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Ichor Glyphs

Ichor glyphs are the deepest layer of Icaroid tuning. You place crystalline, conductive ichor pieces onto a component's upgrade grid. Certain patterns of conductive cells form a glyph, which grants a bonus tailored to the part hosting it such as stat boosts, an effect, or even an ability. The same shape on a weapon, a core, legs, or a utility part may do entirely different things, but each glyph will usually have a theme.

How glyphs work

Each component has its own ichor grid, a small field of valid cells. You drop ichor pieces (each a small shape) onto those cells. When your Icaroid deploys into a battle, it pumps energy through its upgrade grid, activating each glyph's pattern and providing its bonus to the host part or the whole Icaroid for the fight.

  • A glyph's bonus is keyed to the host's component type (weapon, core, mobility, or utility). The same shape gives different rewards depending on what it sits on.
  • Multiple glyphs can match on one Icaroid and even in each component; their bonuses stack.
  • A glyph gives stats in an amount based on its size, but which stats it grants changes based on the elemental affinity applied by glyphs containing at least one cell of the piece and any stat scaling applied by the glyph itself. Some glyphs may also grant unique effects and even abilities.
  • Empty space matters: what you leave out is just as important as what you fill in. Most glyphs require that certain cells remain unoccupied.
  • Glyphs have an elemental affinity. The strength of effects, abilities, and stats of a glyph will be increased if the pieces composing the glyph are strongly attuned to the same elemental affinity, either by affinity cells on a component or other glyphs with a matching affinity applying to the same ichor pieces.
  • Each element has an opposing element; glyphs with opposing elements that share ichor pieces can actually reduce each others' strength significantly or nullify the glyph entirely.
Build around the host
Put offensive shapes on weapons for special on-hit effects, defensive shapes on the core, speed and mobility shapes on legs, etc. The Tower may make a weapon harder to destroy, but on a core it grants the Deploy / Limber ability and on legs it pours the bulk of its charge into mobility. Read each glyph carefully before you commit to an upgrade strategy.

Elemental affinities

Every glyph and gem carries one or two elemental affinities, and some grid cells do too. Matching affinities amplify each other; opposing ones cancel out. Ordinary pieces have no element of their own; a glyph applies its element to every piece that forms it, and an affinity cell on the host component applies an elemental affinity to whatever piece rests on it (usually at half a glyph's strength).

  • Metal - structure and armor. Opposed by Lightning.
  • Lightning - mobility. Opposed by Metal.
  • Water - evasion and power generation. Opposed by Fire.
  • Fire - accuracy and ammo capacity. Opposed by Water.
  • Ichor - Ichor Resonance (amplifies glyph output). Opposed by Null.
  • Null - shielding. Opposed by Ichor.

A loose piece on bare cells does nothing but grant a small amount of structure, scaled by its size. Everything else it produces comes from the glyphs it joins and the affinity cells beneath it. A piece inside a Metal glyph grants bonus structure, the same piece inside a Fire glyph gives accuracy and ammo storage instead, and a piece in no glyph at all still grants a few bonus stats if placed on an affinity cell on the host component. Bigger pieces are worth more per cell, so a glyph built from a few large pieces is significantly stronger than one built from many small ones.

Cells with a colored bracket around them are affinity cells. Every core, mobility frame, weapon and utility pod usually has a handful of them, generally matching or improving on what the part is already built for: Metal on heavy armored chassis, Fire on ammo-hungry guns, Water on reactors and energy weapons, Null on shield banks, Lightning on legs and thrusters, Ichor on anything shaped to channel it. Faction influences these choices too: expect more Metal on Welter parts, Water on Solari, Fire on Ironfall, Ichor on Chorus, Lightning on Praxis and Water on Exordia. Parts built around their grid, such as the majority of Chorus hardware, may carry noticeably more affinity cells. Most affinity cells apply an elemental affinity half as strongly as a glyph, but some may be stronger or weaker depending on the part. Building with a part's cells can greatly enhance a component's strength.

