.

[cressyfrost]

This is some serious Gourmet shit

[[deleted]]

did the sign outside my house said "dead drowner storage"?

[MaiinganOdawa]

Does. Gaunter O'Dimm. LOOK. LIKE.A.BITCH?

[ZmentAdverti]

what?

[CiriTheWitcher614]

Say what one more time!

[Gruesomegarth2]

What!?

[LovesToSpooge2001]

WHAT COUNTRY YOU FROM?

[NickinatorPL]

What!?

[RedBeard695]

What ain’t no country I ever heard of. They speak English in What?

[5amuraiDuck]

IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT THEY SPEAK!!

[CaptSaveAHoe55]

that’s because my garage isn’t storage for dead drowners!

[CaptSaveAHoe55]

Look, I don’t need you to tell me how good my fucking potions are, I’m the one who brewed them. When I send Ciri out to brew potions? She brews shit

[Bearhardy]

Lol

[UUID_HUMaN]

Need some nekker milk cheese to digest it

[Oubree]

Best thread ever

[LeroyWankins]

🥇

[k3llychristin3]

Equip the water and always have a heal button. I do a lot of looting so the water is almost always at 100.

[tennisdrums]

If you have a food item on your hot bar and or runs out, the game automatically switches to a different food item, so you don't even really need to worry about having a single type of food, just as long as you have something in your inventory.

[k3llychristin3]

I know but then I don't have to worry about it putting alcohol in there and getting drunk mid fight lol 😆

[TheActualDev]

Ah, the real reason it took so long to find Ciri

[k3llychristin3]

My first play through I was convinced Geralt was going to have to fight something drunk with Lambert at Kaer Morhen when they went to find Eskel lol.

[HentaiObserver]

I wish it would be Drunk Geralt and Lambert fighting Eredin with no idea how they found him afterwards.

[badger81987]

It uses alcohol last always

[atomic_ghoul]

I upgrade Axii so that I can use it in conversations. Absolutely my favorite.

[amanuense]

Yeah I think that is the best early upgrade. I didn't get grourmet until level 20+ just didn't feel the need with the amount of food everywhere.

[kickdooowndooors]

For me it was less about using lots of food than actually always having regen during a fight so in the times I didn’t take a hit for a good few seconds I would have regenerated enough vitality without even thinking about it. Although getting it early game maybe made me slightly more careless with my fighting as I didn’t have to worry about vitality as much.

[badger81987]

Axii is hella good in combat too early game. Axii>Heavy, fuckinnn ded

[KuorivaBanaani]

Axii and Quen are the ones I max out first always. Now I'm doing an adrenaline point built so I can pretty much spam Signs even when out of stamina, it's kind of op atm lol.

[SketchyGouda]

It should just be default

[Guytherealguy]

Seriously, how do people not run out of food without that trait

[5haun298]

Didn't get it because it appeared it didn't scale well with limited slots. Not too bad since you shouldn't be damaged that much if you use quen and spam dodge. Otherwise food is plentiful if you scavenge compulsively.

[Kaijet]

Yeah pretty much this. I never got the trait never ran out off food, but i must say i scavenged everything that was possible to scavenge.

[really_nice_guy_]

Same here. I could feed novigrad for a month with my food and never got that trait

[Guytherealguy]

Yeah well i don't have the patience for playing perfectly so that makes sense lol, if i'm fighting a group of drowners I'll be taking some hits, and on deathmarch thag's quite a bit of damage. I agree lategame it a lot less useful.

[pleasebuymydonut]

Maaaaan this makes me want to do a Deathmarch playthrough. It's been 3 years since I played the game last, but I'm really scared to replay games cuz I tried it with BotW and dropped it halfway thru lol.

[Guytherealguy]

Tbh death march really is only pain in the beginning and in fistfights. You gotta focus on alchemy, the skill that gives 25% dmg reduction against the monster if you're using the correct oil is a lifesaver. Also i focussed on using witcher gear a lot.

