Castle Crashers – Campaign level skipping and skull/characters unlock

Introduction

 
Maybe you have heard this workaround somewhere on the web, many players already know it: it is possible to beat the Castle Crashers campaign mode skipping some of the regular levels. This procedure is known as level skipping and makes it possible to beat the game faster, also getting the silver/gold skull and unlocking the extra characters (when done right). 
 
There are a lot of good guides for level skipping out there. However, they’re not always consistent and there are a few differences between the guides themselves. The result is that many players end up having issues: the campaign levels stay locked, the player does not get the silver/gold skull, the extra characters are missing. I had such problems myself, so I decided to make this guide for all the players who are having a hard time with level skipping and had no luck with the other guides. I hope it helps! 
 
I wrote the guide using a verbose style because I wanted to be as clear as possible. I suggest you read the whole guide from the start, but there’s a Summing things up section with the essential points for the TL;DR guys. 
 
 

Requirements

 
The procedure requires a party of two (or more) players, playing locally or online. At least one player must have all the levels already unlocked in its own campaign. 
 
For the guide purpose, I’ll occasionally call carrier the player with all the levels unlocked and followers the other players, but you can call them however you want (I’ll try to limit the use of these terms anyway). 
 
 

Level categories: checkpoint levels vs filler levels

 
First of all, there are two categories of levels in the Castle Crashers campaign: checkpointslevels and fillerlevels. 
 
When you complete acheckpointlevel, the next level is unlocked and the game saves the campaign progress(including the new level unlocked). So, if you exit the game session and start a new one, you can immediately play the latest level unlocked. For example, Barbarian Boss is a checkpoint level: if you beat it, Forest Entrance becomes available and you can start from there the next time you play the game. 
 
On the contrary, when you complete afillerlevel, the next level is unlocked but the game does not save the campaign progress. Therefore, if you exit the game session and start a new one, you cannot immediately play the latest level unlocked but you have to unlock it again, playing the previous level(s). For example, Barbarian War is a filler level: as soon as you beat it, Barbarian Boss becomes available on the map; however, if you exit the game session at this point and start a new one, Barbarian Boss will be locked and you have to beat Barbarian War again before proceeding. 
 
Please note that character progress is always saved as soon as it occurs (ex. leveling up or taking a new weapon). 
 
 

How level skipping works

 
Now, let’s talk about how level skipping works. As I said in the previous section, the game saves the campaign progress when you beat acheckpointlevel. When it happens, the game also registers all the intermediate filler levels as “beaten” and all these levels are unlocked on the map. Here comes the trick: when you complete two subsequentcheckpointlevels, the intermediatefillerlevels between them are registered as “beaten” even if you didn’t actually play them. For example, if you beat the checkpoint level Barbarian Boss then you beat the checkpoint level Thieves’ Forest, the intermediate filler level Forest Entrance will become permanently available and you can access it even if you exit the game session and start a new one. 
 
When you play the campaign with other players in coop, the campaign progress corresponds to the most “advanced” one between the players’ characters. In other words, if one character in the party has already unlocked all the campaign levels, they will be available for the whole party. In such a case, you just have to play (and beat) all thecheckpointlevels on the map, then all the levels will be unlocked for the solo campaign of every player in the party. If you do this the correct way, you can even get the silver/gold skull and unlock the extra characters at the end of the campaign, but we’ll cover this in another section. 
 
It should be noted that you need to beat thecheckpointlevels in the “campaign” order, that is the same order they are unlocked by playing normally. The ordered list of required levels is shown in the next section. 
 
 

List of checkpoint levels

 
This is the list of the checkpoint levels you need to beat, in order to skip levels successfully. I added some optional filler levels to the commonly suggested list (they’re the ones not in bold style), they are not required for skipping levels: 

• Blacksmith (optional) 
• Castle Keep 
• Barbarian Boss 
  • You may exit to the map after the boss chest is opened.
• Thieves’ Forest 
• Catfish 
  • You may exit to the map right after the death animation of the Catfish has started.
• Pipistrello’s Cave 
• Parade 
• Cyclops’ Fortress 
  • You may exit to the map after the boss chest is opened.
• Lava World 
  • You may exit to the map as soon as the cutscene of the Necromancer resurrecting the cyclops starts.
• Industrial Castle 
• Dock (optional) 
• Pirate Ship 
• Desert Chase 
• Sand Castle Roof 
  • You may exit to the map as soon as you acquire the map from the Saracen.
• Corn Boss 
  • You may exit to the map as soon as you acquire the horn from the Civilian.
• Medusa’s Lair 
• Full Moon (optional) 
• Ice Castle 
  • You may exit to the map right after the death animation of the Frost King has started.
• Final Battle 
  • You may exit to the map as soon as the credits song starts to play.

