3-Block

3-Block is a method designed for quickly speedsolving the 3⁴. Many speedsolving world records have been set using this method. It was primarily invented by Luna and HactarCE, and has been described as “ZZ without EO”. 3-Block is most analogous to the 3³ method FreeFOP (which omits a single cross piece in order to pair pieces easier). Compared to 4D CFOP, 3-Block uses ~20% fewer moves.

Prerequisites

• Knowledge of how the 3⁴ moves
• Notation
• RKT
• 3D CFOP with 2-look OLL & PLL

HSC Piece filters

Pink crossRowan’s filters (white cross)Rowan’s new filters (pink cross)Triplets instead of pairs

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- preset_name: Mid (back)
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- preset_name: Left (cross)
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- preset_name: OLC
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Summary

1. 4-Cross — Solve 4 out of the 6 cross pieces
2. Middle Block — Solve 4 2c3c pairs betwen the 4 cross pieces
3. Left Block — Blockbuild or pair pieces to solve the Left Cell
4. Right Block — Blockbuild or pair pieces to solve the Right Cell
5. OLL-4 - Orient LC 2c, 3c, and 4c pieces using 3D algorithms
6. PLL-4 - Permute LC 2c, 3c, and 4c pieces using 3D techniques

Steps

4-Cross

Solve the four 2c cross pieces in a ring in the M slice. Leave the L and R cross pieces unsolved.

Middle Block

Tip

For the entirety of F2L, the last layer is held on the I cell, as opposed to CFOP where it is held on the U cell. This allows us to see more information at once.

Create and insert 4 F2L-a (2c3c) pairs into the 4/6 cross. This will solve 2/3 of the M slice. Because the Left and Right cells don’t have their cross pieces, you can use them to aid with building and inserting the pairs.

Left Block

Solve the Left cell. This is done in 3 blocks, hence the name of the method. The first block consists of the cross edge, followed by two 2c3c F2L-a pairs that are opposite of each other. This solves the middle column of the left cell. The final two blocks consist of a 2c3c pair, and two 3c4c pairs.

Right Block

Solve the Right cell. This is also done by breaking it up into the 3 blocks, except now you don’t have an empty opposite cell to aid you in making pairs. You could just solve the cross edge, and then finish the whole solve using CFOP style F2L and Last Cell. You can also do it the 3 blocks way, except having less freedom means that it is slightly trickier to set up the correct cases.

Last Layer

This is done in the exact same way as CFOP.

Big cubes

Solve all the centers, then pair up only the pieces you need during the step of 3-block you’re on. For example: after solving centers, pair up 4 cross ridges. For last cell, you can either just orient everything, and then do an RKT 4⁴ solve, or you can pair everything and end up with an RKT 3³ solve.