Best food buffs and meals to prepare in Monster Hunter Wilds

Finding the best food buffs and meals to prepare in Monster Hunter Wilds doesn’t require culinary skills, but patience and planning are definitely rewarded.

While we’ve already covered how to cook meals in detail, it can be overwhelming to decide what to use in every meal depending on the encounter at hand, the weapons you use, and your general playstyle.

Our guide dives into the best food buffs in Monster Hunter Wilds, as well as some meal suggestions to go alongside them. If you’re unsure how to get some rare ingredients, we’re also detailing a few methods that should help.

How to get rare ingredients in Monster Hunter Wilds

Gathering the main ingredient for every meal in Monster Hunter Wilds is a simple endeavor. It’s the additional touches, however, that are more elusive. Whenever you’re out exploring a biome, there’s always a chance of stumbling upon what you need. In case this proves to be more difficult than expected, the game offers a few alternative options.

The first involves the Environment Overview screen, which you can access while looking at the map. By default, the menu will showcase the Update tab. But if you move to the Forecast tab, you’ll get a breakdown of any forthcoming events.

If you’ve been searching for tempered monsters to gather Hunter Symbols, you’ll likely be familiar with this already. Aside from monsters, the game will notify you of upcoming material and ingredient upsurges, which is useful.

The second method is less arbitrary as it involves item trading. A number of key characters you meet throughout the story will hang around in biomes after meeting them, offering trade items of all sorts, including ingredients. In order to gain access to them, all you have to do is progress through the main quest.

The only downside is that some of the requested items can be rare to spot, so prepare to do some serious exploration for some of the trades. Plus, remember that trading inventories change throughout the in-game day.

Below are all traders and their locations in Monster Hunter Wilds:

• Wudwud Hideout in the Scarlet Forest: Musharpeye and Gawdygog
• Windsong Village: Kilama
• Oiwell Basin: Aida, Yabran, and Dogard
• Ruins of Wyveria: Ren
• Iceshard Cliffs: Rove
• Suja, Peaks of Accord: Sekka
• Everywhere: Nata (he will always appear outside of your tent at each camp you visit)

If you’re unable to find any specific ingredients out in the wild, the aforementioned methods should help. Once you have everything you need, jump to the next section for some recommendations.

Best food buffs in Monster Hunter Wilds

If you’re looking for recommendations on the best food buffs and meals to prepare in Monster Hunter Wilds, these are our picks:

Medic Meal (healing boost)

In Monster Hunter Wilds, healing is almost as important as attacking or dodging. While you should always have mega potions in your inventory before a hunt, there’s a way of increasing their efficiency further. The Medic Meal skill, obtained from eastern honey, increases the amount of health you recover when healing. Note that this isn’t specific to potions but healing in general, which is even better.

Here’s a meal idea to prepare:

• Main ingredient: Fish (for the defense boost)
• Additional ingredient: Sild garlic (prevents fainting one time)
• Finishing touches: Eastern honey (increased healing)

If you’re heading toward a fight where you know the odds are against you, this meal will make it so you’re less worried about being carted and more about the encounter itself.

Defender Meal (defence boost)

If you’re the type of hunter who likes to march head-on against monsters and tank while squadmates focus on targeting weak points or setting traps, you should get your hands on kunafa cheese for the Defender Meal skill. The low rank version of this ingredient decreases damage taken sometimes, while the high rank version does so often. In short, both chances are random, but it’s better than having none.

• Main ingredient: Fish (for the defense boost)
• Additional ingredient: Kunafa cheese (decreases damage taken at random)
• Finishing touches: Monster chili (negates effects of hot and cold climates while increasing defense in areas with them)

With this meal, alongside the defense boost of the main and secondary ingredients, you’ll get an extra protective layer when heading toward biomes like the Oilwell Basin and Iceshard Cliffs.

Caprice Meal (attack boost)

Eggs are not only a great source of protein, but in Monster Hunter Wilds, they’re a good option to increase your damage. Adding a fluffy or airy egg to your meals will provide the Caprice Meal food skill. The skill makes it so repeatedly attacking can boost attacks at random intervals.

• Main ingredient: Meat (for the attack boost)
• Additional ingredient: Egg (additional attack boosts at random)
• Finishing touches: Wild herb (lessens effects of various ailments)

Caprice Meal will pair nicely with weapons such as the dual blades, which are fast and deliver multiple attacks in quick succession, granting more chances of activating the effect. For finishing touches, the wild herb makes it so the exposition of being in the offensive isn’t as tough to contend with. That being said, you can alternate the wild herb with a jeweled mullet roe if you’re facing a water-type monster like Uth Duna, as you’ll get an attack increase when wet.

Black Belt Meal (decrease stamina drain)

Keeping an eye on your stamina is key to survival. Even with a hefty meal in your stomach, tough encounters will have you depleting your stamina fast. That’s where the Black Belt Meal skill comes useful, which is obtained by using mushrooms like the delishroom as an ingredient. The skill reduces stamina depletion when performing actions such as evading and other stamina-draining moves. Note that this isn’t a buff that happens at random intervals, but one that is active until the meal effect wears off.

• Main ingredient: Veggie (increased elemental resistance)
• Additional ingredient: Delishroom (decreases stamina depletion when evading, etc.)
• Finishing touches: Eastern honey (increased healing)

If you’re using weapons like the bow, the Black Belt Meal skill is a must. Moreover, there are other weapons, like great swords, that force constant evasion in order to reposition yourself. The skill also helps in such cases. The other two ingredients are there to support your hunter in general.

Moxie Meal (defense boost / prevent fainting)

Some fights might seem fatal before you’ve even started. The Moxie Meal skill, courtesy of garlic, grants you a second wind by preventing your hunter from fainting once. If you’re not too interested in complimenting your stats with more specific ingredients, this is a good choice for a straightforward, yet powerful skill.

• Main ingredient: Fish (for the defense boost)
• Additional ingredient: Garlic (prevents fainting once)
• Finishing touches: Wild herb (lessens effects of various ailments)

Garlic is the key ingredient of the whole meal, but the skill only happens once. As such, you should still prioritize defense when possible, as well as keeping an eye out for any ailments, depending on which monster you’re fighting.

To also help you understand Monster Hunter Wilds, we explain how to capture monsters, how to change weapons, and teach you how fishing and layered armor works.