You’re standing in the middle of a pentagram, holding a sword made of literal shadows, and staring down a giant, rotting frog that wants to eat your soul. Honestly? It’s just another Tuesday in the Lands of the Old Faith. Massive Monster really hit a nerve when they dropped Cult of the Lamb back in 2022, but the real meat of the game—the stuff that keeps people coming back for the Sins of the Flesh or Unholy Alliance updates—isn't just the cute farm sim stuff. It’s the bosses. Specifically, the Cult of the Lamb bishops. These aren't just big health bars you need to whittle down to zero. They are the backbone of the game's entire mythos, representing the Five Stages of Grief, or so the fan theories go.
They’re siblings. They’re monsters. And, in a weird way, they’re victims of their own paranoia.
The story starts with a prophecy. Standard trope stuff, right? Wrong. The bishops—Leshy, Heket, Kallamar, Shamura, and the exiled Narinder—are terrified of a sheep. Not a wolf. A lamb. To stop a prophecy that says a lamb will bring their downfall, they murder every single sheep in existence. Except you. They basically created the very monster they were trying to avoid. It’s a classic Greek tragedy wrapped in a neon-gothic art style that looks like a Saturday morning cartoon directed by David Cronenberg.
Leshy and the Chaos of Darkwood
Leshy is the youngest. He’s the first one you meet, and he’s kind of the "tutorial" bishop, though calling him easy is an insult to the amount of times his spike waves have ended a decent run. He lives in Darkwood. He represents chaos. Unlike his siblings, Leshy doesn't have eyes. Narinder took them. This is a recurring theme you’ll notice—the bishops are physically broken by the brother they betrayed and imprisoned.
When you fight Leshy, he’s a giant bush-worm thing. It’s gross. It’s messy. He burrows into the ground and summons smaller mobs because he can’t see you, so he just fills the screen with noise. Most players steamroll him in their first few hours, but if you go back in Purgatory mode or during a boss rush, Leshy’s chaotic bullet-hell patterns are a reminder that even the "weakest" sibling is a god. He is the embodiment of raw, unrefined nature. No order, just growth and decay.
Heket: The Hunger of Anura
Then there’s Heket. She’s the Bishop of Famine. She rules Anura, which is basically a giant, yellow-tinted swamp filled with explosive fungi and irritating frogs. Heket is arguably the biggest spike in difficulty for new players. Why? Because she cheats. Well, not really, but it feels like it when she jumps off-screen and sends waves of smaller frogs to distract you while she prepares a massive tongue lash or a rain of fire.
Heket’s throat was slit by Narinder. She can barely speak; her voice is a raspy, painful croak. It’s pretty dark when you think about it. She’s the Bishop of Famine, yet she’s defined by a wound to her throat—the very thing she needs to consume. In the game’s lore, she’s the one who kept the siblings together after they chained "The One Who Waits" below. She’s tough, stubborn, and her boss fight requires way more lateral movement than Leshy's. You can’t just stand there and swing. You have to dance.
Why Kallamar is the Most Hated (And For Good Reason)
Kallamar is the worst. I mean that as a compliment to the developers. He is the Bishop of Pestilence, ruling over the Anchordeep. He’s a giant squid-thing with four arms, and he is a total coward. He’s terrified of you. He’s terrified of death. While the other Cult of the Lamb bishops taunt you with bravado, Kallamar sounds like he’s having a panic attack every time you encounter him.
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He uses a sword, a staff, and a literal gun. Yes, a god with a gun.
The Anchordeep is a nightmare of traps and jellyfish, but Kallamar himself is a bullet-hell master. He fires rings of fireballs that require frame-perfect rolls to dodge. He’s the sibling who was gifted with ears, but Narinder took his hearing, or at least damaged it significantly. He represents the fear of the inevitable. You can see it in his animations; he flinches. He retreats. He’s the most "human" of the bunch because he’s the only one who seems to realize how screwed they actually are.
Shamura: The Mind and the Tragedy
Shamura is the eldest. The Bishop of Wisdom. They live in the Silk Cradle, which is a spider-infested hellscape that will make your skin crawl if you hate eighth-legged freaks. Shamura is non-binary, referred to with they/them pronouns, and they are easily the most tragic figure in the pantheon.
Narinder didn't just hurt Shamura physically; he broke their mind.
