All monsters in The Forest

The Forest is a horror survival game that was released back in 2014, but it’s still utterly terrifying (in the best way) despite now being over a decade old. Surviving is not easy, with cannibals and mutants out to kill you, and that’s without taking the wildlife into consideration. 

In total, there are 17 different types of enemies who will do you harm if you cross their path. They’re all scary in their own way, and all of them are to be feared. However, there’s a way to counter each of them and if you put in the effort and learn their weaknesses, you can take them out if you encounter them. 

The 17 monsters in The Forest are split into three different categories:

• Cannibals
• Mutants
• Animals

The damage that each enemy can do to you will depend on what the specific enemy is, and what difficulty you’re playing The Forest on. 

Cannibal enemies in The Forest

There are a total of eight different Cannibal type enemies who will try to harm you. They’re likely to knock you out and then take you back to their creepy little forest camps to cook you. While they lack any notable culinary skills, they are terrifying and often sneak up on you out of nowhere. 

Regular Cannibals 

Regular Cannibals are exclusively found above the ground, and usually travel around in groups of three with one leader and two others. They’re identifiable by an abundance of skull decorations, and often wear necklaces crafted from old CDs. Male Regular Mutants are armed with makeshift clubs. 

Pale Cannibals

Pale Cannibals are a highly aggressive type of enemy that can predominantly be found inside caves, although they do venture to the surface from day five of your attempt to survive. When spawning on the surface, they often do so alongside Pale Skinny Cannibals, both of which are weak to fast or high-damage weapons. 

Pale Skinny Cannibals

Much like the other Pale Cannibals, Pale Skinny Cannibals will spawn mostly inside caves, but sometimes appear on the surface alongside Pale Cannibals after the fifth day. They’re highly aggressive, and weak to fast weapons, so make sure to have some on hand at all times after day five.

Fire Cannibals

Fire Cannibals are exactly what the name suggests they would be. Not only are they intent on eating you, but they’ll happily set you on fire before they even get you back to their camp using weapons like Fire Torches or Firebombs. They spawn exclusively above ground after day seven, and the good news is they’re weak to any weapon that doesn’t do fire damage. 

Skinny Cannibals

While Regular Cannibals are only semi-aggressive, Skinny Cannibals are highly aggressive and will play games with their chosen victim. Male Skinny Cannibals are armed with sticks, and they can spawn at any time from the beginning of a play through. On the plus side, they’re weak to fast weapons and don’t have particularly high health, so you can get past them pretty easily. 

Painted Cannibals

Only spawning after day 15 of a play through, Painted Cannibals travel in packs, have high health, and do a lot of damage using weapons such as Crafted Axes and Tennis Rackets. They’re weak to high-damage weapons, as you might expect, and only spawn above ground. They are sometimes found roaming around the map with Fire Cannibals, making for a very scary encounter if they find you. 

Masked Cannibals

There’s possibly nothing more scary than a Cannibal who attacks while wearing nothing but the face and scalp of a previous victim. Masked Cannibals always travel together above ground with Masked Skinny Cannibals, and can rarely carry weapons like Sticks or Crafted Axes. They spawn after day 22, and are weak to high-damage weapons. 

Masked Skinny Cannibals

While Masked Cannibals are only considered to be semi-aggressive, their Skinny counterparts are highly aggressive and will attack on sight. They’re the strongest of the three Skinny Cannibal types, and move very fast compared to their non-skinny partners. 

Mutant enemies in The Forest

There are six different mutant enemies to encounter and take down in The Forest, each of which has very different stats and behaviours. Most mutants are weak to fire, so make sure to have some fire weapons to hand.

Armsy

Otherwise known as the Octopus Mutant, Armsy has various arm-like apendages capable of doing huge amount of damage. It’s possible to find an Armsy very early into a play through if you venture deep into some of the caves around the island, but Armsy will begin to spawn above ground after day seven. A stronger blue variant can spawn after day 14. Armsy is aggressive, but you’ll hear it before it has a chance to see you, so it’s possible to sneak away if you’re not up for the fight. 

Virginia

Sometimes called the Spider Mutant, Virginia is a multi-legged mutant. Like Armsy, Virginia can spawn from day seven onwards, with a more challenging blue version spawning after day 14. Virginia can spawn both in caves and above ground, and is highly aggressive. On the plus side, as with most mutants, she’s weak to fire, especially when combined with a ranged weapon, so Molotovs might be your best friend in an encounter with her. 

Cowman

Alternatively known as the Bull Mutant, Cowman can spawn in caves or on the Peninsula. It can either be aggressive or passive, and is completely immobilized by fire, making it very easy to tackle when you come across it in your travels. Cowman spawns from day seven onwards. There is no blue variant of Cowman. 

Baby Mutant

Moving away from the named mutants to what might be the creepiest of all the mutants in The Forest. Baby Mutants are exactly what they sound like, and have one fully formed leg and arm, with the others being replaced with stumps. They spawn inside caves, but can spawn overground alongside Virginia from day seven onwards, or are produced during the fight with Megan. Although they’re creepy looking, they’re slow and incredibly easy to kill because they’re weak to just about everything. 

Mutant Megan

Mutant Megan is the final boss of The Forest, so it goes without saying that she is a formidable foe. Located in the Research Lab at Sahara Laboratory, Megan has no weaknesses, although she can be stunned. She spawns Mutant Babies to distract you, and can shatter bone armor after around four successful attacks. When facing Megan, it’s a good idea to utilized fire and ranged weapons to slowly drag her health down. 

Worm

Also known as “John”, Worms are incredibly late-game enemies that spawn exclusively after day 40. They weren’t added into The Forest until patch 1.10 in 2018, and they resemble a bunch of smaller slug-like creatures with teeth at one end, working as a sort of hive mind to kill you. They can join together to take on many forms, each of which is killed in a different way, but all are weak to slingshots and fast weapons. 

Animal enemies in The Forest

Although there are a total of 20 different animals in The Forest, including everything from Ants to Raccoons, only three of them can do you any type of harm. If you come across them, it’s worth the effort to kill them, as they can each drop different resources that can be used to help you survive.

Crocodile

Crocodiles spawn north of the river in The Forest. They often hide in the underbrush, and their bite can easily kill you (or get you pretty close to death) if you get too close. If a Crocodile chases you into the water, it can swim incredibly fast and you’re likely to perish very quickly, so try to take them out away from the water if you can. 

When killed, Crocodiles will drop 4 Lizard Skin, 4 Meat, and 1 Crocodile Head.

Sharks

If you fancy a swim, you might want to think twice, because the water around the island in The Forest is inhabited by bloodthirsty Sharks that will attack on sight. They spawn in the deeper parts of the ocean, so you should be safe as long as you don’t venture too far from shore. Shark corpses found on the beach will give players one Shark Head, but those killed in the water won’t give anything, so they’re worth avoiding where possible. 

Boars

Also known as a Wild Pig, Boars are less aggressive than Crocodiles, but will still charge you if you get too close, although can often run away after attacking or if they get injured. It’s worth tracking them down, though, as they drop 2 Meat, 1 Boar Skin, and 1 Boar Head when killed. Boars usually spawn in groups of two or three, so always watch your back if you’re trying to stock up on Meat.