How to Beat Failed Experiment | Boss Fight Guide (Normal & Hard Mode)

This is a guide to beating the Boss Failed Experiment in the game Final Fantasy 7 Remake (FF7R). This article explains Failed Experiment's attack patterns, weaknesses, and tips and strategies for defeating it on both Normal and Hard Mode.

Failed Experiment Stats and Information

Basic Information

Failed Experiment
Species	Movement	Type
Artificial Life	Grounded	Boss

Description

An experimental specimen kept in the Shinra underground research facility. It was human once, but cellular transplants from various large creatures have turned it ito a terrifying creature. It leads a group of failed test subjects.

Assess (Tips)

Ice spells rapidly fill its stagger gauge, while melee attacks have oly a slight effect on it, and long-range and other element attacks have no effect. Crippling its tentacles will cause it to reveal its heart, and attacking its heart will rapidly fill its stagger gauge.

Failed Experiment Stats

Failed Experiment Weaknesses & Resistances

How to Stagger Failed Experiment

Stagger Rates

Melee	Ranged	Magic	Fire
×0.25	×No effect	×1	×No effect
Ice	Lightning	Wind	-
×1.5	×No effect	×No effect	-

Stagger Length

Failed Experiment Abilities

Rewards

Learnable Enemy Skills

No Enemy Skills can be learned from Failed Experiment.

List of Enemy Skills

Failed Experiment Boss Fight Guide

Failed Experiment Abilities and Attack Patterns

Name	Element	Blockable?	Knockdown?	Status
Claim	-	Yes	No	-
	Pulls an Unknown Entity towards itself and throws it at a target. Party members can take damage from the Unknown Entity while it's being held by the Failed Experiment. In phase 2 can grab up to 4 Unknown Entities.
Fling	-	Yes	Yes	-
	Throws the claimed Unknown Entity at a target.
Fury	-	Yes	Yes	-
	Lashes out twice with its tentacles.
Hammer Punch	-	Yes	Yes	-
	Punches at a target.
Leap	-	Yes	Yes	-
	Leaps towards a target.
Catch and Release	-	No	Yes	-
	Grabs a target with its tentacles, binding them, and hurls them at the ground.
Toxic Volley	-	Yes	No	(240 sec)
	Shoots poison orbs from its tentacles that turn into toxic gas when hitting the ground or a wall. The gas will persist for 10 seconds.
Rally	-	-	-	-
	Summons more Unknown Entities.
Demolish	-	No	Yes	-
	Jumps into the air and crashes down onto the platform, breaking it and releasing a shockwave that damages allies and enemies.
Ground Smash	-	Yes	No	-
	Jumps at a target and smashes down on their position.
Intimidate	-	No	No	Stun (7 sec)
	Screams and stuns anyone in range.
Torment	-	-	Yes	-
	Grabs a target with its tentacles, binding them, and repeatedly strikes them with its claws.
Defensive Action	-	-	-	-
	Has Unknown Entities cast Shield on themselves.
Reflective Action	-	-	-	-
	Has Unknown Entities cast Reflect on themselves.
Voltaic Action	-	-	-	-
	Has Unknown Entities cast Thundaga on itself.
Energize		Yes	Yes	-
	Absorbs the Unknown Entities cast Thundaga to charge itself and heal.
Livewire		Yes	Yes	-
	Channels electricity around itself and prepares to use Plasma Discharge.
Plasma Discharge		Yes	Yes	-
	Releases large orbs of electricity that shoot across the arena, homing in on party members.

*Status Effects and Ailments Guide

Best Characters for This Boss

Available Characters

Barret

Tifa

Recommended Characters

When the Failed Experiment shows up, Barret is the best for attacking its Appendages which are weak to his gun attacks. Once the weakpoint appears, switch to Tifa to quickly stagger it and lay down the hurt.

Failed Experiment Attack Phases

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Tips & Strategies for Beating Failed Experiment

★ Strategy Checklist ★ (Click to jump)
Equip Ice Materia Clear the waves of Unknown Entities Target its Appendage to reveal its weakpoint Stagger it to deal massive damage

Equip Ice Materia

While physical damage may be more than enough for this boss, having ice magic is always safe. Shiva will do massive damage as well.

