I did Completionist++ twice! Stats & tips

[mangonaise]

I achieved 100% completion twice (pic: https://imgur.com/a/NxOX1u3) - first on my Switch, and then on PC. I was really curious to see how the two attempts would differ. I’ll go over some stats for both runs, and finish up with some quick tips for 1) general gameplay and 2) C++.

What’s Completionist++?

An achievement unlocked by having gold stickers on all 150 jokers. To earn a gold sticker on a joker, the joker must occupy one of your slots when you beat Ante 8 on Gold Stake difficulty. 100% completion goes a bit further, involving:

• Completionist (discover the entire collection)
  
• Completionist+ (win Gold Stake on all decks)
  
• Completionist++ (as described above)
  
• Win all 20 challenge runs

How long did it take?

Overall, my 2nd attempt was 105 hours faster than my 1st attempt.

Attempt 1: 265 hours total (according to my Switch)

• 170 hours to achieve a Gold Stake win on all decks (~55 gold stickers attained naturally)
  
• 80 additional hours to get all the gold stickers
  
• 15 additional hours to complete the challenge runs

Attempt 2: 160 hours total (according to Steam)

• 114 hours to achieve a Gold Stake win on all decks (61 gold stickers attained naturally)
  
• 36 additional hours to get all the gold stickers
  
• 10 additional hours to complete the challenge runs

I never reset my runs to get a better start (although that probably would have reduced my time). I just wanted to do my best with what the game gave me so that I could practice consistency.

Stats

• Attempt 1: https://imgur.com/a/E4sJuRK
  
• Attempt 2: https://imgur.com/a/VyKEpke

Joker usage across the two attempts is very different. In attempt 2, we see greater representation of economy jokers such as Mail-in Rebate[balatrogame.fandom.com] and Rocket[balatrogame.fandom.com], as I better understood the importance of $$$. Supernova[balatrogame.fandom.com] is out, with Ride the Bus[balatrogame.fandom.com] and Fortune Teller[balatrogame.fandom.com] taking its place in attempt 2. Hanging Chad[balatrogame.fandom.com] is the clear winner, as I found it has a place in most builds; for example, retriggering Lucky cards offers a source of cash, and retriggering Glass cards offers safety against Violet Vessel where you must score 1.2 million points.

I consumed a lot more planet/tarot cards in attempt 2 than in attempt 1, especially when you adjust for the difference in playtime. This is because I focused less on scoring with jokers alone, and more on scoring with planets and enhanced cards.

In attempt 1 Flushes were a go-to hand, as is the case for many beginner players. In attempt 2, I instead gravitated towards Straights (which have excellent planet scaling) and Pairs (which synergize excellently with held-in-hand effects like blue seals, steel and gold cards). High Card is used less in attempt 2 as I discovered the scaling and scoring potential of Pairs is superior for non-endless runs.

Top general tips

• Avoid making quick decisions based on heuristics. Bring your whole consciousness to the game and consider all your options, especially the ones you would casually dismiss. There are no instant-click cards in Balatro.
  
• Jokers aren’t everything. If you put all your eggs in the joker basket you will lose more often than necessary. Evenly exploit the full array of scoring tools provided by the game, including planets, enhancements, and seals. A blue seal is more powerful than many of the jokers.
  
• Economy is the most important mechanic in the game. Money allows you to take more actions per shop and mitigates all RNG-based dangers by increasing the probability that you will find useful tools for your build. Cash is what wins games consistently; prioritize it.
  
• Watch more skilled players play the game. Balatro is more fun when you’re good at it. Widen your perspective - Balatro U is my recommendation (starter video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgOgbZzXYag)

Top tips for Completionist++

My overall strategy is 1) be able to beat ante 8 with as few jokers as possible to make room for stickers, and 2) have a ton of money to reroll for non-stickered jokers.

• Consistency is key (at least in my experience). So, pick a deck you can win on almost every time. I played Blue Deck (+1 hand) almost exclusively. C++ is not particularly luck-based or time-consuming with the right strategy. It’s an exercise in consistency and trusting in statistical inevitability.
  
• Assume Violet Vessel is the final boss. VV demands you score 1.2 million points. If you can do this, then you can likely beat any of the 5 final bosses. Make sure you have enough glass/steel cards (and a small enough deck to draw them) to push you over the edge.
  
• Score as much as possible from planets/enhancements/seals. Being able to win with 1-3 jokers is ideal as you can use the rest of your slots for stickers.
  
• Prioritize rare/uncommon/consumable jokers first. Also, keep conditional jokers (e.g. Stone Joker, Glass Joker, Lucky Cat) near the top of your list.
  
• MONEY MONEY MONEY (again). The more money you have, the more you can reroll to find non-stickered jokers.