Shamura has a literal bandage wrapped around their skull because their brain is exposed. They forget things. They repeat themselves. In the dialogue leading up to the fight, Shamura is the only one who shows a glimmer of regret. They loved Narinder the most. They were the ones who taught him about the secrets of the universe, only for those secrets to turn him into a power-hungry monster.
The fight with Shamura is fast. They swing from the ceiling on silk threads, dropping down for quick strikes. It’s a rhythmic fight. It feels less like a brawl and more like a duel. By the time you defeat them, you don't feel like a hero. You feel like you’re putting a wounded animal out of its misery.
Beyond the Boss Fight: The Post-Game Twist
A lot of people think the game ends when you beat the fourth bishop and face Narinder. It doesn't. Not anymore. The Relics of the Old Faith update changed everything. Now, you can actually resurrect the Cult of the Lamb bishops and bring them into your cult.
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Think about that for a second.
You killed them. You harvested their hearts to open the gateway to the underworld. And then, you bring them back as followers. They become small, cute, "mortal" versions of themselves. They still have their scars—Heket still has her throat bandage, Leshy still has his blindfold—but now they’re cleaning up poop and mining stone for you.
It’s a bizarre power trip. But it also adds layers to their characters. When they’re in your cult, they have unique quests. They talk to each other. You can see the awkward family reunion play out in real-time. They have to come to terms with the fact that the "One Who Waits," the brother they imprisoned for centuries, is now either dead or also a member of the cult (depending on your choices). It turns a generic "kill the gods" story into a weirdly poignant narrative about trauma, forgiveness, and the absurdity of power.
How to Actually Beat Them: Pro Tips
If you're struggling to get through the mid-game, you need to stop playing it like a hack-and-slash.
- Dodge-rolling is your best friend. Most players over-commit to a combo and get hit by a stray projectile. In Cult of the Lamb, one hit can ruin a perfect run.
- Curse synergy is king. If you get a relic that resets your Fervor or increases your curse damage, lean into it. Heket and Kallamar are much easier to handle if you can blast them from a distance with the "Divine Blast" or "Hounds of Fate."
- The Golden Fleece is a trap for beginners. It looks great on paper—damage increases with every kill!—but taking double damage means one mistake against Shamura sends you back to the start. Use the Fleece of the Fates or the standard fleece until you’ve memorized the attack patterns.
- Watch the eyes. In almost every bishop fight, there is a visual tell about half a second before a big attack. Leshy’s ground spikes have a distinct rumbling, and Heket’s throat expands before she spits flies.
The Cultural Impact of the Old Faith
Why do we care so much about these four weird monsters?
It’s the aesthetic. Massive Monster leaned into the "Cozy Horror" genre, which was a relatively niche space before this game blew up. You’ve got the Stardew Valley loops of farming and building, but it’s fueled by the blood of your enemies. The bishops represent the old guard—the rigid, dogmatic systems that refuse to change. You, the Lamb, represent the new, chaotic, and perhaps equally terrifying future.
The game doesn't pretend you're a "good" person. You're a cult leader. You’re just a different flavor of what the bishops were. That moral ambiguity is why the Cult of the Lamb bishops work so well as antagonists. They aren't evil just for the sake of being evil; they're trying to maintain an order that you are systematically destroying.
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What to Do Next in Your Crusade
If you’ve already cleared the main story, don't just put the game down. The post-game content is where the real depth lies.
First, focus on the "Refined" versions of the bishops. You can re-encounter them by breaking their statues in the dungeons. These versions have more health, faster attacks, and new mechanics.
Second, make sure you're actually talking to them once they join your cult. Their unique quests provide the "Godhood" traits which make them some of the best followers in the game. They don't get old and die like regular followers (unless you want them to), making them permanent fixtures of your base.
Lastly, experiment with the "Sins of the Flesh" mechanics. You can now use the bishops in the mating tent (I know, it's weird) to create high-level offspring, or use them to generate "Sin" for high-tier building upgrades. It sounds disrespectful to treat former gods like breeding stock, but hey, that’s life in the cult.
The real secret to mastering the Cult of the Lamb bishops is understanding that they aren't just obstacles. They are the story. Every scar they carry tells the history of the world you’re trying to conquer. Respect the Old Faith, even as you’re tearing it down brick by brick.
Get back into the Silk Cradle. Shamura is waiting, and they probably forgot you were coming.