A piece can have more than one elemental affinity at once. Multiple glyphs, affinity cells beneath it, and gems can all cause multiple affinities. In this case the piece's value is split between each affinity in proportion to how strongly each applies. For instance, a glyph counts for double the value of an affinity cell. Overlapping glyphs of unrelated elements each only gets a share of the piece's value; opposing elements may reduce or eliminate the bonus from both. An affinity cell matching the elemental affinity of the piece covering it amplifies that output; an opposing cell weakens the result. Align affinities on your largest ichor pieces from glyphs, gems, and affinity cells to push a given glyph bonus or gem ability as far as it can go.

Ichor works a little differently, because it grants no stat of its own. A piece forming an Ichor glyph instead produces Ichor Resonance, which amplifies every glyph bonus on that part - so an Ichor glyph is a force multiplier on whatever else the grid is doing, and it grows stronger still where its pieces sit on Ichor cells: those cells both make the piece a little Ichor themselves and amplify what that is worth, so even a piece in no glyph resonates faintly on one. A Null cell beneath one damps it, as you would expect from opposing elements.

Ichor pieces

Pieces are your raw material for shaping glyphs. Each piece occupies a fixed footprint of cells, and what it is made of hardly matters - what matters is the shape it lets you spell out, and the cells it comes to rest on. Left to itself on bare cells a piece only reinforces the part it sits in, adding structure in proportion to its size; a few also carry a minor effect. It is the glyphs you build from them - and the affinity cells you cover - that decide what those pieces actually produce.

Piece sizeStructure on its ownWorth to a glyph
2 cells+25
3 cells+310
4 cells+720
5 cells+1235
6 cells+1855

The right-hand column is what the piece is worth to any glyph it forms - the value that becomes that glyph's element, feeds its charge, and turns into its stats. It climbs far faster than the cell count, so large pieces are disproportionately powerful, and disproportionately awkward to fit. A piece shared between two glyphs splits that worth between them.

Gems

Gems are rare, colorful ichor pieces created by natural processes that cannot be replicated in manufacturing. At most one gem may be installed anywhere on an Icaroid. Each gem type grants a unique ability to the unit carrying it.

Unlike an ordinary piece, a gem carries an affinity of its own, so it produces that element's stats wherever you put it - and, like any other piece, it also takes on the elements of the glyphs it joins and the cells it rests on. Those attached glyphs do more than feed it stats: they scale the gem's ability, enhancing its effects and in some cases granting it extra charges or a shorter cooldown.

GemCellsAffinityAbility
Ward Gem4NullWard Bastion - deploys a stationary Ward Turret projecting a shield bubble over nearby allies
Ember Gem3FireEmber Nova - arm it, and every shot the carrier fires that turn detonates with bonus blast radius, its direct damage burning as plasma (stability, electrical and sensory shots keep their type)
Verdant Gem5Water + IchorVerdant Mend - a restorative pulse that repairs nearby allied units
Quakestep Gem4Metal + WaterQuakestep - arm it, and every step the carrier takes that turn quakes the ground, wracking nearby units (allies included) with stability damage
Harmony Gem4IchorHarmony Attune - attune to any unit to echo its condition outward: an enemy's afflictions bleed to nearby foes, or an ally's blessings ripple to nearby friends, each at half strength
Tempest Gem5LightningArc Surge - calls down a burst of chain-lightning around a target hex, searing and stunning every enemy caught in it
Phase Gem3Lightning + NullPhase Step - blink instantly to a distant hex, slipping past terrain and hazards
Aegis Gem4NullAegis Ward - projects a shielding ward onto an allied unit, blunting all incoming damage for a time
Siphon Gem4Ichor + FireDrain Siphon - a leeching strike that tears structure from an enemy and mends the carrier (and its nearest wounded ally) with the stolen essence
Rimefrost Gem5Water + NullRime Lock - flash-freezes a target area, rooting every enemy caught in the frost bloom in place

What makes gems special is how they drink from the glyphs around them: every glyph whose matched cells include part of the gem is attached to it, and the gem's ability gains:

