Okay, I want to rate the Glyphs, so worked out roughly wait their base Tick Rate was (time to create a copy) then divide them into Fast (10 to 16), Medium (17 to 24) and Slow (25 to 30), here is the breakdown:
- Fast: Attack, Hill, Bat, Cleanse, Gamble
- Medium: Split, Pierce, Ambush
- Slow: Defense, Stomp, Kamikaze, Devour
The average Tick Rate is just over 19, meaning all Slow and Split are slower than the average
Attack:The all rounder Glyph, no secondary effect and one of the fastest at 10TR, honestly would run at least two copies. The issue Attack poses isn't that it is a bad Glyph, but rather that since the only differences is Ability and TR it out shines a lot of the slower offensive Glyphs
Split: Effect, on destruction spawns 2 "Blank" Glyphs on different rows, 20TR. Split is complicated, it is an offensive Glyph that wants to have low damage, this is because the 'power' of the "Blanks" is half of Split when it is destroyed, so throwing it at something stronger guaranty max "Blanks", the other issue is it's TR, it takes twice as long as Attack, meaning you get two times the Attack Glyphs for every Split. For balancing I'd suggest making a bit faster (TR 17 or 18) and reduce it's base Max Damage by 50% (making the effect easier)
Defense: Effect, instantly destroy any Glyph it hits, TR 30. One of the slowest Glyphs, Defense doesn't care about damage, as it's effect ignores it, making that its greatest strength as a counter Glyph but also a weakness as throwing any Glyph against it renders it's offensive ability moot. Balance wise, Defense is best in the early game since it is hard to counter stronger opponents, but as the player gets taller and makes better Glyphs Defense just becomes a bit of dead weight (more so with there only be a max of 6 slots), this means if you don't find one early it really isn't worth crafting
Hill: Effect, doubles its damage while in the center three columns, TR 15. Hill is a counter Glyph based on it's effect, using timing so it is in the central zone to block opposing Glyphs, this is where design wise we get weird, it wants to move to the center quickly then hang in the middle for longer so it's Speed wants to be two things at once. Honestly, a reasonably balanced Glyph
Pierce: Effect, when you hit an opposing Glyph the Glyph behind that takes equal damage, TR 17. The effect gets more useful as enemies use more Glyphs, though they are less likely to put them in the same row, Pierce competes directly against Bat as they have similar effects, so it comes down to which effect you like more as counter Glyphs should worry too much about TR
Stomp: Effect, Damages all Glyphs in a 3x3 radius when it hits another Glyph, TR 25. The big weakness is the 3x3 effect, this does cover 8 tiles, but opponents rarely line their Glyphs in such a way, meaning Stomps effect rarely hits anything, it also can't hit much ahead, Stomp being the center means it hits more that are behind it. Suggestion, alter it to either slow or stun opposing Glyphs and increase the range (right now it is only worth running in rows 2, 3, and 4)
Kamikaze: Effect, on destruction damages all Glyphs in a 3x3 radius when it hits another Glyph, TR 30. This is everything wrong with Stomp but worse, it has a long TR, it's effect only triggers once, and like Split, it wants to have a lower damage to trigger it's effect. This Glyph either needs a rework or just be scrapped
Ambush: Effect, skips over the middle zone, TR 18. An offensive Glyph that has natural speed (Travels 9 tiles in 6 steps so Speed = 1.5) this Glyph gets even more dangerous as you invest into more Speed (at 7 it auto hits, compared to the rest doing so at 10), this Glyph may actually need it's TR increased since it is harder to counter than most others as it gets more Speed [Strongly suggest Speed has a Cap of 5]
Bat: Effect, when you hit an opposing Glyph the Glyph behind that takes 25% damage, TR 15. The alternate Pierce, you get it out quicker, but unless there are 5 Glyphs lined up, it's effect is weaker, for 2 TR not sure if that is a great trade off, but definitely wouldn't make this Glyph any faster
Cleanse: Effect, Removes the effect of an opposing Glyph when hit, only activates once, TR 10. It's just Attack with a minor perk, some Glyphs care if they lose their effect (Split, Pierce, Stomp, Kamikaze, Bat and Devour), but most of the time you really only need this for Split and Kamikaze. Ambush is hard to hit before it's effect goes of, Hill would need to be hit in it's entry zone (which unless your Cleanse is super fast is unlikely), throwing and Attack or Shield at it has no risk making its effect very much circumstantial. However, it is TR 10, so having equal damage to Attack makes it just as good despite it's effect
Devour: Effect, gains half the damage of any opposing Glyph it beats, TR 25. So the effect on paper sound nice, but what it does in practice is halves how much power this Glyph loses each time, so it isn't really offensive or defensive, it is also in the Slow group, this does allow you to pick you targets, but really it is just a waste of a slot. Also the effect is done after damage calc, so hitting something a bit stronger won't save this Glyph
Gamble: Effect, each step their is a 50% chance to increase or decrease in power, TR 15. It is a risk Glyph, it could be strong at the end, it could be weaker (Law of averages, it should be the same power at the end), it is a fun idea that is reasonable balanced and a nice Offensive Glyph that can reward those who use it. That said, it isn't much of a high skill Glyph, just pump the damage values and hope for good rolls
Notes on Speed and Charge
Currently, both Speed and Charge get out of control as you near "max height" (Lv 9/10), it becomes impossible to react to Glyphs that haves Speeds of 9 or more as they move across the field in a near instant that the only defense is to flood the field with you own Glyphs, like wise Charge doesn't cap how many instances of a Glyphs you can hold (there are 10 slots but that seems to be just visual), with no Cap and Charge going up past 10 you can be overloaded with Glyphs
The issue is the two stats Scale with height too strongly and don't modify the base value (so neither stat changes much in early game), I'd suggest having them NOT scale, and instead modify the Glyphs base with both stats having a hard cap of 5 for balance, the TR scaling may also need to be weakened as I got a TR 17 down to 2 but that is more of a minor issue
I don't think the game needs too many more Glyphs unless they add new tactical options, particularly since there are currently 12 and a player can only use half at most during any encounter so more option would be competing for the limited slots
Another small issue is with Charges staking in a queue, it makes it hard to tell if the top one is the weakest or strong Glyph in the stack (weakest to counter Defense Glyphs) shuffling through them can be a pain so if they auto sorted in some way that would making things a bit easier (but that is more for strategy)