Although building bases and scavenging for resources is a critical part of The Forest, there are many dangerous types of mutants that want to stop you in your progress. Learning how to defeat each mutant will save you starting from scratch if they manage to take you down.
As you begin collecting more tools and crafting better weapons, you’ll have a greater range of options available to you when you do eventually come face-to-face with one of these mutants. Knowing which weapons to use and what attack patterns to look out for will help you immensely. Here is what you need to know to defeat all the mutant types in The Forest.
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All Mutant Types & How To Defeat Them In The Forest
There isn’t an extensive selection of mutants that you’ll run into when playing The Forest, but sometimes multiple types can be thrown at you all at once – especially later in the game. Having a good idea of which weapons will work best to defeat them and what attacks to stay clear of when they do strike will help you survive much longer. These are all the mutant types in The Forest.
How To Defeat Cannibal In The Forest
The cannibal is the most basic type of mutant you’ll come across in The Forest. At the start of the story campaign, they will generally linger around you without attacking. That won’t stick for too long, though, as the Cannibals will become more aggressive as time goes on.
Cannibals come in different variant types but don’t offer much challenge.
- Skinny Cannibals – The Skinny Cannibals have the lowest health pool and will be some of the first enemies you’ll encounter. They will be passive, to begin with, but become more hostile as the days pass.
- Male Cannibals – The Male Cannibals are slower than the Skinny Cannibals but have slightly more health and can carry weapons to deal damage to you.
- Female Cannibals – The Female Cannibals you’ll fight are quick and have an extensive health pool. They don’t have any weapons but will run in for swift attacks and then try to get away.
- Fire Cannibals – The Fire Cannibals have a low-health pool and are the only ranged enemies in The Forest. They will try to sit back and throw items at you that are on fire.
- Leader Cannibals – You can distinguish the Leader Cannibals by their gigantic height, the paint markings on them, and they walk around with skull lamps on their heads. Sometimes, when killing a leader cannibal, if there are any other cannibals nearby, they may run away. These enemies have the most amount of health out of all the cannibals.
One of the best ways to defeat a cannibal enemy in The Forest is by using a melee weapon like the upgraded spear and aiming for their head. This will generally stagger the enemy and allow you to get in multiple hits. It should only take a few attacks before they drop to the ground. I suggest you continue circling them as you use the spear.
Another good weapon to use is the bow and arrow. Most of the time, a cannibal will go down with one shot to the head if you can land it. This headshot attack takes some practice but is very effective if you can get the hang of the bow.
How To Defeat Armsy In The Forest
Armsy lives up to its name, with many limbs that it’ll swing if you get too close. I would avoid melee combat to take one of these down and, instead, consider using Molotovs to set them on fire first. Finishing them off with arrows while they are running around ablaze will drop an Armsy reasonably quickly. But if you’ve only got melee weapons on you, take a few swings before running away and building your stamina back up. Don’t try and engage if it is in the middle of an attack and wildly swinging its arms; wait for it to finish before dashing in.
How To Defeat Virginia In The Forest
Virginia has some speed to her, but she would want to with all of those legs. While she doesn’t have a higher health pool like some of the other giant mutants in The Forest, Virginia is quick and can do devastating damage in a flash as she moves toward you. If you find yourself facing off against Virginia out in the open above ground, then she also has a pounce attack that allows her to close the distance on you rather quickly.
Like most other mutants in The Forest, I recommend starting with a fire attack first. Hit Virginia with a fire arrow or Molotov, then follow this up with some standard arrows. If you’re playing in a multiplayer group, have someone be the primary focus of Virginia’s attacks and kite her around while the others follow behind and hit her with melee weapons.
How To Defeat Baby In The Forest
Baby mutants won’t cause you too many problems in The Forest. They are more of a nuisance than anything else. Baby mutants die in one hit with the weak spear, but you’ll generally see them in groups when they appear. They attack by pouncing in the air, but if they hit you, they’ll do minimal damage.
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How To Defeat Cowman In The Forest
The Cowman is much easier to deal with above ground than when you come across one in the caves. The caves can have narrow passages; you might find yourself in a situation where it’s challenging to get out of the way of The Cowman’s charge attack. You should be able to get in a few hits with a melee weapon after they’ve performed a charge, but don’t stick around too long, as they might stomp the ground. Explosives or a Molotov can also come in handy here if you’ve got any spare to throw.
Because Cowman does move so quickly, you’re not going to have a whole lot of luck out-running this guy. So try to deal with it as fast as possible, especially if you’re near your base, as just one Cowman can be catastrophic to your buildings. Because I generally set up bases near the Ocean, one tactic I’ve seen used that works well is leading them over to the water. Have the Cowman charge at you toward the water, and if they get in far enough, they’ll drown.
How To Defeat Worm In The Forest
Worms are a rare spawn that can begin to appear after you’ve completed The Forest’s main story and defeated the boss. This mutant is made up of individual small parts but then comes together to unleash a violent attack that can do some serious damage. If you see the smaller worms starting to form, then try to get out of the way and back up as far as you can.
Your goal with the Worm mutant is to take out the smaller individual sections of the bigger worm. These will die in one hit, but you’ve got to kill quite a few of them. When I see them starting their attack and beginning to form, I’ve found an excellent tactic to use is to fire an arrow at the main body structure, which will cause it to stagger and disperse. You’ll have some time then to take out a few of the smaller worms with your melee attacks. The Kitana is a great choice to use here because of its speed.
How To Defeat Girl Mutant / Megan In The Forest
Megan is a demanding boss you’ll fight at the end of The Forest story campaign. Once you’ve defeated Megan, then the Girl mutant also has a chance to spawn out in the world. The main difference between the two is that Girl has about half of the health pool compared to Megan, but they both have the same types of attacks. Megan/Girl mutant is the scariest enemy you can encounter in The Forest, as it can deal out a massive amount of damage and has a long reach for its attacks.
You’ll want to bring out the heavy weapons for this mutant and focus on Explosives while she is on fire. I use either Molotovs or fire arrows consistently throughout the fight and make sure that she is always alight. I also lean towards ranged attacks with arrows because this is especially effective when I’m trying to keep a distance.
If you can use objects with the environment to your advantage to kite her around, you’ll have a much easier time in this battle. For example, in the Megan boss fight, there are some railings to the side of the arena that you can use to keep her at a reasonable length. She’ll usually try to run around them to get to you, so continue looping around.
The best melee weapon in The Forest you can use to deal damage to Girl Mutant and Megan is the upgraded club with teeth. It hits hard and only takes a dozen or so attacks to bring her down. Although a weapon like the Katana is quick, it will generally take over 50 attacks to defeat one.
Now that you’ve had a chance to learn about all of the different types of mutants in The Forest, you can try your hand at the sequel and see how you square up fighting against those enemies.
