Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course has officially released, so it’s time to dive back into this exceptionally difficult run and gun action game. Embracing the art of the 1930s, Cuphead originally told the story of two brothers who made a deal with a devil. Released back in 2017, the highly anticipated DLC (aptly named Delicious Last Course) has finally dropped and it’s even trickier than the base game. This time around, you are tasked with gathering ingredients to make a pastry so good it will bring Ms. Chalice back from the astral plane.
Of all the bosses, Esther Winchester is one of the hardest. Acting as the only plane mission in the new DLC, High-Noon Hoopla is broken up into four phases. This makes Esther a frustrating endurance test since all of her attacks can be tricky to dodge, even if you are completely aware of everything happening on screen. Additionally, since we’re restricted to the plane, it means we can’t make use of any of our fancy abilities or weapons. Because of this, the Heart Ring is a must as it gives us survivability throughout the battle.
How to Beat High-Noon Hoopla
Loadout – Plane Mission
- Character: Cuphead
- Charm: Heart Ring
Phase One
Attacks
- Snake Oil Guns: Esther pulls out two guns and fires ink blots that arc backward and then travel horizontally across the screen. This attack will always come in sets of two and can be easily dodged by flying around or between them.
- Dynamite: Throughout the fight, a vulture will fly overhead and drop a bundle of dynamite. This will explode when it hits the ground, launching three projectiles upwards, followed by two more. You cannot destroy the vulture or crow.
- Flying Horse: Occasionally, a horse will come flying across the screen from right to left. If this enemy reaches the other end of the stage, they will fire a small spike ball at you. These can sometimes be parried, or the flying horse can be killed before it reaches the left side of the screen.
- Cactus Pull: Her final attack sees Esther launch her lasso and pull a big cactus across either the top or bottom half of the screen.
This phase is a lot to manage at once. While each attack is individually easy to dodge, they will often happen at the same time, which can be overwhelming. To alleviate this, always try to kill the flying cows before they reach the left side of the screen. Doing so ensures that no spike projectiles are fired and you can focus on avoiding the other attacks. You’ll also want to keep an eye on Esther so you can quickly dodge out of the way if she pulls a cactus across the screen. Try to not be at the very bottom or top of the screen, as this makes dodging the cactus close to impossible if she launches this move.
As for the dynamite, the move is pretty easy to fly around so long as you remember it launches two waves of shrapnel, not one. You can go to the bottom left corner of the screen before it detonates to safely miss everything it sends at you. Alternatively, you can just minimize your plane’s size to easily fly between between the projectiles. So long as you keep to the middle of the screen and preemptively destroy the flying horses you should have no problem knocking Esther into the second phase.
Phase Two
Attacks
- The Big Suck: Esther will use a vacuum to suck in a bunch of coins, bags of money, and wads of cash towards the right side of the screen. None of these can be destroyed, so you’ll need to dodge.
- Make It Raid: In the follow-up to her vacuum attack, Esther rains safes down from the sky which explode and launch money everywhere. Some of these can be parried.
Compared to the first phase, the second phase is actually pretty simple. Esther only has two attacks and they will always go in the same order, which makes her really predictable. Because of this, you can use this phase as a way to parry money and build up extra hearts if you have the Heart Ring charm equipped. The money is fairly easy to dodge and you can always minimize your plane to quickly move around any of the projectiles. I really recommend saving your Super for the next phase because it can be brutal and you’ll want to finish it as quickly as possible.
Phase Three
- Bean Cans: Bean cans will fly horizontally across the screen and launch a vertical line of beans depending on which way the can is open. You will need to fly around these and they cannot be destroyed.
- Steaks: Esther will occasionally fire steaks that spin in a clockwise rotation from right to left across the screen. Occasionally these steaks can be parried, which makes them easy to deal with.
Esther’s third phase can be pretty annoying since the constant barrage of bean cans are tricky to dodge at times due to their speed. Where they appear is entirely random, which means there’s no safe spot to just fly and avoid all of this fearsome food. I found just staying towards either the top or bottom half of the screen helps reduce the number of objects you need to dodge. Your biggest problem will be the steaks since their clockwise rotation can be tricky to fly around when dodging cans of beans.
If you do have a Super, I strongly recommend using it when this boss is transitioning from phase two to three. Not only will this guarantee a hit, but drastically reduce the amount of time you need to spend in this section. Bombs are pretty much useless in this battle, so stick with just peppering the boss with machine-gun fire until she transforms. Once you start dodging projectiles I do suggest holding off on using any of your missiles or an additional Super as there’s a good chance one of the bean cans will soak up all of the damage.
Phase Four
- Snapping Sausages: Once Esther turns into a can of sausages, she will launch a chain of them out in a V formation. These will take up the entire top and bottom half of the screen before converging in the middle. To dodge this, you need to fly in the gaps where there are no sausages.
- Spice Blast: The other attack in this phase is just Esther firing out a volley of small ingredients in a crescent moon formation toward you.
Compared to phases one and three, this one is pretty simple. A lot of this just making use of your mini-form to quickly zip between the gaps before you’re hit. While it’s tempting to just try and damage the boss as much as possible regardless of the damage you take, I recommend just being a bit patient. Esther’s final attacks are remarkably easy to avoid if you are watching them and not caught up on shooting her. If anything, just hold down the fire button and focus solely on maneuvering around the two different attacks. Remember, you can parry some of the ingredients launched at you, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to hit them. Only attempt a parry if it’s coming towards you, otherwise, you may move out of position to dodge the sausages.
While Esther may take a few tries to defeat, once you learn her attack patterns you’ll be flying circles around her!
