Skip to main content

Rollerdrome beginner’s guide: 10 tips and tricks

Rollerdrome takes the fast-paced gameplay of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and deftly merges it with frantic gunslinging. You’ll be zipping around stylized maps wielding pistols, shotguns, grenade launchers, and more as you tackle a variety of challenges and eliminate every target in front of you. Flying around an arena at a breakneck pace is difficult on its own, but throw in increasingly powerful waves of enemies and it becomes downright chaotic.

If you need some help navigating the hectic gameplay of Rollerdrome, here are 10 tips to get you started.

Further reading

Never stop performing tricks

Hasan performing a grab trick in Rollerdrome with a rocket chasing them.
Private Divison

Performing tricks is how you refill your weapon ammo in Rollerdrome. And since all your weapons share the same ammo, you’ll need to constantly perform sick tricks to refill your clip. That means whenever you’re in the air, you should be spinning, flipping, and performing some sort of grab. This will ensure you land on the ground with enough ammo to take out your next enemy.

Grinding is an easy source of ammo

While airborne tricks are the most common way to get more ammo, don’t forget about those shiny rails scattered about every stage. Grinding on rails might not be as eye-catching as backflips, but it helps refill your ammo and lets you continue your combo as you move across the map.

Master your momentum

A pregame view of a map in Rollerdrome.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Rollerdrome is all about speed. Your first few matches will help you to learn the controls and quirks of each weapon and enemy, but eventually you’ll need to master your momentum. If you want a chance at pulling in high scores, you’ll need to barrel through each level as fast as possible. That means grinding on rails, jumping at the top of each ramp, and not making any sharp turns that’ll curb your speed. But once the movement system clicks, Rollerdrome feels like a whole new game.

You can get more ammo without ramps

No rails or ramps in sight? Fear not — Rollerdrome lets you perform some basic stunts after a basic jump. By simply jumping in the air and performing a grab, you can replenish a single bullet for your gun. It’s not much, but it helps in a pinch.

Change up your weapons

Hasan shoots her grenade launcher at an enemy in the middle of a jump.
Private Division

With so many moving pieces, it’s easy to forget you have multiple weapons at your disposal. And unlike some other games, each new weapon doesn’t make your old ones obsolete. Your beginner pistols are great for hitting targets at range, the shotgun is an absolute beast at close range, the grenade launcher is excellent for special enemies, and so on. Remember to switch these up frequently to help eliminate your targets and conserve ammo.

Use Reflex Time liberally

Reflex Time lets you slow down the action to aim at targets, perform tricks, or just get a breather from the chaos as you plan your next move. Feel free to trigger this skill frequently. The cooldown timer for Reflex Time is practically nonexistent, and you’re missing out on half the fun if you go through the game without using it.

Super Reflex Time is overpowered

Reflex Time is great — but Super Reflex Time is even better. This is triggered by using Reflex Time immediately following a Perfect Dodge. While in Super Reflex Time, your attacks will become much more powerful. There’s no limit to how often you can perform the move, so keep your eyes peeled for incoming attacks and use them to your advantage.

Grunts are free health

A Rollerdrome Grunt dropping health.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Grunts in Rollerdrome are more useless than the Grunts in Halo. They don’t do much besides stand around and occasionally attack you, but (like all enemies in Rollerdrome) they drop health when defeated. That means it might be worth your while to hold off on killing them until your HP is starting to dwindle, effectively turning them into a Health Pack.

Focus on challenges

Progression in Rollerdrome is largely tied to how many Challenges you’ve completed. Each level has a laundry list of Challenges to tackle — and you’ll probably need to dive into each map multiple times to complete them all. It’s best to only focus on a few at a time so you don’t feel overwhelmed during each run. Some Challenges are so difficult that it’s best to dedicate an entire run to just one. Whatever the case, make sure you’re checking out the Challenge board before starting each level so you can quickly move through the ranks.

