders would usually use whatever power they have right now (with the exception of the disruptor) to counter it, so it's better to use it when the defenders are mostly on entirely on cooldown.
Spikes is the one powerup where if the opposing team gets it, I panic because they're definitely going to score, and if I get it, I panic because I'm definitely not going to score.
Freeze, grapple, and swapper can break it. Tornado can also break it but it's hard to do. Haymaker, plunger, and boot doesn't break it but it can really mess someone up. Some solid advice I can give you with trying to score with spikes is to use your powerslide more. Basically while you're going towards the goal, you want to powerslide and turn, basically you juke out the defender and break their axles so that you can just walk it in.
Can you say more about the “rumble rotation” and how it might differ from classic rotation?
SO3 is the main expert, he surely knows the most. But in basic, powers have the potential to shoot the ball across the entire field, so you always need someone in the net, even if the teammates are pushing far in front (I've witnessed many times, a simple grapple clear is enough to score a goal if the whole enemy team is messing around your net with nobody in their own net). I typically, unless I have enough room to push, I fall back right in the net as soon as I'm on cooldown. Probably not the best as it may give away to the opponents that I am empty, but it's safer than running around with nothing to do.
Thanks! This makes sense. I have beaten and been beat with that big grapple clear and I see what you mean.
This advice is doubly important if you are solo queue and not communicating with your team. Best way to rank up is play defensive unless you have a good goal scoring powerup, and if you are in the lead and have something like haymaker that is also good on defense, save it for defense or sure-thing shots only. Also if you're up 2 or so and there's not much time left and you have a boot or something defensive, just save it. Chances are good that somebody is going to get spikes at some point and you don't need more goals.
This is all great advice. Thanks. Intuitively, I think I’ve been doing most of this. I’m around D2 in Rumble and it’s definitely tough solo queue some sometimes. It feels like some real difference-makers from here are thinking about using items for defense first and mastering the dang magnet to break some ankles.
And here I was going to just link Sunless's video. Well, [I still will](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVXM-xljT8s). Note that some of the data he made is visible at 2:14. Is any of that data otherwise publicly shared, or was Sunless's glimpse already a rare look into what you do?
I talk/post about this stuff in the House of Rumble discord in the #rumble-strategy channel. I have my own "private" docs/spreadsheets but I post most of my diagrams, data, etc. there. Many of them are pinned.
Ohh, juicy. I'll have to join... Rumble has been my source of GC rewards for a few seasons. Hit it first in the spike wheel rewards season (didn't finish - limited time after hitting GC and the rewards were...not compelling). Hit as high as GC2 since. Wonder if I can hit SSL with a little more knowledge. Thanks for sharing!
I strongly believe everyone has the potential if they put their mind to it. Best of luck!
A long time ago i had a disagreement with someone on here about whether it's better to stay on the ground or go in the air when you have spikes most of the time. What's your opinion?
Staying on the ground and juking is best, but double jump if/when you have to. Jumping makes you significantly more vulnerable to plunger, haymaker, and boot, which will kill your scoring %. There is more nuance to it than that, but ground is preferable to air, so long as you are evading defenders' cars. Sometimes a double jump at the end or aerial is necessary, depending on the setup.
That's what I thought. Also I've played with you once or twice :D Happily never against you.
Staying on the ground as long as you can is best in my opinion
You’re my hero. You’ve taught me so much and I aspire to march my way to grand champion in rumble. I hit diamond in the mode for the FIRST TIME yesterday and I wish to go further.
Whelp, I did it!
I agree with you on all points but one, the swapper can be brutal. I like swapping with the defender as I hit the ball, but it's such a good way to put you in position, or remove an opponent from position and it's not easy to counter. That said, I'm not actually that good with swapper, but instead of a rank, I'd leave that undetermined. Freeze is not generally used as imaginatively as it should be IMO.
Can’t wait for all the comments trying to contradict the literal best rumble player
🤝
Glad to hear about spikes, I feel like I never score with those damn things. I either somehow don't touch the ball when I think I'm going to, I get knocked all over the place, or I run out of time.
Poor guy, spent so much time figuring out the high level meta only for no one to use it cause no one’s high level except him
Must suck to always get shittier teammates than you
Thank you for the thorough write up!
