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Balatro 100% Achievement Guide

By prandtl

This guide provides a complete walkthrough to achieve 100% completion in Balatro. It includes detailed information on all achievements, strategies for different difficulty levels, and tips for unlocking all Jokers and decks efficiently.

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Created by

prandtl
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Category: Achievements, Game Modes, Maps or Levels, Walkthroughs

Languages: English

Posted

4 Jan @ 10:58am

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Guide Index

Overview

1. Overview of Achievements

2. Understanding the Gameplay

3. Achievement Progression

4. Difficulty Levels and Strategies

5. Unlocking Jokers

6. Deck Guide

7. Tips for Completionist Plus+ Achievement

8. Challenge Runs

Comments

1. Overview of Achievements

Balatro has 31 achievements:

27 achievements are relatively straightforward to obtain.

2 achievements are moderately difficult.

2 achievements are extremely challenging and time-consuming.

Achievements List:

Ante Up! – Reach Ante 4.

Ante Upper! – Reach Ante 8.

Heads Up – Win a run.

Low Stakes – Win a run on at least Red Stake difficulty.

Mid Stakes – Win a run on at least Black Stake difficulty.

High Stakes – Win a run on at least Gold Stake difficulty.

Card Player – Play at least 2500 cards.

Card Discarder – Discard at least 2500 cards.

Nest Egg – Have $400 or more during a single run.

Flushed – Play a Flush with 5 Wild Cards.

Speedrunner – Win a run in 12 or fewer rounds.

ROI – Buy 5 Vouchers by the end of Ante 4.

Shattered – Break 2 Glass Cards in a single hand.

Royale – Play a Royal Flush.

Retrograde – Get any poker hand to level 10.

10K – Score 10,000 chips in a single hand.

1,000K – Score 1,000,000 chips in a single hand.

100,000K – Score 100,000,000 chips in a single hand.

Tiny Hands – Thin your deck down to 20 or fewer cards.

Big Hands – Have 80 or more cards in your deck.

You Get What You Get – Win a run without rerolling the shop.

Rule Bender – Complete any challenge run.

Rule Breaker – Complete every challenge run.

Legendary – Discover a Legendary Joker.

Astronomy – Discover every Planet card.

Cartomancy – Discover every Tarot card.

Clairvoyance – Discover every Spectral card.

Extreme Couponer – Discover every Voucher.

Completionist – Discover 100% of your collection.

Completionist+ – Win with every deck on Gold Stake difficulty.

Completionist++ – Earn a Gold Sticker on every Joker.

The two most time-consuming achievements are Completionist+ and Completionist++, which require winning with every deck and Joker on the hardest difficulty.

2. Understanding the Gameplay

Balatro revolves around the following core mechanics:

Playing poker hands to score points.

Surviving 8 antes to complete a run.

Using Jokers with unique abilities to enhance your runs.

Each difficulty level introduces cumulative modifiers, making the game progressively more challenging.

3. Achievement Progression

Most achievements will unlock naturally as you progress through the game. Here’s a list of notable early achievements you can aim for:

First Run Achievements:

Reach Ante 4.

Score 10,000 chips in a single hand.

Discover a legendary Joker from a Tarot pack.

Win your first run.

4. Difficulty Levels and Strategies

There are 8 difficulty levels in Balatro, each with cumulative modifiers that increase the game’s challenge. Here’s a description of each level:

White Stake: Base difficulty.
Red Stake: The small blind gives no reward money.
Green Stake: The target score scales faster.
Black Stake: Jokers have a 30% chance to become Eternal (cannot be sold or destroyed).
Blue Stake: One less discard per round.
Purple Stake: The target score scales even faster.
Orange Stake: 30% of Jokers become Perishable (debuff after five rounds).
Gold Stake: Adds all previous modifiers and makes 30% of Jokers Rental (costs $3 per round to keep).

Strategy for Gold Stake:

Use consistent decks such as the Checkered Deck or Yellow Deck.

Focus on building flush hands and use key Jokers like Photograph and Hanging Chad for score multipliers.

Avoid unnecessary purchases and manage your Jokers carefully to maintain a sustainable run.

5. Unlocking Jokers

There are 150 Jokers in Balatro. Most unlock naturally through gameplay, but some require specific conditions to be met.

Notable Jokers to Unlock:

Suit Jokers: Have at least 30 cards of a specific suit in your deck.

Hit the Road Joker: Discard 5 Jacks in a single hand.

Duo Joker: Win a run without playing any pairs.

Seeing Double Joker: Play a hand with four 7 of clubs.

Use DNA and Blueprint Jokers to duplicate valuable cards and Jokers to achieve these conditions more efficiently.

6. Deck Guide

Balatro features 15 decks, each with unique abilities. Here are the most notable ones for achieving success on higher difficulty levels:

Recommended Decks for Gold Stake:

Checkered Deck: Contains only Hearts and Spades, making flushes easier to build.

Yellow Deck: Starts with $10, providing a financial advantage early in the game.

Ghost Deck: Allows you to Polychrome a Joker at the start of each round and adds Spectral cards to the shop.

Plasma Deck: Balances your chips and multipliers at the end of each round.

Challenging Decks:

Black Deck: Provides one less hand per round, making it harder to accumulate points and money.

7. Tips for Completionist Plus+ Achievement

To achieve Completionist Plus+, you must earn a Gold Chip on every Joker by winning a run with each on Gold Stake. Here are some strategies to streamline this process:

Focus on Flush Builds: This strategy is reliable for consistent scoring.

Use Key Jokers: Prioritize Jokers like Photograph, Hanging Chad, Supernova, Abstract Joker, and Card Sharp.

Utilize DNA and Blueprint Jokers: Duplicate valuable Jokers to maximize your score.

Be mindful that some Jokers add minimal value to your build. Focus on creating a stable deck with essential multipliers before adding the Jokers you need for achievements.

8. Challenge Runs

Balatro includes 20 challenge runs, each with unique rule sets. These range from simple modifications to significantly difficult constraints.

Tips for Challenge Runs:

Utilize Straight and Flush Builds: These are generally more consistent.
Prioritize Multiplier Jokers: Boost your score to meet challenging target requirements.
Skip Unnecessary Rounds: Minimize risks by avoiding unnecessary antes.

3 Comments

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False 20 Jan @ 8:13am

Now it's almost impossible to lose the run because you have mult from the scaling jokers and you are constantly scoring more and more. The only way to fail is to accidentally play your most played hand but to avoid that you save discards at all costs. That being said obviously a scaling joker and obelisk alone can't win them all so you gotta add something more to the build like a chip joker. Something like: Stuntman, Banner, Blue Joker. That should be enough to win absolutely any run on any stake.

I myself won my last gold stake run with obelisk and made it go up to 7.4x multiplier so it is absolutely a must get if you had a scaling joker going off since early ante's.

False 20 Jan @ 8:06am

1) get a scaling joker early on (round 1/2) and scale it properly with it's respective hands (ride the bus/green joker scales really nicely with high cards since you score just enough to use all your hands on them and still win when the hands run out; spare trousers scale with two pair/full house but you should play two pair more often to up the amount of hands you played with it since it's easier to find a hand like this)

2) get obelisk (the hardest part) and carry it up to ante 4 where naturally you should have at least 20 hands played already (you are able to carry obelisk due to the scaling jokers carrying your run during early ante's)

3) start playing everything but your most played hand and always save discards if you are about to play your most played hand (referring to high card builds)

Citronix 14 Jan @ 6:48am

I need an explanation on how to win a run with obelisk

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