# What makes Hexodic strategically deep, and how to play into it. > Beginner principles that follow from the rules themselves — no opening books, no invented win rates. Hexodic strategy principles derived directly from the rules: tier control, tempo, balancing Network, Takeover and Strangle pressure, spending Echo charges, when to Lock, containment and dual threats. Canonical HTML: https://hexodic.com/strategy Site index for agents: https://hexodic.com/llms.txt ## What makes Hexodic strategically deep? Hexodic is **deep because every turn changes both the pieces and the ground they stand on**, and three different win conditions compete for the same small board. A Hexodic turn is a [Project](/rules/project) (Place a stone from reserve, or Move one once the reserve is empty), then a [Shape](/rules/shape) that raises or lowers a nearby cell whenever a legal Shape exists, then an optional [Echo](/rules/echo). Because height decides captures and the Network win, a single Shape can help your attack and weaken your defence at once. The principles below follow from the [rules](/rules); they are starting points, not measured win rates. Key terms: - **[Tier](/glossary#tier)** — a cell's height: 0, 1 or 2. - **[Tier control](/glossary#tier-control)** — deciding which cells stand high and which stay low. - **Tempo** — who is forcing the other to respond. - **Dual threat** — one turn that threatens two different wins, so one reply cannot stop both. - **[Echo-Lock](/rules/lock)** — an Echo that permanently locks a tier-2 cell under one of your stones, so neither player can raise or lower it and no stone can be Placed on it. ## Principle 1: control the tiers, not just the cells Hexodic [captures](/rules/capture) depend on height, so [tier control](/rules/tiers) comes before stone count. A stone on a tier-0 cell can never be captured by encirclement, and a stone on higher ground needs more surrounding height to be captured; a stone on a tier-2 cell away from the board edge cannot be taken by the normal encirclement check at all. Once a player's reserve is empty, a stone may Move onto an adjacent enemy stone on a strictly lower tier and capture it. Raise cells where your stones will stand, and lower cells your opponent is building toward. A Shape must target a cell near the stone you just Projected, and lowering draws on a limited [per-game budget](/glossary#lowering-budget), so plan both. ## Principle 2: play all three win conditions at once Hexodic has three wins — [Network](/rules/network) (one connected group of your stones on tier-2 cells, large enough to meet the Network size), [Takeover](/rules/takeover) (reaching the capture target) and [Strangle](/rules/strangle) (your opponent begins a turn with no legal Project, meaning no legal Place and no legal Move). A player chasing only Network is easy to read. Tier-2 stones that extend your Network also make Move captures onto lower ground possible, so building toward one win should create pressure toward a second. ## Principle 3: keep tempo with forcing turns Hexodic rewards the player who forces replies. A turn that threatens to complete a Network or a capture makes the opponent spend their Shape defending instead of building. When you are not forcing anything, use the turn to prepare a threat, not to tidy your own position. ## Principle 4: spend Echo charges on turning points Hexodic gives each player a fixed number of [Echo charges](/glossary#charge) for the whole game, at most one Echo per turn, and no rule ever gives a charge back. An [Echo-Capture](/rules/echo-capture) runs a second, group capture check that can collapse a sealed enemy group; an [Echo-Lock](/rules/lock) locks a tier-2 cell. Spending a charge early for a small gain leaves you without one when a group capture or a key defence becomes available. ## Principle 5: Lock with the tiebreak in mind Hexodic allows each player one Echo-Lock per game. A locked tier-2 cell can no longer be raised or lowered, which protects a Network link from a Shape, and locked tier-2 cells still count toward Network. The lock protects the cell, not the stone: a stone on a locked cell can still be captured. If a game reaches the [half-move cap](/rules/game-end), the [tiebreak](/glossary#tiebreak) compares unlocked tier-2 stones first, then total tiers under each player's stones, then captures, then raises, so a Lock gives up part of the first count. Lock the cell your Network cannot survive losing, not the first tier-2 cell you build. ## Principle 6: contain before you capture Hexodic's Strangle win rewards [containment](/glossary#containment). A player is Strangled when they begin a turn with no legal Project: with stones in reserve, no cell they may Place on; with an empty reserve, no stone that can Move. A turn where only the [capture cooldown](/glossary#capture-cooldown) blocks every Place is a skipped Project, not a Strangle. A captured stone returns to its owner's reserve and gives them a Place again, so capturing can undo a Strangle you were building, while the cooldown requires that player's next Place to be at least 2 steps from every cell where their stones were taken. Steady containment often beats one early capture. ## Principle 7: build dual threats Hexodic's strongest turns threaten two outcomes, such as a Network link that also sets up a capture. The opponent has one Project, one Shape and at most one Echo to answer, so one well-built turn can decide the game. Avoid repeating an earlier position: an exact repetition with the same player to move is a [repetition loss](/glossary#repetition-loss) for the player who creates it. ## Where to go next The full rules are on the [rules hub](/rules), and every term is in the [glossary](/glossary). The measured branching factor behind "deep" is on [how Hexodic was measured](/how-hexodic-was-measured), and the bot that learns from human wins is [CL3O](/cl3o). Put a principle to work: [get the Hexodic app](/download). Reviewed 2026-09-15. ## Where to go next - [Common questions](https://hexodic.com/faq) — Availability, price, rules and data, answered plainly. - [Comparison hub](https://hexodic.com/how-hexodic-compares) — Every comparison this site publishes, in one list. - [Move-legality checker](https://hexodic.com/move-legality-checker) — Ask the real engine whether a turn is legal, and why. - [Roadmap](https://hexodic.com/roadmap) — What is live, what is in flight, and what is only a vision. ## Questions this page answers - What makes Hexodic strategically deep? - What is a good beginner strategy in Hexodic? - When should I use Echo in Hexodic?