5 min read · Jan 15, 2020
The canteen system can be daunting and to some extend it is, but let me break it down for you lads and ‘laddetes’.
The canteen system is not the most important system in the game, but it will really make a difference for you. Just like how the radial system is not needed to be good at the game, but it will make it easier for you in so many different ways.
First and foremost we eat for skills. Some skills are very invaluable for us when it comes to our eating. Just as a side note; I will not name all the skills you can get through eating, but i will mention some.
Do note that skills are not guaranteed. There are ways to increase the chance all the way up to 100%. Be sure to look at the “Fresh foods” and “Other information” part of this article to see how.
Skills comes from the rows of food you eat. Notice the symbols on the left side in the image. Depending on how much you eat of one category you will achieve different skills. The food group you are in does not matter,
There is a set of skills that come from Meats, Fish and Vegitibles:
- Red(Courage)
- Blue(Resilience)
- Orange(Vigor)
- Purple(Acumen)
- Yellow(Artillery).
There is a set of skills that come from Alcohols:
- Gold(Fortune)
- Green(Perception).
- Red(Preperation).
- Light Green(Trailblazer).
There are 3 levels of skills you can get from one category.
- Level 1: eating 2 pieces
- Level 2: eating 4 pieces
- Level 3: eating 6 pieces
So for example, I am a Insect Glaive user and i do enjoy mounting the monster. So i try to get the second skill of the red category. Which is Felyne Rider(Makes it easier to mount). So i will usually grab 4 from the red category. The type of food(Meats, fish, vegetables) does not matter as long as it is 4 read foods.
As for other weapons here is a short list of cool skills to get, but be sure to check the Wiki:
Bowguns/Bows: First level of Yellow(Artillery) will get you Felyne Sharpshooter, which will give you increased power of normal shots and normal arrows.
Hammer: Third level of red(Courage) will give you Felyne Slugger, which increases your stun damage.
Gun lance/Bowguns: Second Level of Yellow(Artillery) which will give you Felyne Bombardier, increases damage with ballista, sticky ammo and gunlance shells.
Abnormal status effect builds: Third level of Purple(Acumen) will give you Felyne specialist, which increases the potency of abnormal status attacks.
So for stats, the food group is what counts. For every two you eat of one food group, you will receive one buff. Two will give you a small buff, four will give you a medium buff and 6 will give you a large buff. All of these will give you stamina too. It’s pretty straight forward. Eat the food group that helps you.
Meats: Attack
Fish: Defense
Vegetables: Elemental Resistances
Alcohol: Does nothing
So back to my example with the Insect Glaive user. I want damage, i want my helicoptering to do as much as possible. So i try to eat 6 meats, 4 of them being in the red skill to unlock that mounting skill.
If it’s a though fight, you might want some elemental resist or defense.
Daily skills are poorly named. These does not change every day, but rather every mission. So be sure to always check them out. Whenever you add one skill by eating for it, you will overwrite one of these daily skills, so be sure to know what is good for you. As for an example, I’d rather have Felyne Insurance than mounting power. So if the first daily skill is insurance, i will just eat without getting any skills, be sure to check the Wiki to see what skills the dailies are.
Fresh foods are the ‘glowy’ foods and are chosen randomly every time you make a food. They do two things for you if you pick them.
First of all they will increase the chance of getting the skills you are eating for(activation chance, shown in the picture).
Secondly it will increase your health.
If you can get some fresh foods in to increase the chance of your skills to pop, that is optimal. The health is nice, but mostly we eat a Max potion when we join the mission anyway so we get max health anyway. If you’re at a stage of the game where you cant craft or get Max potions, you might want to eat for food or just use the “Chefs platter” preset that the game offers you.
These are there for a different reason. Alcohols job is to mainly be utility. While Meats/fish/vegetables are there for stats and damage/defense/mobility skills. Alcohols job is mainly loot. Alcohol has skills that will give you more rewards, more money, gathering points re-spawn faster, and so on.
I mainly use these when I’m farming an easy monster for some parts. Get level three of the Gold(fortune) in alcohols and you sometimes increase the number of reward items received.
It’s not awfully helpful, but will make things quicker for you if you’re smart about it.
So for other information i will speed through some things
Voucher: Will make the food free(except the voucher)
Gourmet Voucher: Will make the food free(except the voucher) and all the foods will be fresh foods.
General Tips
- Eat for skills and stats, don't care about health. Just eat a max potion at the beginning of a hunt.
- Unlock all the foods if you haven't already.
- If you join a friends session and he has foods that you haven't unlocked yet, they will be available for you.
- If you’re going up to a really hard fight, use a gourmet voucher to ensure the skills.
- You can save custom platters if you just go to the left in the presets. So create something you often use and just quickly eat that. If you want you can edit it and pick the fresh stuff when you can.
- Be sure to look at the wiki for what skills would match your weapon and play style.
