How to Mod Balatro (2025 Update)

Modding Balatro is surprisingly painless — like performing surgery with safety scissors. Even if you’ve never touched a .dll file before, this poker-roguelike makes it absurdly easy to tweak, customize, and completely ruin your next five hours of productivity. (If you’re new to the game, our Balatro Review breaks down why it’s become one of the most addictive roguelikes ever.)

In this guide, we’ll walk you through installing Lovely Injector and Steamodded, grabbing your first mods from Nexus or GitHub, and enabling them in-game. Whether you’re here for the Pokermon chaos or just want the game to stop animating planet cards at glacial speed, we’ve got you covered. (And if you love experimenting with genre-bending games like this one or just want a new experience, don’t miss our Best Roguelike Games list to play).

Quick Summary

Step 1: Install Lovely Injector

Lovely Injector is what makes Balatro modding possible — it tells the game, “yes, please, break the rules.”

1. Go to the official Lovely Injector GitHub: Lovely Injector on GitHub.
2. Click Latest Release and download the correct file for your operating system.
3. Open the .zip file and copy the file called version.dll into your Balatro installation directory.

You can find the directory by right-clicking Balatro in your Steam Library → Manage → Browse Local Files.

If your browser complains about “unsafe downloads,” you can temporarily turn off protection under Privacy and Security just for this step — it’s normal. Once done, turn it back on and pretend you never saw that warning.

Step 2: Install Steamodded

Now that the injector is set, you’ll need Steamodded, the framework that organizes and runs all your mods.

1. Visit Steamodded on GitHub.
2. Scroll down to “Installing Steamodded.”
3. Download the latest source code from the “Direct Download” section.
4. Extract the .zip file.
5. Navigate to Balatro’s save directory:

C:\\Users\\[YourName]\\AppData\\Roaming\\Balatro

6. Create a folder called Mods if it doesn’t exist.
7. Move the extracted folder (it might be named something like smods-1.0.0-beta-0614a) into your Mods folder.

From now on, all of your downloaded mods will live inside this Mods folder. Keep it tidy unless you enjoy detective work.

Step 3: Download Some Mods

You’re ready to go mod hunting. There are two main sources worth your time: Nexus Mods and GitHub.

Option 1: Nexus Mods

Visit the Balatro NexusMods page.

Download any mod that catches your eye, unzip it, and drag either the folder or the .lua file into your Mods directory.

Popular picks include:

• Pokermon – adds Pokémon-themed cards with evolution mechanics.
• FasterCashOut.lua – removes the wait between rounds.
• Faster Planet Card Animation – saves your sanity.
• Stickers Always Shown – helps with achievement tracking.
• JoJo Tarot Designs – because your cards should look fabulous.

If you’re not sure what to try first, sort by Endorsements and read the comments — that’s where you’ll find out which mods work and which ones implode on launch.

Option 2: GitHub Mods

For the more adventurous, check out GilliGalli’s mod collection.

You’ll find smaller utilities like:

• EscapeExitButton.lua (adds an escape key shortcut)
• MoreSpeeds.lua (lets you crank gameplay speed higher)
• AchievementsEnabler.lua (so mods don’t disable Steam achievements)

For extra decks, try:

• LabyrinthDeck.lua – adds a new deck type
• UltimateRandom.lua – pure chaos
• AbsoluteDeck.lua – for when you want to win by accident

Step 4: Enable Mods in Balatro

Once you’ve added your mods, launch Balatro and click the purple “Mods” button on the main menu. You can toggle each mod on or off before starting a run.

If you don’t see a “Steammodded-main” folder after extraction, don’t panic — just use whatever folder was created when you unzipped Steamodded. (It might be called smods-1.0.0-beta-0614a; same thing, different name.)

Bonus Tips

• Change in-game speed to 3 under Options. You’ll never go back.
• You can view your Pokémon cards’ evolution paths under Options → Collections.
• Try the Challenge mode next to “New Run” for extra rule sets.
• Decks like Yellow, Green, and Checkered are beginner-friendly.
• Telescope and Grabber vouchers are basically S-tier — don’t skip them.
• A good early combo: one +chips Joker, one economy Joker, and the rest for multipliers.
• Don’t overthink tier lists — synergy matters more than raw power.
• Most importantly: have fun. This isn’t Dark Souls, you can break things here.

You’ve now successfully modded Balatro. Whether you’re running a full Pokermon setup or tweaking speeds for efficiency, you’re officially part of the proud few who risked DLL injections for fun.

Keep your mods updated through GitHub or Nexus, and check back after every major patch — sometimes the game changes how it handles mod files.

Now go forth and ruin your next “just one more run” streak in spectacular, customized fashion.