2-look OLL is a way to make the whole top face yellow in two looks: first you flip the four edges to get a yellow cross, then you twist the four corners. It is the set of OLL algorithms for people new to CFOP, because you only need 9 algorithms instead of 57. This post goes through every case, one picture per case, and shows how to recognise each one from the yellow stickers on the sides.

Find your case fast

Look at your cube from above and tap the picture that matches it to see how to solve it. Grey cells are stickers you can ignore.

  • Case 1

    RUR′URU2R′

    Good news: if you already know how to solve layer 3, you know two of them already. The yellow cross algorithm F R U R' U' F' is the line algorithm, and the yellow face algorithm R U R' U R U2 R' is Sune.

    1. You start with (input)
    2. After the formula
    See it in the post →
  • Case 2

    FRUR′U′F′

    F R U R' U' F'

    1. You start with (input)
    2. After the formula
    See it in the post →
  • Case 3

    FURU′R′F′

    F U R U' R' F'

    1. You start with (input)
    2. After the formula
    See it in the post →
  • Case 4

    FRUR′U′F′U2FURU′R′F′

    F R U R' U' F' U2 F U R U' R' F'

    1. You start with (input)
    2. After the formula
    See it in the post →
  • Case 5

    RUR′URU2R′

    R U R' U R U2 R'

    1. You start with (input)
    2. After the formula
    See it in the post →
  • Case 6

    RU2R′U′RU′R′

    R U2 R' U' R U' R'

    1. You start with (input)
    2. After the formula
    See it in the post →
  • Case 7

    FRUR′U′RUR′U′RUR′U′F′

    F R U R' U' R U R' U' R U R' U' F'

    1. You start with (input)
    2. After the formula
    See it in the post →
  • Case 8

    RU2R2U′R2U′R2U2R

    R U2 R2 U' R2 U' R2 U2 R

    1. You start with (input)
    2. After the formula
    See it in the post →
  • Case 9

    R2DR′U2RD′R′U2R′

    R2 D R' U2 R D' R' U2 R'

    1. You start with (input)
    2. After the formula
    See it in the post →
  • Case 10

    RwUR′U′Rw′FRF′

    Rw U R' U' Rw' F R F'

    1. You start with (input)
    2. After the formula
    See it in the post →
  • Case 11

    F′RwUR′U′Rw′FR

    F' Rw U R' U' Rw' F R

    1. You start with (input)
    2. After the formula
    See it in the post →
  • Case 12

    FRUR′U′F′

    • Line: F R U R' U' F'
    1. You start with (input)
    2. After the formula
    See it in the post →
  • Case 13

    FURU′R′F′

    • L shape: F U R U' R' F'
    1. You start with (input)
    2. After the formula
    See it in the post →
  • Case 14

    RUR′URU2R′

    • Sune: R U R' U R U2 R'
    1. You start with (input)
    2. After the formula
    See it in the post →
  • Case 15

    RU2R′U′RU′R′

    • Antisune: R U2 R' U' R U' R'
    1. You start with (input)
    2. After the formula
    See it in the post →
  • Case 16

    FRUR′U′RUR′U′RUR′U′F′

    • H: F R U R' U' R U R' U' R U R' U' F'
    1. You start with (input)
    2. After the formula
    See it in the post →
  • Case 17

    RU2R2U′R2U′R2U2R

    • Pi: R U2 R2 U' R2 U' R2 U2 R
    1. You start with (input)
    2. After the formula
    See it in the post →
  • Case 18

    R2DR′U2RD′R′U2R′

    • U (headlights): R2 D R' U2 R D' R' U2 R'
    1. You start with (input)
    2. After the formula
    See it in the post →
  • Case 19

    RwUR′U′Rw′FRF′

    • T: Rw U R' U' Rw' F R F'
    1. You start with (input)
    2. After the formula
    See it in the post →
  • Case 20

    F′RwUR′U′Rw′FR

    • L (bowtie): F' Rw U R' U' Rw' F R
    1. You start with (input)
    2. After the formula
    See it in the post →

This is part six of the CFOP series on EasyRubic, after intuitive F2L and the 41 F2L algorithms. Every algorithm in this post has been tested on the EasyRubic Rubik's Cube simulator.

