EOCross Full Guide
By yoruba
Here's a step by step guide on how to get your EOCross skills from a beginner to a world class level.
Note: the time milestones given here are for x2y neutral, and they will be slightly faster for full CN.
Learn EO
Focus on efficiency and aim for 4-5 move solutions on average.
Practice EO
Start to plan EO in inspection and become familiar enough that you don't need to put fingers on bad edges (tip: visualize EO like a shape). Get fast at executing it (sub 1 second).
Learn bad edge placements
If you haven't already, learn how EO gets affected by F and B moves when 1/2/3 bad edges are placed on the F/B face. Learn all of the possible cases for different bad edges placements. This will save you time in inspection as EO will become automatic to trace in harder cases.
Apply basic EOCross techniques
The most bang for your buck will be to use different direction of F/B moves, and implement 2 edge F/B turns for flexibility. Use the movecount drill to get down to 10 moves on average. For more techniques and drills, check out the efficiency and practicing articles.
Improve EOCross efficiency and planning
Practice until you can plan EO+2 every time. Do lots of efficiency practice with previously mentioned techniques and use crystalcube (opens in a new tab) to get movecount down to 8.5. Improved efficiency will make it easier for you to plan EOCross in inspection. Work on that.
Improve EOCross speed
After that, focus more on the speed and execution of the step. Practice with the drill, this time focusing on speed. For more information, see the speed section of the Practicing article. Along with that, practice planning EOCross faster in inspection.
A good goal to aim for is to plan EOCross within 8 seconds of inspection, being able to execute it in 1.5 seconds, in 9 or less moves on average. This is the skill level equivalent of a 6.5 seconds solver.
Mastery
Continue practicing. To improve at this step most effectively, master your turning, as your biggest time losses will mainly come from lockups and slight inaccuracies here and there. Eliminate them entirely.
World class EOCross level is executing in 1.2 seconds and below, and being able to plan the step in 4-6 seconds. This at the high level will give you more than enough time for planning the first pair in inspection for every scramble.