Help, I'm getting murdered out here

[Sparky]

I know this is a skill issue, but.

I'm 11 hours in, I've never made it to ante 7, I have almost every card collected, and I try to go 'easy' low-rng hands like Flush, 3 of a kind, 2 pair, etc builds. I use planets and tarot cards when possible and buy extra cards that fit my 'build' using the card packs.

I'm getting massacred out here. Every time I go a face-card build I'll always get slapped with the face-card 'boss' and have no re-roles, but only when I'm going face cards. I'll go 3 of a kind aces and get slapped with no aces for the first 15 discarded cards on ante 4 (even though there are 12 in the deck). I'll go flushes but get hammered with "only 1 hand" on ante 6 and then get no flushes through all the discards.

Or the worst one of all, the entire first ante will have 0 'multi' jokers and I'll just die on the boss.

I know people say RNG can't really kill you in this game, but it's killing me.

EDIT: In my quest to play and lose a round to post the seed, I got my very first win! Here's the seed anyway. I went 3 of a kind on green deck.

JWR6EIBF

[phantom]

I recommend doing a game and then posting the seed here so people can say how they would have handled it and you can compare.

[Godhand]

^ don't do what phantom said, you're just gonna be greeted by try hards telling you it's a skill issue and that they easily beated it (to boost their ego and to put other people down) and most of them aren't gonna tell you how they did it. They just say stupid stuff like "just be good".

Also anyone who says RNG can't kill you in this game is straight up lying. RNG can even kill you on white stake in later rounds. Can't believe people are still talking about it as if RNG doesn't mean RANDOM number generator anymore.

[S♥ShiMe]

Originally posted by phantom:

I recommend doing a game and then posting the seed here so people can say how they would have handled it and you can compare.

go with this. most likely we can see your thought process as we play your seed.

[kone]

Originally posted by zxzc77:

I'm 11 hours in, I've never made it to ante 7, I have almost every card collected, and I try to go 'easy' low-rng hands like Flush, 3 of a kind, 2 pair, etc builds. I use planets and tarot cards when possible and buy extra cards that fit my 'build' using the card packs.

Don't buy Standard Packs!
A single card (that may not even fit your build) is not worth the price of a tarot, spectral or even planet pack.
Instead, always look for The Hanged Man tarot card or Immolate spectral card because thinning your deck is so, so very important for hands like Flushes, Three of a Kinds and Two Pairs.
A smaller deck size will always increase the probability of finding the cards you want.

Play more frugally. Stay above $25 if you can help it for maximum interest, and you can more easily dig into the shop rerolls to find what you want later in the run.
Even to have enough money for Vouchers.

Jokers like Ice Cream, Popcorn and Gros Michel are what you want to grab in the early antes despite their temporary nature. They're early strength that'll make your money back through saving hands.
You'll more easily be able to afford buying a scaling chip or mult joker once you have more hands, more money, more everything.

[Sparky]

Originally posted by S♥ShiMe:

Originally posted by phantom:

I recommend doing a game and then posting the seed here so people can say how they would have handled it and you can compare.

go with this. most likely we can see your thought process as we play your seed.

Originally posted by phantom:

I recommend doing a game and then posting the seed here so people can say how they would have handled it and you can compare.

Got my first win while trying to get you two a seed :p
Posted the seed above anyway

[dmeister]

Some things that have helped me:

- Ideally among your Jokers you want a mix of at least one that increases your base points, one that increases your multiple, and one that routinely multiplies your total multiple. I'm sure it's possible to win without one of those three types of jokers in your combo, say by just having a ton of planets in your particular specialty and Jokers that stack up lots of multiples or base points over time (or running the Plasma deck which is its own animal entirely), but it's definitely harder to do! Essentially if any of those three categories is low or missing your net total points won't tend to be very high by the time you get to Ante 8.

- Since everything in a given track triggers left to right don't forget to slide your multipliers to the far right side of their track before playing the hand. So if you have a x2 Joker multiplier for instance it should be at the far right of the Joker track. Similarly if you have a Steel card in your hand, drag it all the way to the right before you play the hand, that way you can be sure that any +Multiple effects your individual cards may trigger will all get multiplied by that Steel card.

- Assuming you're using a deck that collects interest don't underestimate the value of saving your money up to maximize your interest. If you can manage to beat the early blinds without spending much money then you can use the interest you gain to get a lot more upgrades down the line. I try to stay just above $25 most games all the way to the end when possible. (I say when possible because sometimes luck just isn't on your side and you'll need to spend a little extra money on new Jokers and such just to keep afloat.)

- Most of the time, especially if you have a Joker with an effect that stacks up tokens while you play hands (e.g. +4 chips added permanently per hand) you should be playing out hands rather than skipping them. Of course it's situational, if skipping a hand earns you $30 that's hard to pass up! An interesting exception, though, is either when you have a food related Joker that expires over time (e.g. Popcorn or Ice Cream which decay every hand or round), if you have those it might be worth skipping blinds so you can get the benefit of the food that much longer before you need to sell it off. Similarly if you happen to see the next boss' ability is to "disable all the cards you're played this ante" then you might want to consider skipping both blinds before that boss to hard counter that ability.

