How Glitch Text Works
Glitch text relies on combining characters: invisible marks that attach to the letter before them, like accents. Normally a letter gets one accent at most, but nothing stops you from stacking dozens. Pile them above, through and below each letter and you get the tall, corrupted “zalgo” look that spills over the lines around it.
Glitch Styles You Can Copy
- Zalgo Glitch: use the intensity slider from 1 (a light flicker) to 10 (total chaos). The output is generated the same way every time, so you can come back for the same result.
- Strikethrough, Slashed, Overline, Wavy and Dotted add a single mark to each letter for a subtler damaged effect.
- Upside Down, Mirrored and Reversed flip your text for confusing, meme-friendly messages.
Using Zalgo Responsibly on Discord
Heavy zalgo can cover other people’s messages, which is why many servers ban it, and AutoMod rules often filter it. In display names it can also make you impossible to @mention or read in the member list. A low intensity of 1 to 3 is usually enough for a spooky name or a Halloween event channel, and it is less likely to be removed.
Combining marks are drawn differently on each operating system, so the same glitch text can look tidy on a computer and messy on a phone. Check the live preview, and test it in a private channel first. Want something dark but readable? Try the gothic font generator. For plain crossed-out text in messages, Discord’s own ~~strikethrough~~ markdown is cleaner. Learn more in our text formatting guide.
Glitch Text Ideas
Glitch styles are perfect for horror events, ARG and mystery servers, and “corrupted” bot personas. A light zalgo channel name like “v̥͊o̸̙̓ǐ̷͈d̻ͭ́” sets an eerie tone without spilling into the channel list. Slashed or strikethrough text works for joke corrections such as “h̶o̶m̶e̶w̶o̶r̶k̶ gaming”. For announcements, combine one glitched word with plain text, for example “the s̸i̸g̸n̸a̸l̸ is back”, so the message still makes sense at a glance.
Looking for more options? The main Discord Fonts generator shows every style at once, including bold, cursive, gothic and glitch text.