What is OLL?

OLL stands for Orientation of the Last Layer. It is the third step of CFOP, straight after F2L. The only goal is to make all nine stickers on the top face yellow. The pieces do not need to be in place yet: the PLL step takes care of that.

According to the SpeedSolving Wiki, full OLL has 57 cases, one algorithm for each, and the step was proposed by Hans Dockhorn, Anneke Treep and Jessica Fridrich in 1981 (SpeedSolving Wiki). Ruwix also says it plainly: if 57 algorithms are too many, start with 2-look OLL, which has fewer algorithms but is a little slower (Ruwix).

What is in 2-look OLL?

The SpeedSolving Wiki splits 2-look OLL into two steps: flip the edges first, then twist the corners (SpeedSolving Wiki).

  • Step 1, flip the edges: 3 cases (line, L shape, dot only).
  • Step 2, twist the corners: 7 cases, each with its own name: Sune, Antisune, H, Pi, U (headlights), T and L (bowtie).

J Perm counts 10 algorithms: 3 for the edges and 7 for the corners (J Perm). Ruwix says 9. The difference is the dot case: in this post, the dot is solved by joining the algorithms for the other two edge cases, so you only need to remember 9 algorithms.

Good news: if you already know how to solve layer 3, you know two of them already. The yellow cross algorithm F R U R' U' F' is the line algorithm, and the yellow face algorithm R U R' U R U2 R' is Sune.

See it in 3D, before and after
  1. You start with (input)
  2. After the formula

How to hold the cube and read the pictures

  • Yellow on top, with F2L done (the bottom two layers are solved).
  • Green at the front. In the pictures, the right face is orange.
  • Each picture has two cubes. The cube on the left is the case you have, and the cube on the right is what you get after the algorithm. Only the top layer pieces are coloured; the bottom two layers are grey.
  • In OLL you only look at the yellow stickers. The other colours on the top layer pieces (red, blue, orange) do not matter yet. On a real cube, the sides of the top layer are usually still mixed up after OLL, unlike the picture on the right; the PLL step sorts them out.

Before doing an algorithm, turn the top (U, U' or U2) so your cube looks like the picture. If the notation is new to you, see Rubik's Cube notation for beginners.

Step 1: flip the edges to make a yellow cross

Look only at the four edges on the top and ignore the corners. There are three shapes you can get. If you already have a yellow cross, go to step 2.

Line

Two yellow edges sit opposite each other and make a straight line with the centre. Turn U so the line runs from left to right, then do:

F R U R' U' F'

See it in 3D, before and after
  1. You start with (input)
  2. After the formula

If the line runs from front to back, the algorithm will take away both yellow edges and leave only the dot. This is a very common mistake.

L shape

Two yellow edges sit next to each other and make a right angle with the centre. Turn U so the L is in the back left corner (one yellow edge at the back, one on the left), then do:

F U R U' R' F'

See it in 3D, before and after
  1. You start with (input)
  2. After the formula

Compared with the line algorithm, only the middle part changes: R U R' U' becomes U R U' R'. That makes the two algorithms easy to remember together.

Dot only

None of the edges has a yellow sticker on top. Do the line algorithm, turn U2, then do the L algorithm:

F R U R' U' F' U2 F U R U' R' F'

See it in 3D, before and after
  1. You start with (input)
  2. After the formula

After the first algorithm you will have an L in the front right corner. U2 moves it to the back left corner, exactly where the L algorithm needs it. If you forget the order, just do the line algorithm once from any angle, look again, and then follow the shape you see.

One or three yellow edges?

This cannot happen on a correctly assembled cube: the number of flipped edges is always even. If you see it, the cube has popped apart and been put back together wrongly, so you need to take out one edge and flip it. The post How to solve layer 3 explains this in detail.

Step 2: twist the corners to finish the yellow face

Now you have a yellow cross. Count how many corners have yellow on top: 0, 1 or 2. Then look at the yellow stickers on the sides of the top layer to find the exact case. The pictures only show the front and right faces; for yellow stickers on the left and back, follow the words.

