The Best Joker Cards In Balatro

The Best Joker Cards In Balatro

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Joker

This Joker gives a flat four bonus to your Mult, which is handy in the early game but bad in the late game.

Greedy/Lust/Wrathful/Gluttonous Joker

All of these Jokers are specific to a suit, and each offers three Mult per card of that suit played. These Jokers are commonly needed for Flush builds and can scale well into the late game with other good Jokers.

Jolly/Zany/Mad/Crazy/Droll Joker

Each of these Jokers is specific to a kind of hand, starting with Pair, and stretching to Two Pair, Three of a Kind, Straight, and Flush. Each of these Jokers offers flat Mult if the hand played matches the hand on the Joker, scaling from eight to twelve. Where the Jokers directly above are focused on Flush builds, these Jokers help define what hand your build is focused on and help a lot in the early game.

Sly/Wily/Clever/Devious/Crafty Joker

These Jokers work exactly like the Jokers above, but instead, offer a flat amount of Chips if a hand contains the hand specified on the Joker. Just like those cards too, these can help define a deck in the early game and keep players alive in the low antes.

Half Joker

This Joker adds a good amount of flat Mult if your hand is three cards or less, so it can be very useful for pair or Three of a Kind builds.

Joker Stencil

This Joker offers a scaling amount of multiplied multiplier based on how many empty Joker slots you have, including this card. This can be very handy to advance through the early game and even can be managed later if you have other powerful Joker cards.

Misprint

Misprint is a unique Joker card where it offers a flat amount of Mult, but it is randomized between multiple options, from no Mult at all to as high as 20 flat Mult. Due to the chance of getting a lot of Mult at once, this is an elite early-game Joker but fades as the game goes on.

Ceremonial Dagger

Ceremonial Dagger will remove the Joker to the right of it at the start of every blind, and it will add its value to it as Mult. It is a unique card to play around with, as positioning matters and Joker card value matters, but it can stack up significantly with cards like Egg or Gift Card.

Driver’s License

Driver’s License offers a good amount of multiplied multiplier, but only if your deck contains at least 16 enhanced cards. Where most cards are good in the early game, this is a great late-game card.

Smiley Face

Smiley Face offers a flat amount of Mult for each face card played, which is simple and useful for face card deck builds.

Fibonacci

Fibonacci offers a flat amount of Mult per Ace, 2, 3, 5, or 8 played. This works really well with Ace builds, but is flexible for cheaper cards too.

Ramen

Ramen is unique, as it offers a flat amount of multiplied multiplier, but it decreases by a small amount every time a card is discarded. It can be handy in the late game, when players don’t need to discard cards to get their desired hand, but early game it is only strong for a short time.

Rocket

Rocket is one of the best income-focused Joker cards, as it offers a flat amount of dollars for every blind that increases by one dollar for each Boss Blind defeated while the Rocket is active. Taking it secures a lot of money relatively quickly.

Walkie Talkie

Walkie Talkie offers a flat amount of chips and Mult for each 10 or 4 played. Any card that offers both chips and Mult multiple times per hand is strong but is very specific to building around 10s and 4s.

Faceless Joker

Faceless Joker offers money if the player discards at least three face cards at once. This is another income-focused Joker but is less consistent than Rocket. The main tradeoff is how much money players can gain if they have a face card deck.

Mystic Summit

Mystic Summit offers a flat amount of Mult if you have used all your discards for the blind. This is very useful in the early game, especially as players need to discard to find good hands, but can fall off in the late game.

Supernova

Supernova offers a flat amount of Mult that is equal to the number of times your most played hand has been played. If you stick to one hand throughout a run, Supernova is good in the early and middle game, but it wanes in the late game.

Vagabond

Vagabond offers a free Tarot card for each hand played while the player has four dollars or less available. This is an amazing early-game card to get Tarot cards, but it loses all its use when the late-game hits and money stacks easily.

Smeared Joker

Smeared Joker makes it so Diamonds and Hearts count as the same suit, as do Clubs and Spades. Effectively, if the goal is to do a Flush build, Smeared Joker makes that very easy until your deck is fleshed out.

Satellite

Satellite is another income-focused Joker, this time offering extra money per round based on how many unique Planet cards the player has used this run. Depending on how many packs a player has opened, this card can vary from okay to amazing.

Glass Joker

The Glass Joker works not on how many Glass cards you have in your deck, instead, it increases in multiplied multiplier for every broken Glass card in the run. It requires you to roll the dice and frequently play Glass cards, but in the right deck, can scale very well.

Cloud 9

Cloud 9 is another income Joker, this time offering an extra dollar every hand based on how many 9 cards are in your deck. This is very specific to builds around the number 9, but if done right, can offer lots of money.

Midas Mask

Midas Mask is a unique Joker that turns every scoring face card played into a Gold card. This overwrites cards if they are of a previous variation, like Steel or Glass, but it can combo very well with face card builds or the Vampire Joker card.

Vampire

Speaking of Vampire, it removes all variations off of any played card but increases in multiplied multiplier each time a card is changed. If players aren’t focused on Steel card builds, this is a great option to turn Glass and Gold cards into another kind of value.

Seeing Double

Seeing Double is a unique Joker, as it offers a flat multiplied multiplier if the hand you played contains a Club suit alongside another random suit. It takes a little bit of effort to get it working, but it is a nice way to get some multiplied Mult if you have no other options.

Arrowhead

Arrowhead offers a lot of chips to each Spade played in a hand, which is a great option for a run that needs chips or a Spade Flush build.

