Balatrois a rogue-like card game that plays just like traditional Poker with one key difference: Joker cards. These Joker cards aren’t ones you just toss aside; instead, they are a giant pool of cards that can add chips, mult or multiplied mult, and make your runs skyrocket to success. Some Joker cards are better than others, with experienced players looking to reach way past Ante 8 by sticking to some of the best Jokers available.
Which Jokers are the best changes depending on which deck you run in Balatro, and yet, there are groups of Jokers that really can turn a good run into an outstanding one. Similarly, some specific Jokers are bad due to how circumstantial they are, or just don’t provide as much value as other pre-existing Jokers, and telling the difference is key for defeating all the boss blinds and reaching Endless Mode.
Balatro - Joker Tier List
Every run in Balatro has Jokers, but you can havea set number at once, determined at the top of your screen. Most decks allow fora maximum of five Jokers at once, with the option to increase or decrease the amount based on eitherwhich deck you run or if you get Negative Joker cardsthat don’t take up Joker slots.
As for how many Jokers there are in Balatro, there are150 total Jokersthat players can encounter in their runs. Some of them are locked to new players, but unlocking them is as simple as going tothe Jokers section in the Collection taband hovering over locked cards to see what you need to complete to potentially see them in the shop.
Assuming you have all Jokers unlocked, here is how to distinguish the tiers for this Joker tier list.
Explanation
S
These Jokers are the best of the best. They will almost always get value, should be instant purchases if you see them, and are almost always worth changing your strategy around.
A
These Jokers are great, usually very strong no matter the build you are running. While not always instant purchases, they can be built around to lead to reach Endless Mode.
B
These Jokers are alright, usually best suited in a very specific deck build, or require other Joker cards to unlock their full potential. There are small elements of risk with these Jokers, but it can be worth it if planned around correctly.
C
These Jokers are usually poor due to the rarity of the situations that they work in, but still can be used for successful runs, or at least specific useful moments in runs.
D
These Jokers are not what you’re looking for. The number of times you will have a run where these cards are useful will be rare, and any card in the tier above this one is better for runs that can reach Endless Mode.
Blueprint
Blueprint copies the effect of the Joker to its right, and the ability to copy strong Jokers can lead to some unbelievably strong synergies, including plenty of Jokers below.
Brainstorm
Brainstorm works similarly to Blueprint but instead copies the effect of the leftmost Joker you have. For the same reasons as Blueprint, making specific Jokers work twice can easily lead to a great run.
Baron
Baron gives a 1.5 multiplied multiplier for each King in your hand when a round ends, effectively making King cards work like Steel cards. This Joker works best with a deck with a lot of Kings, or even better, Steel Kings.
Mime
Mine repeats all ‘held in hand’ effects, which works with Steel Cards, Purple Seals, Blue Seals, and other Jokers. For example, Baron and Mime would work together really well, effectively making every Steel King in hand trigger four times instead of twice.
D.N.A.
D.N.A. copies the first card you play as long as your first hand in a blind is only one card. This is one of the best ways to build a deck around a strong card you get, or a way to adapt to a strong Joker.
The Idol
The Idol randomly chooses a card you have in your deck every blind, but offers multiplied multiplier each time the card is played. The reason why The Idol is so strong is that if you whittle your deck or grow your deck to one specific card, The Idol will either have a higher likelihood or a guaranteed chance to select it, and therefore, make your hands very strong.
Perkeo
This Legendary Joker is only available through the Spectral card “The Soul”, but Perkeo allows for supreme scaling for multiple builds. Perkeo takes a random consumable card from your inventory on the top right and creates a Negative copy of it at the end of every Shop, which can lead to effectively infinite copies of any consumable you place there, from Spectral cards to Tarot cards and Planet cards.
These aresome of the strongest Jokers in the game, and for good reason. Almost all of these Jokerswork in every potential build you run(like Perkeo or Blueprint), with others instead offeringa great opportunity to change the focus of your runand do something else to win (with the best example being Baron or The Idol).
Also, some of the synergies ofthese S Tier Joker cards with each other can lead to an easy Endless Mode runon their own, like Baron and Mime, or D.N.A. and The Idol.
Steel Joker
This Joker offers more multiplied multiplier the more Steel cards you have in your deck, and considering how key Steel cards can be for deep runs, this Joker is an easy way to add a lot of score to your hands.
