The long and short of it is: beat Esther Winchester on Simple, avoiding anything with a face that isn't her.

Why her? Because this battle has the fewest minions to contend with, and all in only one phase (viz. the first one). Once you get past that phase, all else is business as usual.








For that first phase:
1) Use the Coffee charm. This builds your super meter, which is more practical for this than any of the heart charms (Heart, Twin Heart, Heart Ring), as you'll be using this to perform a Super on Esther.
2) Hold your fire while moving.
3) Use bullets aimed directly at Esther's face when not moving. Never use the bombs (i.e. your secondary weapon).
4) Parry the pink spiked balls when they come up.
5) When you have a full super meter, release the bomb!

Soon you should be out of that first phase.


It might also be possible to get this with ease vs. The Howling Aces, but I haven't confirmed this. Just don't try to get this vs. Mortimer Freeze, Glumstone The Giant, or the Moonshine Mob, as they all have multiple phases with minions.

Also, you're welcome to try on Regular or Expert at your own peril, but it's by no means required.

For those who don't know: once you've seen all the chess pieces through, go back up to The King's Leap (the ladder should be near the boatman) and speak to The King. He'll offer you options as to whom you want to challenge. Pick "The Gauntlet" and be ready to do 'em all in one go! You'll then battle: The Pawns, The Knight, The Bishop, The Rook, and The Queen, in that order, without returning to the overworld, or even the outside of the castle where The King is.

Once chosen, you can retry all you like, but each retry will start you back at the very beginning, i.e. The Pawns.


First some general strategies:

• Play as Ms. Chalice by equipping the Astral Cookie. Her double jump can be combined with the dash move to better dodge enemy attacks (plus she can roll when needed). Yes, parrying may take some getting used to, but it's worth it.
  
• Be patient. You're not being timed on any of these, unlike all the boss battles where you get to use your weapons, or those Run & Gun sections of the main game. There is no "THE RESULTS" screen.
  
• Focus on dodging first and parrying second.

And now some strategies for dealing with each of them:

• Off with their (pink) heads!
  
• Each time a headless pawn comes down, jump to dodge it. If you're playing as Ms. Chalice, you can double jump. Otherwise you'll need to dash out of the way.
  
• Keep persisting until you get all 8 of those heads!

• You need to be close to The Knight in order for anything to happen.
  
• The Knight has 3 attacks: a stab, a charge/joust, and a feint/large swing. After the latter two, he will pant, and you'll have a brief opportunity to get in there and slap dat horsey!
  
• During a stab, jump. Then dash, as the sword will be down. If you're playing as Ms. Chalice, your dash will also parry. Otherwise you'll need to aim your jump/dash so you can parry without taking a hit.
  
• During a charge, do a well-timed jump while the sword is pointed, as then you can parry while The Knight is moving! If you're playing as Ms. Chalice, you can double jump to make things easier (and your dash can parry, so it feels kinda like actual jousting).
  
• During a feint, indicated by The Knight exposing his eyes, stand back! Only get him while he's exhausted.
  
• After enough parries, you'll win!

• The gist of it is really quite simple: blow out the candles by passing over them while avoiding the incense containers. Once all the candles are out, the bishop turns pink and you can parry.
  
• Dodge stuff as usual. Again, this is easier with Ms. Chalice because she can double jump and roll.
  
• Each mini-phase of this mini-battle is specially designed. Beat 'em all to win.

• This one is a bit tricky. You'll need to parry-guide the pink heads into The Rook.
  
• And yet this one actually plays a bit more intuitively without Ms. Chalice, so if you're playing as Ms. Chalice, you'll need to parry-dash rightwards.
  
• Expect to parry the same head multiple times (2-3 should do it if you don't get it the first time).
  
• It gets harder after the first hit, as you'll then need to avoid the sparks near the ground. You can jump or duck to dodge them.
  
• But after a few more hits, the sparks come a bit more frequently, and at different levels. Jumping is now the best strategy.
  
• After a few blows, you'll have beat The Rook!

• Timing is everything here. You'll need to make sure the cannons are pointed in the right direction before parrying to fire them.
  
• Also watch out for the pink lion figure towers. Simply parry once and you won't take a hit from them.
  
• Also also watch out for The Queen's jewelry that sometimes spills out of her cups. Can be dodged as usual, but there's absolutely nothing to parry here.
  
• As with The Rook, The Queen will be defeated after a few cannonballs! And then you'll win The King's Admiration!

So you have a cool new character to use, do ya? And she has all these cool new moves too, eh? But I hear ya might wanna learn how to use her moves good....

Long version short, with Ms. Chalice, you have better vertical control, but you have to learn to parry horizontally instead of vertically/at an angle.







More specifically:
1) Remember that instead of jumping to parry, you dash to parry.
2) Remember that you needn't jump-then-dash, as you can now double jump, which gives you an extra height boost, unlike dashing.
3) Maybe save the roll move for once you're good. Often you can get away with going over obstacles rather than under them.

#1 is useful as such:

• Vs. Ribby and Croaks, you don't have to time your jump to hit those pink punches — you can now just dash into them.
  
• Vs. Baroness von Bon Bon, you can now dash into those pink jellybeans instead of delicately timing a jump to hit them (a jump btw which could also be in the sub-boss's path, unlike a dash).
  
• Vs. Beppi The Clown, you can now dash into the pink dog-headed balloons to avoid going dangerously high (after all, jumping adds height, where you could more easily hit other dog-headed balloons). Likewise with the pink horseshoes.
  
• Vs. Rumor Honeybottoms, it's now easier to safely parry anything that's pink, as you'll have a much easier trajectory to control (it's literally straightforward, as opposed to arced).
  
• Same goes for vs. Captain Brineybeard (though parrying the boat's beam is now harder), all of the Inkwell Isle IV bosses, and to a somewhat lesser extent Phantom Express.
  
• It's now easier to get what you want out of King Dice's rolls — just literally parry the number you see!
  
• Beating The Devil is easier since you can quickly dash to parry and then retreat.

#2 is even more useful:

• You can use double jump in all of the Run & Gun sections to bypass major obstacles without taking a hit! This includes the acorn maker in Forest Follies, the boss character in Treetop Trouble, the cars in Funhouse Frazzle, and the lion rocks and castle-like archways in Rugged Ridge. The only one this might not be as useful is Perilous Piers, but it's still useful nonetheless.
  
• Vs. Cagney Carnation (or anyone, really), you can double jump if you feel like something's gonna get you if you land after your first jump.
  
• Vs. Baronness von Bon Bon, you can double jump over all of the sub-bosses.
  
• Vs. Grim Matchstick and Rumor Honeybottoms, you'll have a much easier time navigating the level — more control over which cloud/platform you want to land on.
  
• Vs. Glumstone The Giant, the final phase is much easier (and arguably fairer too!).
  
• Vs. Mortimer Freeze, it's easier to dodge the giant rolling snowball. The final phase of that boss battle is also easier since the second jump acts as a very temporary platform.
  
• It's also easier to navigate the final phase of Chef Saltbaker's battle for essentially the same reasons.
  
• Finally, The Devil is also easier for the same reasons. For one, no special timing is required to avoid that ram/hoof slap attack he does.

Only approximately 1% of all Cuphead players have these easy-to-get achievements?

C'mon, we all know you wanna be a 1%er! Build that character and jit gudd!











































Also Cuchead* is easy change my mind

*Regular Mode Only