Overcoming the strength-ductility trade-off remains a challenge for both traditional and emerging high-strength steels. The unique thermal history during additive manufacturing (AM) of metals and alloys includes cellular solute enrichment of alloying elements, enabling the formation of metastable austenite with a cellular morphology after intercritical (α + γ) annealing. Intercritical heat treatment reconstructs the trace retained austenite in the as-printed microstructure, together with reverte