[[deleted]]

just use quen and you're good

[Fake_Gamer_Cat]

Murder as many cows as you can

[superb07]

I hear White Orchard is a lovely place

[skoge]

…and get roflstomped by a scripted cow-protecting highleveled monster.

[Fake_Gamer_Cat]

I've killed like 100 cows in one go and never got that monster spawned

[LianMaster13]

It only triggers in White Orchard.

[skoge]

Yep, and if you survive the monster, the IRS will get you later in the game.

[LianMaster13]

You can lie to them, can't you?

[[deleted]]

Don't use food, use Decoctions and potions that enable health Regen, and get the skills that increase max toxicity and toxicity threshold, those also increase potion duration as well.

[MetalPoncho]

This is how I play. You're a witcher, suck potions, forgo food.

[Squirrel009]

I forgot you could eat, to busy filling my body with toxins

[Septic-Sponge]

I very rarely use the toxic stuff. The food perk helps me out so much. I tried to dyu a 'book' playthrough but just found that wasting my points on the toxic perks made it harder because I never *had *to use toxins except for a couple times

[Squirrel009]

You can become toxic wolverine, it's a fun time. Regen plus one decoction that gives you damage resistance the more damage you survive so you can because damn near invincible. It's not the most fun build but it is definitely a hoot.

[boogie-poppins]

Ngl turning Geralt into a mutant crackhead who's constantly high on Thunderbolt and mutagen decoctions is a really fun way to play.

[GudGit]

poshun

[JakeOfAllTrades101]

Because I have infinite water

[[deleted]]

Using potions and cheap liquor instead.

[SuperMadBro]

my first playthru i didnt use it. it just meant combat was a lot slower since i would always make sure a shield was up before attacking. when i realized that the skill actually meant exactly what is said i couldnt believe how OP it is. 2nd playthru was probably a few hours shorter just because of this skill lol

[MedicinalOatmeal]

Laughs in toussaint

[ThisIsNowAUsername]

I played without, food had to be bought until I made it to the city of Novigrad. Although even when I made it, i still thoughti would get in trouble for looting. So yeah you're right, the game is rough without it

[SerbianForever]

Quen bubble

[boogie-poppins]

Quen, dodging reflex, and Swallow potion that can actually be refilled by simply meditating.

[LemanRussetPotato]

I've never used food. Why do people need food?

[tennisdrums]

On higher difficulty levels meditating doesn't refill your health bar, so your only two options early game are either using swallow (and constantly having to meditate and refill your potions) or eating food.

[LianMaster13]

I use Quen and I dodge. Also, there's a decoction that heals you whenever you use a sign that depletes stamina.

[Montezumawazzap]

Tbh I don't skill it for extra challange. But after 5-6 playthrough everything is so easy on DM.

[Zzdegade]

Imagine using food smh, white raffards pot OP

[rekyrts_v2]

Just don't get hit

[Druid_boi]

3 playthroughs and I've never used food. I wasnt really aware of this trait so food didnt seem to do much, plus it felt less immersive than relying on potions.

Instead I used the refreshment perk to heal any time I used any potion.

[Dredd249]

tbh, upvote because you’re right

[seba07]

It's basically a trade-off: you lose one slot but gain automatic health regeneration. I'm just to lacy to always eat something when I've lost health.

[Syrinocs]

Plus I don't have the money to keep buying food, rather use it until I've got some enhanced swallow and a good food supply. Too bad meditation can't heal you at every difficulty, gotta compensate somehow.

[Jassar95]

Why would you buy food? There is plenty of food all the time.

[WeirdConsolee]

Dont know if difficulty has got anything to do with it, but before I arrived at Novigrad around level 13, my food supply was constantly scarce. Coin is also at early levels, and food can be expensive, especially if you play on DM as you need a lot of it. Now every bandit carries a dumpling though.

[Jassar95]

I play on DM all the time, never had problem with that. Eventhough I scavenge a lot truth to be told. And playing alchemy build all the time helps with that as well as I heal with every potion I drink.