  • the stat deltas of each attached glyph and of every ichor piece that participates in those glyphs (each piece counted once) - a Ward Turret born of a gem inside The Capacitor gains its +structure as hull and its +shielding as bubble strength, and a Power Array feeding the same glyph adds its shielding on top;
  • the attached glyphs' behaviors, where they make sense for an ability: Volley Fire lets the ability activate twice before its cooldown starts, Rapid Fire shortens the cooldown, Stored Charge multiplies the ability's strength, Efficient waives its power cost, and other passive effects transfer whole onto anything the ability deploys (a gem inside The Fortress raises a Thick-Skinned turret).
  • the attached glyphs' on-hit weapon effects, inflicted by every gem ability whose payload lands on an enemy or rides your guns - the strikes (Arc Surge, Drain Siphon), the earthquakes of Quakestep, the frost bloom of Rime Lock, Harmony Attune when you attune to an enemy, and every shot you fire while Ember Nova burns. Purely restorative or self-serving abilities (Verdant Mend, Aegis Ward, Phase Step, Ward Bastion) never carry them.
Gems are scarce
Outside campaigns a gem simply carries a steep point cost. In a campaign, gems are mined from rare gem deposit provinces (one gem every four turns goes to the owner; capitols never hold deposits) and every unit manufactured from a gem-carrying design consumes one whole gem - production stalls until the gem is banked, and a destroyed unit's gem is gone for good.

Reading a pattern

Glyph patterns in this guide use three characters:

  • # - a cell that must be filled by a placed upgrade.
  • X - a cell that must be empty for the glyph to match.
  • . - don't care (padding, shown for alignment).

Patterns can match in any rotation, so you don't have to orient pieces exactly as drawn - only the shape matters.

Glyph catalogue

Every glyph, with its shape and the bonus it grants on each host type. Effects and abilities link to their guides where covered.

The listed stats are the channels a glyph feeds, not fixed numbers - the actual size of each bonus depends on the glyph's charge, which is set by the pieces forming it and their elements. A bare stat takes a full share of that charge; ×N is the share it takes relative to a full one, so armor ×0.3 earns roughly a third of what a full-share channel does, and a ×−N channel is a penalty that grows with the glyph's charge rather than a bonus. The designer shows every active glyph's real, computed output as you build.

Structural

###
###
###

The Brick

Blocky. Weighty. Solid. Dense.

  • Weapon structure, weight ×0.5
  • Core structure, weight ×0.5, Rocklike
  • Mobility structure, weight, No Displacement
  • Utility structure, weight
####
#XX#
#XX#
####

The Fortress

A hollow square of reinforced plating - the walls matter, not the space within.

  • Weapon structure ×0.5, damage ×0.5, armor ×0.2
  • Core structure, armor ×0.25, Thick-Skinned
  • Mobility structure, armor ×0.3
  • Utility structure, armor ×0.3, Thick-Skinned
#XXX
##XX
###X
####

The Rampart

Defense of the walls is key to fending off the slavering hordes.

  • Weapon structure, armor ×0.45
  • Core structure, armor ×0.4
  • Mobility structure, armor ×0.3
  • Utility structure, armor ×0.6
X#X
X#X
X#X
###

The Tower

The construction and defense of towering edifices is a time-honored tradition.

  • Weapon damage ×0.6, structure ×0.5, armor ×0.35, speed ×−0.05
  • Core structure, armor ×0.3, speed ×−0.05, grants Deploy / Limber
  • Mobility mobility ×3, structure ×0.5, height ×0.1, speed ×−0.05
  • Utility structure, armor ×0.35, speed ×−0.05, Thick-Skinned
###
###

The Crusher

A dense block of Ichor - no finesse, just mass.

  • Weapon weight ×1.2, armor ×0.35
  • Core weight ×1.2, armor ×0.15
  • Mobility armor ×0.2
#XXX#
X#X#X
#XXX#

The Deflector

When the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune are aimed at you, deflect them. Preferably towards your foes.

Offensive

###
XXX
###
XXX
###

The Barrage

Firing this much ammunition is an artform unto itself.

  • Weapon ammo, structure ×0.3, Rapid Fire
  • Utility structure ×0.5, ammo replenishment ×0.4
X#X
X#X
X#X
###
X#X
X#X

The Sniper's Eye

Tall vertical column with a crossbar near the top.

#X#
##X
###

The Fang

Nature's weapons provide many lessons.

  • Weapon structure ×0.4, Armor Piercing
  • Mobility mobility ×2, structure ×0.3
XX#
X##
##X
#XX

The Disruptor

Strategic interference with the machinations of the enemy leads to victory.

