Buff Priority

Understanding Buff Priority

From SWG Official Site

When dining on artisan and chef foods for the character buffs, there is something you should keep in mind; Different types of foods and drinks have what is called a buff priority. What this basically means is that you can't gobble down every food and drink item like Jabba the Hutt hoping to become nigh invulnerable. "But how does this buff priority work?" you might ask.

Glancing at the menu, you will see that many of the culinary delights offer more than one type of helpful buff effect. For instance, the tasty entrie Gruuvan Shaal and the rich dessert Won-Won both offer the bonus of Health and Health Regeneration. If you eat them both, they won't be added together. So how does a person know how the food and drink will stack? By knowing its Buff Priority. All buffs that are not an instant buff have what is called a "Buff Priority". A Buff Priority determines which buff takes priority over other buffs when stacking them. For instance, if you sit down to a meal of Gruuvan Shaal (buff priority 3) and chase it down with a Won-Won dessert (buff priority 4), The Won-Won will take priority and you will only get the effects of the Won-Won and the Gruuvan Shaal will only serve to fill your character's belly with no bonus.

There are two key terms to keep in mind when stacking buffs; "buff priority" and "buff groups". A buff priority determines which buff is more important and a buff group indicates which other buffs may be stacked with the first buff. Buff groups can generally be identified by examining a food item and looking at the effects. The top two most potent buffs represent the "buff group".

For example, if you examine Vasarian Brandy in-game, it has three buff effects - Health Regeneration, Action Regeneration and Mind Regeneration. Health Regeneration and Action Regeneration can have values up to 200 while Mind Regeneration can only have a maximum bonus of 50. The Buff Group for Vasarian brandy would be Health Regeneration and Action Regeneration because out of the three buff effects, Health Regeneration and Action Regeneration have the highest potential values.

Here are some additional developer comments to help understand how all of this works together:


 * A higher number on the buff priority indicates a higher priority. For example, buff priority 4 is higher than buff priority 1
 * Buffs can have up to two buffs in the "buff group" and are usually associated with the primary bonuses.
 * If two different buffs with the same Buff Priority offer different types of effects (different groups), then all you need is enough room in your character's belly to eat the food.
 * If two different buffs with a different Buff Priority offer different types of effects, then all you need is enough room in your character's belly to eat the food.
 * For any two (or more) items that have the same, single buff effect, the buffs don't stack. The edible item with the higher Buff Priority is the bonus that will count.
 * For any food or drink items that have the same buff priority and have different buff groups, you can eat the foods and gain the benefits of all effects that are different. As long as the buff groups are different, ALL the effects will stack, even if they affect the same stats. (For example, health and health regeneration both affect health and will stack).
 * If two food items both have the same buff groups and the same buff priority, the second buff you try to apply will be discarded. That is to say, i n cases where you have one buff on your character and you try to apply a second, if either one of the buff groups has the same effect and the buff priorities are the same, then the second buff will NOT be applied and you will not consume the second food item.

For instance, let's say you have a sweet tooth and try to eat the dessert Won-Won (buff priority 4) and then a Kiwik Clusjo Swirl (buff priority 4). Won-Won provides Health, Health Regeneration, and a little Action Regeneration, while Kiwik Clusjo Swirl provides Health , Mind Regeneration, and a little Action Regeneration. Your character would gain the effects of the Won-Won (because it was eaten first), and you would not be able to eat the Kiwik Clusjo Swirl, because they share "Health" as one of their primary buff effects in the buff groups.


 * Food and drink items are not stacked as different groups, they are both considered by their buff priority at the time your character consumes the buff.
 * Spices fall into a different type of buff category and should always stack with food/drink items.
 * Foraged foods all have a Buff Priority of zero (0) and will always be negated by Chef and Artisan foods.