Bloodstone
Bloodstone has a 50/50 chance for every Heart suit card to multiply the current multiplier when a hand is played. On its own, it relies on luck for a hand to get all the potential benefits, but a Heart flush deck can get a lot of value with this card.
Sock and Buskin
This Joker allows every face card to trigger an extra time, which works amazingly with Polychrome cards and Jokers that trigger on face cards.
Gros Michel/Cavendish
These two Joker cards have entirely different effects: Gros Michel adds 15 Mult while having a chance to go extinct, while Cavendish multiplies your current Mult by 3 and has a very low chance of going extinct. However, a player needs Gros Michel to go extinct before Cavendish will appear in a run, so while Cavendish is the true amazing card, you need Gros Michel to get it.
Invisible Joker
Invisible Joker chooses another random Joker that you have, and after two blinds, selling it will copy another Joker. It creates a copy of the Joker, not copying its effects like Blueprint or Brainstorm, and while it has similar effects, the randomness makes it harder to get exactly what you want.
Hack
Hack retriggers all cards between 2 to 5, which similarly to Sock and Buskin, can make plenty of effects from other Jokers, and card bonuses happen twice and stack for high scores.
Trading Card
Trading Card allows for your first discard, if it’s only one card, it removes said card from your deck and offers some money for it. This is a great way to thin down decks by removing cards you don’t want, and afterward, add cards you do want.
Hologram
This Joker increases its multiplied multiplier each time a card is added to your deck, which works great with either card packs or Jokers like D.N.A.
Baseball Card
The Baseball Card Joker revolves around the rarity of your other Jokers, as it will offer a multiplied multiplier for each Uncommon Joker you have. A lot of strong Jokers are Uncommon, so this one is a good option if you don’t have any multed mult Jokers.
Oops! All 6s
This Joker improves the odds of all randomized listed effects, including Jokers, Consumables, and cards like Steel, Lucky, and Glass cards. More often than not, this card can combine to help get money, Mult, or rare Jokers easier.
Seltzer
Seltzer retriggers all cards played but only lasts for a limited amount of hands. Similar to other retrigger effects, it can get a lot of value with specific cards and seals.
Showman
Showman is a very unique card, as when you have it, you can have duplicate Jokers, Spectral cards, and Tarot cards appear. Usually, having two S-tier or A-tier Jokers can be enough for Showman to be worth it.
Card Sharp
Card Sharp is a Joker that offers a high amount of multiplied multiplier if the hand played has already been played this blind. So, while it takes a hand to set up, it can make every hand afterward better if they are the same kind of hand.
Hallucination
Hallucination has a chance that every time a pack of any kind is opened, a random Tarot card will be added to your consumables. Tarot cards are key to good builds, as they can help shape a deck into what you need quickly, so Hallucination is great for that.
Space Joker
Space Joker has a chance to improve the level of your hand every time you play it, which will increase its base chips and multiplier. It does require some luck, but it almost always can get value if you already know which hand you’re sticking to for your run.
Burnt Joker
Burnt Joker always improves the level of the first hand you discard every blind. It works similarly to Space Joker but doesn’t have a chance aspect to it, instead just making it revolve around a hand you discard.
Dusk
Dusk retriggers every card for the final hand of each blind, which can help that final hand reach the needed goal for every blind.
To The Moon
To The Moon increases the amount of interest a player can get, offering an extra dollar for each five dollars they have saved at the end of a blind. If a player saves money, To The Moon effectively doubles the speed it takes to get valuable Jokers and other items.
Triboulet
For the Triboulet Joker, each King and Queen scored offers a doubled multiplier. This Legendary Joker is rare, but when players get it, the key is to play a deck focused entirely on Kings and Queens.
Canio
Canio is another Legendary Joker and offers effectively the opposite of Triboulet. For each face card removed from your deck, its multiplied multiplier increases. Aside from Spectral cards and Tarot cards, there aren’t many ways to remove cards from a deck, but the bonus it can give to your hands is immense if done right.
These Jokers won’t instantly lead to Endless Mode runs, but they are key to helping you get there.Some of these could’ve been S tier, but either their specificity or their rarity made them just fall short.
Not only that, but we have some ofour first Legendary Jokers, which players can only get throughopening Spectral Packsand getting the rare"The Soul" card. Then, the Legendary Joker you will get will be random, but it will beone of five.
