The Gastronomy build—or "Gourmand" playstyle—is loosely based on Risk of Rain 2's CHEF. The main goal is to stack a multitude of Gastronomy effects on enemies, which directly boost damage taken from Gastronomy weapons. Some effects also have unique interactions.
These boosts are multiplicative, so stacking more effects rewards the player exponentially, especially rewarding against bosses. It can even be worth swapping curios mid-fight to apply a wider variety of effects.
Gastronomy effects get extra power from two Preparative effects: Scored and Mashed. Like scoring meat before cooking, they amplify your stacks:
| Effect | Boosts | Bonus |
|---|---|---|
| Scored | Dry | +15% per level (base +5%) |
| Mashed | Wet | +15% per level (base +5%) |
Gastronomy effects split into two categories: Wet (boosted by Mashed) and Dry (boosted by Scored). Not all effects focus on raw damage, some effects provide alternate buffs such as increasing fire damage taken, while support ones like Caffeinated give attack/movement speed but prevent sleeping.
An optimal playstyle would be to apply Gastronomy effects through things like curios, enabling weapons like a Knife, or off-hand tools to apply effects quickly—then switch to your main Gastronomy damage dealer for massive hits.
Here is a table of all Gastronomy effects, you may click on each Effect to get more information:
| Effect | Type | Boosts | Special Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caffeinated | Wet (Support) | 0% | Provides 50% Total Attack and Movement Speed, while making you unable to sleep. |
| Hot & Spicy | Wet (Support) | 0% | Attacks set the victim on fire for (Effect Level * 2) seconds |
| Caramelized | Wet | 12.5% | |
| Glazed | Wet | 5% + (10% per level) | -15% Total Attack and Movement Speed |
| Oiled | Wet | 10% | Increases Fire Damage taken by (Effect Level), also decreases Friction by (Effect Level * 20)%, also decreases Jump power by (-5% * Effect Level) |
| Slicked | Wet | 5% + (15% per level) | Decreases Jump power by (-15% * Effect Level) |
| Steamed | Wet | 15% | Pauses the counting down of duration of all Gastronomy effects |
| Candied | Dry | 5% + (10% per level) | Reduces armor by 15% |
| Peppered | Dry | 25% + (5% per level) | |
| Salted | Dry | 25% + (5% per level) | |
| Smoked | Dry | 5% + (20% per level) | |
| Sprinkled | Dry | 15% + (5% per level) |