Thank you for reading and good luck to anyone who goes for C++! :)

[revlayle]

I would also add that Blind Skips rarely give you a useful award. I find I take it in three circumstances (not exclusively, but a majority of my skips are these)

- Investment Tag on Ante 1 - $25 after beating the first boss gives you great econ start, especially since it is hard to buy a lot of useful stuff on first shops.
- Hail Mary skip - If I think I cannot beat an ante before I start a blind, if possible, I might try to skip one or both blinds before the boss, sometimes extra hand levels, cards, or packs can give you something you couldn't make it to a shop for.
- Ancient Joker preservation - When the ante's boss is a suit-debuff, often, after beating the small blind, if the suit of my Ancient Joker does not match the debuff, I will skip straight to the boss. The idea is if I played the big blind, I would have a 1 in 3 chance to get the debuffed suit for my Ancient Joker, which could be run-ending.

[ROORnNUGZ]

Thanks I literally just came to the sub so search for tips on this. It's really not fun so far. I've been trying anaglyph deck hoping for a bunch of negatives. I'm at 61% on my joker stickers. Is there an easy way to tell how many more gold stickers I need?

[RazzberryMocha]

I got completionest++ last week and I second everything you say here, especially with what you said about hanging chad (I'd argue it's in contention for the best joker for gold stake ante 8 runs if cavendish didn't exist).

[Mel Gibson]

Great post. 160 hours is very impressive.

I think the change in playstyle from your first to the second attempt reflect a lot of my evolution in the game as well, from focusing on flashy scoring jokers flush runs into more robust, economy based, card enhancement based straight runs (especially since the straight buff earlier this year).
I wish I had found your tip about going for an easier deck for the sake of win consistency sooner. I've spent a lot of time using the Anaglyph for the negatives, which is a good strategy early on when you have a lot of missing jokers to get a gold sticker on, but gets weaker later on when you're only missing a few. I'm still missing a couple stickers and will certainly go for the blue deck for those.

[Snake]

I'd love it if your profile wasn't private and people could see how many hours you actually got in the game.

[*^SaoSin^*]

I still cant beat orange stake with black deck hard stuck on RNG feeling like I replayed that 100 times...

[mangonaise]

Originally posted by Snake:

I'd love it if your profile wasn't private and people could see how many hours you actually got in the game.

Didn't realize it was private! Changed it now. It's at 161 because I had to do another run to trigger the c++ achievement.

[mangonaise]

Originally posted by ROORnNUGZ:

Thanks I literally just came to the sub so search for tips on this. It's really not fun so far. I've been trying anaglyph deck hoping for a bunch of negatives. I'm at 61% on my joker stickers. Is there an easy way to tell how many more gold stickers I need?

Yes there's a better way to track stickers than the in-game stats. I used this tracker: https://www.reddit.com/r/balatro/comments/1bzsob7/comment/l0zbkti/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

[Arthel]

Originally posted by mangonaise:

I achieved 100% completion twice (pic: https://imgur.com/a/NxOX1u3) - first on my Switch, and then on PC. I was really curious to see how the two attempts would differ. I’ll go over some stats for both runs, and finish up with some quick tips for 1) general gameplay and 2) C++.

What’s Completionist++?

An achievement unlocked by having gold stickers on all 150 jokers. To earn a gold sticker on a joker, the joker must occupy one of your slots when you beat Ante 8 on Gold Stake difficulty. 100% completion goes a bit further, involving:

• Completionist (discover the entire collection)
  
• Completionist+ (win Gold Stake on all decks)
  
• Completionist++ (as described above)
  
• Win all 20 challenge runs

How long did it take?

Overall, my 2nd attempt was 105 hours faster than my 1st attempt.

Attempt 1: 265 hours total (according to my Switch)

• 170 hours to achieve a Gold Stake win on all decks (~55 gold stickers attained naturally)
  
• 80 additional hours to get all the gold stickers
  
• 15 additional hours to complete the challenge runs

Attempt 2: 160 hours total (according to Steam)

• 114 hours to achieve a Gold Stake win on all decks (61 gold stickers attained naturally)
  
• 36 additional hours to get all the gold stickers
  
• 10 additional hours to complete the challenge runs

I never reset my runs to get a better start (although that probably would have reduced my time). I just wanted to do my best with what the game gave me so that I could practice consistency.

Stats

• Attempt 1: https://imgur.com/a/E4sJuRK
  
• Attempt 2: https://imgur.com/a/VyKEpke

Joker usage across the two attempts is very different. In attempt 2, we see greater representation of economy jokers such as Mail-in Rebate[balatrogame.fandom.com] and Rocket[balatrogame.fandom.com], as I better understood the importance of $$$. Supernova[balatrogame.fandom.com] is out, with Ride the Bus[balatrogame.fandom.com] and Fortune Teller[balatrogame.fandom.com] taking its place in attempt 2. Hanging Chad[balatrogame.fandom.com] is the clear winner, as I found it has a place in most builds; for example, retriggering Lucky cards offers a source of cash, and retriggering Glass cards offers safety against Violet Vessel where you must score 1.2 million points.

