How to Play AoTTG: ODM Gear Controls and Movement Explained

The hooks are not a grappling hook. Understanding the difference is the whole game.

The one thing beginners get wrong

New players treat ODM gear like a grappling hook: fire, get pulled, land, repeat. That works, and it is also why they never get fast. A hook that pulls you in a straight line is a rope. What makes ODM gear feel like ODM gear is using the hook as an anchor for a pendulum, then converting the bottom of that swing into speed with gas.

The loop is: fire ahead and to the side, let the swing carry you down and forward, release at the bottom of the arc, boost, and fire the next hook before you lose altitude. Speed compounds. A player who understands this is roughly three times faster than one who does not, in every game on this list.

The controls, in every version

• Left and right hooks are separate. Firing both locks you into a straight pull; firing one lets you swing. Use one far more than both.
• Gas is thrust, not a jump. It accelerates you in the direction you are already going, which is why it is worthless at the top of an arc and enormous at the bottom.
• Reeling shortens the cable. Short cable, tight fast arc. Long cable, wide slow arc. Reel in to turn hard, let out to keep speed.
• Kills land on the nape only, and only above a speed threshold. A slow hit staggers, a fast hit kills. This is a momentum check, not an aim check.

A practice routine that works

1. Find an empty map or a solo mode. Do not learn this while people are shooting at you.
2. Pick two trees or two buildings about thirty metres apart and swing between them using one hook at a time, without touching the ground, until you can do twenty in a row.
3. Add gas: boost only at the bottom of each arc. Notice how much further the next hook reaches.
4. Now add the nape. Approach a titan from behind and above, come in on a downward arc so speed is already high, and cut on the way past, not while hovering.
5. Only then go to multiplayer. The first twenty minutes of practice saves you two hours of dying.

Where to practise

Any of the games on our top 10 will teach you the same fundamentals, because they all derive their movement from the same original. What differs is how quickly you can get into a practice session.

TitanRoyale is the fastest place to start because it has a tutorial that teaches hooks, gas and reeling explicitly, and because there is no install between you and it. Once the movement is in your hands, it transfers to AoTTG and AoTTG 2 with almost no relearning.

Keep reading