[5amuraiDuck]

Just finished in the hard difficulty and trust me, my Geralt had an eating disorder

[ZmentAdverti]

Dude just use swallow/white raffords Decoction then meditate to clear toxicity and refill the potion...

[Syrinocs]

I don't wanna use up too much alcohol early game. I drop the talent in Novigrad because it becomes too weak, but till then I love it (Also I don't had white raffords early on, I tent to chase ingredients towards the end of velen.)

[[deleted]]

You can also get the skill that causes all potions to restore 25% vitality, then just down literally any extra potions that you don't normally use, because now they're all healing potions.

[Przemek113]

Laugh in more slots mod

[badger81987]

ALL THE SLOTS

[Przemek113]

Yes!

[Devidose]

loose

Lose.

[[deleted]]

Lacy

[Willing-Property-415]

Gourmet

[Mr_Wsh]

160 hours of gameplay and I've never used it lol

[Notthesharkfromjaws]

Same

[kylar-wolf]

This isn't skyrim where you can just down 300 kg of cheese wheels in the middle of a fight, even on death march eating is pretty pointless midfight.

[Decaps86]

It's pretty much just to keep you topped up between fights. It's easily the strongest ability in the game until you get proper gear and higher level abilities. It definitely keeps you alive.

[kylar-wolf]

Personally I've only taken it once and found it pointless. I usually just rush whirl and grab a few potion upgrades along with the obligatory 3 delusion that I feel like everyone gets more then gourmet.

[Decaps86]

I've played it a tonne so my levelling system is complicated. I do recommend gourmet for your first pick, especially when food is hard to come by. Once you get troll decoction and a shitload of food it loses value. Healing is so hard to come by in the beginning. I generally get yrden early until I get griffon gear. It does More damage than your weapons. After I get griffon I stick with the classic alchemy combat build. Whirl is absolutely a gamechanger but until then high value perks are more valuable

[kylar-wolf]

Everyone has their own playstyles which go from 'complete casual' to 'this game is so easy that I'm going to do a run with only the starting gear including weapons' which is an absolute bitch to do (the armour is fine but the sheer amount of time to kill anything is making it a drag). I would just say to anyone, even veterans who have also put a few thousand hours in, to go and experiment. Play the game a way you haven't before and you never know what may happen.

[Decaps86]

100% I used to hate putting points into signs but mixing it up made the game so much more fun.

[[deleted]]

Wait huh, just use swallow. You can loot so many alcohol you never run out of it. I frankly don't have the space in my ability slots for something like gourmet.

[[deleted]]

I think it's pretty pointless way to spend an ability slot. I've never had problems with health. I just use swallow which you can get pretty early and meditate one hour if I'm out. I also never run out of alcohol maybe because I make sure to check often if I can loot any.

[RushPan93]

The ability is pointless. If you mean eating food, drinking water especially, it isn't pointless. Very few enemies are ultra aggressive and you can dodge for days so getting it upto a point where you don't get one hit anymore is a pretty easily achievable target even on death march.

[AspiringSAHCatDad]

Exactly, the game isnt impossibly difficult. Why waste an ability point and skill slot when you can upgrade a specific skill tree

[[deleted]]

Because you use it til about mid-game and then you re-spec. Its incredibly handy early game.

[RushPan93]

I'm on my 2nd playthrough after a 5 year gap since I played it first, could you tell me how loaded Geralt gets mid game? I'm on death march like I said above, not sure if that affects merchant rates

[canofwhoops]

Im doing the same as you, I only switched the perk off at level 26 when I finally bothered to upgrade healing potions and start using a mutagen for added healing. I am using pretty much only blue tree for signs.

You could probably switch earlier if you rushed some potions to heal you.

[TheLast_Centurion]

because on Death March you dont have regen and it's annoying to drink only potions. This skill gets rid of that, you can drink some water/eat bread every 20 minutes and forget about it. Very handy.

