Cuphead: How to Beat Grim Matchstick (Fiery Frolic)

How to Beat Grim Matchstick in Cuphead

Grim Matchstick is a fierce dragon that you’ll have to face off against in the Cuphead mission Fiery Frolic. This is one of those moving levels, so be prepared to have both your combat and platforming skills tested. Each phase offers a different challenge for players to overcome, and they’re each pretty easy to mess up, but we got you covered with a walkthrough of each of the three phases that await you.

One thing to note is that you can stay relatively close to the boss during Fiery Frolic. Because of this, two powerful weapons that you may want to bring are Lobber (deal decent damage but slow rate of fire) and Spread (deals massive damage with a high rate of fire, but short range).

Just a Normal, Beam-Shooting Dragon – How to Beat Grim Matchstick

Okay, so maybe a dragon that shoots beams and orbs isn’t exactly normal (going off of fantasy we’ve read in the past at least). But that’s what you’re dealing with for this first phase. You’ll have to hop from cloud to cloud avoiding the circular beams (while also trying to parry slap the last circle to build your super). During this whole time, just keep shooting the dragon while avoiding the attacks. Do enough damage and the attacks will switch to these flaming orbs that move up and down the screen. You can actually touch the trails these orbs leave behind (even though they look deadly). Also keep an eye on the bottom of the screen for Grim’s tail, which will shoot straight up and try to stab Cuphead. Just avoid these basic attacks while shooting to trigger the next phase.

March of the Flames – How to Beat Grim Matchstick

Phase two will see Grim take over the left side of the screen in a crouched position. The only attack directly from the dragon you need to be wary of is the fire coming from its nose. It’s easily avoided by just never being over the nose. The big threat is the little flame soldiers that march along the bottom of the screen. Every now and then one of them will jump up at you (this is always preceded by a high-pitched grunt). When you hear that sound, be prepared to dodge. Other than that, just keep peppering Grim with shots until it shifts to the final phase.

Three Headed Dragon – How to Beat Grim Matchstick

While you’ve probably grown accustomed to simply holding down the shoot button in Cuphead, you won’t want to do that for this section of this particular boss fight. Still on the left side of the screen, Grim will now have three heads that fire these bubbles filled with flame at you. If you dodge them, they leave the screen and you don’t need to worry about them. If you shoot them, however, they burst and send fire flying up, down, left, and right, making it a lot more difficult to navigate the clouds that serve as your platforms. So, you know, don’t shoot those things. Also, every now and then, the middle head will send a stream of fire across the screen, so keep to the top to avoid it. Other than that, continue to shoot Grim until it falls. It will take some getting used to the act of not shooting when those orbs are around, but once you do, victory will be well within reach.

For more on Cuphead, be sure to check out our wiki.