# [Video] Roux Walkthrough Solves



## DeeDubb (May 8, 2014)

I made this video for two reasons. I think it will benefit people who are learning Roux (especially looking for block building strategies coming from CFOP), and also to get advice on how I can more efficiently solve a cube. It's just a few quick walkthrough solves with the scrambles. I didn't do any fancy editing. The quality of video isn't bad though. Let me know what you guys think!

Also, I mention my average in the video. I think it's important to note I only know Roux, and I've only been solving for about 2 months, so this is my own way of gauging my progress. Any tips would be appreciated! Also, let me know if you feel that the video was beneficial and/or how I could improve future videos.


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## cubizh (May 8, 2014)

My advice would be to always use the proper scrambling orientation (white top/green front) so that you don't even have to think about it. Not doing it is a bad habit in the long run.


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## GuRoux (May 8, 2014)

cubizh said:


> My advice would be to always use the proper scrambling orientation (white top/green front) so that you don't even have to think about it. Not doing it is a bad habit in the long run.



not really. It doesn't really matter how you scramble.


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## DeeDubb (May 8, 2014)

cubizh said:


> My advice would be to always use the proper scrambling orientation (white top/green front) so that you don't even have to think about it. Not doing it is a bad habit in the long run.



I've considered it, but I don't really see the benefit, or where the habit would hurt me. The only time I would ever need to worry about it is if I'm recreating scrambles or if I'm a judge at a competition or something, but in those situations, I am aware that I need to scramble Green F White U, so it wouldn't be a problem. The amount of time I save while doing Ao100s by scrambling from my finished state is certainly worth the minor inconvenience of adjusting later when needed.


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## MarcelP (May 8, 2014)

Hey DeeDubb, I have been to South Korea.. Let me tell you, I have not found one single person that sounds like you. My guess is that you are not Korean from origin? Your English is flawless. Cool video.


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## TDM (May 8, 2014)

MarcelP said:


> Hey DeeDubb, I have been to South Korea.. Let me tell you, I have not found one single person that sounds like you. My guess is that you are not Korean from origin? Your English is flawless.


He's from the US, and teaches English in South Korea.


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## MarcelP (May 8, 2014)

TDM said:


> He's from the US, and teaches English in South Korea.



Ah.. that makes sense.


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## DeeDubb (May 8, 2014)

MarcelP said:


> Hey DeeDubb, I have been to South Korea.. Let me tell you, I have not found one single person that sounds like you. My guess is that you are not Korean from origin? Your English is flawless. Cool video.



Thank you for the compliment. Yes, I'm an English teacher from the US, haha.


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## MWilson (May 9, 2014)

DeeDubb said:


> I've considered it, but I don't really see the benefit, or where the habit would hurt me. The only time I would ever need to worry about it is if I'm recreating scrambles or if I'm a judge at a competition or something, but in those situations, I am aware that I need to scramble Green F White U, so it wouldn't be a problem. The amount of time I save while doing Ao100s by scrambling from my finished state is certainly worth the minor inconvenience of adjusting later when needed.



It's true that it doesn't matter how you scramble when just doing solves for yourself, but in a video you should use the standard green/white orientation for the benefit of the majority of viewers.

Before I comment on the solves, do you always start with the blue block with white or yellow on the bottom? Or do you start with orange or red on the bottom as well?


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## DeeDubb (May 9, 2014)

Dominate said:


> Before I comment on the solves, do you always start with the blue block with white or yellow on the bottom? Or do you start with orange or red on the bottom as well?



I don't have any color neutrality at all yet. I only do blue/white. I am thinking of adding blue/yellow, but I think there's more important things to work on that will have a bigger impact on speed.


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## MWilson (May 9, 2014)

DeeDubb said:


> I don't have any color neutrality at all yet. I only do blue/white. I am thinking of adding blue/yellow, but I think there's more important things to work on that will have a bigger impact on speed.



You should really start with at least adding yellow on bottom. The best compromise is y x2 neutral, doing either of two opposite colors on D, and any of the resulting four E center colors on L. That way you can make use of any starting corner+edge pair no matter which it is out of the possible 24.

I'll look at the solves in detail now.


