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Of all the decks inBalatro, one of the toughest ones to finish runs with is the Painted Deck. The challenge it offers with a moderate limitation of Joker cards can catch players who are used to the standard five Joker slots off guard, but like other decks in Balatro, adjustment is key.
Where the Black Deck offers more Joker slots with the detriment of one less hand, the Painted Deck is the opposite, meaning that every Joker matters more. As the stakes increase, the Painted Deck only becomes tougher to complete, but here are some tips to do so.
The Painted Deck, Explained
Here is a quick rundown of how the Painted Deck works. When using this deck,your hand size will increase by two cards, butyour Joker slots will decrease by one. This means yourstarting hand size is ten cards, but yourstarting Joker slots are only four.
To unlock the Painted Deck, beat any deck on Green Stake.
This means that you have more odds of hitting rare hands because you will see just under a fifth of your deck when you first draw your hand. However, this also means thatgetting Jokers that work well together is tougher, and that will lead to tougher decisions about which Jokers to keep and which to sell.
Plus, with the scaling stakes that you need to complete to get the true completionist run of Balatro, the challenges only get harder.
How To Win With The Painted Deck On Early Stakes
To start, here are some of the best tips and potential run focuses using the Painted Deck on the earlier stakes. For the sake of this guide, the early stakes of Balatro consist of:
These are relatively easy becausethey don’t change the deck’s strategy too much, instead just slightly adjusting the difficulty of the blinds.
The first thing to focus on using the Painted Deck iswhat hand you are planning to stick to. The increased hand size that the deck offers allows forbig hands like the Straight, Flush, and Full House to be easier, so picking one of those three is usually the best bet for the run as a whole.
Another high-risk high-reward option is to focus on building Straight Flushes, which is easier with the bigger hand you have. However, it is a lot riskier because of how rare it is, and building with a Flush or Straight focus first and then changing your cards into one suit is the best way to run a Straight Flush build.
The best Jokers to find early onare ones thatscore Mult for individual cards, like thesuit-specific Jokers, or popular ones likeGros Michel, Fibonacci, Even Steven, Scholar,andWalkie Talkie. However, the goal as the runs get longer is key synergies between Joker cards that can carry runs on their own.
Gros Michel
Increases your Mult by 15.
Since you play more cards per hand, aconsistent flat +15 Mult bonus per round is valuable, ensuring a steady boost to your hand’s score.
Fibonacci
Grants +8 Mult for every Ace, 2, 3, 5, or 8 you play.
With 10 cards in hand, you’llnaturally see more of these numbersand can structure your deck to maximize their presence. More plays = more Mult stacking.
Even Steven
Playing even-numbered cards adds +4 Mult.
Half of all numbered ranks are even(2, 4, 6, 8, 10), and with a bigger hand, you’ll play more of them. This makes it easy to rack up a lot of Mult quickly.
Scholar
Aces provide +20 Chips and +4 Mult when used.
Since Aces already contribute to Fibonacci’s effect,this stacks well.You can build around Aces for a reliable Chip and Mult boost, especially if you hold multiple.
Walkie Talkie
Playing a 10 or 4 gives +10 Chips and +4 Mult.
Similar to Fibonacci, but focusing on 10s and 4s. With a 10-card hand,you increase your odds of playing these cards,leading to a consistent Chip and Mult gain.
Some examples of whatlate-game Jokersto look for includeThe Tribe, Bloodstone, Arrowhead, Smeared Joker, and Ancient Jokerfor Flush builds. For Straight builds, some of the best includeThe Order, Runner, Hiker, Four Fingers, Troubadour, and Shortcut. However, all builds should try andget good multiplied multiplier Jokers, likeCavendish, Baseball Card, and Yorick.
The Tribe
x2 Mult if the hand has a flush.
This is a greatsimple multiplied multiplier cardfor a Flush build andis flexible.
Bloodstone
1 in 2 chance for a played Heart card to x1.5 your Mult.
This works best with aHeart suit Flush build, but it relies on luck unless you have the Oops! All 6s Joker.
Arrowhead
+50 chips for every scoring Spade card.
This is a great way tobuild chips quickly on a Spade Flush buildbut needs a good Mult Joker alongside it.
Smeared Joker
Heart cards and Diamond cards count as the same suit, and Spade and Club cards count as the same suit.
Smeared Joker doesn’t offer any chips or Mult, but itmakes both Flushes and Straight Flushes so much easier.
Ancient Joker
Every card of a random suit triggers x1.5 Mult, but the suit changes every round.