#X#
#X#
###

The Maw

Hunger leads to aggression. Aggression, violence.

###X
X##X
XX##
XXX#

The Scorched Earth

Fight fire with fire. Or, perhaps, just eat it.

#X#X#

The Volley

Fire more, less.

  • Weapon ammo ×0.5, structure ×0.3, damage ×0.2, Volley Fire

Mobility & evasion

XXXX#
XXX##
XX##X
X##XX
##XXX

The Sprinter

Charge into combat - or escape from it. Moving faster always helps.

  • Weapon mobility, accuracy
  • Core mobility, Initiator
  • Mobility mobility ×3, Ghost Step
  • Utility mobility ×1.5, speed ×0.2
#XXX#
##X##
X###X

The Vaulter

Leap tall obstacles in a single bound.

  • Weapon Curved Flight
  • Core mobility, Hover
  • Mobility mobility, height ×0.1
  • Utility speed ×0.15
X###
X#XX
###X

The Coil

Controls lightning. Nikola Tesla would have been proud.

  • Weapon damage ×0.6, mobility ×0.4, damage type → electrical
  • Core mobility, Thunderstorm
  • Mobility mobility ×1.5, Grounded
  • Utility mobility, Tesla Coil
###
#X#
###

The Container

Sometimes you keep things in. Sometimes out. The Container does both.

  • Weapon shielding ×0.6
  • Core shielding, ammo replenishment ×0.2
  • Mobility shielding ×0.6, Water Immune
  • Utility shielding ×0.6, ammo ×0.2, ammo replenishment ×0.1
##X
X##
#XX

The Shadow

Everywhere and nowhere. Hard to shoot properly.

Shield & energy

X###
##XX
##XX
X###

The Shell

Embrace. Extend. Extinguish.

X###X
##X##
#XXX#
##X##
X#X#X
XX#XX

The Wellspring

Water flows with purpose. Ichor flows create that purpose.

  • Weapon power generation, shielding ×0.4, Digger
  • Core shielding ×1.2, power generation, Resonant Field
  • Mobility power generation, grants Flow
  • Utility power generation, shielding ×0.8, Resonant Field
X##
##X
X##
##X

The Conduit

Reach enlightenment. Or at least en-lightning-ment.

##X##
XX#XX

The Capacitor

Stored tension waiting to be unleashed.

Targeting

X#X
#X#
X#X

The Reticle

Four cells at the diagonals around an empty center.

X###X
##X##
#XXX#
##X##
X###X

The Lens

Focus on what's really important - like exploding that guy over there.

  • Weapon accuracy ×2, range ×0.15
  • Core accuracy, range ×0.08
  • Utility accuracy ×0.2, Indirect Sensors
#X#X#
X#X#X
#X#X#
X#X#X
#X#X#

The Web

What tangle have we wrought?

  • Weapon damage ×3, damage type → stability
  • Core accuracy ×0.2, Entangler
  • Mobility mobility ×3
  • Utility accuracy ×0.2, Indirect Sensors

Ammo & resource

###
###
X#X
X#X

The Reservoir

If you never throw anything away, you'll always find something to fit the situation.

  • Weapon ammo replenishment ×0.1
  • Core ammo, ammo replenishment ×0.3
  • Mobility ammo replenishment ×0.2
  • Utility ammo replenishment ×0.2
X###
X#XX
###X
#XXX

The Siphon

Draw from everything around you. And we do mean everything.

#X##
X#XX
#X##

The Efficient Round

Efficiency sometimes means firing more accurately. Sometimes it means never firing at all.

  • Weapon weight ×−0.6, Efficient
  • Core weight ×−2
  • Mobility mobility ×2, speed ×0.1
  • Utility weight ×−1, ammo replenishment ×0.5

Special & rare

X#X#X
#XXX#
X#X#X

The Resonant Star

The music of the spheres gives the lie to the silence of space.

#X#X#
X###X

The Iron Crown

Heavy is the crown.