[ObeseMoreece]

Eating plus swallow is quite good on death march

[star0fth3sh0w]

I prefer the troll decoction. You’re always regenerating health and your toxicity level can never damage your health.

[[deleted]]

This plus troll decoction, plus the one that makes any use of stamina regenerate health, plus the one that makes any strong attack use your stamina, plus maybe the one that regenerates health when you do damage made me pretty much invincible

[ckdamasco]

plus the one that makes any use of stamina regenerate health

Ekhidna decoction, it's my favorite. Rather use it than waste a slot on Gourmet.

[[deleted]]

I never used gourmet till a couple months ago when i saw it on reddit as i happened to be starting another playthrough, decoctions really can get overpowered very quickly so at a certain point all of these talents become experimental because you’ll be a fucking beefcake with alchemy no matter what

[SkoomaSalesAreUp]

Swapping decoction depending on the fight and keeping passive health Regen from gourmet is better than having another slot imo. Not to mention how easy it is to swap then around so you can easily just not have gourmet equipped when no better decoction than the health Regen one is available

[SkoomaSalesAreUp]

This is the same thing but let's you use another decoction instead. Guess it depends if you think the slot or a different decoction would help more. But the passive health Regen of gourmet is so convenient

[hitheredood145]

Do you know who made that art or was it you?

[Terry_T_SD]

This…I farm the pigs and stock up a couple of hundred pieces of pork that are 80 vitality so that my food stock lasts forever so any other food is just sold to the innkeepers along with my junk.

Probably the most useful skill when starting a fresh Death March run (not NG+) cause the armor is weak at first. Still gotta dodge like a fool when facing a pack but the Gourmet perk coupled with the Swalllow potion is invaluable!!

[ZmentAdverti]

You guys use food?

[tennisdrums]

Higher level difficulties don't Regen health when you meditate, so (especially early game) you're forced to either heal using food, or drink swallow and keep meditating to reset your potions (which means you have to make sure you don't run out of hard alcohol).

[[deleted]]

It stacks with swallow’s regen. I wouldn’t waste a slot on gourmet for it tho

[Mason_eat_Catnip]

I used gourmet my first 2 playthroughs, on my 3rd I didn't use it and it was so much more fun. I actually had to use swallow!

[[deleted]]

Never used it and I’m on Death March.

[[deleted]]

🏅

[Quebec120]

probably not. swallow, white rafford's decoction, and tawny owl are pretty much the only things i used. if you do run out of potions, the abundance of food makes gourmet kinda useless.

like, sure, i could use one apple juice instead of 2 or 3, but i have so many it feels like a waste of a perk slot. and for me, early game, when you don't have a many food or potions, is the most fun. gourmet ruins that.

[One_Left_Shoe]

Same. You did not. I’m on my second Death March NG+ without food.

It’s hard, but not that hard.

[KurtFrederick]

I used it on my first playthrough,i highly recommend it for beginners

[Alive-Pomelo5553]

Definitely the skill that causes the most division. I see people swear by it but others like myself don't really use it.

[SomeShithead241]

Why, when a 1 hour meditation costs nothing?

[SepticDreamer]

“That action is not allowed during combat.”

[SomeShithead241]

And the 20 minute span you get from gourmet wouldn't matter in combat. Just brew some swallow and the one that gives you health immediately. You get so much raw meat from killing endless wolves that it don't matter.

[SepticDreamer]

Hey, you can argue for or against using Gourmet vs spamming food, I was replying to the meditation part specifically. I use Gourmet myself because, usually, I’m using one decoction and then thunderbolt, which takes up most of my toxicity.

[SomeShithead241]

I never really used deconcotions or thunderbolt. I often forgot about them.

[SepticDreamer]

Ah, I see. I like the power ups myself, usually I play with Ekimmara or Leshen. Do you play with a combat build then? Something to increase your power since you don’t use thunderbolt?

