Forgotten Specimen Hard Mode Guide

Forgotten Specimen is a boss in Chapter 11: The Long Shadow of Shinra of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth (FF7 Rebirth). Learn how to beat Forgotten Specimen on Hard Mode and normal difficulties, its weaknesses and resistances, and a list of its moves and attack patterns in this guide!

Forgotten Specimen Weaknesses and Stats

Stats

	Easy	Normal	Hard
HP	48075	68679	133164

Weakness and Resistances

Weaknesses	Lesser Resistances	Greater Resistances
-	Poison Silence Sleep Stop Petrify	-
Absorbed Elements	Immunities
-	Proportional Damage Berserk Slow Stone Morphable Items

Changes When Staggered

Weakness / Effective	Immunity
-	Direct Attack Ranged Attack

How to Pressure Forgotten Specimen

How to Pressure

Force it to transform multiple times Cripple the Tentacles or Arm (2nd Phase)

You can pressure Forgotten Specimen after forcing it to switch resistances multiple times. You can do that by attacking it opposite of its resistance — using Physical attacks when it has Magic resistance and vice versa.

Crippling its Tentacles or Arm will also pressure it. Use Physical damage on the Tentacles and Magic on the Arm to destroy them.
How to Pressure and Stagger Enemies

Forgotten Specimen Best Party and Builds

Notice from Game8	This section is for players who are playing on Easy and Normal difficulties. To check out the best builds and tips for Hard Mode, jump to our Hard Mode Guide section, below!

Recommended Party Setup

Recommended Party Setup
Barret	【Tank / Physical Damage】 ・Deal strong physical damage with Maximum Fury and Overcharge ・Build stagger with Focused Shot and Bonus Round ・Use healing items when unable to damage the boss ・Use Lifesaver to tank damage Recommended Level: 40
Aerith	【Support / Magic Damage】 ・Main spellcaster and Magic damage dealer ・Focus on healing or buffs when unable to damage boss Recommended Level: 40
Cait Sith	【All Rounder】 ・Can switch between magic and physical attacker ・Summon Moogle to fight and distract the boss Recommended Level: 40

Best Materia to Use

Recommended Materia

Materia	How to Use
Fire, Ice, Poison, Lightning, or Wind Materia	・Equip any Elemental Materia to use magic spells against the boss during Magic Resistance Transformation ・Link with Level Boost to increase level and cast a more powerful spell. ・Best equipped on Aerith, but it's also good on other party members
Healing	・Heal a single ally in battle when their HP drops to a critical level ・Best equipped on Barret or Cait Sith
HP Up	・Equip to increase HP. ・Best equipped on Barret or Cait Sith
Luck Up	・Equip to increase Luck. ・Can be equipped on all characters
MP Up	・Equip to increase MP. It can help to cast Magic or Healing spells. ・Best equipped on Aerith, but it's also good on other party members
Item Master	・Increase the efficiency of items, like Potions. ・Best equipped on Barret or Cait Sith

How to Beat Forgotten Specimen (Normal)

Forgotten Specimen Boss Fight Tips
Attack with the Opposite of the Boss's Resistance Check Immunity Before Attacking in 2nd Phase Use Barret Against Magic Resistance or Immunity Use Aerith Against Physical Resistance or Immunity Target the Tentacles or the Arm to Pressure

Attack with the Opposite of the Boss's Resistance

Physical Resistance Form	Magic Resistance Form

Forgotten Specimen can transform and obtain resistance to Physical or Magical attacks depending on what you hit it with. Attacking it opposite to its resistance and forcing it to transform multiple times can pressure it, bringing it closer to being staggered.

When it grows into a purple monster, it will have resistance against Physical attacks, and you must use Magic to deal more damage. When it transforms into a pink monster with tentacle-like limbs, it will gain Magic resistance, and you must use Physical attack to deal more damage.

