BALL x PIT 100% guide

BALL x PIT has 63 achievements worth 1,000G on its shared Xbox Series X|S and Windows Xbox list. The game is entirely single-player. There are no online or co-op achievements, no difficulty achievements, and no true missables. One save is enough, and New Game+ is not required for the 1,000G.

The completion is built around repeated clears of eight base levels with the 16 original achievement-linked characters. Do not grind those clears one character at a time. Your main efficiency target is the Matchmaker blueprint in FUNGALxFOREST. Once constructed, the Matchmaker lets two compatible characters enter the same run, and a successful clear is reported to count for both. Verify the clear marks on both characters after your first paired clear.

The practical route is:

1. Progress through the eight base levels while collecting blueprints and unlocking characters.
2. Build the Matchmaker as soon as FUNGALxFOREST makes it available.
3. Reach and clear VASTxVOID, then clear it with eight different characters for the true ending.
4. Use Matchmaker pairs to finish the eight-level clear requirement for all 16 original characters and the ten-character clear requirement on every level.
5. Finish town, harvest, evolution, fusion, and Encyclopedia cleanup with the stronger late-game buildings already available.

There is no point of no return. Base levels remain replayable, including after New Game+ becomes available, so normal cleanup can be done on the same save.

Scholar is CURRENTLY COMMUNITY-FLAGGED / BUGGY as of 2026-10-13. The documented failures are a missed entry, entries obtained only once that needed re-collecting, and stuck unlocks fixed by restarting. None is developer-confirmed. The safe cleanup method is covered near the end of this guide.

Three free updates have released: the Regal Update (2026-01-26), which added The Carouser, The Falconer, and Endless Mode through the Adventurer's Guild; the Shadow Update (2026-04-27), which added The Tunneller and The Tiptoer; and the Naturalist Update (2026-08-06), which added The Ballbearer and The Hoary Hoarder and was described as the final free update. None of them added achievements. The 16 individual character achievements still correspond to the original base roster, and update characters have no achievements of their own. Post-launch characters can be useful for cleanup, but they are not required for the character mastery achievements.

A paid expansion, Risen Ballbylon, releases on 2026-11-12 and requires finishing the base game. It is not needed for the current 1,000G. Steam already lists a separate set of DLC achievements for it; no Xbox change had appeared as of 2026-10-13, so recheck the Xbox list after release. As a precaution, finish Scholar before installing the expansion; it adds many new balls and passives, which may make specific base items harder to draw.

Pick up blueprints whenever they appear. Many important town buildings come from specific level pools, and you will be replaying every level enough times that you do not need to force every random drop immediately.

Build housing structures promptly. A character is usable only after their house is completed, and more unlocked characters also improve harvest and construction efficiency. The Warrior is available from the start; the other 15 original characters each come from a housing blueprint (see Character Houses below). A house must be fully built through harvest bounces before its character appears; placing the scaffold is not enough.

Blueprints are random drops from bosses and, more rarely, normal enemies. They appear as paper scrolls on the ground, so grab them immediately. Trophy blueprints are the exception: each is awarded automatically on a level's first clear. The level-select screen shows how many blueprints remain in each level, and that counter is your tracker.

Spend lifetime resources freely. Riches, Wheat Farmer, Woodcutter, and Stone Miner track what you have collected, not what you currently hold.

Do not use the War Room as a substitute for mastery clears. It only allows a character to be assigned to a level that character has already completed, so it cannot earn the first clear needed for the character achievements. Characters assigned to the War Room or Gatherer's Hut cannot be picked for runs, so unassign them before a mastery session.

• Sheriff's Office for The Itchy Finger: BONExYARD.
• Cozy Home for The Cohabitants: BONExYARD.
• Haunted House for The Repentant: BONExYARD or SNOWYxSHORES.
• Villa for The Cogitator: SNOWYxSHORES.
• Single Family Home for The Empty Nester: SNOWYxSHORES.
• Veteran's Hut for The Embedded: SNOWYxSHORES (sources mostly agree).
• Mausoleum for The Shade: LIMINALxDESERT.
• Rocky Hill for The Makeshift Sisyphus: LIMINALxDESERT.
• Iron Fortress for The Shieldbearer: FUNGALxFOREST.
• Mansion for The Spendthrift: FUNGALxFOREST.
• Laboratory for The Physicist: FUNGALxFOREST.
• Theater for The Juggler: GORYxGRASSLANDS.
• Monastery for The Flagellant: GORYxGRASSLANDS.
• Captain's Quarters for The Tactician: SMOLDERINGxDEPTHS.
• Campground for The Radical: HEAVENLYxGATES.

