How to win?

[jaysin7773]

Almost 20hrs played and I still haven't won a run. Made it to Ante 7 once and have had some good builds but some boss antes seem very unfair and counter my exact strategy. How many have won a run and tips how?

[Karl]

Getting the right combination of jokers and upgrading your hands is what gets you there pretty easy. Get those multipliers and X number Jokers. If you spend your money wisely you can also get that interest money to make sure you can buy what you need or just make it easier on yourself with a good voucher or something.

I find myself playing to beat the bosses and blinds in one hand, for that little extra money. Try going for a full house or two pair heavy run for example, and upgrade those sets via the planets where possible. Don't forget those jokers. That should get you your first win unless you're unlucky. Use discarding to get the hands you need.

Some jokers are better than others, use your good judgement which synergize well too.

[malogoss]

This thread should help you.
steamcommunity.com/app/2379780/discussions/0/4756452715167149899/#c4756452715167283765

Else, you could try the "guides" section. Some provide good info/tips that could help you a lot. If you made it to ante 7, you are likely just ignoring 1-2 things and that's what makes you lose.

[Ackranome]

Understanding base poker is probably 1% of the game i.e. what is a flush.

The rest of it is just math on 'jokers' and how to do multiplication.

https://balatrogame.fandom.com/wiki/Vagabond_(Joker)

This guy led me to victory for the first time.

https://balatrogame.fandom.com/wiki/Burglar_(Joker)

Is pretty OP for a low level Joker.

I'll add:

https://balatrogame.fandom.com/wiki/Chicot_(Joker)

This guy is basically a free win.

[beatles42o]

few strats from somebody who doesnt look up guides.

dont forget to look at your deck, seeing what you CAN draw into and CANT draw into, really helps your choice in playing and discarding cards

planet cards and celestial packs go a long way. 2-3 planets makes almost any hand more valueble than a "good hand"

getting basic cards is nice, knowing you have six fours in your deck, or that youve got 4 more of one suit than another.

what to skip, and what not to skip. really up to preference

and, above all else, this game is a gamble, you are literally gambling on getting a good hand.

sometimes you have to more or less bluff your way though

[ulzgoroth]

Half joker is amazing, though requires you to emphasize small hands. You know, the ones you can very reliably produce. Oh no.

I've been making some use of red card, which is costly to set up but can be ramped way up for mult adding. Doesn't help much immediately but focusing on it makes it great later and you just need mult multipliers to go with.

Popcorn isn't a likely part of your final joker lineup but if you get it early it'll send you flying over the early-game hump.

While I think most boss antes are best simply beaten on their own ground, there are jokers and vouchers to make ones you can't deal with go away.

Mult-mult wise, I've had runs focused on Baseball Card. Throwback can be made pretty wild. Ramen is a strong toss-in if it's late in the run or you don't need discards.

[beatles42o]

yup, i dont remember the names of the card

one, was delete the card to the left/right and one was get a joker or 2 every blind.

so, all you need is like, 1 good mult to go with it.

and you have unlimited jokers, and they just get bought and removed, giving you ridiculous snow ball potential

[ulzgoroth]

Originally posted by beatles42o:

yup, i dont remember the names of the card

one, was delete the card to the left/right and one was get a joker or 2 every blind.

so, all you need is like, 1 good mult to go with it.

and you have unlimited jokers, and they just get bought and removed, giving you ridiculous snow ball potential

Oh, riffraff and whatever the stabby joker is, interesting.

That's taking up 3 joker slots, which is kind of a lot, but maybe the impact is big?

[SundownKid]

Early on it is important to find Jokers with high flat chips and multiplier to serve as your starter cards. Blue Joker, Ice Cream, Popcorn and Gros Michel are some examples. Anything that will let you beat the round in as few hands as possible. Otherwise, don't spend your money, because you want to save as much as possible and build up interest. The exception is if it's a money-gaining Joker (i.e. Golden Joker) or something stupidly good.

Once you surpassed a certain cash threshold your interest will become high enough to maintain a high level of money, especially if you got Seed Money voucher. At this point you want to pivot to looking for as many Jokers as humanly possible to find rare or good ones. Especially the Holy Grail of ones with xMult. Besides opening packs, getting cheaper rerolls can also help with this.