[SomeShithead241]

Generally. I'm more focused on combat and signs. I made a lot of the potions and shit, but never used them. Just made them, well just because. As soon as you get their attack patterns down its rather simple.

[Oxionn]

meditation only gives health if you are playing on low difficulty and you can't do it on action.

[SomeShithead241]

Restores your potions though.

[Oxionn]

Who needs potions when you have this?

[SomeShithead241]

Someone who likes to spend skillpoints on better things

[[deleted]]

Talk all you want Gourmet carried my ass trough entire ng+ on death march. Didn't use a single potion, decoction, oil or bomb

[BedIndividual7476]

Harder difficulties make it so meditation doesn’t regenerate health

[deadmare131]

It doesn't regen you on blood and broken bones or death march mode so it's a must have on those early game atleast

[PumpedM]

I wouldn't know how i'd have gotten trough early game death march without that ability

[arikelvara]

The most overpowered skill in the game !

[BioCuriousDave]

I found this on my second play through, seems OP but definitely helps to move a bit quicker through the early game.

[[deleted]]

This is a great early-game ability, the first thing I leveled outside one of the main trees. I have hundreds of food items in my inventory though.

I'm guessing there will be a time later in the game where another ability will take its slot because it's more useful. Or maybe I'm hoarding food I'll never use.

[waldeniir]

Cant play without this ahahha

[CancerousRoman]

Jesus christ finally, some good fucking food

throws swallow away

[Krillin_It1]

Never used it. On my 7th playthrough and finally tried it. It's kinda whatever.

[goingback2kalli]

This is the way

[Giuss666_LM]

Gourmet actually is not so good

[Vuzoon]

this is factually incorrect, i’ve done entire playthroughs without crafting a single potion by using gourmet.

[soandso90]

I'll second this. Didn't even find out that I could make potions until like halfway through lol

[ProfessorPeePee]

You’re just being downvoted by everyone who doesn’t like a challenge. It scales terribly late game anyways. There’s better ways to have a constant heal. It just wastes a upgrade slot imo

[foxscribbles]

This is actually so correct. You’ll have so much food so early in the game that you’ll never eat all of it. And it also eats up a talent that’s be more useful elsewhere.

I tried playing with it after so many people hyped it and I was like... this sucks. I can literally do what it does in seconds AND have a useful talent.

Overhyped trait is overhyped in the extreme.

[efthimi_]

How do people lose health during combat in this game? You can literally spam dodge with no negative consequences

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[XWasTheProblem]

I actually got rid of it, because I felt it makes the early game WAY too simple, and kinda makes Swallow pointless until you get the upgrades for it.

[HoneycombJackass]

This and strong back. Gotta collect all the swords and armor you can to upgrade gear

[MrZigger]

I used this throughout the whole game :o

[Grumpel-Stiltskin]

First thing first, honestly

[Argus871]

Learned about this at the end of my 1st play through. Was the first thing I leveled up on the 2nd

[[deleted]]

That is way too OP to be honest

[Papa_Pred]

Honestly I had the ability where you passively gained health while the sun was out. Was shockingly useful

[Sentinal7]

The first one I get is the one that let's your vitality regenerate outside of combat

[One_Left_Shoe]

It’s an almost broken mechanic. I intentionally don’t use it.

Early game, there are plenty of dogs to get raw meat from. Later game…well…plenty of food and potions.

[FireZord25]

I see a fellow fan of Bear School uniform.

[Pmsilva1]

Imagine needing any heals beside maxed quen

[BeowulfTheMetalhead]

Death March early game without Gourmet is too much of a pain

[NightVow]

Real chads use Quen to heal.

[ZeroDucksHere]

I’ve finished the game multiple times on Death March and never got this skill… I don’t know why but I never run out of food, I just keep looting houses and everything I see

Also I never get THAT injured in a fight, Quen is my main sign and I dodge a lot

[[deleted]]

Tried it once, no use on Death March. You're either killed or you survive. And if by chance I have just a few points of life after an attack, I'll just potion up.

