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Ti–6Al–4V microstructures produced by high deposition rate Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) can be both heterogeneous and anisotropic. Key features of the as-built microstructures include; large columnar ß grains, an α transformation texture inherited from the β solidification texture, grain boundary (GB) α colonies, and Heat Affected Zone (HAZ) banding. The effect of this heterogeneity on the local strain distribution has been investigated using Digital Image Correlation (DIC) in samples loaded in tension; parallel (WD), perpendicular (ND) and at 45° (45ND) to the deposited layers. Full-field surface strain maps were correlated to the underlying local texture. It is shown that loading perpendicular to the columnar β grains leads to a diffuse heterogeneous deformation distribution, due to the presence of regions containing hard, and soft, α microtextures within different parent β grains. The ‘soft’ regions …