Allods Online Forum

Greetings everyone, I am Mentallord, Empire's psionicist and I am big fan of goblinball. I decided to make this guide for all those who are not familiar with goblinball and for those who want to make their own game to whole new advanced level. Now, something about game itself. Goblinball is created long time ago because of constant fights between orc tribes. They had so much energy that just couldn't be spent enough and often they killed each other. One day , some unknown inventor created this game called goblinball and orc liked it very much, so they started competing in this sport trough championships.

Skills

[Powerful Kick] – This is very basic skill in goblinball and it’s used to pass ball. After you pass the ball you have 2 seconds cooldown on this skill, so be careful where you kick the ball.
[Charge] – This skill is used to gain speed for 10 seconds so you can either come to ball faster or reach the deffense position as fast as you can.
[Kick in the shin] – This skill is used to interrupt opponents sprint skill and slow him for 3 seconds. It can be either used before he use sprint but keep in mind he can use sprint after that.
[Solid Deffenses] – Block skill is very important here but after new patch it’s kinda broken skill now because you can’t be very close to player if you wish to block him. There for , don’t rush into opponent to block, make some space before using this skill. Cooldwon is 3 seconds.
[Return the ball] – This is special skill and it is used only if you enter goalkeeper space of field. It can be used for long pass over other players.

Basic gameplay

Each team have 4 players (maximum) but sometimes it contain less players due lack of interest for game in that very moment. Before game start all players have one minute to prepare themselves for ten minutes long game. All players are positioned in equal starting positions, one on the front, two aside and one in the back. When one minute pass, goblinball will be placed on one of three possible positions. One is at the center of the field, and other two are left and right of the center. Rules are quite simple, reach the ball, score the goal and win, almost like football in real life. It’s also important to know that you can’t shoot the ball from inside opponent’s goalkeeper place. There are several tips for all of you to follow if you wish to win the game:

1. Teamplay – just like any other sport where we compete team versus team, playing with your team is essential to win. Some of you might be selfish and one to be hero of the day by scoring alone but tend to avoid something like that. It’s always better to make a good pass for your teammate to score rather then you risk and miss the goal chance.
2. Cursing – Avoid cursing other players just because they don’t know to play or missed the clean goal chance or even don’t want to play game. Cursing others will always bring negative effects to the game such as constant fighting between you that can result not passing ball to each other, not participating in game etc, etc. Better to give them advice instead of saying: “Fu** you , you fuc*ing noob. Are you an idiot? Are you blind…”
3. Balance – When I say balance, I refer to attack and defense in the game. You don’t want to put full team in attacking and miss the chance to score goal so opponent team can use this as advantage to score just like that. Everyone need balanced attack-defense part of the game. Don’t be one of the players who stand always in the attack and wait someone to pass him ball. Play defense as well.
Tactics

This is something you all wanted to see I guess, and by understanding what I am going to show you next, I can say you will be ready for goblinball match. Keep in mind that I will use blue team for attacking tactics and red team for defense. As Sun Tzu once said: “All warfare is based on deception.” And it same way, this goblinball is also based on deception if you want to win! Let’s start with the attacking moves.

“Invincibility is a matter of defense, vulnerability is a matter of attack. - Sun Tzu”

1. Taking the ball

As you can see from the image above, we have 4 blue players (Team 1) and 4 red players (team 2) on their beginning positions. We also have three yellow circles that represent possible placement of ball. It's very important to see the ball as soon as possible so you can use speed to reach it first. If you are the player in the back, don't use speed, you won't reach the ball. The point is not to waste speed if the ball is not near you. Some players just use it no mater if the ball is close and risk all just to take the ball first. But when they lose the speed and maybe miss the goal chance, they can't return back to make defense. So I think that seeing the ball and then using ability is far more better.
2. Left-starting-ball
I named this attack „Left-starting-ball“ because let's assume the ball will be placed on the left for blue players. How to score fast? Let's look at the image once more:

Let's assume that left player from blue team reached the ball first. It's most likely that at least 1 of red team players will be there as well to set block for him. It's understandable that 2 of red players could go back just in case. I would position two blue players in attack so they can pass to each other to score goal of course. And the player in the back should be far enough from red players just in case the player that reached the ball can't pass forward. It's pretty simple, when the red make the block, blue player with the ball pass right to his teammate, then he pass the ball in attack so the goal could be scored pretty easy. Don't be fool to think that this will work 100% because it's not always possible to pass like this. You have to adept this idea in real life situation (game life stituation of course ) , and use the best of this idea.
3.Center-starting-ball
Okay, once more let's assume the ball is at the center and blue player got it first. What now?

