Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course – How to Beat the Howling Aces

The bosses of Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course will test your mettle considerably, even if you’ve already bested every boss and level from the base game. Among the absolute toughest of the bunch in this run and gun DLC is the considerable airborne challenge of the Howling Aces.

Other Cuphead The Delicious Last Course Guides:

How to Get All Coins – How to Find the Secret Boss – How to Defeat Glumstone the Giant – How to Beat the Moonshine Mob – How to Beat Esther Winchester

How to Defeat the Howling Aces in Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course

1st Phase

To begin with, this battle can get pretty frenetic, so you may want to opt for the homing shot here. In any case, for the first phase, watch out for the four dogs who pop out of the wings and throw three tennis balls each time they do. Meanwhile, the pilot will either launch a skull and cross bones at three different intervals across the screen for you to dodge or come to the bottom and launch three balls of yarn you will have to duck to avoid. There will also be the occasional fire hydrant missiles, which can be destroyed before they reach you.

2nd Phase

Next comes the second and easiest phase. The four dogs from earlier float around you in a clockwise fashion sending letters your way that spell “bow-wow,” some of which can be parried for an easy special build-up. They will succumb to your shots quickly, paving the way for the third and final stage of this Cuphead boss.

3rd Phase

This last bit is especially tough. Any top and bottom sections will send machinery out the sides of the screen to blast you with laser beams. The pink one on the bottom can be parried, while the others must be avoided with well-timed jumps. Watch for the aiming trajectory as they prepare to fire to successfully evade them.

The other part of this final challenge is the left and right sections, which see you dodging yellow and red dog dishes. The yellow ones will always go above you, while the red ones will always go below you. This is particularly tricky, so we advise changing the alt controls for this fight to B, which is far more intuitive for the hectic assault. It’s tough, but follow these tips, and you’ll be done with these dogs in no time.