First boss encounter. Beat any Inkwell Isle 1 boss (The Root Pack is usually first). Achievement on first kill.
Cumulative count. Parry pink objects via the jump button. 20 total โ easy by mid-game.
5x the previous count. Cumulative. Most natural during Casino runs (King Dice's parry-spam phase) and Devil's tongue parry. Grind Mausoleum runs for fast parries if you're short.
Multiple secret passages on the islands โ narrow paths between trees, hidden warps. Most-known: a passage on Isle 2 connecting to the Mausoleum area. Walk near specific tree clusters to discover.
Inkwell Isle 1 has five bosses: The Root Pack, Goopy Le Grande, Hilda Berg, Cagney Carnation, and Ribby & Croaks. (Forest Follies and Treetop Trouble are run-and-gun stages, not bosses.) Beat all five bosses โ this unlocks as story progression.
Easiest target: Goopy Le Grande (Isle 1, predictable patterns, slow projectiles). Use Charge weapon for high DPS. Memorise his three phases. One clean run = achievement.
Each weapon has an EX attack (uses 1 Super card). End a boss fight with an EX attack as the killing blow. Easiest: a low-HP boss on Simple, use EX as the finisher.
6 bosses in Isle 2: Wally Warbles, Beppi the Clown, Baroness Von Bon Bon, Djimmi the Great, Grim Matchstick, Rumor Honeybottoms. Difficulty ramps significantly from Isle 1.
Super Arts (full 5-card Super) cost all 5 Super cards. Save a Super for the final HP slot of a boss, fire as the killing blow. Same principle as EX win but harder timing.
Each Super Art is granted by completing a mausoleum on each Inkwell Isle (1, 2, 3). The mausoleums are parry-survival challenges โ keep ghosts contained for ~60 seconds. Three completed = all three Supers.
Hardest base-game island. 6 bosses + Casino. Each is a wall โ Cala Maria's medusa phase is particularly brutal. Practice each individually before attempting back-to-back.
Find a level with multiple parryable objects (pink) in a row โ e.g., Sally Stageplay's final phase has flowers that work. Parry-chain 5 in a single air-time. The Twin Heart Charm makes this easier with double-jump.
King Dice's casino: 9 randomly-ordered mini-bosses (each card-themed), then King Dice himself. You can't heal between mini-bosses; mistakes compound. Optimal weapons: Roundabout + Lobber for Pip's bullet hell phase.
Multi-phase final boss. Phase 1: Devil himself (parry his head's tongue mid-attack). Phase 2: cat-form with claws and laser eyes. Phase 3: dragon-form with bombs. Phase 4: tiny goat-demon form.
Use Charge weapon + Roundabout. Final phase needs precise platforming. Most players take 30+ attempts.
After collecting all Soul Contracts, REFUSE the Devil's offer. Fight him. Beat him. Good ending plays โ Cuphead and Mugman return the contracts to their owners.
Normal difficulty required; Simple mode doesn't count for this achievement.
Ms. Chalice unlocks after completing the early DLC tutorial. She has unique moveset (dash, double-jump). Beat any boss while playing as her.
Each run-and-gun stage has ~5-7 coins scattered (some easy, some hidden behind parries/secret rooms). Beat every stage with full coin pickup.
Wiki has the per-stage coin map.
DLC adds weapons: Crackshot, Converge, Twist Up. Buy any one from Porkrind, equip it, beat any boss. Achievement on first DLC-weapon boss kill.
After collecting all Soul Contracts, you confront the Devil. He offers to take the contracts in exchange for your freedom. ACCEPT his offer โ bad ending plays. Cuphead becomes a minion of the Devil.
Mutually exclusive with Souls Saved. Save before the choice to do both.
All weapons + charms cost ~9000 coins total. Coins come from run-and-gun stages and chests in level intros. Grind the easier run-and-guns; each completion + collectibles = ~10-15 coins.
A-Rank requires near-perfect runs โ under 2 hits, decent parries, fast clear. Replay each Isle 1 boss aiming for A. Roundabout + Charge is a versatile loadout for A-runs.
Includes King Dice, Casino mini-bosses, the Devil himself. Devil's A-Rank is the toughest in the base game โ practice his phases until you can no-hit them.
The Delicious Last Course DLC island. Defeat its bosses: Glumstone the Giant, Mortimer Freeze, The Howling Aces, Esther Winchester, and Moonshine Mob. (Chef Saltbaker is the DLC's separate finale.) Use Ms. Chalice or the new weapons for an easier time.
## What S-Rank needs
- No damage taken
- Time under boss's threshold
- Parries within window (usually 3+)
- Super meter not used
## Easiest S-Rank target
Sally Stageplay or The Root Pack โ relatively forgiving timing, parry the pink projectiles for the parry-count requirement.
