The design and functionality of polymeric materials hinge on failure resistance. While molecular-level details drive crack evolution in polymer networks, the connection between individual chain scission and bulk failure remains unclear and difficult to probe. In this work, we systematically study the fracture mechanics of polymer-like networks with hybrid bond strengths. We reveal that varying the ratio of strong and weak strands within otherwise identical networks gives a non-monotonic relationship between intrinsic fracture energy and strong strand fraction. Networks with some weak strands can counterintuitively outperform those with exclusively strong strands. Experiments on poly(ethylene glycol) gels and architected polymer-like lattices together with simulations unveil these properties. We show through computational visualization that strand type concentrations impact crack growth patterns and fracture energy …