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## GuRoux (May 9, 2014)

Dominate said:


> You should really start with at least adding yellow on bottom. The best compromise is y x2 neutral, doing either of two opposite colors on D, and any of the resulting four E center colors on L. That way you can make use of any starting corner+edge pair no matter which it is out of the possible 24.
> 
> I'll look at the solves in detail now.



I can only start on green with white on bottom and blue with white on bottom. It definitely worth being CN early on, but know it's not that necessary.


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## MWilson (May 9, 2014)

*First Solve* (Red F, Yellow U) B2 L2 D' F2 D2 U R2 D F2 D' F2 R B2 R' B L2 F' D' U' L2 F'

_Left Square_
11 moves for a square is just far to many. You got lucky and it turned out to be an 11 move full block, but that's irrelevant. Try to use 7 moves maximum, but aim for 4 or 5.

In this solve, you had the blue/orange/yellow pair already made. With yellow on front and green on top, leaving the already made pair at the LFD+LD position, you could have done something like r U R' u.

However, even if you do hold it with orange on front and white on top and place the blue/red edge at DL with a D', you can still solve the back pair much more efficiently from there with something like U2 R U R' U2 B, or F' M2/r2 U M/r' B.

_LSE_
With two bad adjacent on top and two bad on bottom, you can just do M2. It doesn't matter where the two on top are, just do M2 and you have a three on top, one on bottom case.

You can predict the AUF very intuitively by seeing that when you do the M2, the bad edge on top at UF or UB becomes the one bad on bottom, and the bad edge on top at UL or UR becomes the middle of the three bad on top. So if the top bad edges are UF and UR, then M2 would be followed by a U' to place the UR edge over where the UF edge ended up on the bottom at DB. If the two bad edges on top are UB and UR, then you would do M2 U. Likewise for the other two possibilities.


*Second Solve* (Red F, Yellow U) B' U R' D2 R' D' F L' U2 D2 F' L2 D2 F2 B L2 F' L2

_Left Square_
The solution was fine, but I would have performed it as (White F, Red U) (U D2) L D'.

_Right Pair_
Instead of placing the edge on the bottom with M, use M2 to set it up for a great r' U' r insert:
U M2 U' r' U r


*Third Solve* (Red F, Yellow U) B L2 F R2 F2 U2 L2 D2 F R2 U2 L B' F2 L D' R D2 U2 B' U

_Left Square_
In situations like this, you can often position the pair on the same face as the edge, just before connecting the edge to the center, such that the pair is moved into position with it. For this case, try (Orange F, White U) R2 F U F', (White F, Red U) R2 D F D', or one of the other two x orientations.

Note that this approach creates the other pair in the middle of it by chance. You could perserve the pair in a few different ways, but a good one is (White F, Red U) R2 D r U F' L2 F.

_Left Pair_
The U' R' U r F' solution is good. I would do R U' M2 U2 r' F because I find it very fast to perform.

_Right Square_
What you did is fine, but you could place the green/white edge with less moves while still breaking up the pair: r' U R2 U2 R' U R2 U'. I figure out my first block + DR edge during inspection so that I can favor simple look ahead and fast turn speed for the two second block block pairs, so I'm not great with building the right square.

_Right Pair_
Like the second solve, move the edge down to DB with M2 then r' U r insert: M2 U' r' U r.

_LSE_

You did U' M U2 M' U2, then placed your 4b edges on the top while finishing the 4a, then essentially did a Z permutation. Instead, you could have placed them on the bottom with M, then done U' M2 to solve the 4b right away. Look for opportunities to do that when you are doing your three on top one on bottom case. If the one on the bottom and the middle of the three on top are your 4b edges, you can do this to save many moves. Of crouse, 1/4 of the time M' will just solve the 4b directly in this situtation.


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## GuRoux (May 9, 2014)

Dominate said:


> *First Solve* (Red F, Yellow U) B2 L2 D' F2 D2 U R2 D F2 D' F2 R B2 R' B L2 F' D' U' L2 F'
> 
> _Left Square_
> 11 moves for a square is just far to many. You got lucky and it turned out to be an 11 move full block, but that's irrelevant. Try to use 7 moves maximum, but aim for 4 or 5.
> ...



nice, very comprehensive analysis.


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## DeeDubb (May 9, 2014)

Dominate said:


> _feedback_.



Thank you so much Dominate. I will go back through and analyze everything over the weekend. This is exactly the kind of stuff I was hoping for.


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