Balatro is a game filled with variety and flavor in every run. From the challenging boss blinds to the near-endless combinations of cards and deck types. Certain playstyles will of course net more success than others, but the beauty of the game is that any and all approaches can work given enough time and the right offerings.
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To flesh out some truly extraordinary runs in Balatro, players should work on unlocking the best cards (Jokers) in the game.
Flush hand types are among the highest scoring and most powerful in Balatro, with the Flush Five holding the highest spot on the hand chart and the lesser variants providing a fair amount of power on their own. Thankfully, to aid in acquiring high scores with a flush, there are plenty of Jokers and other modifiers that benefit playing them and make acquiring the right set of cards even easier.
9
The Tribe
Simplistic Yet Strong
- x2 Mult if played hand contains a flush
- Win a run without playing a flush
- Rare
The Tribe is a simple and easy buff that applies straight to the Flush hand type. Many Jokers might be more flashy and powerful, offering double-digit multipliers or gifting the player with a nice bank full of cash to help with the later blinds.
Though on the lower end of multiplication, picking up The Tribe early and focusing on Flush types can be extremely powerful. When allowed to play a Royal Flush, multiplying it by any amount will net insane scores.
8
Supernova
Scaling In A Flash Of Lights
- Adds the number of times poker hand has been played this run to mult
- Available from the start
- Common
This scaling machine quite literally goes supernova in the late game. Building up the multiplier early with a few Flush hands can very quickly build up to an insane level of multiplication for that specific hand type, adding an incentive for building a deck tailored around it.
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What is useful about Supernova is the flexibility offered. While the player can quite comfortably continue to play Flush after Flush and build this Joker into a monster, sometimes the Flush hand just isn’t offered. Fortunately, this Joker doesn’t become useless in these scenarios, allowing this buff to be applied to other hand types while the coveted Flush is searched for.
7
Hiker
Scale A Mountain Together
- Every played card permanently gains +5 Chips when scored.
- Available from the start
- Uncommon
Here is another scaling titan that gives a big incentive for repetitive play. Specifically, when it comes to Flush hands, Flush Five is the obvious power hand that can go completely insane when combined with the Hiker, adding 25 chips each time the same set of cards comes out.
The beauty once again comes from the flexible nature of the card. This game is inherently random, and it can be hard to guarantee specific hands or cards to show up given the limited discards and hands. So, when the entire Balatro deck becomes filled with buff after buff to each card, flushes become incredibly valuable as they hit plenty of cards at once and allow the buffs to scale to the moon.
6
Séance
Something Spooky This Way Comes
- If the poker hand is a straight flush, create a random spectral card
- Available from the start
- Uncommon
Card generation is an important component of Balatro, gifting the player with powerful buffs and modifiers that can tailor decks to a specific hand type or provide universal buffs to keep things open. The Séance adds an extra level of strategy to the game, rewarding a focus on Flush hands with some of the best buffs in the game.
Séance is a great card to have in the pocket, as Flush hands are normally high scorers as is, not needing an insane number of buffs to push the scores over the line. Therefore, switching out a multiplier for a card generator can be a great way to keep playing Flushes while only reducing the power slightly.
5
Crafty Joker
Hatching An Elaborate Plan
- +80 Chips if played hand contains a flush
- Available from the start
- Common
A very obvious choice when working with Flush hands, Crafty Joker grants the player a hefty chip injection for any Flush adjacent hands. Even by itself, this can generate incredibly high chip scores and clear entire bosses.
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If there are other choices in the shop and there is some uncertainty, Crafty Joker is a sure bet for guaranteed power. As Flush hands come in several shapes and sizes, upping their odds of appearing and giving a great benefit to hunting for them.
4
Droll Joker
Humourous And Powerful
- +10 mult if played hand contains a flush
- Available from the start
- Common
Common Jokers are often unfairly named, as the name suggests a lower power level or desire to acquire them. However, this little fella is absurd and exists without any requirements or any effort at all, adding a great buff with no downside.
If the player manages to set up a Royal Flush or an even stronger hand, adding a x10 multiplier on top of that is a monstrous scorer is hard to beat, especially when considering it is a buff provided by just one card.
3
Four Fingers
A Helping Hand
- All flushes and straights can be made with 4 cards
- Available from the start
- Uncommon
Flushes, Royal Flushes, and all the rest are easy to find but tricky to consistently pull off in succession. Requiring five cards of a specific type or suit is a hard barrier to pass early on when the deck isn’t edited or modified.
By lowering the condition that restricts the ability to make flushes, the player can build far more of these powerful hand types and actually combine several at once with access to a whole additional card to add to the multiplier. Four Fingers is one of the most useful cards.
2
The Sinful Jokers
Commit The Unthinkable
- Played cards with x suit give +3 mult when scored
- Available from the start
- Common
The seven deadly sins, or in this case, just four, each bringing their own strength and power to the game. The key is building a good Balatro deck around the specific sin chosen. Gluttony focuses on clubs, greed on diamonds, and the other two fill out the set, allowing the player to pick the one that makes the most sense in that run.
Flushes need the same suit combinations. Consequently, when the player can have a Joker on hand that gives a decent buff to specific suits, Flushes become an obvious pairing, whether it’s diamonds, hearts, clubs, or spades.
1
Smeared Joker
Blur All The Lines And Rules
- Hearts and diamonds count as the same suit, spades, and clubs count as the same suit
- Have 3 or more wild cards in your deck
- Uncommon
The one to top them all, Smeared Joker removes half of the difficulty in making Flush hands and suddenly gives the game an easy mode. Balatro becomes reds vs blacks, two suits effectively, allowing powerful hands to be constructed with no issue at all.
The beauty is the ability to play and work with any cards and any modifiers. Smeared Joker simply acts as a tool to aid the player in building scores and creating very specific and high-scoring plays, while the other Jokers and built-in multipliers handle the rest.
Strategy
Digital Card Game
Roguelike
- Released
-
February 20, 2024
- ESRB
-
E10+ For Everyone 10+ // Gambling Themes
- OpenCritic Rating
-
Mighty
