Cult of the Lamb No Damage Bishops

If you want to learn how to defeat bishops without taking damage in Cult of the Lamb, check out our guide.

Contents

No Damage Bishops in Cult of the Lamb

Are you trying to defeat all four elephants without taking damage for a 100% success status? This guide will help you.

Fleeces

I’ve seperated this into cloaks available both during the main story and afterwards, offering a couple of suggestions for each so that you might consider trying them out! This might also be useful to take note of prior to attempting the achievements as you need to save up Holy Talismans to buy them.

Available During Main Story

Fleece of the Fates

Grants 4 random Tarot Cards at the start of a run. All Tarot Card pickups disabled.
(personal choice)
Whilst it may not appear to have as many immediate stat boosts or benefits compared to other cloaks, for achievement-farming and efficiency, this cloak is incredibly useful for jumping straight into a run without needing to spend time gathering tarots along the way.
Whilst it is largely dependent on luck, since the cards are drawn at the start of the run you can easily teleport back to camp from the opening room if you do not like the buffs provided. Once you do have a good draw, you can make your way through the first dungeon as usual and immediately proceed to the bishop via the statue portal at the start of the next room. This saves a lot of time running around looking for tarot cards in preparation for a fight that you might be replaying a lot to get perfect.

Golden Fleece

+5% damage per kill, but stack is lost on taking damage. All incoming damage is doubled.
(comparable to the Fleece of the Berserker)
This seems a very popular cloak for the achievements, and understandably so, as you’re required to complete a full dungeon before attempting a bishop fight you’re sure to rack up some lesser enemy kills, the only downside being that this buff is lost the moment you take damage. Ultimately, if well executed this can do a lot of damage and serve you incredibly well, however also demands flawless execution to maximise the potential, and it could feel a waste of time to complete a whole dungeon and rack up a good score, only to be unfortunately hit in the last room and lose your combo before entering the boss encounter.

Fleece of the Glass Cannon

Curses deal +100% damage and cost -50% fervour.
(comparable to the Fleece of a Cursed Crusade)
Another popular option, as having a more curse-centred build can allow you to keep more of a distance from the bishop and focus on dodging attacks. Heavily dependent on which curse you draw at the start of the run (and if you’re lucky, potentially redrawing later) though, see my section on recommended curses.

Available Postgame

Fleece of a Cursed Crusade

Receive four Curse related Tarot Cards at the start of the run. Weapons are disabled.
(personal general choice – also great for purgatory!)
This is possibly my favourite cloak, when I first unlocked it I was stunned at how overpowered it felt! It certainly isn’t perfect, and you’ll see below how I ultimately used another cloak vs Shamura, but nonetheless with a little good luck you can pull off some flawless runs.
The description doesn’t seem too impressive at first glance, it fails to specify much about those “four Curse related Tarot Cards”, which are not random, and 3 of which are holographic (have a + modifier);

Strength from Within+: Fervour will slowly replenish over time. 1.5s cooldown.
Fervour’s Host: Fervour replenishes fully when entering a new combat room.
Fervour’s Harvest+: Enemies drop 3x more Fervour
Divine Curse+: Curses consume 50% less Fervour

On top of this, due to the lack of weapons whatsoever, you get a choice of two curses in the starting room, saving time on re-rolling the spawns for good curses.
All things combined, if you know which curses to look out for and how to use them, this can create a really powerful (and really fun to use) kit.
(Not entirely related to this guide, but I also want to note that this is great for Dungeon Gauntlet purgatory runs, as the trail of dungeons allows you many opportunities to encounter new and better curses and have a very strong kit by the latter end of the run, I was able to complete the Slayer of Souls achievement incredibly easily with this cloak.)

