Summary
Balatrois the type of game that comes along and completely overtakes your whole life with suits and hands for months while you try and figure out every winning deck you can build. It’s often compared toSlay the Spire, another card-based roguelike. Alas, having cards is about the only thing they have in common. All of your battles take place on the table in Balatro.
So you’ve given the game a go and won a decent number of hands, but can’t quite seem to beat your first Ante 8, or harder bosses such as The Ox. Luckily, a few tips that the pro players use are below, and might just be what you need to get over that slump and beat the boss.
7Don’t Ignore The Blank Voucher
Every Item Has Its Purpose
Seeing the blank voucher at first, the impulse to ignore it forother, better-seeming vouchersis natural. The description itself says that it does nothing, so leave it alone, right? No! Pick them up as soon as you can and it doesn’t break the bank. Collect all ten, and the payout will be more than worth it.
Once you buy ten of these empty vouchers, you’ll unlock a powerful boon: the Antimatter voucher. This voucher adds an extra Joker slot. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but if you employ the following cards:
What you have created is a tailor-made score machine ready to rack up as many chips as you need to beat any Boss Build.
6Carefully Look Over Your Joker Cards
Don’t Let A Good Joker Run Loose
Playing hands straight is all well and good, but what about adding a little extra something to your deck? Well,you’ll eventually have your choice of 150 total Joker Cardsto play around with and figure out what works best for you. Some, like Rocket, are simple but useful money boosters that will help you gain some money to buy more cards, but others are a little more tricky to use.
For example, Bloodstone, an uncommon card, provides a two-times multiplier for every hard suit that has scored. A huge boon, but even with a deck filled to the brim with heart cards, you still only have a one-in-three chance of the perk popping when you want it to. It makes you question if you want to take up a Joker slot for only a one-third chance of working. That’s the fun of discovery!
5Know When To Hold And ‘Fold’ Your Cards
Take Advantage Of The No-Duplicate Market
No technical illegal moves here! Once you buy a Tarot, Joker, Or Arcana card, you’ll be able to hold it in your arsenal for the remainder of the run you’re on (unless otherwise stated on the cards). Sure, you technically can’t place these cards in the deck, but there is a huge perk that you can take advantage of while you’re still building your deck.
Let’s say you’re holding the Death Arcana card, waiting for the perfect card to copy. Well, while that card is in your possession, it won’t show up in the shop. You can use this to your advantage as you hold on to lower-ranked cards, raising the chances of more rare cards to pop up in between rounds. Then, once you find what you’re looking for, you can sell what you were holding, with no problem.
4Card Placement Is Important
Both In Your Hand And In Your Deck
Even if you don’t play with a heavily multiplier-focused deck, you must keep in mind that they are an important part of scoring. There are two types of multiplier cards: Those that add, and those that multiply. You’d get a multiplier score regardless of where you place these cards, but doing that is not getting the most out of your build.
A Joker like Cavendish, for example, would be wasted if placed in order of first, because it’s multiplying your base score before the other boosts and multipliers are taken into account. While it’s something that can be easily outmaneuvered by simply paying attention to what you are doing, you should still be mindful of what is going where.
3Play Non-Ideal Hands
Balatro at the end of the day is about balance. You must know when to go the distance when to fold, and when to clean out your entire hand and try again. You are always going to want to strive for those high Straights and Flushes, but that’s not always going to be possible. Sometimes, you gotta take out the trash.
Anything lower than a nine does a disservice to your ability to build up enough points to defeat the Boss Blinds which hinders your deck. Play what you have and get rid of the cards that way, it opens up the chance of getting better cards in the long run and lets you save money.
2You Can Save Money To Gain Interest
But That’s Not Always The Best Move
Obviously, the more money you’re able to accrue each round the better, and you can’t do that if you keep buying all the common stuff, right? So, you decide to stop all spending and save your money per round. At times, this is a good thing, especially if you aren’t rolling with the green or yellow decks. But, there is something else to consider.
Interest is nice, but when you aren’t spending at least some of that cash, that’s power-ups, vouchers, and Tarot cards you’re passing up that would potentially get you a lot more money than hanging on to the default method. You have to be willing to take the risk and come out of your pocket every once in a while. You’ll make that interest in no time.
1Experimentation Is Your Best Friend
Don’t Stop Yourself From Trying New Combinations
If you ask any avid Balatro playerwhat their favorite deckis, you’re going to get a wider variety of answers than you would think. Some prefer the Erratic Deck, where all ranks and suits are completely at random. Others prefer the Plasma deck, where your ability to multiply your multipliers grows exponentially.
The main point is, that you are bound to find your favorite deck and have a hard time trying to find a reason to try the others, but why hold back? The world is your poker table, just waiting for you to play the best game you want to play. Trial and error is what makes Roguelike games fun.