Don’t worry about your aim

Thankfully, most of your attacks in Rollerdrome don’t need to be very precise. The game makes use of a lock-on mechanic that targets the object (or enemy) closest to your reticule. This frees you up to focus on your speed, pulling off tricks, and avoiding incoming attacks. You’ll still need to pull the trigger — and not all weapons auto-lock — but you should never be afraid of moving so fast that your aim begins to suffer.

Editors' Recommendations

Jon Bitner
Jon Bitner is a writer covering consumer electronics, technology, and gaming. His work has been published on various websites…
Best gaming console deals: cheapest prices on PS5, Xbox S and X and Switch
father and son playing video games

The latest generation of consoles has been one of the hottest yet when it comes to performance, games, price, and even looks, with some getting the side-eye when they first came out. Even so, there are a lot of folks who might want to upgrade, and there are some great Xbox Series S and X deals, PlayStation 5 deals, and Nintendo Switch deals you can take advantage of below. We've done our best to go out and find the best deals we can, although you should be aware that there's currently a bit of a Nintendo drought going on, and most deals on the Switch and its versions that are worth grabbing are refurbished.
Xbox Series S deals -- starting at $275

The Xbox Series S is the less powerful but cheaper option out of the newest generation Xbox line. When comparing the Xbox Series S versus the Xbox Series X, the Series S takes a hit in all the component categories. That means it's not quite as fast. But if you're not hung up on getting the optimal performance out of your system, you'll actually notice very few differences. The two biggest ones are the Series S's inability to play in 8K, and its lack of a disc drive. Most people don't even have 8K TVs, so that shouldn't be an issue. If you're alright with downloading all of your games straight to the console's memory (and you have a separate DVD or Blu-Ray player), the Series S will work fine. It's quite a bit smaller anyway, and easier to fit on a shelf.

Read more
Best PS5 game deals: discounts on the best games of 2023
Ellie pets a giraffe in The Last of Us Part I.

If you recently picked up a PlayStation 5 and are looking for games, you'll be happy to know that there are a lot of great deals out there, ranging from the very budget-friendly to only slightly cheaper than the list price. It can be a little bit overwhelming to find something good, especially if you're not in any particular mood for a game and just want to grab something fun and enjoyable. To that end, we've rounded up a list of our favorite PS5 game deals and discounts so that you don't have to. In fact, quite a few of the games appear on our list of best PS5 Games, so you're getting quite a lot of bang for your buck.
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales -- $20, was $50

If you're a fan of Spider-Man, then you should absolutely grab yourself a copy of Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales if you haven't played it already. Not only is it one of the best Spider-Man games out there, but it's an absolute blast to play with a much more engrossing story with a deep narrative. The gameplay is also a lot more fun, with the spider-web swinging mechanic being very fluid and one of the best in any Spider-Man game, so it's well worth grabbing if you've always wanted to live the Spider-Man fantasy.

Read more
Best PlayStation deals: PS5, controllers, headsets on sale
PS5 and DualSense art.

Next-gen gaming has delivered on expectations, with the Sony PlayStation 5 offering some serious gaming capabilities. Its popularity has made it difficult to find Sony PlayStation 5 deals, and this seems to be the case whether you’re shopping for the PlayStation 5 console itself or games and accessories. We’ve managed to track down some PlayStation 5 deals, and we’ve included them below. It’s also a bit of a deal simply to find a Sony PlayStation 5 in stock, and we’ve managed to do so. We’ve include those links as well, so reading onward you’ll find what we consider to be the best Sony PlayStation 5 deals on the internet right now.
Sony PlayStation 5 Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 bundle — $450, was $600

If you’re looking to get your hands on a PlayStation 5 console with a game to get you going, try this bundle with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. This console features the PlayStation 5’s slim design, yet still has 1TB of solid state storage built in. It also comes with one DualSense Wireless Controller, and of course, a digital voucher for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.

Read more