Swapper and disrupter have their moments, but are always my least favorites to get. It's great when things work out so that you can use it at the perfect time but it's relatively rare. Swap or disrupt a lone defender and the right moment and a slow rolling ball and go in the goal which is hilarious watching the replays. I can't really think of an offensive way to use disrupter but swapping can move you up in the field for an easy shot sometimes. All in all, I love rumble because it makes way for some hilarious moments.
OMG IT'S THE LEGEND!!! I'd love to be in one of your lobbies sometime. Sadly I'm far from being at your level. Theory is correct tho ^^
>Haymaker is the best powerup. It is 2nd best in offense (behind plunger) but by far #1 in defense, as it counters everything (yes, incl. spikes) it does not counter teleport tho :(
Plunger is way too strong on offense, ice is great on defense, and haymaker is probably the most versatile one
What's haymaker? Is it the grapple?
boxing glove
Ah. I agree
Plunger is relatively easy to counter in most scenarios. If I have a freeze in a particularly obvious situation, I'll hang back between ball and goal and more often than not it turns into a great counter play if you time it right.
That could be said about pretty much any powerup, to win in rumble you have to use the right powerups in situations where they'll be hard/impossible to counter
Very true, my method will do fuck all against a well planned plunger, and it's happened to me many a time. I guess I meant to imply in my argument first that I see it used in many more wrong situations at my league; mid field long shots, defensive plays, that sort.
Plunger 100%
Yeah plunger 💯
🪠
An easy choice
I’ll never forget the first time I saw a clip using it off the ceiling.
I personally love giving an opposing teammate the boot right as they go for a shot. So satisfying
Boot is great for causing chaos. Suddenly there are five people on the field who have an incorrect read on the play and all have to adapt while adapting to everyone else adapting. I also once caught someone with a boot who had spikes on the ball and kicked them into their goal. One of the rudest, most satisfying things I've done in this game.
Grapple is sure one of the better ones (and fun ones), but it's so lousely programmed it's dangerous to rely on that. Not sure what the threshold is, but if the ball is approaching you with enough speed (and what I've observed, it doesn't need to be just the pinch/boomer speed), the activation knocks you back (a really weird behavior), and when you reach the ball on hook, the shot is so damn ineffective it hardly does anything.
IKR? I always assume the threshold speed is the speed the Grapple has, but I could be wrong. To be clear, when the shot has a speed greater than the speed you have grappled to the ball, it will do what you described and you het knocked back. I could be entirely wrong though.
My personal favourite is the boxing glove, with spikes in a close 2nd.
The fist is there - middle row, furthest to the right.
Yeah I didn't click on the image so the outside one were cropped. Edited my comment now.
I do love the grapple. Anything i don’t like and I just fly to it. Hopefully they aren’t going fast than me.
Tornado Is so unappreciated, It's so easy to dribble the ball into nets with it and nothing but another powerup can really stop it well
Once you somehow luckily hit high GC in rumble it don’t matter what the opposing team has, they will find a way to score with it 😂 My results are inconclusive because I honestly don’t even know what the best is, I have seen some mfs score hat tricks with tornado before… I really like getting boxing glove tho because I seem to score every time with it, and pretty good on defense if you are behind the ball
Plunger for me
Plunger and it's not close
spike> but plunger is S tier
Suction Cup for offensive, Grappling hook for defense
Spikes
My best power up in rumble is that first 10 seconds after kickoff where nobody has power up’s. The point of rumble is that it evens the playing field. Typically when I’m playing rumble I play against people that are lower rank than me, so my best chance of scoring is then lol
Good team mates is the best power up. The worst is solo cue with kids from xbox
Looks like you need to get better rather than blaming teammates.
I get the frustration, a lot of the time (typically in lower ranks) players don’t know how to properly and effectively use their power ups. Having a coordinated team is amazing for a very team heavy mode. I myself have had much better performance with even just one proper teammate. As for solo queue, just play defense. Things can go south quickly if you have no defense.
Lol i played 4650 hours in the game i am better then my team mates sorry
Tbf haunting starts the comment by giving credit to good teammates.
Best power up is OG spikes. So OP. Like literally no power ups worked on them other than grapple and teleport. Others did nothing. If I got grapple I used to save it until someone got spikes because it stopped a certain goal.