Now, the left player will go deep into opponents territory but the left player will keep his position in the middle as a trick. How so you wonder? Well, because blue player reached the center ball, red players will most likely make block around him and if they don’t, make them do so! The point of this trick is to make sure at least 3 players come to you. The problem with this new block system is you can’t make block near player, and we can use that as advantage to pass trough them! How? Well, as soon as they make block, right blue player is only bait for them, so they think you will pass to him. All you have to do as you reach the ball is to pass slightly back, behind you so red players rush towards you hoping to take the ball. If they do so, as soon as you take ball again, they can’t form the block fast enough because they are too close and that’s your chance to pass the ball far in the opponents field where left blue player will finish with goal. Once more, don’t expect everyone to be this foolish, that’s why one blue player is still in the back where he was in case you can’t pass forward. You can use this tactic as well when opponents scored goal, and you start from the center once more!

I don’t need to explain again right side of starting position because you can use either equal as left tactic OR use this center trick to lure opponents on you, and then safely pass ball forward.

4. Cross-ball trick
This “trick” is very much known to everyone who play for serious goblinball because it’s quite logical to make this move after all! Let’s look at the image:

As you can see, the blue player on the left have the ball, but he can't score from that position. There are two options he could do. First one (less likely to be goal) is to pass to player next to him, and he could pass down as fast as he can. You can see that I used something quite uncommon now. I shoot the ball just where the goalkeeper stood before which is hard to predict for oppoents. And why? Well, his first idea as goalkeeper is to go where is the last blue player in case the ball reach him, and he could score from there. Every goalkeeper would go there so it's important that you shoot the ball where goalkeeper once stood. Of course this idea is less likely to be goal but there is small chance. And insted of doing all this hard passes and tricking the opponent, you could simply pass the ball to the right blue player and he can score just like that with no problem. It's not always possible to pass right to him, BUT pass the ball at least near him so he can take it and finish the action.

5. Bait on the right
Now, I named this trick „Bait on the right“ because we will use the same situation as last time, just this time one of red players saw what might come so he went there to guard this position. What then?

Now, you can pass the ball fast to the player avaliable at the bottom and he should as fast as he can pass that ball near goalkeeper line but a bit away so the blue player can simply rush there and score fast while goalkeeper can't reach right side of the goal. Okay, this all seem as awesome idea but it's not always like that in game reality. What might happen is that goalkeeper use speed and after all reach the ball. There for the player that need to shoot the ball MUST reconsider the chances of scroing the goal. If he is not in the position for it, then better do next trick I am about to tell you.
6. Bait on the right and danger on the left
Okay, quite long name for the goblinball trick but I couldn't come up to some better name. You can hate me for that xD . Okay, so, let's assume once more the position we had before, and let's assume that goalkeeper could reach our shoot towards goal. WHAT THEN? It's quite simple, action is still ON.

Okay, what the actual fuc* MAN? – is what you might say now after you saw this image! But, there is no easy way to explain you this idea! Okay, let's go slowly. First, the blue player pass down as we can see number one there. And as soon as he passed to another blue player, he rush up to make new position for goal. While he does that, second blue player pass near center line and in the same time 3rd blue player rush towards ball. You can see as well that red goalkeeper is moving to the right side of the goal in that time. And when he reaches his position as goalkeeper there is surprise for him that he did not expcted. The 3rd player will pass again to our 1st blue player and he will score with no problem at all. In this way, this is the complete action and possible ideas for positioning like this. It's not often possible to be this way, but if ever does, use this , and you will score.
7. Break the block
Once more, this is very common trick that players use and to be honost I explained you how this trick works before in this guide.

