How To Beat Cuphead’s King Dice Boss The Easy Way [Guide]

StudioMDHR’s Cuphead, while an absolute delight for players who enjoy a challenge, most certainly isn’t for the faint of heart. Many may have flocked to the indie title for its vintage art style, but only the most ardent (or stubborn) would dare to see it through to the end. The worst thing, though, would be to get through all of the gruelling boss battles of the first three areas only to find your progress hampered by the Big Bad’s doorman.

We are, of course, talking about the penultimate boss and the Devil’s right-hand man, King Dice. While not definitively the hardest boss battle in the game, it does have the potential to be the longest and most unforgiving of the lot. Players must choose at least three of the nine different mini-bosses in King Dice’s arsenal before facing the dealer himself. Apart from the fact that there are a ton of things that could go wrong along the way, said final phase is no cakewalk either, with parrying appearing to be an essential part of the sequence at first glance.

Safe to say, if you aren’t comfortable with parrying by this point in the game, you’re going to have trouble in the final phase. Good news is there is an easier route through the mini-bosses and a way to avoid having to parry King Dice’s playing cards altogether.

Video Guide

Recommended Weapons, Charm & Super

For the strategy that we will be discussing here, which we believe should prove to be the easiest for most play styles, we suggest the following gear.

Shot A: Charge

Charge is by far the best choice for two of the three mini-bosses we are going to be fighting and King Dice himself. It allows you to deal maximum damage in the least amount of hits – invaluable when you have limited opportunities to attack.

Shot B: Chaser or Spread

The Chaser might be a better choice for our first choice of mini-boss, though the Spread may allow you to deal a little more damage to King Dice in the final phase. You could rely solely on Charge for the latter, however.

Charm: Smoke Bomb

The Smoke Bomb should make our first and last mini-bosses of choice an absolute breeze.

Super: Energy Beam

In the fight with King Dice himself, the Energy Beam will allow you to stay in the air while dealing damage to the boss as the cards he spawns march across the screen below you.

The Easiest Casino Mini-Bosses

None of King Dice’s minions pose an insurmountable challenge; you can get through most battles either completely unscarred or with just one less health point. One less HP per battle could cost you dearly during the last phase, however. As we mentioned earlier, you have to beat a minimum of three mini-bosses to get to the final phase, and you need to choose the three that you are most comfortable with, regardless of where the HP powerups land. In our experience, the following casino bosses pose the lowest risk and require the least focus.

  1. Tipsy Troop
  2. Chips Bettegan
  3. Mr Wheezy
  4. Pip and Dot
  5. Hopus Pocus
  6. Phear Lap
  7. Pirouletta
  8. Mangosteen
  9. Mr. Chimes

Chips Bettegan (Second from Left)

The only way this stack of poker chips could cause you problems is if you go in to fight it without the Smoke Bomb Charm and fall foul of RNG. With Smoke Bomb and Chaser, the fight should be a breeze. Some tips:

  • At the beginning of the fight, and every time the boss switches sides, you should have enough time to hit his blue head with two maximum-damage Charge shots.
  • Switch to the Chaser while dodging chips.
  • Don’t risk jumping over chips if you have Smoke Bomb equipped. Simply dash to avoid them completely.

Phear Lap (Sixth from Left)

Your biggest enemy in this airborne battle is the arena itself. Every now and then, your view is going to be obstructed, by the silhouette of tree speeding by in the foreground. It may be only for a split second but that distraction is at times enough to trigger a mistake, which is why we’d suggest expending your super meter here to avoid dragging out the fight. Also:

  • Watch out for the blue riders that appear at the bottom of the screen. Keep one finger on the dash button whenever you see one.
  • Use your super meter as soon as it is full. Use a couple more cards to get the fight over with if needed. You should easily be able to refill the meter before the final battle with King Dice.
  • Try to move close to the boss and wail away at him with the high-damage alternative weapon, whenever the gift box flies past the middle of the screen.
  • Keep shooting the boss even after the fight is over to rack up some extra super meter.

Mangosteen (Eighth from Left)

This floating 8-ball is probably the easiest of the nine casino bosses. If you plan your movements right, you may never need to dash at all, though we still recommend having the Smoke Bomb equipped just in case. Some tips:

  • Stay close to the middle of the screen. Do not move to the edges.
  • No need to use your super meter on this boss. Simply use Charge to deal massive damage whenever you aren’t dodging. 12-13 fully charged shots are all you need to finish this fight.

How To Time Your Dice Parries Right

Now that you have chosen the three casino bosses that you’ll be fighting, you need to make sure that you can land the right dice throws to get to them. The technique that worked best for us was to stand directly below the dice, jump when the dice is at the number before the one that we want to hit, and parry right as it rolls to the desired number. For example, if you want to move 3 places and the dice is rolling from 1 to 2 and then to 3, jump when it rolls to 2, and parry right as 3 rolls around.

For the aforementioned route, you’ll need to land a 2, followed by a 2, 3, 3, 2, and finally, another 2 (or 3).

Can’t Parry Those Pesky Cards? No Problem!

Most players who managed to get through the first three areas of the game are more likely to have trouble with the final phase of the fight than any of King Dice’s minions, particularly if they aren’t comfortable with the game’s parry mechanic. The head honcho spawns a tight line of indestructible marching cards, with parrying being the only way the player can avoid being hit by them, or so it seems at first blush. Yes, there is a way you can avoid having to parry those pesky cards. Here’s how it works:

1. As soon as the battle starts, dash to one edge of the screen. If you’re lucky, you will find yourself behind King Dice’s arm and out of harm’s way. If not, it is best to use this opportunity to jump up close to his head, hit him with a charged shot, followed by the Energy Beam super. As you land, try your best to parry your way through the cards. If you get hit trying to parry, dash behind Dice’s arm.

2. If you were able to get behind his arm right at the beginning, use this opportunity to hit his head with an Energy Beam. Once that’s done, charge a shot and wait for him to lift his arm out of the way, then jump towards his head and let go of the shot before dashing to the opposite edge of the screen and behind the Dice’s arm once again.

Note that you do have time to hit him with two fully charged shots before he starts spawning cards again, but barely. If you mistime the first one, simply dash to the other edge instead of risking another shot.

3. Rinse and repeat, jumping up close to his head and hitting him with a super whenever you rack up a card. Don’t squander the short attack windows that you get, though, as the boss can, at times, spawn cards from the same edge of the screen twice in a row, which is why you should ideally have at least three health points saved for this phase.

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Sameed Khan

I write, game, design at times, and revel in sarcasm. You can find me on Twitter.