Cuphead Boss Guide | Attack Cues and Dodging Steps for the First Island's Five Bosses

Difficulty and preparation for island progression

Simple can help with practice, but beating bosses on Regular is required to collect contracts and finish the base game.

1. First, use the tutorial to check shooting, lock aiming, crouching, dashing, and parrying during a jump.
2. Collect Run & Gun coins and choose weapons or charms in the shop. Repeated boss rematches alone do not earn more coins.
3. Return to Regular to earn contracts even for bosses you studied on Simple. Do not assume you have practiced phases that Simple omits.
4. In mausoleums, parry the pink ghosts to protect the urn. Unlike ground boss fights, these are not battles won by normal shooting.
5. Beat the first island's five bosses on Regular and confirm that you can reach the next island. The guide below does not impose S-rank requirements.

Choosing weapons and charms for each situation

You can switch between two weapons. Their range and ease of landing shots differ, so choose a pair that covers situations where you cannot keep firing with one of them.

Wide tables scroll horizontally.

No rows in this table match. Shorten the search or clear it to restore every row.

Ground weapons cannot simply be taken into airplane fights as the plane's guns. Against Hilda, use the airplane's normal fire, shrink movement, and EX attacks.

The Root Pack: Potato → Onion → Carrot

Covers the standard three phases. The alternative sequence triggered by not attacking the onion is outside this first-clear route.

Wide tables scroll horizontally.

No rows in this table match. Shorten the search or clear it to restore every row.

Goopy Le Grande: Switching Between Jumps and the Tombstone

Fleeing in the same direction on every jump will trap you against a wall. Watch the landing point and choose left or right each time.

1. During the small form, move away from the landing point while Goopy is airborne. Jump heights can vary, so avoid committing too early.
2. When Goopy takes the pose for an extending punch, crouch or otherwise move clear of the attack's height. A panicked jump at close range is likely to get hit.
3. The pink question marks during the growth transition offer a parry opportunity. Once Goopy grows, leave more space around the landing point to account for the larger contact area.
4. Once Goopy becomes a tombstone, distinguish the tombstone's sideways movement from its attack that falls toward you. When it stops and signals a crushing attack, dash out of its path.
5. In the last phase, use lock aiming to fire upward at the tombstone's face. Do not keep firing horizontally along the ground.

Hilda Berg: Shrink Movement and the Moon's UFOs

The threats change between Hilda's normal form, constellation transformations, and moon phase. Ground-battle jumping controls will not handle these attacks.

1. In the normal form, shoot from in front while watching the laughter letters and small planes' bullets. Shrink to move through narrow gaps, then return to the form that can fire normally.
2. During the bull transformation, move up or down out of the charge's path. Against the twins, watch the rotating projectiles' firing lines; against Sagittarius, prioritize the arrows and homing stars.
3. When a tornado approaches, move to a clear height instead of forcing your way through it head-on. Do not try to fight for long periods with the reduced damage of the shrunken form.
4. In the moon phase, watch the stars and UFO beams together. Red UFOs fire when you move directly underneath, while gold UFOs fire slightly ahead of the plane. Check the color and pass through while avoiding the active beam's position.
5. The airplane Super is used up close. Leave enough distance to avoid contact before activating it, and check for enemy bullets where the attack will end.

Expert changes the transformations and simultaneous attacks. Do not assume Regular's bull attack will always appear on Expert.

Cagney Carnation: Prioritize Seed and Platform Cues

If you only shoot the boss, enemies spawned from seeds and vines covering platforms will remove your escape routes.

1. When Cagney signals a face-stretching attack, check whether it targets the upper or lower lane and move to the opposite one. Staying on a platform will not avoid everything.
2. During the seed attack, watch falling seeds and newly spawned enemies first. Even when you cannot parry a pink seed, do not ignore the enemy it creates.
3. Watch the returning path of the boomerang attack as well. Returning to the same spot immediately after dodging its outward path can put you in its return path.
4. Move to the platforms when the ground becomes dangerous in the final phase. Leave a platform that vines have begun to coil around before the attack fully forms.
5. If you want to focus on vertical movement, consider an easy-to-hit weapon such as Chaser, and concentrate fire on the boss only during safe windows.

Ribby and Croaks: Gloves, Fan, and Slot Machine

In the final phase, you cannot damage the boss at all times. Survive the attack sequence started by parrying the lever.

1. At first, use height to dodge the low punching projectiles and shoot the fireflies approaching from above. Pink gloves can be parried, but prioritize dodging when the firing lanes become crowded.
2. When one frog turns into a fan, watch the wind's direction and the projectiles' positions. Make small adjustments so you are not pushed against the screen edge.
3. Once they combine into a slot machine, dodge the coins and parry the pink lever. Do not waste a Super before the reels start spinning.
4. For the snake symbols, jump across the successive platforms. For the bull symbols, check the direction of the flames from each platform and choose a safe height.
5. For the tiger symbols, consider each platform and bouncing ball as a pair, and land between the balls. Keep shooting the boss while choosing when to move to the next platform.

FAQ