Essential Tips for Getting Completionist ++ in Balatro

For most Balatro players, Completionist ++ represents the game’s final frontier. It seems like the kind of challenge that’ll merely be time-consuming if one just follows what they learned balatro while conquering Completionist +, but unfortunately, it’s not quite that simple.

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Completionist ++’s condition (get a gold stake sticker on every joker) means continuing to win on Gold Stake while also changing one’s playstyle to accommodate that are often less than useful. It’s a long and difficult process no matter what, but one can make it significantly easier for themselves by incorporating the following tips into their overall strategy.

11

Use Anaglyph Deck to Clear Out the Riff-Raff

Getting five-plus negative tags is a thing of beauty.

There are 150 jokers in Balatro and many of those are pretty much dead weight on gold stake. What if they didn’t take up a joker slot, though? And what if one could get several of them for free? This is where Anaglyph Deck comes in, since it gives a free Double Tag each ante, allowing players to potentially copy another tagmany times over.

So, here’s the play: save up as many double tags as possible and then use them to copy a negative tag. Don’t wait to maximize negatives, though. Take the first one that comes along, because there might not be another. Do this to quickly reduce the number of unstickered junk jokers.

You simply can’t lose…until you can.

In normal Balatro runs, skipping is usually not worth it since it means not seeing a shop or scaling a joker. When it comes to getting gold stake stickers, however, guaranteeing a rare or uncommon joker can actually be worth that cost, especially in the first two antes. Not only can they make the run easier overall, but it can also mean one fewer joker to re-roll for later on.

These tags are only worth going for at the beginning of one’s push for Completionist ++, though. As the pool of unstickered jokers gets reduced, the chances of getting an unwanted joker from these tags increase. Once that chance exceeds fifty-fifty, it’s time to stop taking those tags.

9

Use Ghost Deck to Strengthen Weak Jokers

Never underestimate the power of a 1.5x multiplier.

Once the pool of unstickered jokers is reduced to around forty or fifty, Anaglyph Deck’s negative tags more or less stop being useful since the chance of getting an unwanted joker is just too high. From here, it’s better to migrate over to Ghost Deck and make use of its free Hex spectral card to turn those initial low-value jokers into high-value ones.

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There’s still an element of chance here, so one will want to restart their run until they see a joker they need in the first couple of shops. True, this is slower than hitting it big on Anaglyph Deck, but it’s much more consistent in that it can guarantee that the run will produce at least one gold sticker.

8

Play to the Remaining Jokers’ Strengths

Make them as valuable to the run as possible.

Once the pool of unstickered jokers is reduced to about five to ten, sticking with Ghost Deck might not necessarily be the best play. Getting a sticker on a joker is much easier when that joker can contribute to scoring, so one should consider which decks their remaining jokers would be most effective in.

If, say, Stone Joker and Marble Joker are still lacking gold stickers, it might be worth playing on Plasma Deck since it’ll give the most reward for playing lots of chip-generating stone cards. Or maybe The Order is still unstickered, then Abandoned Deck is good since it rewards playing straights. Again, play in ways that make the remaining jokers as usable as possible.

7

Don’t Waste Time Trying to Save Mid Runs

Just walk away.

Riding the edge of oblivion can be a lot of fun in Balatro, but it’s not great for securing gold stickers. Usually, if a run requires a lot of work and luck to keep going, then not only is it unlikely to result in a win, but it’s also almost certainly going to have no room for bad jokers. It’s better to just start fresh than struggle on.

If a run hasn’t hit a good stride by ante 4, that’s probably not a run worth seeing through. Could something happen to make it winnable? Sure, but it’s likely not worth the extra work to make it happen. The only exception to this being runs that yield early unstickered rare or legendary jokers. Otherwise, just move on.

6

Save a Joker Slot For Later

So you can grab something at the end.

A good way to help a run yield more than just one gold sticker is to play as though there are only four joker slots instead of five. If only four (or fewer) jokers are needed for scoring, that means all other slots are available for either utility jokers to help improve scoring (if needed) or they’re free real estate for unstickered jokers.

Certainly, playing with only four or fewer scoring jokers can make a run more difficult overall, but it’s worth doing as it can save a lot of time overall. Players can get used to this by doing a few runs in Painted Deck thanks to its four-joker limit.

5

Get That Cash, Re-roll Often

You’re gonna need deep pockets later on.

While having money can be helpful for winning on Gold Stake, it’s borderline essential for finding those last few pesky jokers. If one can get enough money, they can, eventually, get every card they need by re-rolling the shop enough times. The deeper one gets into Completionist ++, the more important getting that money becomes too, since unstickered jokers naturally become more scarce.

As for getting that money, starting off with one or two Investment tags helps, as does taking Economy tags later on. Taking any money joker, no matter how weak, can add up, and copying it with Blueprint/Brainstorm can be huge. Backing this up with lucky cards and tarot-generatingjokers is usually good as well. Seriously, do whatever it takes to get those extra dollars.

4

Perishables are Worth it…Sometimes

Gold stickers, but at a cost.

In normal Balatro runs, taking perishable jokers isn’t ideal. Taking them might be useful in the moment, but they always come at a cost. Unless one has no other options, it’s usually best to leave them in the shop. Balatro doesn’t care about perishable tags when it comes to awarding gold stake stickers, though.

If a joker is still unstickered, and it shows up as a perishable, it might just be worth taking if the player can afford it. Balatro only cares whether a joker is in the player’s inventory upon defeating the Ante 8 boss blind, so perishable jokers will still get gold stickers even after they’ve expired. So yes, if you really want the sticker, consider taking the joker as a perishable.

3

Prioritize Rarer or Difficult Jokers Over Commons

You’ll thank yourself later.

It’s easy to get fixated on whatever unstickered jokers one has in their inventory, but that can be a mistake if those jokers are commons. Unless a common joker is required for scoring, it’s almost always better to swap it out if an unstickered uncommon, rare or even legendary joker comes along.

Commons are, well, common. The chance of seeing a certain common in the shop or in packs is much higher than seeing a particular higher rarity joker. That said, certain commons like Gros Michel, Popcorn or Ice Cream can be a pain to sticker due to how quickly they can disappear, so getting them done is probably more valuable overall. Prioritize properly and you’ll end up saving yourself a lot of time in the long run.

2

Focus on Pair and High Card Builds, But Be Flexible

Exploit powerful Jokers and Planet Levels as much as possible.

Pair and High Card strategies are the most resistant to boss blind trickery and are therefore the most reliable strategies for getting wins and gold stickers. The rule for not forcing anything, however, still applies even while hunting stickers. Runs will still lend themselves to a certain strategy sometimes and it’s best not to go against the tide.

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If, say, a powerful rare joker like Ancient Joker or a good combo like Oops! All Sixes + Bloodstone shows up, it can be worth leaning into it and playing flush instead. Or perhaps straight-enabling jokers show up with lots of Saturns; maybe straights is the play instead. One could even try to capitlize on this and use such runs to sticker any complimentary jokers they happen to find.