🃏 Balatro Jokers: 27 Effects and Ratings

Effect: Each played King or Queen gives X2 Mult when scored

Assessment: Powerful with a high density of Kings and Queens. Vulnerable to face-card debuffs and weak when the deck lacks its target ranks.

Effect: Starts at X1 Mult and gains X1 Mult per 23 cards discarded

Assessment: Scales when obtained early and given enough cards to discard. Blue Stake's -1 discard and a late pickup make it harder to grow.

Effect: Copies the ability of the Joker immediately to its right

Assessment: Can duplicate many scoring, economy, and generation effects. Check copying compatibility and placement.

Effect: Copies the ability of the leftmost Joker

Assessment: Can copy a core Joker on the far left and work alongside Blueprint to add scoring or generation triggers. Check placement and the target's activation conditions.

Effect: X1.5 Mult for each King held in hand

Assessment: Late-game scoring for held-in-hand builds such as Steel Kings. Can contribute little until King density, hand size, and hand levels are ready.

Effect: If the first hand of a round is a single card, adds a permanent copy to the deck and draws it to hand

Assessment: Can copy an improved card to shape the deck. Uses the first hand for generation, which can be difficult when the round leaves little scoring margin.

Effect: +250 Chips, -2 hand size

Assessment: Adds substantial immediate Chips regardless of hand type. The -2 hand size is costly for held-in-hand Baron setups and hands such as Flush.

Effect: X2 Mult if the played hand contains a Pair

Assessment: Broadly useful; also activates for hands such as Four of a Kind that contain a Pair.

Effect: Retriggers held-in-hand card abilities

Assessment: Retriggers held effects such as Baron, Steel Cards, and Gold Cards. Weak by itself when few cards have compatible held effects.

Effect: Removes enhancements from played scoring cards and gains X0.1 Mult per enhancement removed

Assessment: Scales with a supply of enhanced cards but also consumes enhancements you may want to retain, such as Glass and Steel. After 1.0.1f, build around its scoring-card trigger.

Effect: Retriggers played face cards

Assessment: Repeats face-card enhancements, Editions, Triboulet, and other compatible scoring effects. Watch for bosses that debuff face cards.

Effect: Planet cards and Celestial Packs in the shop are free

Assessment: An economy slot that reduces the cost of hand levels. Does not directly add score; you still need a build that can play the upgraded hands reliably.

Effect: Gains X0.25 Mult whenever a playing card is added to the deck

Assessment: Scales with card generation from DNA, Marble Joker, Certificate, and similar effects.

Effect: Gains X0.1 Mult whenever a Planet card is used

Assessment: A scaling Joker that can grow alongside free Planets from Astronomer.

Effect: Gains X0.2 Mult for each Steel Card in the full deck

Assessment: A core Steel-build option. Three or four Steel Cards give X1.6 or X1.8 Mult.

Effect: +25 Chips for each Stone Card in the full deck

Assessment: A scaling Chips Joker with Marble Joker synergy.

Effect: +2 Chips for each $1 held

Assessment: Fits an economy build that saves money. Holding $50 gives +100 Chips.

Effect: Gains +2 Mult whenever a played hand contains Two Pair

Assessment: Can grow early if you repeatedly play hands containing Two Pair, potentially reaching +30 Mult.

Effect: Retriggers the first played scoring card 2 additional times, for 3 total triggers

Assessment: Improving the first scoring card in a Straight or Flush can greatly increase its contribution.

Effect: First played face card gives X2 Mult when scored

Assessment: An affordable X2 effect with strong retrigger synergy from Hanging Chad or Sock and Buskin. Does not activate without a scoring face card.

Effect: Played even-rank cards give +4 Mult when scored

Assessment: A consistent scoring source when the deck and played hands use 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10.

Effect: +4 Mult

Assessment: The basic Joker. A useful early bridge that can be replaced when a better scoring option appears.

Effect: +30 Chips for each discard remaining

Assessment: Useful while many discards remain; compare it with other Chips sources as the run progresses.

Effect: Random +0–23 Mult

Assessment: The mean bonus is +11.5 Mult, but its variability makes the next score uncertain.

Effect: +15 Mult, with a 1 in 6 chance of destroying itself at the end of each round

Assessment: An affordable temporary +15 Mult source. Its destruction also allows the stronger Cavendish to appear later.

Effect: +100 Chips, loses 5 Chips for each hand played

Assessment: Immediate scoring can comfortably exceed early targets. It weakens after each hand, so consider selling it for a scaling option as its contribution declines.

Effect: Gains $3 of sell value at the end of each round

Assessment: Does not directly score, but an early pickup has more time to build sell value. Synergizes with Swashbuckler, Temperance, and Ceremonial Dagger.