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.
This tier has the most cards because Balatro is a game wherea majority of the Jokers you find can be worked around to win. When you go to your Collection of Joker cards, the markings on them will not only indiicate if you have beaten a run using it, but which stake (difficulty level) you used it on.
There aresome of the most unique Jokers in the game in this tiertoo, with some of the best examplesincluding Seeing Double and Vampire, which can not only lead to interesting challenges but ones that reward players with successful runs.
Yorick
Another Legendary Joker, Yorick offers an improving multiplied multiplier every time a player discards 23 cards. This Joker is strong for builds that have a lot of discards, but takes time to build up, making it only strong if players can get it early in their runs.
Chicot
This Legendary Joker disables all boss blinds, making them work like every other blind in the game. While useful in the sense of not having to scout and plan around future bosses, it is one of the weaker Jokers due to its lack of improving the deck or the hands played.
Business Card
Business Card has a chance to give money to the player every time a face card is played. This income Joker can work well with face card builds, but the chance aspect of it for nothing more than money leaves more to be desired.
Flower Pot
Flower Pot gives a big multiplied multiplier benefit if the card played contains one card of each suit. This card is hard to get value from outside of straight builds, but it can synergize with Smeared Joker to make its task a little easier.
Hit The Road
Hit The Road offers a scaling multiplied multiplier bonus for each Jack discarded every blind, but it resets when a new blind begins. This really works best with a Jack-focused deck, but it is hard to get working outside that circumstance.
Pareidolia
This Joker turns all cards played into face cards. This is a unique Joker and works only with face card builds, but it is one of the most synergy-reliant cards in the game.
Splash
Splash makes it so every card played counts when scoring. This card is very specific to High Card builds, but it doesn’t offer as much as other Jokers do.
Lucky Cat
Lucky Cat increases in multiplied multiplier for each Lucky Card triggered. This isn’t retroactive to runs, it only counts after Lucky Cat is purchased, and due to the rarity of how often Lucky Cards trigger, this card only truly works alongside Oops! All 6s.
Square Joker
Square Joker stacks chips every time only four cards are played for a hand. This is a good way to stack chips for Two Pair or Four of a Kid builds, but doesn’t offer much outside that.
Ancient Joker
Ancient Joker chooses a random suit every blind, but each card of that suit played that blind offers a multiplied multiplier. This card takes a lot to get working consistently, usually needing the player to adapt their deck to be mostly or entirely one suit to get consistent value but stacks a lot of points.
Banner
Banner offers chips for each discard not used at the end of a round. This card effectively benefits players who are smart with their hands, but as builds come to fruition, there are better cards that give chips or Mult later down the line.
Golden Ticket
Golden Ticket gives more money to each Gold Card played. This makes Gold Cards very useful for building economy but requires a lot of Gold Cards to get consistent value.
Stone Joker
Stone Joker gains 25 chips for each Stone Card in the deck. Considering that the main value Stone Cards give is to heavily increase chips, the bonus chips from Stone Joker are only useful if there are a lot of Stone Cards, if you build a High Card deck, and you have a lot of Mult.
Shoot the Moon
Shoot the Moon offers a decent Mult bonus based on how many Queens are in your hand. The Mult this offers can be significant if you have a lot of Queens in your hand, but that also means you have to have a significant amount of Queens in your deck that you don’t play.
Merry Andy
Merry Andy provides more discards but decreases the player’s hand size in return. This is effectively similar to cards like Troubadour, but the inverse, meaning that players would have fewer options in their hand to build, but more options to discard and find what’s needed.
Wee Joker
Wee Joker offers a chip amount that scales based on how many times the 2 card is played while the card is active. The amount of chips added is significant to make up for the lack of chips that the 2 card offers, and can work well with Hack or 2 card decks.
Throwback
Throwback offers a scaling amount of multiplied multiplier based on how many times the player has skipped blinds this run. It does work retroactively, but skipping blinds also skips shops and potential upgrades, and is only good if the player finds really strong cards very early on.
To-Do List
To-Do List offers money if a specific hand is played that blind, and that hand changes every blind. This is antithetical to how Balatro runs normally go, as players would normally stick to a hand for a majority of the run, but it can offer lots of money if players adapt to it alongside other Jokers like Obelisk.