Expert difficulty rewards higher base ranks; some players S-Rank easier on Expert via the difficulty multiplier.
Five-phase boss in his bakery. Phase 1: dough projectiles + rolling pin. Phase 2: oven flames + minions. Phase 3: pepper sneeze (parry to interrupt). Phase 4: sentient cake-monster. Phase 5: head-only desperate finale.
Use Twist Up weapon (homing) for the bouncy minions. Crackshot for direct damage on Saltbaker. Most players take 30-60 attempts.
## The King's Leap
DLC final dungeon: King of Games challenges with chess-themed mini-bosses. Pawn, Knight, Bishop, Rook, Queen, King โ each a unique combat puzzle.
Most-deceptive: the Knight (moves in L-shapes โ predict its leaps). Bishop teleports diagonally. The set takes ~20-30 attempts.
Beyond level coins โ includes coins from the Casino's hidden chests, Mausoleum bonuses, and Inkwell Isle map exploration. Wiki has the full coin checklist.
## The mountain
No damage across 9 random mini-bosses + King Dice. One slip = restart from mini-boss 1. The randomness makes this brutal โ bad order can include 3 instant-hit-risk fights in a row.
Memorise each mini-boss's patterns. The bird mini-boss and the slot machine are usually the hardest no-hit targets.
Devil's second phase has him turn into a cat with claws. Just survive long enough in phase 1 to trigger phase 2. The achievement pops on phase transition.
Use Charge or Crackshot for max DPS to phase 1's head.
Chalice has unique Super Arts. End a boss with one. Save the Super for the last HP sliver. Same approach as Porcelain Power but with Chalice's set.
Harder than Isle 1. Wally Warbles and Grim Matchstick are the hardest to A-Rank because of their long fight times and projectile density.
Cumulative count. Replay bosses you've already beaten as Chalice โ count adds up fast across base + DLC bosses. 10 unique bosses with Chalice = achievement.
Brutal. Cala Maria, Phantom Express, and Sally Stageplay all require near-flawless play to A-Rank. Practice each in solo runs first.
## How to do it
Use Smoke Bomb charm + Roundabout shot (avoids damage when fired backwards). On a run-and-gun level (any stage that's a horizontal scroller), reach the finish line without killing any enemies โ dodge or jump-over only.
Easiest target: Forest Follies (first run-and-gun). Smoke Bomb lets you dash through enemies without contact damage.
## Stack HP
- Base HP: 3
- Heart Charm: +1
- Twin Heart Charm: +1 (replaces Heart)
- Whetstone (DLC charm): +1 on damage
- Ms. Chalice has +1 base HP
Math: Ms. Chalice (4) + Twin Heart (5) + max equipment combos. The trick is having all bonuses active at once. Hop into the Howling Aces fight with optimised setup.
## The challenge
Damage bosses ONLY via parries. No basic shots, no Super Arts, no EX. Parry-only DPS is incredibly slow but does count toward boss HP.
## Strategy
- Equip Heart Charm + Twin Heart for max survival
- Spawn pink projectiles for parry windows (some bosses have many)
- Smoke Bomb charm to dodge contact damage
Months-of-practice tier. Watch a guide playthrough first.
Press the shrink button (down) in plane stages to enter a tiny form. Stay shrunken for the ENTIRE fight against a plane boss (e.g., Wally Warbles or Hilda Berg). No reverting to normal size.
Shrink-mode shoots smaller, weaker bullets โ fight takes longer. Worth it for the achievement.
## Expert mode
All bosses get extra phases + faster attack patterns. Easiest bosses become Isle 2-tier; hardest become genuinely punishing.
Most players take 20-50% longer on Expert. The Devil is significantly harder; the Casino is brutal.
After beating all 6 Champions individually, the Gauntlet unlocks โ fight all 6 in one continuous run. No healing, no breaks. Use Crackshot + Twin Heart charm for survival.
The Rook's middle-of-the-gauntlet position is where most runs die. Practice him solo to mastery.
Same A-Rank criteria as base bosses but with the DLC's higher difficulty floor. Use Crackshot weapon + Heart charm for survivability. Practice each DLC boss for the A-rank threshold (under 2 hits).
DLC bosses spawn minions during their phases. Beat a boss with all spawned minions still alive at end of fight. Best target: Glumstone the Giant โ his goblin minions are easy to dodge while you focus the main boss.
Use Charge weapon for high single-target DPS without AoE leaking.
Same S-Rank criteria โ no damage, fast clear, parries. DLC bosses are harder but the threshold scales accordingly. Easiest DLC S-Rank: Esther Winchester (slow phases, parryable cow projectiles).
