# Echo-Lock: freeze the high ground.

> Once per game, a Hexodic player can make one tier-2 cell permanent.

Echo-Lock spends a Hexodic charge to permanently lock a tier-2 cell under your own stone. A locked cell can never be raised, lowered or Placed on — tier control that protects a Network.

Canonical HTML: https://hexodic.com/rules/lock
Site index for agents: https://hexodic.com/llms.txt

Echo-Lock is a Hexodic Echo that spends a charge to permanently lock a tier-2 cell occupied by the player's own stone. A locked cell stays at tier 2 for the rest of the game, because Shape can never target it, and no stone can be Placed onto it. Each Hexodic player may Echo-Lock once per game.

Reviewed 2026-09-15 against the Hexodic rules engine.

## What a lock does — and does not do

- A locked cell cannot be raised or lowered by either player.
- A locked cell cannot receive a Place. A stone can still Move onto it.
- A lock protects the cell, not the stone: a stone on a locked cell can still be captured by encirclement, Echo-Capture or a Move from a higher cell — and since tier 2 is the highest tier, a Move capture onto a locked cell is impossible.
- Locked tier-2 cells still count for the [Network](/rules/network) win, but the tiebreak's first step counts only unlocked tier-2 cells.

## Lock, tier control and Network

Echo-Lock is the purest form of [tier control](/rules/tiers): the opponent's Shape cannot undo it. The usual reason to lock is a Network in progress — a lowered cell breaks a chain of tier-2 stones, and a locked cell cannot be lowered. The cost is a charge that could have been an Echo-Capture, and a little tiebreak value.

## Related

- [Echo](/rules/echo) — charges and Echo-Capture.
- [Glossary: Echo-Lock](/glossary#echo-lock)
- [All rules](/rules)

[Get the Hexodic app](/download) and lock the cell your Network depends on.

## Where to go next

- [Tiers](https://hexodic.com/rules/tiers) — Height, high ground, and what tier control buys you.
- [Strategy](https://hexodic.com/strategy) — The principles that follow from the rules, not from habit.
- [How it works](https://hexodic.com/how-it-works) — The whole turn, in plain language.

## Questions this page answers

- What does lock do in Hexodic?
- How many times can you Echo-Lock in Hexodic?