Sources disagree on whether the Haunted House drops in BONExYARD or SNOWYxSHORES, so do not hunt it in one level. Keep clearing both early levels with new characters until both blueprint counters read 0.

The last blueprint in a level often takes extra clears. If one stays missing, do not stall: open the next layer, then come back with newer characters and mix solo and paired clears. Rocky Hill, often the last LIMINALxDESERT blueprint, is obtainable on the current version.

If every counter reads 0 and a character is still missing, check the Build menu's housing list for an unbuilt or dismantled house. If a house is fully built but its character never appears, dismantling refunds its cost; rebuilding it and finishing the scaffold with your own harvest bounces (not a Gatherer's Hut) is a reported fix. Never dismantle a working house, because its character is unusable until rebuilt.

Start with The Warrior and focus on learning the basic loop rather than forcing a perfect build. Take new balls and passives when practical because anything actually collected helps future Encyclopedia progress.

Fusion Reactors are your first achievement opportunities. They are random enemy drops during a run, and each one offers Fission, Fusion, or Evolution. A normal fusion combines two different unfused level 3 balls that do not form a named evolution. A named evolution instead requires its specific compatible ingredients at level 3.

These achievements should be introduced immediately and then left to progress naturally through the rest of the completion.

SNOWYxSHORES is the second layer. Continue rotating characters rather than repeatedly clearing with the same one, because first clears with new characters are what advance the elevator efficiently.

The Adventurer's Guild blueprint comes from SNOWYxSHORES. Construct it when you obtain it. It enables Endless Mode after the normal boss is defeated, which later gives you more time in a single run to assemble multi-step evolutions and fill missing Encyclopedia entries.

Do not stop progression just because the blueprint has not dropped on the first visit. You will return to this level many times during mastery.

Clear LIMINALxDESERT with different characters until you have the two first-clear gears needed for the next layer. This is also the point where Gold Mine blueprints enter the town-building pool, so start collecting and constructing them rather than trying to force the 1,000-gold harvest immediately.

FUNGALxFOREST is the most important efficiency breakpoint in the completion. You need three first-clear gears from this layer to continue, and its blueprint pool contains the Matchmaker.

The Matchmaker blueprint is found in FUNGALxFOREST. Once you obtain it, return to town and complete its construction as soon as practical.

From this point onward, pair two compatible characters whenever both still need the level you are about to clear. A successful run is reported to give completion credit to both selected characters, and a pair of fresh characters earns two gears. After your first paired clear, check the level-selection marks for both characters to confirm. This is the single biggest time saver in the achievement list.

Not every character pairing is allowed. Disallowed partners are darkened on the character-select screen, and that screen is the final word. A published Xbox-version list marks these original-character pairs as incompatible: Itchy Finger with Tactician; Repentant with Shieldbearer or Flagellant; Cohabitants with Sisyphus, Spendthrift, or Juggler; Shade with Sisyphus; Sisyphus with Spendthrift; Shieldbearer with Flagellant, Physicist, or Tactician; Flagellant with Juggler, Physicist, or Tactician; and Cogitator with Radical. If a pair you want is darkened, try picking the two characters in the opposite order, then swap one member rather than running solo.

A fresh pair earns two gears only on the newest layer you are unlocking. If the lift does not show the expected gears after your first paired clear, fall back to solo first clears for gear progress. Do not worry about making a permanent pairing chart; your goal is simply to pair two characters who both still need the same level.

Now use Matchmaker pairs whenever possible. Four different character credits are needed on GORYxGRASSLANDS to open the next layer, so two successful paired clears can cover that requirement if all four characters are new to the level.

The Gemsmith, Antique Shop, and Gambler's Den also come from this level. They improve starting choices and rerolls, making later recipe and Encyclopedia runs less dependent on early luck.

SMOLDERINGxDEPTHS also needs four different character credits to advance. Two Matchmaker clears can satisfy that if each run uses two characters who have not cleared the level before.

Its building pool contains several strong support buildings, including the Candle Maker, Wishing Well, Meditation Tent, and War Room. Build useful upgrades as resources allow, but remember that War Room assignments do not replace real first clears.

HEAVENLYxGATES requires five different character credits before VASTxVOID opens. Matchmaker means three successful clears can cover five or six fresh characters, depending on how you arrange the pairs.

