Balatro, a captivating blend of roguelike elements and poker, has quickly become a favorite among gamers. This guide provides tips and strategies to improve your gameplay and increase your chances of a successful run.
Embracing Experimentation
Like most roguelikes, Balatro rewards experimentation. Don't be afraid to try outlandish plays and unusual combinations. The more you play and explore different strategies, the more you'll learn about potential combos and unlock hidden content. Inexperience is a natural part of the learning process, and each run provides valuable knowledge.
Establishing a Strategy
In the early stages of the game, experiment with different strategies to find what works best for you. The initial learning curve can be challenging, so don't be discouraged by early setbacks.
Adapting on the Fly
While it's important to have a strategy, roguelikes often require adapting to changing circumstances. Be prepared to abandon your initial plan if you find an opportunity for an even stronger objective. Balatro tests your ability to adapt and make quick decisions.
The Importance of Money and Interest
Money is crucial in Balatro, as it allows you to purchase Jokers, cards, and other upgrades from shops. One key aspect of making money is understanding how interest works. For every $5 you have at the end of a round (up to $25, or more with certain vouchers), you earn an additional $1 in interest.
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Maximizing Interest
Pay attention to your $5 breakpoints, especially early in the game. Saving money, even small amounts, can lead to exponential growth in the future.
Understanding Card Order
The order of your cards matters significantly in Balatro. The game processes cards from left to right, so strategically arrange your Jokers to maximize their effects.
Joker Placement
Place Jokers that add Chips and Multipliers to the left, and those that multiply Chips and Multipliers to the right. This ensures that flat bonuses are applied before multipliers, resulting in higher scores.
Hand Order
The order of cards in your hand also affects scoring. For example, if you have a Joker that provides a bonus for each Spade, place Spades to the left of cards that provide a general multiplier.
Seeking Power Scaling Opportunities
Balatro offers numerous opportunities to scale your power throughout a run. Be on the lookout for cards, Jokers, and other upgrades that can enhance your scoring potential.
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Consider Skipping Blinds
Balatro allows you to skip encounters in exchange for a Tag, which activates a special ability. While skipping a blind means missing out on potential money and shop opportunities, the right Tag can provide a significant advantage.
Scaling Your Strength
Focus on scaling your strength throughout the run. While scoring tremendous hands is satisfying, remember that you don't earn extra money for overscoring. Instead, focus on maximizing interest, winning fights with hands remaining, and utilizing modifiers from your cards and Jokers.
Studying Face-Down Cards
When playing cards or Jokers are flipped face down, use visual cues to identify them. Jokers often have distinct silhouettes, even when flipped. For playing cards, sort by Rank and Suit to narrow down the possibilities.
Restarting for a Perfect Start
Once you become more experienced, you may want to restart runs to aim for a perfect starting hand, especially on higher difficulties. A strong start can significantly increase your chances of success.
General Tips and Tricks
- Win the First Round: Aim to win the first round in one hand, as it affects your payout.
- Play High-Rank Cards: Prioritize playing high-rank cards and a 5-card hand.
- Buy a Score-Increasing Joker: Purchase at least one score-increasing Joker before the first boss blind.
- Discard Strategically: Discard a few times before playing your first hand to assemble a better combination.
- Skip Blinds for Good Tags: Don't hesitate to skip a blind if the Tag reward is valuable.
- Focus on Money: Prioritize earning money, especially early on, by taking Jokers that increase your gold.
- Buy Tarot Card Packs: Purchase Tarot card packs when you have 15 gold or more, as certain cards can double your gold.
- Gain Interest: Remember that you gain interest on gold after each round, so avoid spending all your money at once.
- Sell Jokers: Sell Jokers that are only useful for making money once your build is strong enough.
- Sell Planet and Tarot Cards: Selling Planet and Tarot cards can be viable.
- Reroll the Shop: Don't be afraid to reroll the shop, especially when you have a lot of money.
- Find Scalable Cards: Look for cards that scale well over the course of a run and enhance them.
- Card Rarity Matters: Card rarity often indicates effectiveness.
- Position Multiplier Cards: Place multiplier cards to the far right of your Joker list.
- Pay Attention to Your Deck: Pay attention to what's remaining in your deck when discarding cards.
Building a Strong Foundation
One of your primary goals should be obtaining a solid Chips or Mult Joker. Once you get past the early game, pivot your build into one or two specific hand types and select Jokers that improve your odds accordingly.