Two words come up a lot when spotting cases:

  • Headlights: two yellow stickers next to each other on the same side face, on the two corners of the top row.
  • Yellow facing the front: the corner's yellow sticker is on the front face.

One yellow corner on top: Sune and Antisune

These are the two most important algorithms in OLL. The SpeedSolving Wiki calls Sune, Antisune and Pi the foundation of 2-look OLL and, later on, of full OLL (SpeedSolving Wiki).

Sune. Turn U so the corner with yellow on top is at the front left. If the front right corner has its yellow facing the front (the back right corner faces right and the back left corner faces back), it is Sune:

R U R' U R U2 R'

See it in 3D, before and after
  1. You start with (input)
  2. After the formula

Antisune. Turn U so the corner with yellow on top is at the back right. If the front left corner has its yellow facing the front (the front right corner faces right and the back left corner faces left), it is Antisune:

R U2 R' U' R U' R'

See it in 3D, before and after
  1. You start with (input)
  2. After the formula

How to tell them apart: in both cases, the front face has only one yellow sticker. If that sticker is on the right corner of the top row, it is Sune. On the left corner, it is Antisune. Antisune is simply Sune done backwards.

No yellow corners on top: H and Pi

All four corners have their yellow sticker on a side face.

H. Two pairs of headlights facing each other. Turn U so one pair is on the front and the other on the back, then do:

F R U R' U' R U R' U' R U R' U' F'

See it in 3D, before and after
  1. You start with (input)
  2. After the formula

It looks long, but it is just F, then R U R' U' three times, then F'.

Pi. Only one pair of headlights. Turn U so the headlights are on the left. The two right corners have their yellow facing different ways: the front one faces the front, the back one faces the back. Do:

R U2 R2 U' R2 U' R2 U2 R

See it in 3D, before and after
  1. You start with (input)
  2. After the formula

Two yellow corners on top: U, T and L

U (headlights). The two corners with yellow on top sit next to each other. Turn U so they are at the back. If the front has headlights (both front corners face the front), do:

R2 D R' U2 R D' R' U2 R'

See it in 3D, before and after
  1. You start with (input)
  2. After the formula

This algorithm has a D move (turning the bottom face). The bottom two layers get pulled away for a moment and then come back, so do not worry when F2L looks messed up halfway through.

T. The two corners with yellow on top are next to each other again, but there are no headlights. Turn U so the two yellow corners are on the right. The front left corner faces the front and the back left corner faces the back. Do:

Rw U R' U' Rw' F R F'

See it in 3D, before and after
  1. You start with (input)
  2. After the formula

Rw means turning the two right layers together (many sites write it as a small r).

L (bowtie). The two corners with yellow on top are diagonal from each other. Turn U so they are at the front left and back right. The front right corner must have its yellow facing the front (the back left corner faces left). Do:

F' Rw U R' U' Rw' F R

See it in 3D, before and after
  1. You start with (input)
  2. After the formula

If the two diagonal corners are in the right spots but the front right corner faces right, you are holding it the wrong way round: turn U2 and look again.

Which cases come up most often?

We counted every possible orientation of the last layer on the simulator. On a randomly scrambled cube, the four edges have 8 equally likely patterns and the four corners have 27 equally likely patterns. Here is how many patterns each case takes up:

StepCaseChance
EdgesL shape4/8, half the time
EdgesLine2/8
EdgesDot1/8
EdgesCross already done1/8
CornersSune, Antisune, Pi, U, T, L4/27 each, about 15%
CornersH2/27, about 7%
CornersAll yellow already1/27, about 4%

So the L shape is the most common edge case, and in the corner step, six of the seven cases come up equally often. There is no case worth skipping.

Summary of the 9 2-look OLL algorithms

Each algorithm comes with a picture of the case it solves.