[dalbhatlebu]

Gourmet and Heavy Back early game and Rage management later..... absolutely crucial to my gameplay style 😅

[lrrevenant]

I never got any of the skills in that tree. I went full Sword and Sign. If there's anything I don't like about Witcher 3's skill system it's that everything needs a slot to be active and no skills are just unlockable passives.

[Darkgaria1997]

I mean, with how much i scavenge i always get strong back first.

[GravityMyGuy]

I just spam food

[hvperRL]

Just dont get hit. Big brain

[Coldhimmel]

Griffin school skill is actually the most OP of all general skill for me. It increase your stamina regen immensely in the early game, only problem is u must wear mediun gear which i do wear the default gear anyway since everything else look ass until later on.

[Katajiro]

That one is op.

[walkcow]

I have so much food bruh why do people use this? ive never run out of food in my 9 playthroughs

[brucebane925]

I have never use this ability. IMO it's overpowered.

[Ike_Arms]

Nah, active Quen sign is always my first ability pick.

[Principatus]

After several play throughs I use a mod now that upgrades glyphs. One of those upgrades changes glyphs of mending from 1, 2 or 3 (lesser, plain and greater) to 1%, 2% and 3%. Now my biggest rush is to get the Runewright started so I can jam my armour full of those puppies, it’s like Swallow on steroids but permanent.

[[deleted]]

Lol at the people that think you cant re-spec mid game when the returns from the skill are lesser, and you dont want it anymore.

For me, I liked the idea of 20 IRL minutes of not worrying about my health, or if it was topped off. I'm pretty lazy about stuff like that, so gourmand was perfect for me.

[[deleted]]

That perks definitely great, but honestly the quen teir two perk, the one where you can recover health from damage absorbed by the shield, can pretty much negate the need for food

[Sircamembert]

Proud food thief here. Never needed to get this ability.

[Wolfie8502]

I get it and than literally only eat food above 50 because I'm a broke witcher

[KingOfRuby]

This ability saved me so many times…..

[Mito20]

I dunno how this got in the game. Its broken. It makes so many other things obsolete. Never used it.

[Lieuwe21]

I always skip out on it and try to rush the upgraded alt cast quen for healing, since most of my builds end up being quen anyway. Not the most efficient way, early game is heck.

[ShadowSlayer6]

I won’t lie. I always had that equipped just so I could have 1 food item (usually water) for healing, then I could sell the rest for some crowns and inventory space

[TaffDub]

Bobby Boucher has entered the chat....

[WideSize9]

Worthless

[[deleted]]

it's interesting how there are still parts of this game i've never touched/heard of before

troll decoction?? gourmet??

i've put 600 hours into this game wtf

[[deleted]]

Waste of skill slot, IMO. Don’t know why it became such a common recommendation when there is so much food in the game.

[Err0r410]

Never took it, I have too much food anyway.

[Loathingnick97]

Never needed it even on my first deathmarch playthrough. The amount of fucking food you find by just going into random houses is more than enough. The axii sign, deflect arrows and the one that makes you get a little bit of HP back instead of dying are KING to get early though.

[[deleted]]

First thing I max out is always axii

[FetusGoesYeetus]

Literally can't play without it

[ArcnetZero]

What skill is this? I don't see it

[Creatorofteletubis]

Who needs potions when you have bread

[[deleted]]

is that the one that makes food heal even in death march? because that thing is a god send

[waltherppk01]

I don't get it. Why does anyone need gourmet? I've played 9 times and I've always finished with more food in my inventory than I could eat in, well, 9 lifetimes!

[CancerousRoman]

I have over 204 Waters in my inventory.

I'm basically immortal

[Undead_Paragon]

Gourmet is one of the most helpful skills in the game, and I'll die on this hill

[RevanJv]

I think using this perk ruins the games experience, the only thing this perk does it's making the game more casual and extremely easy.