Onyx Agate

Onyx Agate is similar to Arrowhead, but instead offers a flat amount of Mult for each Club played in a hand. It works similarly to Gluttonous Joker but offers more flat Mult.

Scary Face

Scary Face offers a flat amount of chips each time a Face card is played, which is similar to the Smiley Face Joker in both outcome and use: very good for face card decks.

Popcorn

Popcorn offers a large flat amount of Mult but decreases every time a blind is defeated. This is a very handy Joker in the early game, or for a pinch when you need Mult.

Raised Fist

Raised Fist is a Joker that offers a flat amount of Mult, but the amount matches the card of the lowest-rated card in your hand. The amount is the same as the amount of chips each card is worth, meaning that face cards are equivalent to 10, while Aces are equal to 11.

Hiker

Hiker builds up the base chips each card has, increasing it every time it is played. This is one that is very good to get early and keep, as getting rid of Hiker still keeps the benefits it gives on its cards.

Riff-Raff

Riff-Raff is a simple Joker that spawns two random common Jokers ever Blind, as long as there is room. Considering how good some common Jokers are, this is an ideal Joker for early-game builds but loses steam as a run gets longer.

Abstract Joker

Abstract Joker adds a flat amount of Mult that adjusts based on how many other Joker cards you have, scaling by a factor of 5 Mult per Joker. This is a good Joker for the early and middle game but falls off for the late game.

Bootstraps

Bootstraps is a scaling Joker, which increases in flat Mult based on how much money you have. This is a great card across the board, but only works if you stack a lot of money with income Jokers.

Scholar

Scholar offers a flat amount of chips and Mult every time an Ace card is played. This card is key to Ace builds, and with how good Ace cards are, this card is very popular.

Ice Cream

Ice Cream works just like Popcorn but for chips instead of Mult. What that means is that Ice Cream offers a large amount of flat Mult, but it decreases by a flat amount every time a round ends. When it hits zero, the Joker disappears.

Swashbuckler

Swashbuckler offers a scaling amount of Mult based on the value of all the other Joker cards a player has equipped. Just like Ceremonial Dagger, getting high-value cards like Legendary Jokers or the Egg Joker is the key to getting the most value out of it.

The Duo/The Trio/The Family/The Order/The Tribe

All of these Joker cards are rare but offer the same thing: a set amount of multiplied multiplier if the hand played matches the hand on the Joker. The more difficult the hand, the higher the multiplied Mult. These are all good but are specific to those hands, therefore tough to adapt to aside from the early game.

Hanging Chad

Hanging Chad is a Joker that repeats the first card played in a hand multiple times. This is good for low-card hand builds, but rewards players the most when they move their most useful card to the front while playing any hand.

Photograph

Photograph gives the first face card played a multiplied multiplier, which is usually the best when players move their first face card in their hand to the end. However, one of the best synergies in the game is when Hanging Chad can allow Photograph to occur multiple times on a face card.

Stuntman

Stuntman gives the player a slat 250-chip bonus but lowers the player’s hand size by two cards. This is an amazing Joker for specific builds or late-game decks but can be tough to work around in the early game with the lowered hand size.

Cartomancer

Cartomancer creates a random Tarot card each time a Blind is selected. This is very similar to Hallunication, but where Hallucination allows players to get multiple Tarot cards per Shop, Cartomancer is limited to one per blind.

Certificate

Certificate adds a random card with a random seal to a player’s deck at the start of every blind. This can combo great with other cards, like Hologram, but does make a deck more random, and therefore harder to plan around.

Troubadour

Troubadour increases the player’s hand size by two but decreases the amount of hands per blind by one. This is a key Joker for Straight builds or Steel card builds, but the decreased amount of hands can cost players in the early game, especially on boss blinds.

Golden Joker

Golden Joker offers a flat amount of money after defeating each blind. Another decent income Joker, this one can help build interest fast and is amazing in the early game, and is a key card to get replaced when better cards roll around.

Gift Card

Gift Card increases the value of all your Jokers (including itself) and all your consumables by one dollar at the end of each blind. This is a great way to build income in the early game, especially with the increased discard value of consumables, but loses strength when players get great Jokers they won’t sell.

Blackboard

Blackboard offers a good multiplied multiplier bonus if, after you play a hand, all the remaining cards in your hand are Spades and Clubs. This Joker is great for Flush builds, decks that have mostly Spades and Clubs, or when it works with Smeared Joker, but outside that, it doesn’t offer a lot of value.

Burglar

Burglar increases the amount of hands per blind you have but removes all discards. This can work alongside cards like Ramen, but losing all discards no matter how many a player has can force players to get lucky in the early game.

Egg

Egg increases in discard value at the end of every blind. The entire focus of the Egg Joker is to be patient and wait to discard it when it is worth a lot of money, and the synergy with other cards like Ceremonial Dagger or Gift Card is noticeable. However, the goal of this card is to get rid of it eventually.

Delayed Gratification

Delayed Gratification offers the player extra money per discard if the player doesn’t use any discards at the end of a blind. This income Joker requires the player to get lucky or have a deck built around it, but the money it offers is significant.

Chaos the Clown

Chaos the Clown offers one free reroll every Shop. This is a good way to get the Jokers you need but is also a Joker that usually gets replaced by better ones when a run gets long.

Astronomer

Astronomer makes all Planet cards and Celestial Packs free. This is a great card to combo with cards like Constellation and some vouchers but doesn’t offer any chips or Mult benefits outside of the hands it improves.

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