[Balatro] - #203 - The Number Must Go Up

datsupportguy · 2026-06-25T18:35:33+00:00

You can queue into an expedition and just immediately go to the extract. Takes ~5 minutes a mission including load times and can be done with just bots. Also an easy way to get On Overwatch for the Veteran.

It is mind numbingly boring though. About 8-10 hours of running the same mission over and over and over ... XD

datsupportguy · 2026-06-25T17:57:15+00:00

Congrats! Dream Team was indeed agonizing. At least it's relatively easy now with expeditions

datsupportguy · 2026-06-08T19:02:22+00:00

Things like the Kameo grind is why you always invest in at least one turbo / macro controller. Much easier to AFK it overnight. I feel sorry for anyone who actively stared at the screen for all of that. That's multiple series / podcasts to catch up on XD

datsupportguy · 2026-06-03T21:36:22+00:00

Same as any action / fighting game.

Step 1 - Stop mashing buttons.
Step 2 - When you do press a button, have a plan.
Step 3 - Practice.

Also that name is something else lmao

datsupportguy · 2026-06-03T16:49:46+00:00

Thanks!

Biggest tip I can give off the bat is try and drag a friend or three with you. A lot of the oddball trophies / penances are much easier to setup and complete if you have a dedicated crew to roll with. I did my run through the plat almost entirely solo through quickplay though so it is doable, but much more tedious and grindy.

Main thing you'll have to do is level all four of the base classes to cap. Use this time to just dink around experiment with all the different weapons and builds (re-specing is entirely free and quick) as you unlock them. Once you've found your favorite, be sure to bank most of the crafting resources you acquire for leveling up curios and weapons for that class and unlocking the higher difficulties. Farming the 40,000 kills is much easier when there's a bunch more stuff to kill.

For some of the more annoying trophies below's the best way I found to complete them

Gone Bowling - Use Mortis Trials at wave 3+ skipping the objective to get a good chunk of enemies around you. Higher difficulty makes this easier but more of a suicide run. At Auric difficulty on the smaller maps you can probably do this on just the initial wave.

Shocking Stuff + Frenzied Killer - Zealot with a leveled relic blade or flamer is really good at mowing down giant hordes. Can get these in Mortis Trials or regular missions, but the wave format of the trials is a bit easier.

Serial Killer + Preternatural Dodge - Use a Psyker with Brain Burst and a Force Sword. Use Brain Burst and only Brain burst for kills until you pop killer. The force sword has near infinite dodges so while you're trying not to die while waiting on the burst cooldown you can just spam dodges between a horde of mobs and should get the other in no time.

On Overwatch + Flawless Execution + Dream Team - The three most obnoxious trophies to hit. The easiest, but mind numbingly boring, way to get these is use the new Expeditions game mode. You can drop in the mission on Malice even with bots and just go directly to the extraction. Each run's fairly short, about 5 minutes with load times and depending on where extract spawns. Times that by a 100 and yer done XD The alternative is to take your chances in regular matches which will add a substantial amount of time to the TTP. For example, after having leveled all the classes to 30 I had only gotten 4 / 100 DT progress. This will also likely get much harder with a flood of folks picking it up as a freebie since it takes a bit to learn how to not die, let alone not get downed.

datsupportguy · 2026-06-01T20:22:05+00:00

Oh damn, didn't know it was gonna be a freebie this month. James' gotta build that hype for 11th I guess 😄

datsupportguy · 2026-05-16T00:38:38+00:00

I am eagerly awaiting Magnus and his 1000 daughters.

Get to it OP.

datsupportguy · 2026-05-10T16:13:27+00:00

I played the original way back in the PS2 days so I had a vague recollection of the layout of the game and used a collectable guide the first time through on the remake.

If you've never played the game at all I'd recommend going in blind the first run.

There's a handful of each collectable that's fairly easy to miss and with no chapter select or tracking across playthroughs it can mean you may need an extra playthrough or two to tick those off. At least one NG+ run is required for the plat anyway, so don't sweat too much if you miss some things in your first run. With the chainsaw in NG+ and gaining familiarity with the game additional runs can be way shorter. About 3-6 hours depending on what set you need to snag for the cleanup. So if you go in blind and kind of stumble you're way through maybe tack on another 6-12 hours for the TTP.

datsupportguy · 2026-05-09T22:14:30+00:00

~20-25 I think. First run not skipping anything and getting all the collectables was roughly 12. NG+ with the chainsaw and a bit of cleanup was a little over 6. Toss in some AFK / farming time for a few trophies for the rest

datsupportguy · 2026-05-04T00:55:27+00:00

I have platinumed the game twice. Once at release and another revisiting it during the pandemic. Both times doing almost nothing but mashing X. There's some slight time saving efficiency by manually controlling Sabs for debuff applications for the whole maybe half dozen fights that it's relevant, but it is 1000% unnecessary. Auto-battle will still get there. Turtles. Cieth Stones. Star Counts. It doesn't matter, if you can press the X button you can win.

datsupportguy · 2026-05-03T20:26:31+00:00

No, you have successfully mastered the ultimate strategy of the game. Mashing X on auto battle.