 
As I said, you just need to beat the checkpoint levels (in bold style), so you might wonder: why are there extra levels in the list? Well, let’s talk about them quickly: 

• Blacksmith becomes available after Castle Keep has been beaten. I usually go there to let the followers get the compa*s (but you don’t actually need the relics to skip levels). 
   
• Dock is a very short level before Pirate Ship. During my playthroughs, I had some problems with Pirate Ship not unlocking without beating Dock first, so I preferred to put it on the list and I suggest you go through it before going to Pirate Ship. 
   
• Full Moon is not usually considered as a checkpoint level, it is unlocked after Ice Castle has been beaten so you can technically skip it without issues. However, the typical “progress arrow” will be shown on this level if you don’t beat it, so I usually suggest beating Full Moon too in order to have a clean map (I mean, without arrows).

Skull/characters unlocking

 
The described procedure lets you skip levels and reach the end of the map, but it does not grant you the silver/gold skull or the possible extra characters. in fact, there are a few additional requirements for skull/character unlocking and I believe this is the reason why many players have issues with the common level skipping procedure (it was my case too). Don’t worry, they’re not too hard to fulfill: 

• You must beatFinal Bosstwice and in two different game sessions. You must close the game session after you beat it the first time, then start a new session and beat Final Boss again. 
   
• The second time you beatFinal Boss, thefollowersmust be alive before the boss dies. For some reason, if a player is dead before the very last hit to the boss, the game does not register the level as “beaten” for that player and there’s no skull/character unlocked.

 
Both these expedients are crucial, based on my experience. If you don’t fulfill both the requirements, you won’t get the skull/extra characters. 
 
 

Summing things up

 
If you’ve come this far reading the whole guide: thanks for the effort, I really appreciate it, I hope it was a clear and useful read! Alternatively, if you’ve skipped all the other sections: thanks anyway for your interest, I’ll try to be as concise as possible in this section. To skipping levels properly, follow these steps: 

• Create a local or online party of 2-4 players. At least one player must have all the campaign levels already unlocked. 
• Play the checkpoint levels listed in the List of checkpoint levels section, one by one in that order. 
• To get the silver/gold skull and unlock the extra characters, also fulfill the additional requirements described in the Skull/characters unlocking section.

 
That’s all, folks! 🐷 
 
 

Troubleshooting / Q&A

• Arerelicsand/ortoolsrequired forlevel skipping? 
  No, you don’t need them for level skipping. However, I suggest using a carrier who got all the relics and tools. 
   
• Do thefollowersneed to stay alive and reach the end of thecheckpointlevels? 
  No, the followers don’t need to actually reach the end of the checkpoint levels. Completing a level with at least one player alive (possibly, the carrier) is sufficient, the game will register the level as “beaten” for the whole party. However, exceptions apply in the case you want to get the silver/gold skull or unlock the extra characters, you can read the Skull/characters unlocking section and the Necromancer entry in the EXTRA: List of all characters section for further info. 
   
• What experience level should thefollowersbe for skipping campaign levels? 
  There’s no minimum level needed for the followers, you can reach the end of the game keeping your character at level 1. However, a strong carrier (level 50+) will make things a lot easier and faster. 
   
• Does the procedure work with a local party? 
  Yes, you can skip levels with a local party. Using a keyboard and three controllers, you can maximize the number of characters unlocked for every completed campaign (that’s 3 new characters per campaign). 
   
• I beatFinal Bossbut neither got the silver/gold skull nor unlocked the extra characters. 
  Maybe you didn’t fulfill the additional requirements for them. You can find the additional requirements in the Skull/character unlocking section of this guide. 
   
• I beatIndustrial Castlebut I didn’t unlock theNecromancer. 
  According to many users’ experiences, the player must be alive before the last hit to the boss. Anyway, I haven’t verified it personally because I unlocked the Necromancer regularly playing the campaign mode. 
   
• What’s the best character to use ascarrier? 
  Every character is good to use as carrier, as long as the carrier has all the levels unlocked on the map. If I had to suggest a character, I would say: Red Knight, Industrialist, Fencer, Blue Knight. The first three characters have a good magic power for “crowd control”, Blue Knight is good too but the magic power drain per use is worse. In addition, having a strong carrier (level 50+) should make things easier and faster. 
   
• Any further suggestions? 
  In the EXTRA: How I skipped the campaign levels section I described my personal experience with level skipping, including a few extra tips.

