Nerdle Strategy Guide

1. 1Start with 52-34=18 — It ranks first in our verified strategy at an unrounded 2.9834 expected guesses under real Nerdle rules (a rearranged form of the answer also wins). See the full opener rankings for why, and what the runners-up have in common. The practical difference among the leaders is tiny; choose the one you can enter reliably.
2. 2Make your second guess earn new information — Don’t rush to reuse what you know. Test fresh digits and operators, and move any purple characters to new positions (we computed the best second guess for every possible first-guess result).
3. 3Trust purple tiles — A character in the wrong position is still valuable information. It tells you both what IS in the answer and where it ISN’T.
4. 4Remember: = is always there — Every equation has exactly one equals sign, and its position tells you the answer’s whole structure. If you know where it isn’t, you narrow down where it must be.

Or skip the manual work: use our solver — after your first guess, enter the feedback and get the model-recommended next move (here’s how it works).