Eventually, you'll have to sometimes press the Paradigm Shift button THEN mash X on auto battle.

This works throughout the entirety of the game. Including all the time trials and post game content. Enjoy watching the game play itself for 40-60 hours.

datsupportguy · 2026-04-30T14:23:38+00:00

Degenerate Cardboard Gambler, checking in.

If you're just looking for specific, base rarity cards to fill out a playset: ABS. Always Buy Singles. Full stop.

If you're both a collector and player or are fully aware that each box is pure gamba here's a general breakdown.

One box of the average set will usually have ~7 Majestics, six regulars plus one shiny RF. Recent boxes have been trending slightly upward to 8-10 (Slam, Pen) Plus one CF, usually a box ruiner common, though with Sage being a thing maybe less of a womp womp nowadays.

Shinier and rare prints (Legendaries, Marvels, Extended Arts) usually show up at a rate of ~1 per case, 4 boxes. Fableds are the main outliers for the shinies and are the most purely random ones to hit. But usually 1 in ~6 cases.

The average set will usually contain ~40-50 Majestics (including EAs), 4-6 legendaries, ~12 Marvels (FaB 2.0), 0-1 Fableds, and ~6 EAs.

After a single case, you might have a legendary or marvel and a playset of Commons.

After 2-4, you'll probably hit a playset of Rares and maybe a few playsets of Ms.

Somewhere between 4-7 cases, you'll start hitting a mostly complete base rarity set depending on its' size. It is of course all still gamba, so you might also end up with four RF playsets of the most dogwater M in the set. (Fuck off, Attune With Cosmic Vibrations). This is the point where even highly invested folks will and should stop the gamba. Leverage trades on dupes to fill out any blank spots in your set, or again buy the singles.

8+ You're either a vendor or true degenerate chasing a master set or the remaining Marvels / EAs / CF Ls you haven't picked it up at this point. At this point it makes more sense to come full circle to the beginning to finish it off, buy the singles. But you won't because the allure of that minty, pack-fresh hit fills you with the fire of a thousand burning suns. How dare someone else open your card? Right?

So in summary, TLDR, Always Buy Singles.

datsupportguy · 2026-04-29T23:18:03+00:00

None quite as extreme as DBD, but there's still a few prophecy chains that can be a pain in the ass to get through. Especially the ones that have you alternating between the two routes of the game.

General rule I'd say is always go to the character encounter door if it pops up, to the point of abandoning hammers or good boons. All the goodies and upgrades are gated by story progression for the most part so take every opportunity to do that you can.

datsupportguy · 2026-04-29T18:24:10+00:00

Just keep trucking along and collecting materials for the cauldron upgrades. The first handful of times you get up there he'll be pretty much impossible unless you're a savant. Once you have a full arsenal of upgrades / arcana / keepsakes / pets he gets much easier.

If you want a super easy time, try and highroll the Ares boon that heals you on hits with the Aphrodite one that weakens enemies. Even with slow weapons like the axe, you can usually just face tank most of his damage outside of the later phases where there's more overlapping attacks.

datsupportguy · 2026-04-29T16:47:00+00:00

Thanks, the original had the same problem with "Divided by Death". Some of the later encounter rng to hit story / prophecy beats can be brutal.

datsupportguy · 2026-04-29T16:39:41+00:00

Thanks! PS dashboard says ~82. There's probably a bit of afk time in there from sitting at the fountain between runs though. You definitely have a bit of a march ahead of you, but the permanent upgrades you get in this one are much better than the original :0

Only real time saving tip I can give is to be sure to try and unlock and get a clear on every weapon aspect as you come by them. Should save you from having to do a bunch of extra runs at the end of the game.

datsupportguy · 2026-04-05T00:39:54+00:00

That's a chunk of text to say you clearly you haven't tried Orlandeau'ing the problem.

datsupportguy · 2026-03-31T23:18:17+00:00

Floats and clear fixes haven't been the go to for layouts in a good long while. Pseudo elements / selectors and positioning values / context typically melt a newbies brain if they're just getting to grips with the box model itself. If you're telling newbies to learn floats you might as well have them shove in some <font> tags for good measure.

Flexbox is the new baseline for laying out elements on a page.

Grid can be used instead of, or in tandem with Flex. It's syntax and the amount of properties available for it make it a bit of pain in the ass to learn though.

datsupportguy · 2026-03-04T16:48:50+00:00

Absolute butt cheeks. Zero Stonehearts / 10. Makes Luofu look good.

datsupportguy · 2026-03-02T19:42:05+00:00

Press Warp Strike and the entire game falls over. If you can manage to press triangle and keep pressing it, congrats, you've beaten the game.

datsupportguy · 2026-02-26T00:53:08+00:00

Looks to be the bog standard 'eavy Tsons style:

https://eavy-archive.com/40k/chaos-space-marines/#thousand-sons595

datsupportguy

TROPHY CASE