Fleece of the Berserker

Deal 10x weapon damage. Only half a heart. Cannot resurrect.
(personal choice vs Shamura)
As mentioned prior, perhaps I was unlucky, but I had an especially hard time against Shamura, the fourth bishop. Switching to this cloak ultimately got me the achievement, as I was previously using a curse-based strategy but found that generating fervour was especially difficult in their fight.
This cloak offers insane damage from your weapon, especially on a hammer or axe, which can take a boss down in only a couple hits. Of course, you’re going for a hitless run of the bishops, so only having half a heart isn’t music of a problem, however you also need to make it through the entire dungeon prior to the bishop without getting hit, essentially demanding a flawless run, which can be difficult in the first few rooms when you haven’t yet collected any additional buffs.

Curses

Many of the above cloaks rely heavily on a curse-centric build, so to accompany I think it’s really important to recognise which curses are going to help you the most in your run! Whilst there are certainly additional curses that can also work, there are also some curses that are really not worth your time (*cough* anything to do with possession because the mechanic straight up doesn’t work properly as of writing this *cough*).
The curses listed here are my absolute top 3 recommendations but I encourage you to play around and see what you like the feel of!

Divine Guardian

2 seconds of invincibility. Deflects projectiles, causing damage.
(my absolute beloved ♡)
When combined with the Fleece of a Cursed Crusade I’m pretty sure it’s possible to be non-stop invincible if you get the timing right… Even without perfect timing however, you’ll still be able to maintain invincibility for the majority of the fight, as well as being able to deflect projectiles which can do a lot of damage to the boss if you’re lucky! I’m not sure what else to say about this curse other than it kinda makes you feel like a god, the only potential downside is that the damage output isn’t huge on it’s own, but as long as you’re continually popping invincibility it doesn’t really matter if you’re only doing chip damage because it’s not like you’re struggling to stay alive. Also, as mentioned, it really does work best with the Fleece of a Cursed Crusade because only with this fleece are you guaranteed to receive tarot cards that reduce fervour consumption and allow you to trigger it so constantly.

Hounds of Fate

Shoots multiple projectiles that seek out enemies.
(amazing with Fleece of the Glass Cannon)
A very popular choice for good reason! These bullets do crazy good damage considering you don’t even need to aim or charge them at all (literally, do not waste your time trying because it makes no difference). Firing multiple projectiles stacks the damage too so you can do the equivalent of Cleansing Fire x5 without batting an eyelid. Due to how easy it is to use it allows you to focus on dodging boss attacks and hopefully take them out very fast!

Touch of the Revenant

Tears open the earth to release a horde of ghosts that target nearby enemies.
(personal second choice)
If I don’t get lucky enough to encounter the other two curses here, this is a close runner up. Similarly to Hounds of Fate it allows for really decent damage with very little effort; whilst the initial attack does minimal damage the ghosts will hone in on and do much more significant damage to enemies, especially single targets. The only downside I have noticed is that they seem to have limited range and will not always reach your target if not placed well, but for boss encounters this shouldn’t typically be an issue since the bosses are large enough that their hitboxes can be reached from most places in the room.

Relics

Whilst encountering any of these is entirely down to chance, there are a few types of relics that I recommend above others if faced with a decision between them (since you can only hold one relic at a time).

Shamura’s Skull

Gain 8 seconds of invincibility.
This is the real deal! If you encounter this on your run I highly recommend grabbing it. Anything that grants invincibility is perfect for this challenge, as the requirement is ultimately to complete the fight without taking damage, not without being hit. I was lucky enough to encounter this on a run whilst wearing the Fleece of the Berserker, 8 seconds allowing me more than enough time to take out Shamura in just a few hits! Even with lower damage output, however, this can still prove incredibly useful to help tide you over and allow you to dodge significant sequences of attacks. It already has an average charge speed instead of a slow one, and if you are constantly attacking whilst it’s active you can easily build up the charge again; combined with the Consecrated Oil Tarot Card you can comfortably avoid most if not all attacks.

Seal of the Bishops

Freezes time for a short duration.
Similar impact to invincibility in that it grants you time to focus on damage output without worrying about getting hit, although lasts much shorter and must be timed right so that the bishop is actually damage-able when frozen (aka not in the air/mid-jump lol).