Any boss that takes away your cash - if you don't have a money-making Joker anymore, reroll it. Having low cash reserves is one of the worst things for winning. High money is one of the easiest, especially if you find Bull and/or Bootstraps.

[thefollowingcharacters]

Even simpler: The game is not about your cards. Its about the jokers full stop. Getting a bonus card or two is nice, getting some planets are nice, but if you can get a joker that continues to stack multi or chips? That's all you need.

[jbkilroy]

At the beginning of the run, luck is way more important than later on. Even if you have the perfect strategy, not getting the cards in your hand or in the shop that you need will quickly put your lights out. I've lost way more games on the 1st or 2nd ante than I have on 3-6.

Recognize when you're in an unwinnable situation early and try again. If you hold 'R' on PC it will start a new run with the same settings as before, just with a new seed.

[ulzgoroth]

Originally posted by jbkilroy:

At the beginning of the run, luck is way more important than later on. Even if you have the perfect strategy, not getting the cards in your hand or in the shop that you need will quickly put your lights out. I've lost way more games on the 1st or 2nd ante than I have on 3-6.

Recognize when you're in an unwinnable situation early and try again. If you hold 'R' on PC it will start a new run with the same settings as before, just with a new seed.

Pretty much. You really want to pick up some kind of power up, most likely a useful joker, before the first boss and definitely need to before the second or you'll fail to launch. Once you've got some mult going on you're likely to be able to ramp up.

[LegPuller]

Some general tips that helped me out are to use the green deck if you are struggling to manage your economy. This makes it so you don't have to worry about maintaining interest and if you are buying the right things each round. I'd also suggest that you don't force a specific build. If you had a build that got you far one run, that's good, but don't try and repeat it, unless it comes about naturally. I also would advise to build around smaller hands, 2-3 cards, as it's generally easier to find those matches, and your hand size might reduce in size with binds or spectral cards. This is just some stuff I found that helped me out, best of luck!

[malogoss]

Originally posted by LegPuller:

Some general tips that helped me out are to use the green deck if you are struggling to manage your economy. This makes it so you don't have to worry about maintaining interest and if you are buying the right things each round. I'd also suggest that you don't force a specific build. If you had a build that got you far one run, that's good, but don't try and repeat it, unless it comes about naturally. I also would advise to build around smaller hands, 2-3 cards, as it's generally easier to find those matches, and your hand size might reduce in size with binds or spectral cards. This is just some stuff I found that helped me out, best of luck!

Not all decks are created equal, but at the same time, if someone has yet to win a run, they are stuck with the red deck. So suggesting a deck won't help.

Unless they pressed the "unlock everything" button and forfeited earning anymore achievement by doing so. Then yes, they could play the green deck.

Edit: edited because dead wrong, don't want to confuse anyone by leaving it there.

[LegPuller]

Originally posted by malogoss:

Originally posted by LegPuller:

Some general tips that helped me out are to use the green deck if you are struggling to manage your economy. This makes it so you don't have to worry about maintaining interest and if you are buying the right things each round. I'd also suggest that you don't force a specific build. If you had a build that got you far one run, that's good, but don't try and repeat it, unless it comes about naturally. I also would advise to build around smaller hands, 2-3 cards, as it's generally easier to find those matches, and your hand size might reduce in size with binds or spectral cards. This is just some stuff I found that helped me out, best of luck!

Not all decks are created equal, but at the same time, if someone has yet to win a run, they are stuck with the red deck. So suggesting a deck won't help.

Unless they pressed the "unlock everything" button and forfeited earning anymore achievement by doing so. Then yes, they could play the green deck.

I thought that you unlock the first few decks by just unlocking stuff in collections, it says this on the wiki:

The Green Deck is an unlockable deck that, at the end of a round, provides $2 per remaining Hand and $1 per remaining Discard, but does not earn interest. This deck is unlocked by discovering 75 items in the collection.

https://balatrogame.fandom.com/wiki/Green_Deck#:~:text=Unlock%20Requirement,75%20items%20in%20the%20collection.

[LegPuller]

I believe you get the blue print joker if you win on regular difficulty. The Checkered, Erratic, Plasma, Ghost, and Anaglyph Decks are the only ones locked behind wins.