Chef Foods

Want to try some piping hot Blood Chowder?

The new Chef food redesign is coming in the next game update and it brings with it a large selection of new buffs for players of all professions. From stat modifiers to skill modifiers to entirely new effects, there is a lot to discover and learn about the new food system.

In this feature, we'll look at some of the different types of food, talk about buff terminology, and look at how Chefs can maximize their foods to get the most powerful buffs.

Stat Mod Food

You should already be familiar with stat mod food. All food in the game up to this point have been stat mod based. Stat mod food applies a statistic bonus to one or more of your HAM bars (ex: +100 health).

Stat mod food effects stack with other stat mod foods and other stat mod buffs, so you can eat more than one to get a combined effect...as long as your stomach has room.

Breath of Heaven is a good example of a stat mod food that has improved. With max experimentation in every category and no bio-engineer tissue, the old (pre-patch) item looked something like this:

Breath of Heaven (Max Experimentation)

Strength, Quickness, Focus
+450 for 12 minutes
Yield 10, Filling 60

The new Breath of Heaven has better average results from the very start, without maxing experimentation:

New Breath of Heaven (Average Experimentation)
Strength, Quickness, Focus
+500 for 10 minutes
Yield 3, Filling 60

Experimentation can add an additional +100 to the buffs power.

While this doesn't look like much of a change, the insightful Chef will notice that each food recipe now has a slot for an optional additive.

Additives allow you to boost one of the experimental food attributes by a significant amount. You can add an additive to boost the buff's power (nutrition), boost the duration (flavor), increase the yield (quantity), or decrease the stomach filling (filling).

There are three classes of additive: light, medium, and heavy. Each food has a slot for an additive class. Large slots can take a smaller additive, if need be (enabling you to use a light additive in a medium or heavy slot).

Good additives can be difficult to make, but the results are well worth it. Breath of Heaven has a slot for a "heavy" additive. The heavy nutrition tissue is called "Intelligent Nanonutrients," made by a Bio-Engineer. Using an additive made with this tissue in Breath of Heaven will result in a +1200 buff, instead of +500! That's without maxing out experimentation.

Skill Mod Food

Skill mod food gives a temporary boost to one of your skill mods. You can use a skill mod food even if you don't normally have the skill mod the food grants.

You can have multiple skill mod buffs at one time, but skill mod buffs of the same skill don't stack.

Thakitillo is an example of a powerful Master Chef skill mod food.

Thakitillo

+40 Knockdown Defense for 15 minutes
Yield 3, Filling 40

Thakitillo offers significant protection from enemies who use knockdown attacks in combat. A knockdown attack will always have at least a 10% chance of succeeding, so this food won't give you absolute protection, but it will definitely tip the odds in your favor. A properly crafted food additive can make this knockdown defense even stronger.

There are also skill mod foods to enhance camouflage, taming, and other key abilities.

Special Effect Food

Some foods have effects that aren't related to stats or skills. These foods offer a wide range of abnormal rule bending effects.

Smuggler's Delight will be a favorite of anyone who likes to use spices.

Smuggler's Delight

Flameout can be used to protect oneself from surprise attacks or instant kills from more powerful opponents.

Flameout

Reduce damage taken from the next 5 attacks by 90%
Yield 3, Filling 60

Entertainers will find T'ssolok useful for selling buffs to clients.

T'ssolok

Increase the speed at which performance buffs are applied by 20% for 10 minutes
Yield 5, Filling 40

All of those numbers can be increased through experimentation or the use of bio-engineered additives.

Conclusion

Chefs are now capable of creating a very wide range of foods for combatant and non-combatant players alike. Working with a Bio-Engineer, a Chef can more than double the effects of their food. Finding the best foods will definitely take experimentation and creativity, but there are some very powerful combinations waiting to be found.

If you weren't a food user before the revamp, you should try it out now. There's probably a food out there to complement your playstyle.

Good luck and don't forget to clean your plate!