This level is also where five achievement-specific town buildings enter the blueprint pool. Pick them up whenever they drop. You do not need to stop progression until every one appears, because the later mastery sweep gives you many additional HEAVENLYxGATES runs.

You should now have enough town progression that several building achievements can be completed without sacrificing story progress. If Structural Power or S Rank is still missing, finish upgrading one BONExYARD stat building or one SNOWYxSHORES/LIMINALxDESERT scaling building to level 5 now.

You need five character credits from HEAVENLYxGATES to open VASTxVOID. Once it is available, take a strong Matchmaker pair in for the first clear.

Keep replaying VASTxVOID with characters who do not yet have its clear mark. Use Matchmaker pairs whenever compatible.

Now clean up the completion grid. The achievement-linked roster contains 16 original characters, and each one needs a successful clear of all eight base levels. Post-launch characters are not substitutes for these 16 individual character achievements.

Do these clears on the base levels at Normal speed. A Fast-tier clear also records Normal for that character, but New Game+ clears do not count toward the base-level marks.

A pairing set reported to work for the whole sweep is Juggler with Sisyphus, Physicist with Repentant, Shade with Embedded, Tactician with Empty Nester, Cohabitants with Flagellant, Shieldbearer with Itchy Finger, Spendthrift with Cogitator, and Warrior with Radical. Use this as a starting point only; the character-select screen decides what is allowed.

Work level by level. For each stage, select two compatible original characters who both lack that clear, finish the run, then choose the next pair. Earlier clears from normal progression already count, so never repeat a completed character-level combination.

The "Conquered" achievements need ten different characters on that specific level. They will unlock naturally while you push all 16 original characters through the same eight-level grid.

Each achievement below unlocks when that specific original character receives their eighth base-level completion. Matchmaker clears are reported to count for both selected characters, so there is no reason to finish these one character at a time unless a pairing restriction forces a solo run.

Late-game town upgrades make these far easier than forcing them during initial progression. Use a comfortable normal level and Endless Mode through the Adventurer's Guild when you want extra time after the boss to find more Fusion Reactors.

For ball evolutions, every component in the current recipe must be level 3 and unfused before the reactor offers the evolution. Multi-stage recipes require you to create the intermediate evolution, level that evolved ball to 3, and then perform the next evolution.

For passive evolutions, level the required component passives to 3 and use a Fusion Reactor. Passives can be evolved but never fused. The Evolution Chamber and Relic Collector start new balls and passives at level 2, the Bag Maker and Carpenter add slots, the Candle Maker improves reactor contents, and the Exorcist lets you banish unwanted level-up options.

If you have them, The Ballbearer (many ball slots, no passives) is ideal for ball recipes and The Hoary Hoarder (extra passive slots, only two ball slots) for passive recipes. Neither is required.

Do this after the named evolution achievements because those recipes fill several difficult Encyclopedia entries automatically. Every level must be cleared first, since level clears unlock most of the balls and passives.

The Xbox achievement text is "Unlock every entry in the Encyclopedia," with no base-game qualifier. It is not confirmed whether entries added by the free Regal, Shadow, and Naturalist updates are required. Complete the launch entries first, finish a level, and check whether Scholar unlocked. If it did not, work through the free-update entries, which need no extra levels or purchases. Completing all 249 entries is the safe route. The paid Risen Ballbylon expansion has its own separate Encyclopedia achievement on Steam and does not count toward this one.

The full set is 249 entries:

• Balls: 90 (21 base and 69 evolved). The launch game had 60; the free updates added Stone, Time, and Flesh plus 27 evolved balls.
• Passives: 71 (54 base and 17 evolved). The launch game had 59; the free updates added Iron Onesie, Sword Breaker, Platinum Dumbbell, and 9 evolved passives.
• Bestiary: 88 monsters, including sub-bosses and bosses. Each registers on its first kill, and no free update added monsters.

An entry is complete only when it shows a description and an obtained count of at least 1. Do not judge by icon color alone, and do not count on an undiscovered entry naming itself clearly; compare your Encyclopedia against the full lists in the Collectibles section, which name every base ball, base passive, evolved entry, and unlock condition. Base balls and passives register when you choose them during a run; evolved entries register only when you create them at a Fusion Reactor.

The Shieldbearer can't be offered Radiant Feather, and The Tactician may not be offered Magnet, so hunt passives with other characters. The Radical and The Cogitator choose upgrades automatically and cannot be steered toward a missing item.