As you can see at this image , this is as well most common situation you can get into. You are alone with the ball, you can’t directly pass to none of your attacking teammates, and you could only pass back. BUT, not quite true. As we are familiar to how block function and as well familiar to players state of mind which is “Chase the ball” (Dogy style), we can pull out this trick very easy. Now, when you pass the ball just a bit away back, and go for it fast, the red players will naturally run to you, hoping they can get the ball faster then you, which is wrong. Now, when they are out of their block stance, you can simply pass wherever you want to. First idea is to pass to the near blue player where he will score most likely. OR, you can pass far left blue player where he can score most likely because the goalkeeper will run right to save the goal. The good thing in this trick is that you can pull it over and over if the first time fail or you can pass back to your teammate as safe mode. But this is not end of tricks for this situation. Let’s se next trick.
8. Back cross-pass goal
The reason I named this trick as I did is because I am going to pass back, then pull out cross pass twice and score the goal. Let’s see how it works.

So, let's assume you tried to pull out your dirty trick so they lose the block stance but that just didn't worked out on them because they are known to this trick. And they set another block for you , while in the same time left red player managed to get block in case you managed to do trick NO.7 . What you do? Well, you pass back of course, don't be hero of the game by shooting trough block. When you pass back, that blue player could easly pass to the top left player where he can either score if he can, or pass to the top right blue player so he can score. In other cases , you will score, no one can stop you when you position like this.
9. Rambo mode
Funny name, I know, but this is acctualy one risky move that won't work always, that's the reason I named it rambo mode.

As you can see from the image above, there are situations when you are kinda unable to do anything except to pass back and continue the attack. But, there is chance to score and I used this trick once in my life so I can say it works, it's not my wild imagination or something. All what I wrote so far is based on tested situations in game. So, when you see a tiny gap between red opponents you could do something they don't really expect you to do, and it's to advance forwards. You can pass the ball trough that gap and use sprint to reach the ball as soon as possible. Keep in mind that you can lose the ball because they could kick you and slow you a LOT. But since it's risky trick as I mentioned , you could get the ball, and if you do you have two options, one is two shoot in the goal (if you can) and second one is to pass to your teammate so he can score. This trick is good because if you manage to reach the ball, your opponents are way to close to you to make any block, so they are totally useless , they are like ghosts for you. You can try out this trick only in situations when there is no time for returning ball back, or you are far ahead with score against opponent so you can have some fun.

Okay, so far I pulled out all attacking positions there could be (of course there are tons of different variations), but all I gave you was BASICS for normal goblinball game. Let's talk a bit about defense now, shall we!?

„You can ensure the safety of your defense if you only hold positions that cannot be attacked. - Sun Tzu“

1. Stop cross-pass
As we saw in our attacking guide, we can use a lot of cross passing balls to score and they are most dangerous ways to score. So in case you are the one who must stop that pass, always stick to a person who is waiting for such pass. Don't stand where he stand because that's just stupid, but be a bit front of him and use block. In that way opponent won't risk to pass him the ball because you will probably catch it. Also , don't be foolish enough to stand fron't of him while he have plenty of empty space to get the ball. In case you don't understand what I am talking about, let's have a look at this two images:



As you can see at first image we have correct positioning for blocking cross-pass goal chance. He won't be able do pass like that which is awesome! But when you look at the image no.2, that's one BAD positioning for block because you will most likely lose him. You can see that you did block him to take directly that ball but you missed to see that he got some avaliable space to simply run into and as soon as he take the ball that close to goalkeeper's line, you can do absolutely NOTHIG to stop him. In the situations as mentioned in picture no.2 you should be a bit above your opponent you are guarding so if they even try that trick, you can reach the ball first with no problem.
2. Don't be a dog.
Okay, you saw before as well that some players can use dirty trick to break your block before you can set a new one. So how do deal with it? Well, as I said, Don't be a dog you idiot xD . If someone use that stupid trick to move the ball a bit, don't chase the ball, you can't reach it faster then him, no way in this world you can reach it faster then him. There for, when someone do that, you either keep the block or just move left/right depending where is he positioning. Don't be foolish to take someone's bait.
3. Kick the sh*t out of them
It's very important for defense players to stop every possible sprint of your opponents. When someone see the chance for goal, he will probably sprint up to take that chance and it's up to you to be close to him and kick him right in the balls. Just kidding, kick him, no idea where, but kick him. It's important for you to have that player targeted so it can work, because sometimes when you don't target them, it doesn't work. I know, I know, even if you target them it doesn't work either, but deal with it, it's programmers fault.
4. Sprint in time
Okay, let's imagine the situation you are your opponent are alone near your goal. He want the ball badly, and so do you! What you do to stop him scoring the goal? Well, first of all, wait for him to sprint! Never, but never, ever in this life sprint first as defensive player. If you do that, you are retard. Why? Well, if he sprint first, you can kick him and slow him down a lot which give you pretty good chance just to pass him normally without sprint and reach the ball. But in case he is a bit ahead , move yourself a bit away from him and then sprint towards ball but all that time keep distance from him. You don't want to be kicked as well so he reach the ball after all!
5. If you block, block it right!
Now, I noticed many players simply don't know how to block. Imagine the situation in which your goal is threatened. If you block like a noobie, you will most likely lose the match. And here is way explained on these two images.



