Hey everyone! Balatro seems to be taking the world by storm but it seems like a lot of people are still struggling to beat the game. So, I figured I created a thread where people can share the seeds they have won in and provide tips on what to do in those seeds. Also, Balatro players have uncovered some fun seeds that provide some unique experiences or are guaranteed to drop some rare cards.

Here are some I found from the Balatro Reddit and other sites.

I haven't saved any seeds (though I've had some ridiculous runs), but in my experience, sometimes it is best to switch tactics even if your hand works for now. Oftentimes, successful starting hands don't work mid or late game, even when the cards synergize. You might need to clean the jokers out and buy new ones with more potential. Also, taking the tags instead of the blinds is sometimes the best options, contrary to most other roguelikes when you want to encounter as much combat as you can. Especially if you can get upgraded jokers. Late game (post ante 8) the chips really start to matter, even if you have good multipliers. I've had runs with loads of x2, x1.5 and x3 multipliers, but they were still too late for ante 11, because of the lack of chips to multiply with. Having one great chips joker can really keep you in the game.

Finally, a minor tip, but don't lose track of the order your cards and jokers are in. You should always place the (x) multipliers last to maximise the value of your multi. Place your glass cards last too. If some of your cards are hidden, swapping between value and suit can clue you in on what the card might be.

One of the strongest Jokers I've found is the one that increases Mult each time you use a Tarot card. Got close to winning, but I didn't have enough chip generation.

The constellation joker is broken. Put that in the far right slot and buy every planet you see and your multiplier will be absurd.

@thatpinguino: That was the card that got me within inches of beating Ante 11. It was paired up with cheap rerolls that gave me +2 mult each, and free planet cards.

Has the staff done a stream/video of this game yet? I remember Jan and maybe Grubb saying they should do a stream of it back when it was the demo on Steam Nextfest, but I don’t recall if it happened.

I want to bear witness to the community giving tips and tricks to Jan’s poker addiction.

Balatro is great. But also I’ve been that guy who still occasionally recommends Luck Be A Landlord to friends randomly. What a time to be alive, if you want to play roguelike drafting slot machines.

@bisonhero: they said on the podcast today that for UPF this week (I think) they are gonna set up four of the same seed and try and see who can beat it first / get the furthest.

I am playing a fucked up amount of this game. I am supposed to be studying but it is consuming my brain. I'm going to stay in work tomorrow evening to study and specifically to avoid going home where balatro lies in wait.

The highest single joker multiplier I ever got was the joker that adds 2 to the multiplier whenever you reroll the store. If you have the cheap reroll (or two) voucher and a decent money engine, you can add six to ten multiplier between every round. I got well over 100x with that one.

I think the highest single joker multiplier of multiplier is the joker that adds 0.2x multiplier for every hand you play that isn't the most played one. I took it about a third through after having built a heavily pair focused deck, so pretty much every other setup gave me lots of chips. I think I got it close to 6x.

The quickest I've racked up a multiplier of multiplier is with the vampiric joker. Almost half my deck was gold from a mix of every card being considered a face card, and the midas mask which turns every face card to gold. I added a whole 1x multiplier pretty much every hand. Sadly, I didn't have high enough chips or basic multipliers so I only lasted a few turns after getting it.

If you can double the chance of getting it, the 2x multiplier from heart cards is very powerful with the right deck. The joker giving 1.5x multiplier for each uncommon cards is probably the one I've won with the most.

My favourite jokers are probably the copy ones. They can really break your run.

I finished the gold stake this weekend with the checkered deck (oops all flushes). Once you get to the higher stakes you basically need to get a very good joker early in your run or you lose. The deck barely matters outside of being able to reliably hit some hand you can get planets for. It's all about getting a joker or two with a high + multiplier and then a joker or two with a high multiplication multiplier.

@thatpinguino: Congrats. I've also been using the Checkered deck since it makes going for flushes so absurdly easy/simple. It might be the single easiest deck to play.

Only cleared the blue stake so far, but I plan to go all the way eventually. Not gonna have much time to play this week, sigh...

Haven't watched Giant Bomb in a minute, but I'm deep into Balatro so seeing Unprofessional Fridays on YouTube was both fun and bewildering. At least it made me feel better about my own skill at Balatro. Anyway, here's how you finish that seed.

Since this is a thread about tips: The mime and blueprint are the two most powerful cards. Everything past that doesn't scale well. The ID is still good for a while, though. To Mike's credit, DNA is a great early game card, but not for copying random crap, only to increase your steel cards, which are the only cards that matter late game.

I used the Spectral deck, because Spectral cards are the only way to solve the scaling problem. Red seal is the most powerful skill in the game, combined with the first two cards there, you can get to infinity numbers, but I'm not smart enough for that.

I got to like the 540 billion ante before crapping out. I couldn't get enough destroy cards. My last tip: Destroy a lot more cards than you think you should. If it's not a steel card, it's not a card.

I'm gonna go back to being mid at Balatro now. I cannot complete that Orange stake to save my life 😭

Just got 100% of collectibles. I beat gold stake on gold deck, which I think is one of the best decks for that because it lets you buy that early good joker (or gain interest early).

@daavpuke Mime, the king joker and joker mimics are indeed most powerful when going for megacombos, but I think there are plenty of great jokers if you are just thinking about beating stake 8. I generally try to have one good chip joker, one good multiplier joker, and the rest xmult or assist. An important thing to keep in mind when working with multipliers is the order in which the multipliers are activated. Having a lot of passive xmult can make a +4 mult from your first hand played be more valuable than a +100 after your whole hand has been played. That's why upgrading your main hand is generally a good idea if you can afford it.