Rough Gem
Rough Gem offers guaranteed money each time a Diamond card is played. This is a good way to stack a lot of money, but is only consistent with Diamond Flush decks or Smeared Joker decks.
Acrobat
Acrobat gives a high multiplied multiplier bonus to the final hand of the blind. This is a great Joker to take if you don’t have a multiplied multiplier card, but there are better options that can give bonuses to all your hands in a blind, not just the final one.
Spare Trousers
Spare Trousers stacks Mult every time Two Pair is played. This is perfect for a Two Pair build, but flat Mult isn’t as valuable toward the late game as multiplied Mult is.
Turtle Bean
Turtle Bean increases the player’s hand size significantly, but it decreases at the end of each blind. This effect is similar to Popcorn and Ice Cream but adjusts hand size instead of chips or Mult. This can be great for Straight builds, or to help beat a boss blind, but it will disappear eventually.
Green Joker
Green Joker is a scaling Mult Joker that increases every time any hand is played but decreases for every discard done. This Joker rewards players who don’t discard any cards, but it is tough to play around and scale with.
Constellation
Constellation is a scaling multiplied multiplier Joker that increases for each Planet card used. This doesn’t count retroactively, only counting Planet cards that have been used after Constellation has been purchased. This can work well with other Jokers but is tough to scale with if the player’s income is low.
Sixth Sense
Sixth Sense offers a free random Spectral card if the only card in the first played hand for a blind is a 6. This is a very specific Joker, but the benefits of Spectral cards can vary from useless to run-winning.
Blue Joker
Blue Joker is a chips-focused Joker, and it offers an adjusting amount of chips based on how many cards are left in the deck. This card works best with decks with a lot of cards and can work in a pinch if the run needs extra chips, but usually is outclassed by other Jokers.
Ride The Bus
Ride The Bus offers a scaling amount of Mult based on how many times in a row the player has played hands without face cards. If a face card is played, the Mult gets reset back to zero, so that makes Ride The Bus only strong with specific circumstances.
Odd Todd/Even Steven
Odd Todd and Even Steven are two very similar cards that play off of odd and even-numbered cards. Odd Todd offers chips every time an odd card is scored, while Even Steven offers a small amount of Mult for each even card. Both cards are good early-game cards that fall heavily in the late game.
Mr. Bones
Mr. Bones is a Joker that has a unique effect: if the player loses a run while having Mr. Bones and they have at least reached 25 percent of the blind’s target goal, Mr. Bones will disappear and the player will continue their run. This is a good get-out-of-jail-free card, but taking it suggests that getting a better Joker is a better idea.
Flash Card
Flash Card stacks Mult each time the player rerolls the Shop. This can work well after the player has collected a lot of money, especially with Chaos the Clown or income Jokers, but other cards can offer more without the need for Shops.
Juggler
Juggler gives a flat bonus to the player’s hand size, increasing it by one. This is a great early-game Joker, but is one of the first players should replace when the run gets longer.
Drunkard
Drunkard gives a flat bonus to the player’s discard amount, increasing it by one. Just like Juggler, this is good for the early game, but offers little for the middle and late game.
Mail-In Rebate
Mail-In Rebate works very similarly to To-Do List but instead works with specific cards that are randomized for every blind. The money given is also significant, but the randomness can make it useless for some blinds.
Reserved Parking
Reserved Parking offers a chance for money based on each face card held in hand at the end of a blind. The randomness for this effect, alongside the specific need to get face cards and not play them, requires both luck and a unique deck that might be better off with different Joker cards.
This tier is where some of the Joker start to become eithertoo hard to work aroundortoo focused on money more than card value. For example, bothMail-In Rebate and Reserved Parking are not bad ways for players to get moneyif they don’t have much, butusing the interest ability the game hasand waiting for that perfect Joker isusually a better strategy.
Madness
Madness offers a scaling amount of multiplied multiplier at the end of each non-boss blind, but when it increases, it destroys another random Joker. Outside of the higher stakes where players can get Eternal Jokers that can’t be destroyed by any means, Madness' buffs are not worth its downsides.
Runner
Runner offers a scaling amount of chips each time a Straight is played. This is very specific to Straight builds, which are very hard to do in comparison to Flush or Five of a Kind builds in Balatro.