Well first image is the right way how to block as I already explained that before. You take the position just a bit font of your opponent but still blocking him so they can’t take that empty space you got there. On the other hand, image two represent how nobies block. They stand right in front of the opponent and leave tons of free space for players just to grab. And why it’s important to guard that empty space? Well, as you can see it’s near goalkeeper’s line which mean if opponent take the ball there you won’t be able to block him anymore and he can score most likely. If someone get the ball there, you will be nothing but ghost for him. So be smart and block that.
6. After you scored
Okay, so after you scored goal it’s logical your opponent will take the ball at the center. And since we all know how block function now if you don’t reach center before him, you can’t make good block. Now, if the opponent is not near center, you can make block close to ball, because there is no one to stop you. But if the opponent reach the center first and make his block stance, well, you just can’t make block near the ball and they have huge advantage to start from there.
7. Don’t rush for a ball
It’s most common thing that some players run to get the ball hoping they will take it before their opponents does.

And in some situations they can calculate distance wrong and then be in such situation they are useless. As you can see from the image above, blue player pass to his own player in a way red can’t possible reach it first. But as we are humans, and we always hope to reach something first before others does we will go for that ball and get into trap. And when we do, blue can pass forward to lonely blue player that can score just like that. So, my suggestion to you is not to run towards ball in this situations. Better position your block , so he can’t pass well, rather then rushing for a ball and then become ghost.

8. Don’t move as goalkeeper
This is as well known error people make while playing goalkeeper. You see, some people pass the ball at the center and then, while ball still in the air they move out of goalkeeper’s terrain which result the ball to come back to him (teleport back). In that situation he is not just ruined the momentum of attack, he also have to deal with the ball he can’t kick. So, when you are goalkeeper, please do not move when you shoot to ball out.

Summed up

Okay, I gave my best to teach you how to play goblinball and I hope after reading this, some of you could even upgrade their own game a bit so I don't have to play with noobs over and over. Here are some summed up tips how to play:

1. Teamplay comes first.
2. Don't do risky moves.
3. Learn how to play defense.
4. Take advantage of cross-pass shoots.
5. Don't chase the ball, you are not a dog.
6. Deception is important to win, so use your brain to trick people, don't play on brute force.

And of course some useful tips as well:

7. When you are +1 with score, and you are goalkeeper with the ball, you can always move the ball just a bit out of goalkeeper's space so the time pass. I know many people do this just to force one of your players come to take the ball which is smart call. Some people also call this trick „chicken move“ but hey, there is no chicken moves when you are looking for victory.
8. If the game will end in let's say 10-15 seconds, and you are near your goal, just pass the ball in goalkeeper's space and do nothing. Don't take the ball because if you do, the ball might come to opponent after you don't kick it out. That's why I said, do nothing, don't even take it. Let it be there and because of that the ball will be sent to center and time will pass just like that.
9. If you see your opponents used charge and it's still active, simply pass the ball back to goalkeeper and WAIT till charge is lost. Then all of them wil be slow and you can advance very easy.

In case some of you don't like this, well let me tell you something:

Very possible ir Bloodraven. I made this guide when servers were offline and could only relly on my memory. So yes, it's as you say, I guess.

Hahaha, very true statement. I hope it can be helpful xD

Yup. Saw that later, but lazy to reedit now image. Will do later