Unless you manage to whittle down your deck to just one or two suits, this will always rely on luck. However, when active, this Joker is extremely strong and can work wonders with Bloodstone.
The Order
x3 Mult if your hand has a Straight in it.
Just like The Tribe for Flushes, The Order is great if youcommit to playing Straights.
Runner
Gains +15 chips for each Straight played, starting at zero.
This combined with The Order is one of thebest one-two punch Joker combinations in the game.
Hiker
Gives every played card a +5 chips boost which remains on the card, even after Hiker is sold. Can stack multiple times.
Thisimproves your base cards into better versions of themselvesand the best part is that selling this card later doesn’t remove the effect.
Four Fingers
All Flushes and Straight can be completed with only four cards.
This, while affecting both Flushes and Straights, is so much better for Straight buildsdue to their increased rarity.Plus, this works great for Straight Flushes.
Troubadour
+2 hand size, but -1 hands per round.
This makes youralready wide hand size even wider,making Straights even easier to find naturally without discarding.
Shortcut
Straights can be completed with gaps of one number between each card (like 10, 8, 6, 4, 2).
This is one of thebest ways to make Straight builds easy,and combined with Four Fingers, makes Straights easier than Flushes.
All Builds
Cavendish
x3 Mult, but has a 1 in 1000 chance to go extinct.
This is the evolved form of Gros Michel, butrequires the Gros Michel to go extinctfor it to be found in the shop.
Baseball Card
x1.5 Mult per Uncommon Joker that you have active.
This is a unique Joker that offersmultiplied multiplier entirely based on what rarity Jokers you have alongside it.
Yorick
Starts at x1 Mult, but upgrades by x1 Mult for each 23 cards discarded.
Yorick worksgreat for big hand buildsdue to the need to discard for the ideal hand, which only helps it increase in power over a long run.
How To Win With The Painted Deck on Mid To Late Stakes
When the stakes get tougher, there are some added tips to be aware of. These stakes include:
With these stakes,all the previous tips still apply, butsome new ones turn from optional to necessary. The first one revolves aroundNegative Jokers, which is the only way to improve the key weakness of the deck, as it allows you to add more Jokers than the deck allows.
Not only are getting Negative Jokers key, butthe skip that offers a free Negative Jokerin your next shop becomes your best friend. Especially if you geta Double Tagfrom a previous skip or from selling the Diet Cola Joker,skipping to get Double Tags and Negative Jokers is almost always worth it.
Also, when it comes to Vouchers in shops,buying Blank is something you should always dosince itunlocks the Antimatter Voucher later in the run, which guarantees an extra Joker slot.
On the highest stakes where Perishable and Rental Jokers are common, there is a chance you can get a Negative Perishable Joker, which is frustrating to say the least. There isn’t any way to guarantee a Negative Joker not being Perishable outside the Ectoplasm Spectral card, which still can be randomized.
Now, at these stakes, Joker cards likeBlueprint, Brainstorm, Baron, D.N.A., and Hologramall become crucial. Plus, one thing that these stakes revolve around isimprovisation, since Perishable Jokers force you to change plans partway through runs.
Blueprint
Copies the ability of the Joker to its right.
It can effectivelymake a copy of most Jokers in the game, and copying a strong Joker only makes the run better.
Brainstorm
Copies the ability of the leftmost Joker.
Just like Blueprint, it canmake a copy of another strong Joker that you have.Plus, it can copy Blueprint, which copies something else.
Baron
x1.5 Mult for each King held in hand at the end of a round.
Making Steel Kings with a Baron card is one of theeasiest ways to get a run into the millions.
D.N.A.
Creates a duplicate card of the first card you play every round, as long as that first hand is one card.
D.N.A. is one of the strongest non-scoring Jokers in the game, as it canadapt your deck to whatever you want.
Hologram
Begins at x1 Mult, but increases by x0.25 Mult for each card added to the deck.
Combined with D.N.A, every roundadds a free x0.25 Mult to Hologram, and that doesn’t even account for opening packs with cards in them.
Overall, especially as you reach the Gold Stake, the ideal outcome is at leasttwo high-quality non-Perishable Jokersthat synergize perfectly alongsidea bunch of Negative Jokersthat can vary in their quality.
The final tip before you head into perfecting the Painted Deck is tonot get discouraged. While skill is a factor in Balatro, so is luck, so don’t feel bad if you have to hold R on your keyboard orreset the run in the menu a lot of times at the higher stakes. Even some of the easier decks have that trouble at the highest stakes, and the Painted Deck is one of the tougher decks to complete.