  • Line: F R U R' U' F'
See it in 3D, before and after
  1. You start with (input)
  2. After the formula
  • L shape: F U R U' R' F'
See it in 3D, before and after
  1. You start with (input)
  2. After the formula
  • Sune: R U R' U R U2 R'
See it in 3D, before and after
  1. You start with (input)
  2. After the formula
  • Antisune: R U2 R' U' R U' R'
See it in 3D, before and after
  1. You start with (input)
  2. After the formula
  • H: F R U R' U' R U R' U' R U R' U' F'
See it in 3D, before and after
  1. You start with (input)
  2. After the formula
  • Pi: R U2 R2 U' R2 U' R2 U2 R
See it in 3D, before and after
  1. You start with (input)
  2. After the formula
  • U (headlights): R2 D R' U2 R D' R' U2 R'
See it in 3D, before and after
  1. You start with (input)
  2. After the formula
  • T: Rw U R' U' Rw' F R F'
See it in 3D, before and after
  1. You start with (input)
  2. After the formula
  • L (bowtie): F' Rw U R' U' Rw' F R
See it in 3D, before and after
  1. You start with (input)
  2. After the formula

The dot does not need its own algorithm: line, U2, then L shape.

What order to go in and how to practise

J Perm advises against taking on too many algorithms at once, because they are easy to forget (J Perm). An easy order to follow:

  1. Line and Sune. You already know these from the beginner method. Go over them until they are really fast.
  2. L shape. It only differs from the line in the middle part. Once you have it, you can finish step 1 in one or two algorithms.
  3. Antisune. Add it right after Sune so you can tell the two cases apart.
  4. H and Pi. H is easy to remember because it is R U R' U' repeated three times.
  5. U, T and L. The last three algorithms, one per day.

How to practise a new algorithm:

  • Starting from a solved cube, do the algorithm in reverse (read it from the end and turn each move the other way) to set up the case. Then solve it again with the algorithm.
  • Say the name of the case quietly before you do it. The goal is to see the shape and know the algorithm without thinking.
  • Once you know all 9 by heart, solve the whole cube and time yourself with the 3x3 timer.

J Perm's video below goes through 2-look OLL. It uses a few different algorithms for some cases; pick one set and stick with it so you do not mix them up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhmYBgLoQQg Video: "Rubik's Cube: Easy 2-Look OLL Tutorial (Beginner CFOP)" – J Perm channel on YouTube.

Common mistakes

  • Holding the cube the wrong way in step 1. The line must run from left to right, and the L must be in the back left corner.
  • Mixing up Sune and Antisune. Look at the single yellow sticker on the front: right corner is Sune, left corner is Antisune.
  • Only counting the yellow corners on top. Two yellow corners on top can be three different cases (U, T, L). You also need to look at the sides.
  • Confusing Rw with R. In the T and L algorithms, Rw brings the middle slice along too. If you only turn one layer, the whole top will get messed up.
  • Worrying when F2L gets scrambled halfway. Many algorithms (like U with its D move) pull the bottom pieces up for a while. Finish the algorithm and they come back.

What comes next

Once 2-look OLL is second nature, the next step is 2-look PLL to put the top layer pieces in place, and then, bit by bit, the full 57 OLL algorithms. The post What is CFOP has a road map for the whole method.

With the EasyRubic app, you can scan your real cube with the camera and see the solution step by step on a 3D cube. Get EasyRubic to practise each OLL case on your own cube.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

What is 2-look OLL?

It is a way to make the whole top face one colour in two steps: flip the edges to get a yellow cross, then twist the corners. It needs 9 or 10 algorithms, depending on how you count, instead of the 57 in full OLL.

How many algorithms are in 2-look OLL?

J Perm counts 10 (3 for the edges, 7 for the corners). Ruwix says 9. If you solve the dot case by joining the two edge algorithms, you only need to remember 9.

Do I need all 57 OLL algorithms?

Not yet. Use 2-look OLL until you can solve smoothly. Full OLL saves you one pause to look, but it takes a lot of time to get the hang of.

What is the difference between Sune and Antisune?

Both have exactly one yellow corner on top. Hold the cube so the front face has only one yellow sticker: if that sticker is on the right corner it is Sune, and if it is on the left corner it is Antisune.

Why are the sides still mixed up after OLL?

OLL only makes the top face one colour. Putting the pieces in place is the job of the PLL step that comes right after.

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