Loyalty Card
Loyalty Card will give a high multiplied multiplier bonus, but only occurs once every six hands played. Like Acrobat, this card is good to take if a player needs that multiplied Mult bonus by any means but struggles outside of it.
Red Card
Red Card is a unique Joker that offers a scaling amount of Mult every time the player skips a pack on a run without choosing any cards. This is a tough Joker to get value from, considering how it requires the player to spend lots of money on packs without getting anything from them.
Superposition
Superposition is a Joker that gives the players a Tarot card every time a hand is played that contains an Ace and a Straight. The specific requirement for this card makes it one of the worse Jokers that offers a Tarot card.
Marble Joker
Marble Joker adds a Stone Card to the player’s deck at the end of every Blind. If the player isn’t playing a Stone Card build, this is a bad Joker to take, as it will make it harder to build the hands that the player is looking for.
8 Ball
8 Ball offers the chance for the player to get a Tarot card every time they play an 8 card. Similarly to Superposition, this is one of the harder Tarot Card Jokers to get value from, especially since the Tarot card isn’t guarantee
Castle
Castle offers a scaling amount of chips based on how many of a specific random suit are discarded every blind, with the suit changing every blind. This rewards players who use their discards tactically, but in doing so, can make Flush builds difficult despite their strength.
Credit Card
Credit Card makes it so players can go into negative money, up to -$20. This Joker is a good way to get strong, expensive Jokers in the early game, but getting into the negative for income is tough to get out of.
Shortcut
Shortcut makes it so players can make Straights with gaps, like a Straight of 10/9/7/6/5. This is one of the ways that players can make Straight builds easier, but Straight builds are still tougher to do in comparison to other builds.
Campfire
Campfire is a scaling multiplied multiplier card that increases every time a Joker or Consumable is discarded, but it resets at the end of each Ante. While Campfire can synergize well with discarding Tarot cards, the fact that it resets every Ante makes it less valuable than other cards that do not.
Diet Cola
Diet Cola is a Joker that, when discarded, offers a Double Tag. This Double Tag makes a reward from a skip duplicated, and as said earlier, skipping blinds also means skipping shops and potentially strong Jokers.
Bull
Bull offers a scaling amount of chips based on how much money the player currently has. If the player isn’t building a build entirely around stacking money, Bull is only strong as a short-term Joker.
Erosion
Erosion is a card that scales in flat Mult depending on how many cards under the starting deck size the player can reach. This is tough to do, and while there is synergy with cards like Trading Card, it is outclassed by other Jokers.
Luchador
This Joker card, if sold during a boss blind, nullifies the effect of the current boss blind. Like Mr. Bones, this can be very handy but it is usually better to find a Joker that allows the player to build a better deck or hand instead of just finding a way to skip the effect of the boss.
Obelisk
Obelisk offers a scaling amount of multiplied multiplier, but it resets to zero if the hand you play is your most played hand. This effectively means that to keep the streak going, the player has to change hands frequently, which is usually opposite to what a build needs to do. It is possible to make Obelisk work, but it is a card that players need to constantly play around, and the potential benefit is only good if you get Obelisk early.
Séance
Séance offers a guaranteed Spectral card if the player plays a Straight Flush. This is a very tough goal to accomplish, and while the benefit of a Spectral card could be game-changing, the randomness of which Spectral card and the challenge of getting Straight Flushes make this a tough Joker to get value with.
Matador
Matador offers money to the player every time they activate the boss blind. This means that if a player has a strong deck and knows they can beat the boss in one or two hands, they can purposefully trigger the boss' effect and make money. This can improve income in a pinch but requires a strong deck and Joker lineup, which means that Matador might not be able to fit in.
All of these Jokers in this tier areso circumstantialthat having them for anymore than one or two blinds is a bad idea. It doesn’t mean they are inherently useless, but it does mean thatlots of other cards are better. For example, we havesome of the few Joker cards that effectively want players to discard themfor a benefit, which while cool in theory, is usually better suited for a player to find a different Joker that gives a better benefit without the need to discard it.
Now, if there is one thing in Balatro that is true, it is thateven some of the cards here in D Tier can be MVP cards in your runsif you build your deck correctly. Sometimes, that is the best feeling possible in the game, but usually getting the win with other Jokers can be just as satisfying without the headache.
