Most of the tips and tricks you will see for Monster Hunter Wilds will focus on things like your weapons, upgrading your armor, or playing with friends. Those are all important, but a filling meal before a hunt shouldn’t be ignored. This isn’t an excuse to see some delicious looking food getting made in shocking detail, but it gives your hunter some excellent buffs depending on the meal. The game will recommend a few basic meals, but you can get far more out of this system if you put your chef’s hat on yourself and start mixing and matching ingredients. If you need some inspiration on what meals to cook, here are a few of the best.
Best meals in Monster Hunter Wilds
Meals can be made either in your tent at the base camp or using the portable BBQ grill you get early on while out in the wild. Each meal has three parts: a ration, additional ingredients, and a finishing touch. That last part is optional but gives you extra buffs so it shouldn’t be left out if you have the option.
Best attack meal
If you want to give your attack the biggest buff, here’s a recipe that increases your attack stat +2, health +50, and stamina +150:
- Ration – Meat
- Additional ingredient – Airy Egg
- Finishing touches – Wild Herb
Best defense meal
If you are having trouble surviving a fight, bolstering your defense is the way to go. This meal will give you +4 defense, +50 health, and +150 stamina. The food skill Defender Meal also adds a raw defense buff on top of it all.
- Ration – Fish
- Additional ingredient – Delishroom
- Finishing touches – Wild Herb
Best elemental defense meal
Elemental defense is a completely different stat than regular defense that comes in handy when fighting monsters that inflict specific elemental damage on you. This meal in particular gives you +8 elemental resistance, +2 defense, +50 health, and +150 stamina. It also grants you a Sizzling Meal, which negates the negative effects of cold weather.
- Ration – Veggies
- Additional ingredient – Sharp Kunafa Cheese
- Finishing touches – Monster Chili
Best health meal
If you don’t want to get fancy and think about defense types, just giving yourself a ton of HP can usually do the trick. This meal will add +50 health, +4 defense, and +150 stamina. That is standard, but the food skill Moxie Heal and Medic Meal prevents you from fainting once time, essentially giving you a second life.
- Ration – Fish
- Additional ingredient – Specialty Sild Garlic
- Finishing touches – Eastern Honey
Best stamina meal
Finally, stamina is the last major stat you can focus on with a meal. Our pick will still give you +150 stamina, +50 health, and +2 defense like others, but the food skills as what make it special. Black Belt Meal makes all your moves cost less stamina so you get even more value out of your bar.
- Ration – Veeggies
- Additional ingredient – Delishroom
- Finishing touches – Monster Chili