EXTRA: How I skipped the campaign levels

 
This section describes my experience with level skipping. 
 
I make a few clarifications first. Before using the procedure, I played the game “regularly”. I beat the campaign (both normal and insane) playing with a friend in local coop (by the way, I think it’s the most fun way of playing Castle Crashers). By doing so, I got all the animal orbs and got some good weapons, in the end I also had a strong character to use as carrier for level skipping (this made things a lot easier). I finally used the procedure playing alone, because I just wanted to quickly unlock all the extra characters (and their weapons) in the game. 
 
What I did is not much different than what’s described in this guide, but I adopted some additional expedients in order to make things faster and be as sure as possible about the final result. Let’s take a look: 

• I played alone using a keyboard and three controllers at the same time, so I had a full local party. This way I maximized the number of characters unlocked for every completed campaign (that’s 3 new characters per campaign). You don’t need this if you don’t want to unlock the extra characters. 
• I made the followers die as soon as possible (excluding the second Final Boss runs), then I proceeded in the levels using my strong carrier. 
• I played all the levels listed in the List of checkpoint levels section, included the optional ones. 
• I did not skip any cutscene or animation. 
• I did not skip any level ending. I opened the chests (without collecting gold) and got to the princess’ kisses (excluding the last one). 🤡 
• After killing the final boss, I let the credits start and returned to the map during the second scene (the one set in Snow World).

EXTRA: List of all playable characters

 
This guide is mainly about how to skip levels successfully, but I decided to add a section including all the playable characters you can unlock in Castle Crashers (as a quick reference). I divided them into groups: 
 

Starting characters

 
They’re the default playable characters, you don’t need to unlock them. 
 

Image	Name	How to unlock
	Green Knight	Available at the start of the game.
	Red Knight	Available at the start of the game.
	Blue Knight	Available at the start of the game.
	Orange Knight	Available at the start of the game.

Arena characters

 
They’re available after beating the arenas in the campaign. Each arena unlocks a specific character. 
 

Image	Name	How to unlock
	Barbarian	Beat King’s Arena.
	Thief	Beat Thieves’ Arena.
	Conehead	Beat Volcano Arena.
	Peasant	Beat Peasant’s Arena.
	Iceskimo	Beat Ice Arena.

Campaign characters

 
They’re unlocked beating some specific levels in campaign mode. Insane difficulty is required for some of them. 
 

Image	Name	How to unlock
	Gray Knight	Beat Barbarian Boss.
	Alien	Beat Alien Ship.
	Open Faced Gray Knight	Beat Catfish on Insane difficulty.
	King	Beat Pipistrello’s Cave on Insane difficulty.
	Necromancer	Beat Industrial Castle on Insane difficulty. The player must be alive before the last hit to the boss.
	Cult Minion	Beat Ice Castle on Insane difficulty.

Series characters

 
They’re unlocked beating the game with specific characters. 
 

Image	Name	How to unlock
	Royal Guard	Complete the campaign mode with the Green Knight.
	Saracen	Complete the campaign mode with the Royal Guard.
	Skeleton	Complete the campaign mode with the Red Knight.
	Bear	Complete the campaign mode with the Skeleton.
	Industrialist	Complete the campaign mode with the Blue Knight.
	Fencer	Complete the campaign mode with the Industrialist.
	Fire Demon	Complete the campaign mode with the Orange Knight.
	Ninja	Complete the campaign mode with the Fire Demon.
	Stove Face	Complete the campaign mode with the Gray Knight.
	Killer Beekeeper	Complete the campaign mode with the Barbarian.
	Snakey	Complete the campaign mode with the Thief.
	Civilian	Complete the campaign mode with the Peasant.
	Brute	Complete the campaign mode with the Iceskimo.

 
This is the list of all the series: 

• Green Knight ➡ Royal Guard ➡ Saracen 
• Red Knight ➡ Skeleton ➡ Bear 
• Blue Knight ➡ Industrialist ➡ Fencer 
• Orange Knight ➡ Fire Demon ➡ Ninja 
• Gray Knight ➡ Stove Face 
• Barbarian ➡ Killer Beekeeper 
• Thief ➡ Snakey 
• Peasant ➡ Civilian 
• Iceskimo ➡ Brute

Bonus characters

 
You need to buy extra content on Steam, you cannot get them just playing Castle Crashers. 
 

Image	Name	How to unlock
	Pink Knight	Own the Pink Knight Pack DLC on Steam.
	Blacksmith	Own the Legend of the Blacksmith Pack DLC on Steam.
	Hatty Hattington	Own the BattleBlock Theater game on Steam.

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