A Complete Guide to Leveling Cooking in New World Aeternum

Cooking is one of the most rewarding and versatile crafting skills in New World. Not only does it provide essential buffs and benefits to your character, but it also serves as a key element in your survival across Aeternum. Whether you're cooking up tasty meals to boost your stats, create potions, or make New World Gold selling goods to other players, leveling your Cooking skill is an investment that pays off in multiple ways.

In this guide, we'll break down the essential steps for leveling Cooking efficiently in New World. From gathering ingredients to crafting meals, we'll ensure you have all the tools you need to master the art of cooking in Aeternum.

What is Cooking in New World?

Cooking in New World is a crafting profession that revolves around preparing food and potions at cooking stations across the world. These meals and potions provide temporary buffs, including increased damage, health regeneration, stamina boosts, and more. As your Cooking skill increases, you'll unlock more advanced recipes that require rarer and more exotic ingredients.

There are two primary categories in cooking:

Food: These dishes can increase your overall stats, such as Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Constitution, or Luck. Some foods can also offer healing over time, giving you a critical edge during difficult fights or exploration.

Potions: These are consumable items that provide buffs for a limited time, like boosting your health, mana regeneration, or defense. You will need ingredients from various sources to create these potions.

Whether you are looking to improve your character's combat efficiency, explore the world of Aeternum more effectively, or make some gold through selling consumables, cooking is an essential skill to level.

Step 1: Gather Ingredients

To begin cooking in New World, you'll need to gather various ingredients. These ingredients come from plants, animals, and fish, and you can find them all over Aeternum. The first step in leveling Cooking is to understand where to find these ingredients and how to gather them efficiently.

Animal Drops: Animals, such as boars, bears, and wolves, provide meats like Raw Steak and Raw Poultry. These will be used for your first few recipes, especially as you level up your cooking.

Herbs and Plants: Various plants and herbs provide vegetables and fruits, such as Carrot, Potato, Squash, and Apples. You can gather these from farming nodes found across the map or in certain biomes.

Fish: Fishing is another useful method of gathering ingredients. Some recipes require fish fillets or shellfish, which can only be obtained through fishing. You'll need to level up your fishing skill as well to access higher-tier fish.

Other Special Ingredients: As you advance, you will also need special ingredients such as Honey, Milk, and Salt, which are used in more advanced cooking recipes. These ingredients are often rare, so it's a good idea to purchase them from other players or find specific locations where they spawn.

Step 2: Use Cooking Stations

Cooking is done at Cooking Stations spread across Aeternum. These stations can be found in most major settlements, including starting towns and outposts. Some recipes are unlocked only when you access cooking stations at higher-level settlements, but you can always craft simpler dishes early on.

Access Cooking Stations: Head to any settlement and locate the Cooking Station-usually marked on the map. These stations allow you to prepare food and potions using the ingredients you've gathered.

Refining Ingredients: For certain recipes, you'll need to refine your gathered ingredients. For example, turning Raw Steak into Cooked Steak or Raw Fish Fillets into Cooked Fish. You may also need to refine Honey into Honeycomb or Salt into Salted Meat. As your cooking skill progresses, you'll unlock recipes that require these refined items.

Step 3: Craft Recipes and Level Up Cooking

At the Cooking Station, you'll find a range of recipes, each requiring specific ingredients to craft. The recipes will be divided into categories like Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3, with higher-tier recipes offering better buffs but requiring more rare ingredients.

Beginner Recipes (Tiers 1 & 2):

When you're just starting, focus on crafting the simpler recipes that use basic ingredients. These include:

Cooked Meats: Items like Cooked Steak, Cooked Poultry, and Cooked Fish. These dishes offer basic healing or stamina boosts and are perfect for leveling up your Cooking skill early on.

Basic Dishes: You'll also have access to basic recipes like Stews or Grilled Meats, which require common ingredients such as vegetables, herbs, or meats. These recipes are cost-effective and can be easily crafted in bulk.

Crafting these beginner dishes will get you through the first few levels of cooking. While these recipes are relatively simple and low on experience points, they're easy to mass-produce and can be sold at the Trading Post for profit.

Advanced Recipes (Tiers 3 & 4):

As you progress through the Cooking skill, you'll unlock more complex recipes that require rarer ingredients, such as Salted Meat or Herb Mixes. Some of the most valuable recipes at these stages include:

Stews with Buffs: Recipes that grant permanent buffs, such as increased damage or health regeneration.

Fish Dishes: Advanced recipes that require fish fillets or seafood. These dishes are highly sought after by players who need boosts for specific stats or resistances.

You'll also unlock recipes that offer more powerful healing effects or provide boosts to crafting or gathering speed-buffs that can help you in combat or when farming resources.

Max-Level Recipes:

At max Cooking skill, you will be able to craft legendary dishes and potions that provide game-changing buffs. These recipes require rare resources found in dungeons or through high-level gathering. Keep in mind that these recipes are expensive to craft, but they can also sell for significant amounts of gold.

Step 4: Efficient Cooking Leveling Tips

Leveling Cooking doesn't have to be a slow grind. Here are some tips to make the process faster and more efficient:

Focus on High-Yield Recipes: Instead of crafting low-level recipes that don't give you much experience, focus on the recipes that provide the most experience. Stews and fish dishes can give higher rewards, especially if you combine them with rarer ingredients.

Farm Ingredients Efficiently: Maximize your ingredient gathering by farming nodes or creatures in areas with high yields. Some locations are rich with vegetables, herbs, or fish, so focus on these spots to gather the ingredients you need for your recipes.

Trade or Buy Ingredients: If you're struggling to gather enough ingredients, consider buying them from other players at the Trading Post. This can be particularly useful for high-tier ingredients that may take too long to farm yourself.

Make Use of Cooking Bonuses: Some settlements or faction bonuses provide increased yields from cooking. Take advantage of these when available to speed up your leveling process.

Sell Your Dishes: Since food and potions are essential consumables, you can always sell your crafted goods on the Trading Post. Not only does this help you fund your crafting efforts, but it also gives you the opportunity to earn cheap New World Gold coins while you level up.

Conclusion

Cooking in New World is an incredibly useful and rewarding crafting skill. Whether you're boosting your stats, healing during a tough battle, or making a profit by selling your dishes, cooking adds depth to your gameplay and provides you with powerful advantages. By gathering ingredients, refining them, and crafting a wide variety of dishes, you can level up your cooking skill in no time.

The key to success in cooking is to gather ingredients efficiently, craft high-yield recipes, and take advantage of in-game economies. With a little patience and strategy, you'll become a culinary master of Aeternum-able to feed and buff yourself and others while contributing to the vibrant crafting economy of the game.