Check Immunity Before Attacking in 2nd Phase

Shield	Immunity to Physical attacks. Use Magic to deal damage and dispel it when you see this icon.
Reflect	Immunity to Magic attacks. Use Physical attacks to deal damage and dispel it when you see this icon.

Forgotten Specimen won't transform in the second phase. Instead, it will apply Physical or Magic immunity statuses that you will see under its HP bar in battle. You can dispel the immunity by attacking the opposite of that immunity — use Physical attack on Magic immunity and vice versa.

Check the current immunity before attacking to get the most out of your ATB charges and remove the boss's current immunity!

Use Barret Against Magic Resistance or Immunity

Once Forgotten Specimen transforms into its Magic Resistance form or Magic immunity, switch to Barret to inflict damage on the boss. You can use his Focused Shot or Maximum Fury if you have ATB charges to spare to deal more damage against the boss!

You can also use Cait Sith's Moogle Knuckle ability (from the Golden Megaphone you got earlier in Chapter 11) to deal bursts of Physical damage if your Barret build is lacking in Physical DPS.

Use Aerith Against Physical Resistance or Immunity

Use Aerith once Forgotten Specimen switches to Physical Resistance form or immunity to attack using Magic spells. You can place her Arcane Ward first to double-cast any spells you use.

If you're having trouble managing ATB to cast enough Soul Drains for MP recovery, you can bring along some Ether while slotting an Item Economizer Materia to recover MP without having to use up ATB charges.

Target the Tentacles or the Arm to Pressure

Body Part	Weakness
Tentacles	Physical
Arm	Magic

Forgotten Specimen's Tentacles and Arm will become targetable in the second phase. Destroying them will put pressure on Forgotten Specimen and bring it closer to being staggered.

Using two full charges of Barret's Maximum Fury on the Tentacles will destroy them. On the other hand, casting three 2nd level spells on Aerith's Arcane Ward will be enough to cripple the Arm!

Forgotten Specimen Hard Mode Guide

Forgotten Specimen Hard Mode Tips
★ Best Hard Mode Builds for Forgotten Specimen ★
Use Lifesaver and Steelskin at the Start Alternate Between Barret and Aerith Stagger with Barret Use Moogle Knuckle to Increase Multiplier Save Summons for Second Phase Use Cait Sith's Die, Slots, and Moogle Magic

Forgotten Specimen Hard Mode Build

Notice from Game8	The builds featured in this Hard Mode section are at Weapon Levels 7~8. If you find that you don't have enough Materia slots to complete the setup, consider getting all the possible Manuscripts on Normal, first.

Use Lifesaver and Steelskin at the Start

Immediately use Lifesaver and Steelskin at the start of battle as Barret to tank the damage of the entire party, keeping Aerith and Cait Sith's HP full.

Use Chakra to recover Barret's health; not only does this save MP, but it's also effective as Barret's Skill Master and ATB Assist fill the ATB gauges of the party.

Note: Lifesaver is a weapon skill from the Barrage Blaster.

Alternate Between Barret and Aerith

Alternate between Barret and Aerith to deal with each resistance form of the Forgotten Specimen.

Use Barret's Maximum Fury and Bonus Round to deal with the Magic Resistant form. Doublecast elemental spells with Aerith in her Arcane Ward to significantly deal damage when the Physical Resistant form is active.

Note: Bonus Round is a weapon skill from the Hi-Caliber Rifle, while Aerith's Arcane Ward is a weapon skill from the Guard Stick.

Stagger with Barret Once Pressured

After pressuring the boss, use Barret's Focused Shot to significantly increase stagger on the Forgotten Specimen.

Note: Focused Shot is a weapon skill from the Gatling Gun. You need to be proficient with the weapon skill to be able to use it with other weapons.

Use Moogle Knuckle to Increase Multiplier

Once staggered, use Cait Sith's Moogle Knuckle to increase the stagger damage multiplier.

This will act as a set up for you to deal damage with Aerith's spells cast from an Arcane Ward.

Note: Moogle Knuckle is the default weapon ability of the Golden Megaphone.

