OlliOlli World: Tips for Grinding and Combos

If you’re looking forward to OlliOlli World and want to know how to hit the ground running when it comes out so you can play to the best of your abilities, you’ll want to learn what to do before you even hit the ground.  One of the best, most rewarding ways to enhance your score and beat Local Heroes in the game to make your mark in Radlandia is to master the art of Grinding on rails.  It’s not only a simple matter of having the option to choose rails to enhance your score, as you’ll find some of the most rewarding, potentially gnarly paths in the game are found by skillful execution of the grinding mechanic.  This is our guide with Tips for Grinding and Combos in OlliOlli World!

OlliOlli World: Tips for Grinding and Combos

On a basic level, you should always Grind when the option presents itself, be mindful of the distance between rails, and take any opportunity during long Grinds to add to your multiplier with Grabs and Grind Switches.  The controls to execute a grind are simple, on a basic level you must tilt the left stick up, down, left, or right, and if you tilt just as your character is about to land, you’ll get a Good or Perfect Grind and get better points for it.

Much like what was covered in a broader sense, Grinding allows you to enhance your score, increase combo multipliers, and preserve the longevity of your combo.  If a level has rails in it, you’ll see a good chance to use them and your Manual balance in between them to keep a combo going through the whole level.  Many levels in Radlandia include Mike’s Challenges where you must take alternate paths to reach special objectives, and you’ll need a good handle on Grinding to achieve many of them.

In addition to this, the paths you explore that are heavily laden with rails are often great opportunities to get a better score.  A common issue, however, is that the rails are often placed apart at a distance so you’ll want to understand when to execute your jumps.  The real secret here is to wait until you’re just leaving the rail, as there’s a slight boost to your jump when you execute a trick off these rails.  Take advantage of this to close the distance between rails, and you’ll find you can carry this trick to the final levels.

Finally, simply grinding between Manual landings isn’t enough if you want the best combos possible.  When you’re ready and your wrist isn’t locking up from all the gameplay, you can add to your Grinding repertoire with Grabs first, then Grind Switches.  To Grab, much like when you do it in the air, you can tilt the right stick in whatever direction you tilted to land on the rail.  If you land with the left stick facing down, do the same after landing with the right stick and you’ll execute it, and reap more combo rewards.  Do that, switch things up between rails as the game rewards variety, and once you’ve got that mechanic down, throw in Grind Switches.

Grind Switches are slightly more involved than Grabs, as you’ll need to hold the A/B/X button (depending on the system, XB/NSW/PS for instance) and tilt the left stick in different directions.  Depending on the rail’s length, you can pull off multiple Switches, and when you notice none are being executed, pull off a basic, advanced, or special trick and land back on that rail, rinse, repeat.  Simply riding the rail from point A to B can be a wasted opportunity for points, and it’s not just a haven to preserve your combo.

This concludes our Tips for Grinding and Combos in OlliOlli World!  The game comes out on February 8th on all major consoles and PC, and we’re excited for you to get to play!  Check out more guides here, and keep an eye out for more to come!