Clauneck’s Shoe

Fire three projectiles for each equipped Tarot Card. If you have no Tarot Cards, fire two projectiles.
Tarot-based damage is great in combination with the Fleece of Fates or Fleece of a Cursed Crusade, as you immediately start the run with 4 cards and will likely encounter a few more, with the potential to accumulate a large amount and thus, trigger a large amount of damage. Also good for crowd control when bosses spawn minions.

honourable mentions

*Eye of Leshy/All Eyes of the Lost Relics/Exorcist’s Finger/Kallamar’s Ear

Summon various minions.
If you have no other active relics I would always recommend grabbing these and activating them immediately, as the minions will follow you throughout the run and if you’re lucky you can end up with quite the army following you, helping with passive damage output.
(Warracka’s Right Fist also allows for minions to be summoned, however is not fragile and requires a bit of setup to reap rewards from; meaning it’ll potentially take up a valuable relic slot and is not worth holding on to for long if you encounter other/better relics)

Tarot Cards

Due to the large pool of cards available, as well as the likelihood that you’ll pick up multiple in your run, I won’t be highlighting many specifics here as you can often use common sense/personal preference to make good decisions here.

Nonetheless, some points to be made;

Gain hearts/health – not beneficial for no-damage runs
”On hit” buffs (e.g. Death’s Door, Retribution) – not beneficial for no-damage runs
Damage avoidant (e.g. Shield of Faith, The Intangible) – gives you that extra chance to pass the challenge, the last thing you want is to have an almost flawless run and snag yourself on an environmental trap or surprise attack at the last second
Rolling effects (e.g. Blazing Trail, The Bomb) – useful for crowd control, allowing you to damage enemies when dodging
Fervour increase (e.g. Fervour’s Harvest, Divine Curse) – (received by default if wearing Fleece of a Cursed Crusade) Highly recommended for a curse-based approach, especially with Fleece of the Glass Cannon since it does not receive these buffs by default.
Damage increase (e.g. Ambrosia, All Seeing Sun) – type of damage should be noted based on playstyle (don’t choose weapon damage buffs if using Fleece of a Cursed Crusade, this also includes critical hit buffs), but generally always a good boost.
Consecrated Oil– very good if paired with a useful relic such as Shamura’s Skull
Godly Moment – NOT useful against bishops as the effect is triggered on entering the room and will wear off before combat begins

Note that, even if dealt a bad set of cards, it is still better to have more cards than less due to relics such as Clauneck’s Shoe that scale off of the number held. I highly recommend spending the little extra each run to draw an additional card from Clauneck whenever you are able.

Weapons

It’s difficult to recommend specific weapons, as much of the choice is simply down to personal playstyle and preference, however there are a few notes that can be made about different specifics.

An overview of different weapon modifiers;

Vampiric/Standard – The vampiric ability is not beneficial to these runs since healing ideally won’t be necessary if you don’t get hit! Therefore they are about equal value to standard weapons.
Necromantic/Bane – Necromantic requires you killing minions to be useful in a bishop fight to benefit off of the modifier, and poison does a small amount of chip damage, with not even any guarantee that it’ll trigger. Overall better than nothing but not the best.
Zealous (if in postgame) – Whilst seemingly not useful within the run itself, if used in postgame the additional divine inspiration can help you gather God Tears faster, allowing you to unlock more of the cloaks mentioned above.
Merciless/Godly – More damage! Simple as!

Heavy attacks are also worth considering, especially when granted additional time or protection with curses or relics, a well placed heavy attack can help make a bigger dent in the bishop if you can afford it! Do note that some heavy attacks, such as daggers and axes, are also ranged, whilst others require close combat.

Overall, there are quite a few choices to complete this task and hopefully this guide could provide a lot of useful information in one place for you to refer to! Each boss, of course, comes with their own different attacks and movements, as well as there being some additional variation in the room depending on if you’re playing during the main story or postgame.