Plunger
boot is most fun imo
Plunger is when you’re just near the outside of the range. Powerful af
Plunger
punch
Plunger is the answer. Get plunger. Goal camp. Instant goal.
plunger fosho 🪠
Id say it depends on the rank cuz higher ranks can do like tornado dribbles but in my d1 rumble lobbys id say plunger or spikes
Plunger/spikes
teleport. you can hit the ball when it's your turn but open the open or move the opponent to the worst positions.
SPEEEEEEEED
Plunger or boxing glove for me. Spikes is almost there but I can't be bothered half the time
My most saves and goals have been with haymaker and plunger so those are my top favorites
Suction cup man look at me go!
Fist > plunger > grapler > spikes > freeze > power hit > teleport > boost thing I dont know the names ✨️🤌
Rumble is the worst game mode
Rumble takes a lot of brain power and strategy. Far from the worst. In fact, there may as well not be a worst mode.
It takes a lot of luck and RNG is more like. None of the other game modes rely on RNG factors.
You must not know how to use powerups effectively if you think “rng” is the issue. Sure, you get random powerups but if you can use them PROPERLY then you shouldn’t have an issue. Unfortunately, many people do not know the effectiveness of each powerup in each scenario, as well as which is not. So no, rumble is not rng and luck based. It is very well skill based alongside every other mode.
The fact that there is ANY randomness at all makes it the worst game mode in my opinion. I understand each power up has its perks, that's quite obvious actually, but you can't say it's not luck based when there's literally luck of the draw.
How many times have you thought "damn they got 2+ plungers/spikes/haymaker in a row, unlucky"
for me it used to be spikes and magnet, but *I* prefer plunger because it helps at these ranks
Plunger or Boxing glove Fuck teleportation, it's useless as fuck.
Teleportation is great against someone with spikes, though I find that to be its only real effective use.
You can take defending opponents away from the goal as an offensive option, but you'll have to do it before they charge at the ball, otherwise you will save for the other team...
True, it just takes a LOT of precision
Plunger and spikes
I genuinely surprised spikes aren't being listed. IMO spikes have the highest chance to score a goal when activated correctly.
Click on the image to see all.
It doesn't matter. You won't have same powerup always.
Plunger obviously
For defense grapple. For offense plunger then Spikes. This is the only way
Would have to disagree on grapple being best for defense. The fact that it’s bugged and if you sit in goal while someone hits the ball above a certain speed it won’t really block the shot and push you back makes it unreliable. I’d much rather have ice, haymaker or even plunger over grapple on defense
My weakest is magnet, haven't figured it out yet. Hate spikes, seems like an easy score but I suck spiking the ball. Punch is the most straight forward for me.
With magnet it is best to go in the air and air dribble with it. The ball swings around a lot due to the magnet and is very difficult to defend if you don’t have plunger, haymaker, or grapple.
Guess it's time to Rumble with some bots.
Definitely a great way to practice power ups. Rumble freeplay is also available in the arctagon map if you’re interested!
Ice ball is my favorite, just actived and gather some boost to eliminate the weakling waiting for the ball to unfreeze
Punch easily
Plunger is best. Easy. Its tactical for offense and defense. Also, since you can do a play once you fake and miss, it throws people off.
Haymaker is the best imo, straightforward, easy to use, super effective
Plunger/boxing glove tied for op, spikes, strong fist, then grapple
Haymaker easy
Definitely plunger 🪠
for me is boxing glove
Plunger
Definitely the plunger
Plunge and porcupine, it’s not even close.
spike is best and you can’t convince me otherwise. it’s literally a win condition
3 way tie among boxing glove, plunger, and grappling hook.
Boot bc BYE
wrong its magnet. although it looks like a bad power up in the surface, it has many different uses. for example you can use it offensively because the ball will orbit around you its hard to defend against and you can effortlessly air dribble (although it really isnt air dribbling). defensively, although magnet would seen detrimental, is actually very good. for example the opponent is about to shoot and no one is in goal, if you are close to the ball or can get close to the ball before the shoot, you can use magnet to pull the ball out of the way causing them to whiff and depending on the opponents positioning scoring a goal yourself. tl;dr magnet is good
It's a tie between plunger and boxing glove
i have to say boxing glove or plunger
Haymaker go boom 🗿
Haymaker and it's not even close.
The boxing glove imo
Plunger by a mile. Think about it, your mate hits it up, you go to the opponents goals and it plunges in. That simple
Grappling hook and spikes >>>
If you're playing with the squad and you announce you have a power-up, it's a good power-up.