I consumed a lot more planet/tarot cards in attempt 2 than in attempt 1, especially when you adjust for the difference in playtime. This is because I focused less on scoring with jokers alone, and more on scoring with planets and enhanced cards.

In attempt 1 Flushes were a go-to hand, as is the case for many beginner players. In attempt 2, I instead gravitated towards Straights (which have excellent planet scaling) and Pairs (which synergize excellently with held-in-hand effects like blue seals, steel and gold cards). High Card is used less in attempt 2 as I discovered the scaling and scoring potential of Pairs is superior for non-endless runs.

Top general tips

• Avoid making quick decisions based on heuristics. Bring your whole consciousness to the game and consider all your options, especially the ones you would casually dismiss. There are no instant-click cards in Balatro.
  
• Jokers aren’t everything. If you put all your eggs in the joker basket you will lose more often than necessary. Evenly exploit the full array of scoring tools provided by the game, including planets, enhancements, and seals. A blue seal is more powerful than many of the jokers.
  
• Economy is the most important mechanic in the game. Money allows you to take more actions per shop and mitigates all RNG-based dangers by increasing the probability that you will find useful tools for your build. Cash is what wins games consistently; prioritize it.
  
• Watch more skilled players play the game. Balatro is more fun when you’re good at it. Widen your perspective - Balatro U is my recommendation (starter video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgOgbZzXYag)

Top tips for Completionist++

My overall strategy is 1) be able to beat ante 8 with as few jokers as possible to make room for stickers, and 2) have a ton of money to reroll for non-stickered jokers.

• Consistency is key (at least in my experience). So, pick a deck you can win on almost every time. I played Blue Deck (+1 hand) almost exclusively. C++ is not particularly luck-based or time-consuming with the right strategy. It’s an exercise in consistency and trusting in statistical inevitability.
  
• Assume Violet Vessel is the final boss. VV demands you score 1.2 million points. If you can do this, then you can likely beat any of the 5 final bosses. Make sure you have enough glass/steel cards (and a small enough deck to draw them) to push you over the edge.
  
• Score as much as possible from planets/enhancements/seals. Being able to win with 1-3 jokers is ideal as you can use the rest of your slots for stickers.
  
• Prioritize rare/uncommon/consumable jokers first. Also, keep conditional jokers (e.g. Stone Joker, Glass Joker, Lucky Cat) near the top of your list.
  
• MONEY MONEY MONEY (again). The more money you have, the more you can reroll to find non-stickered jokers.

Thank you for reading and good luck to anyone who goes for C++! :)

That is a very useful post, thank you, i'm 6 hours in and managed to beat the first run twice with red and yellow deck, I am still learning lots of mechs, but i'm taking notes here, thank you a lot

[Shmebulock]

sorry for being dumb, but what are stickered jokers and what you mean having few jokers to make space for stickers...

[ROORnNUGZ]

Originally posted by Shmebulock:

sorry for being dumb, but what are stickered jokers and what you mean having few jokers to make space for stickers...

beating the ante 8 boss on a stake gets the jokers a sticker for that stake. Completionist ++ is getting gold stickers on all jokers.

[mangonaise]

Originally posted by Shmebulock:

sorry for being dumb, but what are stickered jokers and what you mean having few jokers to make space for stickers...

When I say "stickered joker" I mean a joker with a gold sticker on it, i.e. one that has previously been taken to the end of ante 8 on gold stake.

To clarify the other thing - I mean that the aim is to rely on only 1-3 jokers to actually win. The remaining joker slots can then be used for jokers that just "join the team" for the purpose of earning a sticker on them, even if the jokers themselves are duds.

Hope that helps :)

[Shmebulock]

Originally posted by mangonaise:

Originally posted by Shmebulock:

sorry for being dumb, but what are stickered jokers and what you mean having few jokers to make space for stickers...

When I say "stickered joker" I mean a joker with a gold sticker on it, i.e. one that has previously been taken to the end of ante 8 on gold stake.

To clarify the other thing - I mean that the aim is to rely on only 1-3 jokers to actually win. The remaining joker slots can then be used for jokers that just "join the team" for the purpose of earning a sticker on them, even if the jokers themselves are duds.

Hope that helps :)

ah sorry, now i get it, to have space for jokers that dont have the the gold one yet... seems kind of hard though to get the legendary ones...

[mangonaise]

Originally posted by Shmebulock:

seems kind of hard though to get the legendary ones...

the legendaries were actually not a problem at all, on either attempt. this is for 2 reasons: 1) legendaries are pretty strong so if you get one then you can usually win, and 2) the game is programmed to give you legendaries that you don't have gold stickers on :)