Save Summons for Second Phase

Save Summons for the second phase of the boss fight, as the Forgotten Specimen will apply Shield and Reflect on itself.

Gilgamesh's role is to dispel Reflect from the Forgotten Specimen, opening it up for another barrage of magic damage from Aerith; while Phoenix's role is to support the party with Reraise and healing.

Do Not Use Spells if Reflect is Active

All your spells will bounce back and deal damage to you instead if you use spells while Reflect is still active on the Forgotten Specimen.

Doing this may kill Barret if you used max-level spells in Aerith's Arcane Ward, putting your party at a disadvantage.

Use Cait Sith's Die, Slots, and Moogle Magic

Cait Sith's role throughout the fight is to support the entire party with various effects from Roll o' the Dice, buffs from Lucky Slots, and using Phoenix's abilities with Moogle Magic.

Note: Moogle Magic is a weapon skill from the Crystal Megaphone. You need to be proficient with the weapon skill to be able to use it with other weapons.

Forgotten Specimen Rewards and Details

Rewards

Forgotten Specimen Rewards
Easy/Normal						Hard Mode
・2775 EXP ・50 Party EXP ・10 AP ・1850 Gil						・6500 EXP ・30 AP ・3250 Gil ・Fortunes Untold Vol. XII
Items Dropped						Rare Items Dropped
None						None
Stealable Items						Morphable Items
None						None

Basic Information and Details

Forgotten Specimen
Location	Chapter Unlocked
Mako Research Facility, Shinra Manor	Chapter 11
Species	Movement
Artificial	Grounded
Details
The result of a failed experiment aimed at creating a life-form capable of shape-shifting. It alters its body composition based on enemy attacks, but doing so causes the creater to gradually break down from the inside. Inflicting enough physical damage will make it resistant to physical attacks, while magic damage will make it resistant to magic attacks. Forcing it to switch resistances multiple times will pressure it. Physical damage will dispel Reflect, while magic damage will dispel Shield.

FF7 Rebirth Related Guides

Boss Fight Guide and List of All Bosses

Story Bosses

All Major Story Bosses
Chapter 1	Materia Guardian
Chapter 2	Midgardsormr
Chapter 3	Rude and Elena Mythril Golem
Chapter 4	Terror of the Deep Roche
Chapter 5	Jenova Emergent
Chapter 6	Grasptropod
Chapter 7	Custom Valkyrie Gigatrice
Chapter 8	Dyne Anuran Suppressor
Chapter 9	Specimen H1024 Crimson Mare Mk. II
Chapter 10	Gi Nattak
Chapter 11	Diabolic Variant Yin and Yang Forgotten Specimen Galian Beast Roche
Chapter 12	Abzu Rude and Elena Rufus
Chapter 13	Red Dragon Ironclad Reno and Rude Tseng and Elena Moss-Grown Adamantoise Demon Gate
Chapter 14	Jenova Lifeclinger Sephiroth Reborn

Optional Bosses

Grasslands
Summon	Titan
Classified Intel	Quetzalcoatl
Side Quests	White Terror
Junon
Summon	Phoenix
Classified Intel	Mindflayer
Side Quests	White Mousse Hell Rider II Sandstorm Drake
Corel
Summon	Alexander
Classified Intel	Tonberry King
Side Quests	Dark Claw Joker
Minigame	Test 0
Gongaga
Summon	Kujata
Classified Intel	Great Malboro
Side Quests	Levridon Mastodon Gorgon Mane Gigantoad
Cosmo Canyon
Summon	Bahamut Arisen
Classified Intel	Jabberwock
Side Quests	Irasceros Gigaworm
Nibel
Summon	Odin
Classified Intel	King Zu
Side Quests	Queen Bee Dranabarga
Meridian Ocean
Gilgamesh's Island	Gilgamesh Titan and Bahamut Arisen Phoenix and Kujata Alexander and Odin
Pirate King's Treasure	Ogre Raider Brineborn Demon Hueyacoatl Sea Dragon