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Balatro Chicot — The Boss Blind Off Switch

Chicot disables every Boss Blind effect and drops their requirement to 2x base chips. It scores nothing, and it is still the reason a lot of runs survive Ante 8.

Balatro HQ
8/1/2026
~6 min read
Chicot: every Boss Blind becomes a plain blind with a bigger number.

Chicot switches off the effect of every Boss Blind, and drops the requirement back to the standard 2x base chips. Showdown blinds included. The Needle is the one exception, its score is not raised in the first place so there is nothing to reduce.

It produces zero chips and zero Mult. Take it anyway, most of the time.

Base stats

FieldValue
RarityLegendary
SourceThe Soul only, never in the shop
Buy / Sell$20 / $10
EffectDisables the effect of every Boss Blind
ActivationOn blind select
Blueprint copyableNo — the only Legendary that is not

Why a non-scoring Joker earns its slot

Runs rarely die because your build is weak. They die because your build has exactly one hole and Ante 6 rolls the boss that fits it.

  • All-in on face cards, meet The Plant.
  • Built around one suit, meet The Eye or the suit-debuff bosses.
  • Yorick or any discard engine, meet The Water.
  • Everything rides on one Joker, meet Verdant Leaf.
  • Score is fine but the number is absurd, meet Violet Vessel.

Chicot deletes that entire category of loss. And because it also normalises the requirement to 2x base chips, the showdown blinds that scale to 4x or 6x become ordinary.

Triboulet dies to The Plant. Yorick dies to The Water. Chicot is the answer to both.

What it pairs with

There is no combo in the usual sense. Chicot does not multiply anything. What it does is make fragile builds safe to commit to:

Single-mechanic builds. Flower Pot needs all four suits, Ancient Joker needs a specific suit, The Idol needs one exact card. Every one of these has a boss that shuts it down. With Chicot on the board you can commit fully instead of hedging.

Face card builds. Triboulet, Baron, Photograph, Sock and Buskin. The Plant is the run-ender for all of them and Chicot removes it.

Black Deck. +1 Joker slot, which is exactly what a non-scoring Joker costs you. The cleanest deck to run Chicot in.

What it breaks

Matador is paid by Boss Blind effects firing. Chicot means they never fire.

Matador. Pays $8 when a played hand triggers the Boss Blind ability. With Chicot, the ability never triggers, so Matador earns nothing. Ever.

Luchador. Sell it to disable the current Boss Blind. Redundant next to Chicot, and you lose the sell value's usefulness.

The Serpent builds. Some players lean on The Serpent's forced 3-card draw to cycle their deck. Chicot turns that off along with everything else.

Amber Acorn, partially. It shuffles and flips your Jokers before Chicot's disable resolves. So on that specific blind you still get scrambled once. Annoying if your Joker order matters, which it does for Blueprint.

The two-Chicot trick

Disabling a Boss Blind technically reverses its effect, and the timing means a second Chicot reverses it again into a net positive. The Water gives you extra discards. The Manacle gives +1 hand size per Chicot, permanently. The Wall lowers the score requirement.

Getting there is the hard part, since Blueprint and Brainstorm are off the table. Your options are Invisible Joker (sell after 2 rounds to duplicate a Joker), Ankh (copies a random Joker and destroys the rest), or a second The Soul while holding Showman. With multiple Chicots, Director's Cut and Retcon become interesting, since rerolling the boss is now rerolling for a bigger bonus.

The wiki flags this as probably a bug. Do not build a plan around it surviving a patch.

Where it hurts

Deck and challenge setups that cut Joker slots make a non-scoring Joker expensive: Painted Deck (-1 slot, +2 hand size) and the Cruelty challenge (3 slots) both make you pay real score for the insurance. In a 3-slot build, Chicot is a third of your board doing no damage.

Guide

All five Legendaries compared, plus which ante each one needs to be found by.

Verdict

The most underrated Legendary among newer players and the most respected among people going for Gold Stake. It does not raise your ceiling by a single point. It raises your floor to the height of your ceiling, which is what actually finishes runs.

FAQ

Does Chicot lower the Boss Blind's score requirement?

Yes, to the standard 2x base chips. Showdown blinds that would demand 4x or 6x come back down to normal. The Needle is unaffected since its requirement was never raised.

Does Chicot stop Verdant Leaf?

Yes. Verdant Leaf debuffs all cards until you sell a Joker, and Chicot disables it at blind select like every other boss effect. The one that still gets through is Amber Acorn, which shuffles your Jokers before the disable resolves.

Chicot or a scoring Joker on Ante 7?

Chicot, if you are clearing blinds with room to spare. A scoring Joker, if you are scraping past each blind. Insurance is only worth buying when there is something to insure.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Chicot do in Balatro?
Chicot disables the effect of every Boss Blind. The blind still has a score requirement, but it drops to the standard 2x base chips and its special rule does nothing. Showdown blinds are included.
Does Chicot work with Blueprint?
No. Chicot is the only Legendary Joker that Blueprint and Brainstorm cannot copy. To run two copies you need Invisible Joker, Ankh, or a second Soul with Showman in play.
What happens with two copies of Chicot?
Boss effects invert instead of just switching off. The Water gives extra discards, The Manacle gives +1 hand size per Chicot, The Wall lowers the score requirement. It is widely believed to be a bug and may be patched.
Is Chicot worth a Joker slot?
If your build already clears blinds comfortably, yes. It removes the single most common cause of a lost run, which is one specific boss targeting your one weakness. If you are struggling on score, a scoring Joker is the better slot.
Which Jokers does Chicot break?
Matador pays out when a played hand triggers the Boss Blind ability, and Chicot means that never happens. Luchador overlaps with it. Any build relying on The Serpent's forced card draw also stops working.

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