Floral Fury is a level on Inkwell Isle One, where the fight with Cagney Carnation takes place. It is represented on the map by a flower patch. While this level is normally unlocked after completing Threatenin' Zeppelin, it is possible to access it earlier by taking a shortcut below the bridge on the left of Ruse of an Ooze.
The level is set in the middle of a plains area, with flower bushes in the background as well as a large tree on the right. This fight has either one or two phases (depending on difficulty). However, the first phase is split into three, with each phase changing his attack patterns. In the first phase, the player(s) simply fight(s) Cagney in his normal state. The second phase is where you fight a stronger version of Cagney, with vines on the bottom of the level. This is the first boss level to feature platforms for the player(s) step on.
This is the hardest fight on Inkwell Isle I and most likely to be the last one unlocked, being, along with Threatenin' Zeppelin, the fight where the boss starts to pose a more significant threat, being able to utilize multiple attacks at once that are difficult to dodge and come in multiple directions, along with the ability to summon weaker minions for help. As such, it is recommended that every other boss on the isle is beaten before this one to help prepare for the larger challenge of this fight.
The weapons recommended for this fight are Spread and Roundabout. The large range of the Spread weapon will help to deal with the Baby Toothy Terrors and damage Cagney when close by, while the Roundabout will help when needing to move left away from Cagney.
You should also use Super Art I (as it is very easy to hit Cagney horizontally) and P-Sugar (as the pink objects often come from the top of the screen and are difficult to parry in time).
Parry the pink seeds whenever possible, as the floating Baby Toothy Terrors can be stressful to deal with, especially if they linger into the last phase, and parrying their seeds will prevent them from spawning.
What you also need to know is that he will only take damage if you hit him in the head.
Battle
"Fools who attempt to fight this will leave with allergic rhinitis!" —Cagney Carnation, Phase 1 Death Screen
Before the battle begins, Cagney Carnation will appear to be happy and friendly, with a big smile on his face, until he furiously shouts at the player(s) with his tongue out, revealing his true nature. For the rest of the battle, Cagney will have an evil smile on his face.
The first section of the battle is split into three phases. For the first phases, Cagney will only be able to use his lunging and gun attacks. From the second phase onward, Cagney will be able to shoot objects out at the player(s). When nearing the third phase onward, Cagney may randomly shoot objects three times in a row instead of two.
Cagney has two attacks during the first phase:
Cagney lunges his face forward to hurt Cuphead and Mugman. He can either lunge on the top of the screen or on the bottom of the screen, and he will either crouch down or stand up while closing his petals to indicate where he will lunge. To dodge this, simply get on or off the floating platforms. His face can still be damaged during this attack, giving the player(s) an easy opening to fire at him while he has a larger hitbox.
Cagney turns his head into a Gatling gun and starts shooting out little seeds. These seeds will fall out of the sky, and when they hit the ground, create a plant (called Baby Toothy Terrors). There are three types of Baby Toothy Terrors:
Purple seeds create stationary Baby Toothy Terrors. These enemies will stay in place on the ground, and are easily destroyed after a few hits. They appear to be smaller versions of Toothy Terrors from Forest Follies, hence their name. In Simple Mode, these are the only kind of seeds that Cagney will shoot out in the first damage threshold, though the animation when firing shows purple and blue seeds. In the second damage threshold Cagney will start shooting blue and pink seeds.
Blue seeds create moving Baby Toothy Terrors. The place they will is indicated by vines growing straight up out of the ground above the floating platforms, with the Baby Toothy Terrors spawning at a bud at the end. These enemies are green, and they slowly home in on the player(s). They can also be destroyed by a few hits.
Pink seeds create floating Baby Toothy Terrors. These enemies are orange and have green leaves (much like Cagney), and also spawn from vines with buds. They fly to the top of the screen and move horizontally across, making it more difficult to jump over attacks on the floating platforms. Once in a while, these enemies open up to reveal mouths and shoot out pink, parryable seeds, during which they are vulnerable and can be destroyed. Even though they can be shot and destroyed, it is recommended to parry their seeds before they land, as they can be stressful to deal with and it will prevent them from spawning, in addition to filling up your super meter.
From the second damage threshold onward, Cagney will gain another attack:
Cagney cups his hands together, then opens them and shoots out a random object. During the second section, he will shoot out two things in a row, but when nearing the third section onward, he may randomly shoot out three things in a row instead. One of two things can be shot out:
Three or four acorns. These acorns will stay in place for a little moment while spinning, then home in on the player one at a time, allowing each one to go in a different direction. Fortunately, they move slowly and in a straight line, but the fact that they fire one at a time requires that the player dodge each of them individually.
A sycamore seed boomerang. This boomerang will first fly over the platforms and go off-screen before returning below the platforms from the left side. You can either jump over it or crouch under it.
Once Cagney has taken enough damage, he'll pull on his petals, then stick his arms into the ground, beginning Phase 2. Cagney becomes bigger, and his arms grow into thorny vines on the ground, limiting movement to the three floating platforms. In Simple Mode, the fight ends here before Cagney transforms, with him simply pulling on his petals.
"Extreme pollination and total domination!" —Cagney Carnation, Final Phase Death Screen
In this phase, Cagney Carnation becomes bigger and appears more evil. There are now thorny vines at the bottom, limiting movement to the floating platforms.
During this phase, Cagney does two things simultaneously:
Cagney shoots pollen balls from his mouth. These pollen balls will go up and down, and the player(s) must jump over them. Some of the pollen balls will be pink and parryable, and it is recommended to parry all of the parryable pollen balls. In the 1.1.3 update onward, the screen will appear blurry for a few seconds if a player is hit by a pollen ball.
Cagney wraps his vines from the ground onto the platform. The vines will first wrap onto the bottom of the platform as an indication of the attack, and after a short while they continue wrapping upward into a sharp spiral. Any player(s) on the platform must jump off and find a new platform to avoid getting hit. Two platforms can be "claimed" at once, necessitating that the player(s) find the free platform. Additionally, since the timing and placement of the vines is random, it is sometimes necessary that the player(s) dash over the vines on the center platform to reach a side platform due to the other side also being wrapped in vines.
It is recommended to use the Roundabout, as the player(s) will be constantly turning around to jump between platforms.
Once Cagney has taken enough damage, he will be knocked out. Cagney will be eyeless with his head turned up, a sad expression and his tongue out, along with appearing "deflated" and wiggling around, likely in a futile attempt to move. In this knockout animation, it is shown that Cagney is hollow, because his other eye socket is visible inside of his head.
In Studio MDHR's patch notes for the 1.1.3 update, the screen blurring when a player is hit by a pollen ball is noted as "Touch fuzzy, get a little dizzy", referencing the level "Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy" from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.
This title of level is reference of Fatal Fury.
Interestingly, Cagney grows legs when he uses his magic hands attack.
He sounds like he’s saying “Oh, My” when he is using this attack.