  • Weapon damage ×0.5, evasion ×−0.2
  • Core structure, armor ×0.25, evasion ×−0.2, Thick-Skinned
  • Mobility structure, armor ×0.3
  • Utility structure, armor ×0.4, evasion ×−0.1
X###X
XX#XX
X###X
XX#XX
XX#XX

The Anchor

Hold fast to your position. The betrayal of the earth is not among your concerns.

X#X
###
X#X
##X
X##

The Relay

Coordination is the key to victory.

##X
###
#X#
#X#

The Font

Let the river flow.

#X#
X##
#X#

The Null

A presence defined by absence.

X#X
X#X
###
X#X
X#X

The Beacon

Aid has been sought. Will you answer?

#X#
X#X
#XX

The Mending Web

Time may heal all wounds, but sometimes you want to speed things up.

XX#XX
X###X
#####
X###X
XX#XX

The Hub

Route every channel through one chamber and the whole frame sings in one key.

##XX##
XX##XX

The Standing Wave

A note held long enough stops being sound and becomes structure.

#####
XX#XX
XX#XX

The Stillpoint

The gun that does not move is the gun that does not miss.

#XX#
####
#XX#

The Tithe

Everything resonates. Everything can be made to resonate apart.

Flow & tide

Water is the scarcest affinity and its older shapes are large, so these five are deliberately small - the ones to reach for when a grid has no room for The Wellspring. Water is the only source of evasion and power generation, and it is opposed by Fire. 

##X##

The Ebb

What the tide takes, it returns with interest.

  • Weapon power generation, evasion ×0.4
  • Core power generation, evasion ×0.3, Power Efficient
  • Mobility power generation, speed ×0.1
  • Utility power generation, Power Efficient
X##
###
X#X

The Wellhead

Cap the source and the whole frame drinks from it.

  • Weapon power generation, damage ×0.25
  • Core power generation, shielding ×0.4, Power Surge
  • Mobility power generation, mobility ×0.5
  • Utility power generation, shielding ×0.4, Shield Regen Boost
###
X#X
###

The Quench

Fire is only ever a guest. Water was here first.

#XX#
X##X

The Swell

A wave lifts every hull around it, not just its own.

X##X
#XX#
X##X

The Vortex

Everything that falls in comes back around.

Nulling & deployment

Glyph bonuses are snapshotted onto your Icaroid the instant it deploys, merged together with each component's inherent effects and tagged to the part that granted them. That tagging matters in two ways:

  • Destruction revokes them. If the component carrying a glyph is destroyed, its glyph bonuses go with it - losing a weapon can cost you the aura or ability it was hosting.
  • Nulling suppresses them. The Chorus Null Suppressing weapon effect inflicts Nulled, which switches off every glyph-sourced bonus on the target for its duration. Inherent component effects keep working; only glyph bonuses go dark, then snap back when Nulled expires.
  • A stabilized grid is immune. Grid Stabilized - from the Chorus Grid Stabilizer utility component - holds the grid online: while it is installed and intact, Nulled cannot suppress your glyph bonuses at all. Destroy the stabilizer and nulling bites again.
Glyph-reliant builds are fragile
An Icaroid that leans hard on glyphs - especially Chorus ichor-scaled builds - can be neutered by a single Null Field Projector. Spread your value across inherent stats and glyphs, or carry a Grid Stabilized grid, so a null doesn't switch you off.

Grid amplifiers

Several Chorus parts exist purely to get more out of the grid:

PartWhat it does
Grid Amplifier mod+50% to everything the ichor pieces in the host's grid produce — base structure, every stat their affinities grant, and their resonance strength (not glyph bonuses).
Throughput Magnifier modBoosts the effectiveness of every glyph bonus drawn from its grid.
Gridwalker modOnce per turn, reposition one piece without disturbing the rest.
Overflow Conduit modEach time any grid forms a new shape bonus, snaps 10 plasma at the nearest enemy.
Ichor Conduit Hub utilSingle-weapon glyph bonuses apply to all weapons.
Resonance Relay utilBroadcasts this Icaroid's glyph bonuses to an ally at reduced strength.
Planet Siphon utilPlaces a structure; friendly Chorus Icaroids near it gain 10–25% glyph effectiveness.

The grid itself grows larger through core research - each core series has grid-expansion nodes that add cells for bigger patterns - rather than through a bolt-on part.