Link and his allies can prepare meals before the battle in Age of Calamity and offer buffs and side effects that greatly affect gameplay.
No hero can save the world without a hot meal or two along the way. Breath of the Wild played this up in particular with the introduction of cooking. This in turn plays out the robust material system of the game and gives every small object a kind of in-game function. While Age of Calamity is an action RPG in the style of its predecessor, AoC retains many of BotW’s unique mechanics: cooking included.
Link and his allies can prepare meals before the battle in Age of Calamity and offer buffs and side effects that greatly affect gameplay. Players who fail to unlock recipes and have a healthy stash of ingredients are likely to have late game issues. Don’t neglect the importance of cooking.
Wheat bread
The Wheat Bread Recipe can be unlocked by completing the Expert Cooking Lesson that will appear after completing All Hyrule, United. Wheat bread has the following effect and requires rock salt and tabantha wheat for cooking.
- Cooking effects: + 20%
- Rock salt x5
- Tabitha wheat x5
Wheat bread is especially useful for strengthening other recipes. The + 20% cooking buff offers a bonus that is hard to ignore (especially since rock salt and tabantha wheat aren’t hard to come by).
Wildberry Crepe
The recipe for Wildberry Crepe can be unlocked by completing Extreme Foraging, which will also appear after completing All Hyrule, United. Wildberry Crepe increases the drop rate for material and requires the following ingredients to cook:
- Material drop rate: + 20 &
- Cane sugar x2
- Bird egg x2
- Wildberry x2
- Tabantha wheat x2
- Fresh milk x2
Since materials only gain importance in the course of Age of Calamity, Wildberry Crepe helps to significantly reduce grinding.
Honey crepe
The recipe for the Honey Crepe can be unlocked after completing The Great Plateau. Honey Great significantly increases the number of rupees players receive per mission.
- Rupees: + 30%
- Cane sugar x1
- Bird egg x1
- Courser bee honey x1
- Tabantha Wheat x1
- Fresh milk x1
Honey crepe is pretty generous when it comes to the necessary ingredients, but this also makes it easy to forget to keep supplies.
Monster Stew
Monster Stew cuts a player’s health in half, but not without improving every second value by a whopping + 15%. This is not something to make fun of, especially with higher difficulties. Monster Stew is unlocked after completing Mystery Meal for the Merchant, which appears after completing The Future of All Hyrule.
- All stats + 15% but max health – 50%
- Razor Blade Crab x6
- Gourmet Raw Meat x6
- Monster Extract x6
Monster Stew’s ingredients are not that easy to come by, but the food itself is deadly in the mouths of seasoned warriors.
fruitcake
The fruit cake is unlocked by completing the afternoon tea in Hyrule Castle, which will appear after completing the future of all Hyrule. Like the Wildberry Crepe, Fruitcake improves the material drop rate, but in this case specifically the rare material.
- Rare material drop rate + 30%
- Cane sugar x4
- Hydromelon x4
- Wildberry x4
- Tabantha wheat x4
If you eat a wildberry crepe and fruit cake in the same mission (along with wheat bread), players will be flooded with more material than they can count on the results screen.
Seafood rice balls
The Seafood Rice Balls Recipe can be unlocked by completing Fine Bites from Lurelin Village, which will be displayed after completing Each Step Like Thunder. Seafood rice balls noticeably increase the damage done by Sheikah runes.
- Sheikah Rune Damage + 35%
- Stealthfin Trout x4
- Hylian rice x4
Sheikah runes are incredibly useful in themselves, but a 35% increase in damage makes them even more deadly. Together with wheat bread, the sheikah rune becomes an unstoppable killing machine.
Ceremonial plate
The Ceremonial Platter recipe can be unlocked by completing The Legendary Recipe, which will also appear after completing The Future of All Hyrule. Anyone who eats the ceremonial platter starts their next mission with five extra hearts, which is a pretty significant health improvement.
- Start the fight with +5 hearts
- Flint x5
- Hearty Salmon x5
- Big Savory Radish x5
- Hylian rice x5
- Gourmet Raw Meal x5
While Musou veterans may not see a need for the ceremonial plate, 5 extra hearts in Blood Moon missions is very long. More importantly, they give less experienced players some leeway when dealing with more difficult levels of difficulty.
pumpkin stew
The recipe for the Pumpkin Stew is unlocked by completing the Pumpkin Hunt (another mission that will appear after the Future of All Hyrule) and is possibly the best meal in Age of Calamity. Pumpkin Stew simply restores lost health when killing an enemy.
- Restore health per enemy KO
- Goat butter x4
- Reinforced Pumpkin x4
- Tabantha wheat x4
- Fresh milk x4
Pumpkin Stew is a must-have on maps with hundreds of enemies. The ability to recover through natural gameplay makes the toughest missions in Age of Calamity so much easier to complete.
Akkala bun
The Akkala Bun Recipe can be unlocked by completing Wedding Worry, which will appear after completing Each Step Like Thunder.
- Perfect Dodge Timing Window + 10%
- Animalless frogs x 4
Akkala buns are a great meal regardless of a player’s skill level. For veterans, the buns make triggering a perfect doge pretty much mandatory. For beginners who have not yet mastered the mechanic, the extra leeway in teaching timing will help.
Creamy heart soup
The Creamy Heart Soup recipe can be unlocked by completing Bee Very Careful. Like the pumpkin stew, the creamy heart soup is also aimed at healing players. This time, however, the meal will automatically restore health.
- Restore health every 10 seconds
- Voltfruit x4
- Hydromelon x4
- Hearty Radish x4
- Fresh milk x4
10 seconds is no time at all in a Musou game, and Age of Calamity’s missions are long enough to enhance the natural healing benefits of Creamy Heart Soup. Eating creamy heart soup with pumpkin stew may be overkill, but it’s a way to keep your health high.