[Sparky]

Originally posted by dmeister:

Some things that have helped me:

- Ideally among your Jokers you want a mix of at least one that increases your base points, one that increases your multiple, and one that routinely multiplies your total multiple. I'm sure it's possible to win without one of those three types of jokers in your combo, say by just having a ton of planets in your particular specialty and Jokers that stack up lots of multiples or base points over time (or running the Plasma deck which is its own animal entirely), but it's definitely harder to do! Essentially if any of those three categories is low or missing your net total points won't tend to be very high by the time you get to Ante 8.

- Since everything in a given track triggers left to right don't forget to slide your multipliers to the far right side of their track before playing the hand. So if you have a x2 Joker multiplier for instance it should be at the far right of the Joker track. Similarly if you have a Steel card in your hand, drag it all the way to the right before you play the hand, that way you can be sure that any +Multiple effects your individual cards may trigger will all get multiplied by that Steel card.

- Assuming you're using a deck that collects interest don't underestimate the value of saving your money up to maximize your interest. If you can manage to beat the early blinds without spending much money then you can use the interest you gain to get a lot more upgrades down the line. I try to stay just above $25 most games all the way to the end when possible. (I say when possible because sometimes luck just isn't on your side and you'll need to spend a little extra money on new Jokers and such just to keep afloat.)

- Most of the time, especially if you have a Joker with an effect that stacks up tokens while you play hands (e.g. +4 chips added permanently per hand) you should be playing out hands rather than skipping them. Of course it's situational, if skipping a hand earns you $30 that's hard to pass up! An interesting exception, though, is either when you have a food related Joker that expires over time (e.g. Popcorn or Ice Cream which decay every hand or round), if you have those it might be worth skipping blinds so you can get the benefit of the food that much longer before you need to sell it off. Similarly if you happen to see the next boss' ability is to "disable all the cards you're played this ante" then you might want to consider skipping both blinds before that boss to hard counter that ability.

Thanks!

[Zelakon]

Originally posted by Godhand:

^ don't do what phantom said, you're just gonna be greeted by try hards telling you it's a skill issue and that they easily beated it (to boost their ego and to put other people down) and most of them aren't gonna tell you how they did it. They just say stupid stuff like "just be good".

Also anyone who says RNG can't kill you in this game is straight up lying. RNG can even kill you on white stake in later rounds. Can't believe people are still talking about it as if RNG doesn't mean RANDOM number generator anymore.

How many people in this thread have said it's a skill issue? None.

Do you know why? Because OP has kindly asked for advice and not unfairly criticised the game.

Meanwhile here you are, helping nobody at all. Sounds like a similar contribution to those who say 'skill issue' to me.

[Monoxide]

Originally posted by Godhand:

^ don't do what phantom said, you're just gonna be greeted by try hards telling you it's a skill issue and that they easily beated it (to boost their ego and to put other people down) and most of them aren't gonna tell you how they did it. They just say stupid stuff like "just be good".

Also anyone who says RNG can't kill you in this game is straight up lying. RNG can even kill you on white stake in later rounds. Can't believe people are still talking about it as if RNG doesn't mean RANDOM number generator anymore.

Nobody claims rng can’t kill you just that randomness IS NOT why you can’t clear. “Skill issue” is targeted at people who blame rng for long term low stakes failure which is cope. Even in OP’s example here “I always get face card debuffed” Debuffed cards can still be used to win with the base mult and chips the hand provides, which is scaleable via planet cards and xmult jokers applied to base mult is still effective.

Nobody is going to write you a balatro guide in any comment section if you want to actually learn and not just seethe and cope you would have already typed “balatro guide” into youtube and fixed your issues.

[AtomicCaleb]

im too lazy to link but google balatro university, youll get way more effort into something like that than steam forum and itll help if you want to improve

[OpenSheep]

I'm still learning but getting a plus multiplier jokers early is critical. Especially ones that multplie, then start getting planets to buff a skill, and get a stack deck full of buffed cards.

[phantom]

So I tried out the seed. I grabbed delayed gratification around the start and made a bunch of money. in specter card I turned all cards into suit and got 10s. So I decided to make a deck around playing 10s and got walkie talkie. not that it mattered much caause. I got flash card and the voucher that makes rerolls chapter. so with delayed gratification funding reroll spam easy win.

*Edit*
Oh right I did have blackboard. which just looked up and surprisingly you don't need to unlock.

[sab0t]

congrats on your first win, zxzc77

[TimTim3000]

A few tips:

Try to buy one "scoring" joker each ante, at least for the first 3-4 antes. Meaning one that boosts your chip or mult, as opposed to one that gives you cash or whatever. The latter type can be very good too but they're not as essential to surviving those first few antes, so they should be picked up sparingly.

Don't buy packs until you have more than $25. Packs are a complete crapshoot, and not spending money on them until you have cash to burn will reduce the RNG effect on your game.

And never skip blinds unless you really know what you're doing. The opportunity cost of not seeing a shop is underrated.

[phantom]

Originally posted by TimTim3000:

Try to buy one "scoring" joker each ante, at least for the first 3-4 antes. Meaning one that boosts your chip or mult, as opposed to one that gives you cash or whatever. The latter type can be very good too but they're not as essential to surviving those first few antes, so they should be picked up sparingly.

I would gladly take a strong moeny joker first ante over a scoring joker. First boss blind is totally beatable without scoring.
Why would you focus on economy past ante 4. that sounds reverse since unless it is a joker like burnt that gets stronger over time money jokers are the only ones that build up value as the game goes on. not that you don't need scoring jokers to get past ante 4 but the score still increases ante 5 through 8 as well as more chances for bad boss roll.