The Collectibles section at the end of this guide lists all 21 base balls and 54 base passives with their unlock conditions, plus every evolved entry with its recipe.

Once all eight levels are cleared, every base ball and passive should be unlocked; free-update content unlocks through normal progression and is granted automatically on a save that has already finished the game. Unlocked is not the same as offered: the nine conditional passives still only appear in a run once their trigger is equipped (see Conditional Passive Sweep). Most register naturally during the mastery sweep. Compare the Balls and Passives tabs against the Base Balls and Base Passives lists in the Collectibles section, then build runs around whatever is missing. Vary your starting balls between clears so every base ball gets picked at least once.

Nine base passives only enter the level-up pool when a condition is met. If one is missing, start a run built around its trigger:

• Artificial Heart and Ghostly Shield need an ally-spawning effigy passive. Ghostly Shield unlocks after your first HEAVENLYxGATES clear.
• Traitor's Cowl needs a stone-ally effigy and unlocks after your first HEAVENLYxGATES clear. Equip Archer's Effigy, Stone Effigy, and Healer's Effigy together to cover all three at once.
• Frozen Spike needs a Freeze ball, Kiss of Death a Charm ball, Midnight Oil a Burn ball, and Cursed Elixir a Poison ball.
• Voodoo Doll needs a Curse ball: Phantom (Dark + Ghost) or Sacrifice (Bleed + Dark) are the reliable picks because they curse on hit. Banshee and Incubus also apply Curse, but they are less dependable triggers.
• Silver Blindfold needs a ball that applies Blind, such as Light, and unlocks after your first LIMINALxDESERT clear.

Evolved or fused balls that carry the effect also satisfy a condition. Use the Exorcist to banish junk options and your rerolls and extra choices to force the pickup.

Work through the remaining launch evolved balls using the recipes in the Collectibles section. Only one recipe per entry is needed. The two most commonly missed are Black Hole, which needs Sun (Burn + Light) evolved first, and Mosquito Swarm (Vampire + Egg Sac).

Plan runs around shared ingredients. For example, one Burn, Light, and Dark run can produce Sun, Flicker, and Black Hole.

There are 17 evolved passives, each with one two-passive recipe except Deadeye's Cross. Deadeye's Impaler needs Deadeye's Cross and Gracious Impaler in the same run, so keep it for last.

Platinum Dumbbell (needed for Inglorious Hammer) and Sword Breaker (needed for Full Metal Rapier) have no publicly documented level unlock, but both should be available once all eight levels are cleared. If either still never appears in a level-up pool, check its Encyclopedia entry in game for its requirement.

These 27 evolved balls came with the free updates. First make sure the three new base balls are unlocked: Stone (first SNOWYxSHORES clear), Flesh (first GORYxGRASSLANDS clear), and Time (first SMOLDERINGxDEPTHS clear). Also collect the new base passives Iron Onesie, Sword Breaker, and Platinum Dumbbell.

Several of these chain from launch entries, such as Reaper (Soul Sucker + Heart Swallower), Sniper (Shotgun + Assassin), X Ray (Holy Laser + Laser Beam), Banshee (Phantom + Wraith), Armageddon (Inferno + Storm), and Tumor (Radiation Beam + Flesh). Elemental is a four-ball recipe (Burn + Wind + Freeze + Earthquake), where The Ballbearer's extra slots help.

Clear the bestiary as part of the mastery sweep. If a monster entry is still missing, replay its level and make sure you kill every enemy type, including sub-bosses and stacked riders such as Warg Rider and Warg Archer.

By this point you should have a large roster and access to stronger production structures. Arrange and upgrade production so a harvest run can pass through multiple productive buildings, then send as many available characters through as practical.

The four achievements below are single-harvest checks. Lifetime totals do not satisfy them.

At this point the 63-achievement list should be complete. If a cumulative achievement remains, use the in-game Statistics and the work you still need rather than starting a new save.

Riches, Wheat Farmer, Woodcutter, and Stone Miner can all be finished by continuing normal harvests because spending their resources never resets progress. Legion Slayer can be finished in Endless Mode or on an easy base level if the mastery sweep somehow left you below 100,000 kills.

If Scholar is the only achievement left, stay on the same save and use the Encyclopedia itself to target missing entries. Do not restart the completion or move into additional New Game+ tiers for an achievement that can be cleaned up from the developed town.