Cuphead Guide: 10 Tips For Beginners

Cuphead is a very challenging game when it comes to discovering the best ways of beating each boss, the game has a small number of twists in it which you can master with some of our useful tips and guidance below.

1. Don’t Lose Hope

The very first thing I’d like to mention in this guide is: Please embrace the failure, Whenever you are going to try a new stage in Cuphead, assume that you are going to fail and you will have to learn piece by piece, no need to rush, take things slow and Cuphead will get better for you. The good thing is that Cuphead allows players to attempt as many times they want to try and beat every stage, which means that you will have unlimited time to learn the placement of traps, efficiently memorize the timing of rather complex attacks and locate enemy’s weakest points.  So whenever you’ll assume that you’ll fail, actually each loss is simply a part of a bigger learning experience. You will have to gradually improve your skills with a good amount of practice and patience

2. Re-Bind The Controls: The Way You Like

First of all, play the game yourself and explore the binds of the controller/key your own way, depending on your platform if it’s either Xbox One or PC things will be different. The default controls are a bit odd. So definitely play the game and check out the various key-binds/controller buttons you can set to maximize the comfort of your gameplay in order to implement your skills gained in the game.

3. Master Your Parrying Skills

Learning how to Parry is one of the fundamentals of Cuphead, Jumping into an attack, then bouncing off is not as easy as you think. Parry is a useful defense when it comes to movements, but every parry also builds Cuphead’s special power meter. Don’t get too overwhelmed thinking that the parrying system requires cutting-edge precise timing, but it still has its twists and quirks. Just take a moment to practice your movements on an early stage in which you’re confident and comfortable. Keep in mind that neon pink objects are always parryable, sometimes it gets hard to recognize which object is parryable because of the red or purple projectiles. In later stages, try to parry as much as you can, diving into swarms of bullets to earn that extra energy to top up your most powerful attack is the key to domination in Cuphead.

4. Staying Still, While Moving

This sounds a bit crazy but works every time. Some of the bosses will require you to bounce around the stage to stay safe, but many of the bosses are easier to defeat if you get a chance to find out a safe spot to hang on tightly. You can think of it as rubbing your tummy while patting your head: Always remember the less you have to worry about one thing, the more you can focus on another.

5. Earn And Spend

 It sounds easy as it is, make money and spend money as much as you can. Purchase weapons and buffs from stores that unlock early in the game. Purchases require coins which you can find hidden throughout the overworld map, earn coins from platforming stages. Take extra time to find every coin in the platforming stages, so you can purchase as much as you can.

6. Buy A Little Bit Of Everything

In Cuphead you can carry two weapons at a time, one being the buff called “Charm” and the other one is a special power called “Super Art.” The weapons range from short to long ranged trajectory, high-damage, and long-range homing missiles. Buffs have the ability to allow extra hearts while lowering the damage you deal, or add an attack to successful parries. Try different load-outs, see what works for yourself and improvise. Some of the bosses call for a weapon that throws projectiles downward while others benefit from the buff that autofill your special meter. So keep buying a bit of everything.

7. Purchase wisely

If you can buy everything that doesn’t mean that you should buy anything that comes in front of you, don’t waste money on the buff that automatically parries the first projectile you hit. You have to master your parrying skill for a later level that makes the auto-parry senseless. Use your slot on more helpful buffs and don’t exclusively buy long-range weapons or short to mid range weapons.

8. You Must Buy This Buff

Every time you buy a new weapon, the shopkeeper will replace it with a new one. In the early game, one of the additions is a buff that prevents Cuphead from taking damage while dashing, this is a major benefit and during a stage, this will make Cuphead look like as if he is teleporting one spot to another. It is an incredible power which allows you to dodge through larger enemies and waves of bullets that fill the screen. The game would be impossible to progress without this one.

9. Use Your Parrying Skill To Reach Unreachable Places

Some certain hidden spots from where you can get some hefty amount of coins are often unreachable. Use your parrying skills to go through the pink projectiles. Parry-Jumping is also very useful for leaping over tall enemies or lining up shots on high targets.

10. Watch The Entire Screen

Whenever you are in one of the Cuphead’s intense moments, it’s quite tempting to only focus on the surroundings and the projectiles closing in, but actually, this can cause trouble too. New enemies will continue to swarm in from different directions, because of this you have to keep your eyes on the entire screen.  Always keep your eyes everywhere and counter anything you see as an obstacle in the way of the Victory.

Good Luck!