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Edition Jokers
Jokers with edition (Foil, Holographic, Polychrome) can substitute either Chip or Mult source Jokers.
X Mult Jokers
Be on the lookout for xMult Jokers, as they are important for boosting your score in later antes.
Enhancing Cards
Enhance playing cards and poker hands via Tarot and Planet Cards whenever possible.
Boss Blinds
Watch out for Boss Blinds that may hard counter your build.
Synergies and Builds
A major factor in winning a run is forming a build. A build is a combination of Jokers and enhanced cards that synergize well together. For example, a build might utilize Baron's and Mime's abilities together to cause every King held in hand to grant approximately X5 Mult. Jokers working together like this is called a synergy, and taking advantage of these synergies is key to victory.
Understanding Poker Hands
Knowing poker hands is fundamental to success in Balatro. Familiarize yourself with the traditional hierarchy of hands, as higher-scoring hands are often worth chasing.
Strategic Play
Be strategic when chasing high-rolling hands, as you may run out of discards. Always look for less valuable combinations to preserve your discards.
Playing a Bad Hand
If you run out of discards, play what you would've discarded. It's better to get a few points than waste a hand.
Jokers: The Heart of Balatro
Jokers are the heart of Balatro, and you should aim to acquire at least two by the second boss blind. Experiment with different Jokers to discover synergies and amplify your scoring.
Voucher
The other offering in the shop that will drastically improve your odds are Vouchers, though some are more immediately helpful than others. Improve your hand size, number of hands and number of discards to give yourself more cushion for bad draws and tough boss blinds.
Cash Management
Cash is essential for buying Jokers, vouchers, and booster packs. Earn cash by beating blinds, getting $1 per hand left to play, and earning interest. Aim to accumulate $25 as soon as possible to maximize interest income.
Making Your Money Work
Like in real life, the trick is to make your money work for you. Get a chunk of cash early to let it earn interest and you'll be set into the late game.
Mid-Game Strategy
By the third or fourth ante, you should have a good starting set of Jokers that inform your play strategy going forward. By the fifth or sixth ante, you should start preparing for the endgame.
Scaling Up
Understand how Balatro scores hands and how best to scale up as the blind thresholds increase. Focus on increasing both Chips and Mult, and prioritize Jokers and cards that multiply the Mult.
Planet Cards
Planet cards are a reliable way to increase your score. Buy them often and upgrade the hands suited to your Jokers.
Backup Plan
It's also smart to buy planet cards for other hands. Odds are you'll run out of luck while chasing a high-risk, high-reward hand and you'll want a backup plan.
Other Boosters
Standard, Tarot and Spectral boosters can also significantly boost your score.
The Best Balatro Hand
Technically, the best Balatro hand is whatever wins your current blind. However, flushes are generally easier to obtain than other big hands.
Getting an Early Lead
Getting an early lead is hugely important in Balatro. Jokers that grant short-term bonuses, such as the Gros Michel, Ice Cream, or Popcorn, are great picks early on. Jokers that generate money are also vital.
Successful Builds
Your goal should be to carve out the most focused synergy you can to carry you to Ante 8. Typically, it's best to commit to one kind of hand and build your whole strategy around that.
Synergies
From your Jokers, you're looking for ways to gain bonus chips and/or mult on that hand. Typically mult is better than chips, because it scales more powerfully when combined with other bonuses.
Deck Consistency
When it comes to your deck, you're looking to create as much consistency as possible. Don't just pick up every cool looking card and flood your deckâusually it's actually better to use the Hanged Man tarot card to reduce the size of your deck, cutting out cards you don't need so you're more likely to draw the ones you do.
Order Matters
The order of cards and Jokers matters. Generally, X multipliers should be placed at the end of the row, with the highest one last.
Discarding Strategies
When choosing which cards to keep and which to discard, have a strong idea in mind of what hand you're trying to play. Don't try and keep a few different options spinning at once. You usually want to be discarding the full five as much as possible, to get maximum value out of your discards.
Planning Ahead
During a run, pay close attention to the blinds for each ante and plan accordingly. If the upcoming boss blind runs counter to your build, you need to pivot.
Vouchers
Vouchers can provide excellent bonuses, but you need to be careful when you buy themâthey're expensive, and their benefits are often only felt over a long period of time.
Endless Mode
When you do complete a run, be aware that winning Ante 8 is not the end. You can keep going with your build in endless mode and try to progress through more Antes.