Take Out the Unknown Entities

Before the boss will even appear you will have to fight a few waves of these. They are weak but make up for it in numbers. Hit them with Barret's Focused Shot when grouped up or combo Tifa's Whirling Uppercut into Divekick to take them out quickly. Once the boss spawns you will want to keep taking them out, as during phase 3 Failed Experiment will use them to heal itself.

Shoot it in the Tentacles

With Barret, shoot its Appendages to briefly stun it, revealing its weakpoint. Dealing damage to the Heart will increase its stagger gauge much quicker so this should be your main goal throughout the fight.

Stagger For Massive Damage

Like every other enemy and boss before it, you can deal a huge amount of damage when it's staggered. If you have Tifa use Unbridled Strength twice and use her unique ability Rise and Fall, she can increase the damage done to Failed Experiment to make the most of the short time.

Failed Experiment: Hard Mode Guide

Best Characters and Equipment

Tifa	Weapon: Mythril Claws7) Armor: Force Bracelet Accessory: Champion Belt
Barret	Weapon: EKG Cannon Armor: Chain Bangle Accessory: Healing Carcanet

Best Materia to Use

The number of slots in your Weapon may vary depending on your Weapon Level.

Tifa

Weapon (6 Slots)
Elemental+ Ice		Deadly Dodge
Healing	Revival	ATB Stagger
Armor (4 Slots)
HP Up	HP Up	Steadfast Block
Parry
Summon
Ifrit

Barret

Weapon (6 Slots)
Magnify+ Healing		Steadfast Block
Elemental+ Ice		Revival
Armor (4 Slots)
HP Up	HP Up	MP Up
MP Up
Summon
Shiva

★How to Beat Failed Experiment on Hard Mode★
Ice is Essential Equip Headband to Counter Sleep Block against its jumping attack Focus on the Appendages and try to end the fight quickly Hide behind obstacles during Plasma Discharge

Ice is Essential

Ice Magic is extremely effective against Failed Experiment on Normal Mode as well, but on Hard Mode, the importance of using Ice has been raised once again. You'll want to try ending this fight quickly by dishing out heavy damage from the start with Ice attacks. Equip Elemental Materia + Ice Materia to Barret's weapon to take out its Appendages quickly. Magnify Materia can also be useful combined with Ice, but since this will limit your healing potential, you might want to keep Magnify attached to your Healing Materia instead.

Equip Headband to Counter Sleep

The Failed Experiment can cause both of your party members to Sleep. Have Headband equipped on at least one party member to make sure it does not happen! You can also equip Subersion linked with Warding Lv.3 to be immune to Sleep if you have the materia slots to spare.

Block against its jumping attack

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When Failed Experiment jumps onto one of your characters, be sure to hold R1 to guard immediately. This attack will do major damage even when blocked, but if it hits a party member who fails to block it, they'll have a difficult time recovering and getting back into the battle.

Focus on the Appendages and try to end the fight quickly

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On Hard Mode, Failed Experiment will deal significantly more damage with each attack, and if you play too defensively, this battle can stretch out and wear your party down. Wait for the Appendages to appear, and use Barret's Elemental + Ice attacks to hit hard, while slamming them with Ice Magic. Once you've destroyed the Appendages, target the Heart, which will allow you to Stagger Failed Experiment. If you can deal enough damage while Staggered, you can wrap this fight up quickly.

Unknown Entities will continue harassing you throughout the fight, but by casting Silence on Failed Experiment, you can significantly limit their effectiveness, and won't have to spend too much time destroying them. Focus on hitting Failed Experiment and ignore the little guys for the most part.

Hide behind obstacles during Plasma Discharge

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Failed Experiment will use its ultimate attack Plasma Discharge to strike almost the entire field in one blow. However, you can avoid this attack by hiding behind the obstacles on the map.
These obstacles are not close to the position from where you start the battle, so you'll have to move closer to these obstacles during the battle in preparation for Plasma Discharge.

Boss Fight Related Articles

List of Boss Battles

Major Story Bosses

VR Mission Bosses

Story Sub-Bosses

Monster Variants & Optional Sub-Bosses

Intergrade and INTERmission Bosses