Inkwell Isle One is where a Cuphead run begins, and it holds exactly 5 boss fights: Goopy Le Grande, The Root Pack, Ribby and Croaks, Hilda Berg, and Cagney Carnation. The four bosses with a cached HP total 6335 regular-mode health (Ribby and Croaks has no cached HP), but the difficulty curve is deliberately gentle at the start — Goopy Le Grande opens the isle at just 1200 regular HP while Hilda Berg closes it at 2600 regular HP over a punishing 6 phases. Every number below is pulled straight from cuphead-bosses.json.
Goopy Le Grande — your first 1200 HP
Goopy Le Grande is the tutorial boss of Inkwell Isle One, fought in Ruse Of An Ooze. His hitpoints field reads 1000 / 1200 / 1400 (Simple / Regular / Expert) across 3 phases. His moveset is small — Bouncing, Punch, and Grave slam — and his only parryable object is the Question Marks he spawns. Because his phase count is only 3 and his attacks are telegraphed, he is the safest place to learn the roll-and-shoot rhythm.
The Root Pack — a four-part 1235 HP puzzle
The Root Pack is the botanic boss of Botanic Panic! and is really four vegetables fought across 3 phases. The cached component HP values are:
| Component | Phases | Regular HP |
|---|---|---|
| Sal Spudder | 3 | 360 |
| Ollie Bulb | 2 | 425 |
| Chauncey Chantenay | 3 | 475 |
| Horace Radiche | 2 | 260 |
| Total | 3 | 1235 |
Their moveset includes Dirt Ball, Tears, Homing Carrots, Psychic Beams, and Spinning Around. The parryable objects are Worms (from Sal Spudder) and Tears (from Ollie Bulb). Learn to clear the lowest-HP vegetable first — Horace Radiche at 260 regular — to thin the pressure.
Ribby and Croaks — the slot-machine finisher
Ribby and Croaks headline Clip Joint Calamity over 3 phases. The cache does not store a single HP total for them, but their moveset is documented: Throwin’ Punches, Bouncy Balls, Frog Fan, Fiery Firefly, and the Loaded Coins slot-machine attacks (Tiger Trouble, Snake Eyes, Bison Burner). Ribby’s Punches are parryable; the Slot Machine Lever is not counted toward parry requirements. Their phase-three slot machine is the fight’s hardest swing, so hold a super for it.
Hilda Berg — the 6-phase wall at 2600 HP
Hilda Berg is the isle’s hardest fight, in Threatenin’ Zeppelin, with 2200 / 2600 / 3000 HP across 6 phases — the most phases of any base-game boss. Her moveset cycles through HA, Tornado breathe, Storm-Caster (Bull Charge as Taurus, Twin Fire as Gemini, Scatter Arrow as Sagittarius), Summon UFO, and Spawn Star. Her parryable objects are Zeppeling Bullets and Stars. The boss wiki notes, “her Zodiac transformations in phases two and four punish players who only watch her body and not the background.” Plan your dodges around the phase changes, not just her blimp.
Cagney Carnation — a tight 2-phase close
Cagney Carnation ends the isle in Floral Fury with 1000 / 1300 / 1500 HP over just 2 phases — the fewest of the five. His moveset is Gatling Seed Plant, Lunge Lurk, Magic Hands, Thorn Roots, and Pollen Toss. Seeds and Dandelions are parryable. Because he has only 2 phases, the fight is about sustained accuracy more than endurance.
How the isle teaches you
The five fights scale in phases from Goopy’s 3, through The Root Pack’s 3, Ribby’s 3, up to Hilda Berg’s 6, then drop to Cagney’s 2. That shape teaches you to expect pattern resets, then rewards mastery with a short finale. The shopkeeper Porkrind sits between fights, and Cuphead and Mugman both start with only 3 HP per the character cache, so every dodge matters. On Simple Mode the four cached bosses drop to 1000 / 900 / 2200 / 1000 regular-ish totals (Ribby and Croaks is not cached), which is why new players are pointed there first.
Phase and HP at a glance
| Boss | Phases | Simple | Regular | Expert |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goopy Le Grande | 3 | 1000 | 1200 | 1400 |
| The Root Pack (total) | 3 | 900 | 1235 | 1300 |
| Ribby and Croaks | 3 | — | not cached | — |
| Hilda Berg | 6 | 2200 | 2600 | 3000 |
| Cagney Carnation | 2 | 1000 | 1300 | 1500 |
The takeaway is that endurance is not the main skill on Isle One until Hilda Berg. Four of the five bosses sit at or below 1300 regular HP, and only Hilda Berg demands a long, phase-aware plan. Spend your early coins at Porkrind’s shop on a weapon you can aim consistently, because the isle’s later patterns reward steady fire over burst.
Where to practice the roll
Goopy Le Grande is the best place to drill the dodge-roll, since his 3 phases repeat the same three moves. Once you can avoid his Punch and Grave slam without taking a hit, the rest of the isle becomes readable. The Root Pack then teaches multi-target prioritisation — kill Horace Radiche’s 260 HP first — and Ribby and Croaks teach phase-three burst awareness through the slot machine. By the time Hilda Berg’s 6 phases arrive, you should already be comfortable reading tells.
- See the boss roster guide for the full 41-fight HP table.
- Move on to the Isle Two guide once Hilda Berg falls.
- The parry guide explains which objects on these five bosses are parryable.
- The expert mode guide shows how Isle One HP jumps on Expert.
- New to the game? The beginner guide frames these five as your training arc.
- The common mistakes guide covers the errors players make on Hilda Berg’s phases.