The present study focuses on the deformation mechanisms of re-entrant honeycomb auxetic structures under inclined loading. An auxetic finite element prototype is compressed by a rigid plate during a static Riks analysis. Analysing the deformation response of the structure has revealed that a new transitional deformation stage emerges that highly restricts the elastic response. This new macro stage consists of consecutive micro stages of plateau-densification (yielding-hardening) that corresponds to a highly localised deformation mode, and alters the mechanical response in the following macro stages.