Why spicy eel for skull cavern?

[bdawg]

I'm new to the game. When I go to skull cavern I take espresso and lucky lunch. But recently I've been watching youtube videos and reading posts about Stardew and it seems like everyone recommends Spicy Eel. Lucky Lunch gives you +3 luck, which seems really good to me (again i'm pretty new).

Is the extra +1 speed that important? Why does everyone say to use Spicy Eel?

 

[Lew Zealand]

Spicy Eel has the advantage that you can Farm it pretty easily by putting Rubies in Crystalariums to duplicate them and then trade them with the Desert Trader Lady for a Spicy Eel. Getting 2 Buffs is nice too, and you can layer on more Speed with Coffee or Luck with Ginger Ale, whichever you prefer. The Speed Buffs are very useful in outrunning some Skull Cavern monsters, especially the Flying Serpents which seem to have quite a preference for nibbling my knees.

Also you need to wait for the Lucky Lunch recipe until late Spring Y2 and if you miss it, you'll need to wait until it pops up again. You'll also need to stockpile ingredients as some are Spring and Fall/Winter, unless you're growing them in the Greenhouse already. But that also incurs an opportunity cost as you could be growing more lucrative Starfruit or Ancient Fruit in your Greenhouse instead.

 

[bdawg]

Spicy Eel has the advantage that you can Farm it pretty easily by putting Rubies in Crystalariums to duplicate them and then trade them with the Desert Trader Lady for a Spicy Eel. Getting 2 Buffs is nice too, and you can layer on more Speed with Coffee or Luck with Ginger Ale, whichever you prefer. The Speed Buffs are very useful in outrunning some Skull Cavern monsters, especially the Flying Serpents which seem to have quite a preference for nibbling my knees.

Also you need to wait for the recipe until late Spring Y2 and if you miss it, you'll need to wait until it pops up again. You'll also need to stockpile ingredients unless you're growing them in the Greenhouse already, but that also incurs an opportunity cost, where you could be growing StarFruit or Ancient Fruit in your Greenhouse.

Thank you for the response. Those are very good points. Can I ask you another unrelated question: Does luck help you catch rare fish or is it the fishing buff? Or both.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Thank you for the response. Those are very good points. Can I ask you another unrelated question: Does luck help you catch rare fish or is it the fishing buff? Or both.

Luck doesn't help with finding or catching Rare Fish, instead higher Fishing Level will increase those chances as it also makes your Fishing Bar larger with each level. Fishing buff Foods also help a lot by making the Fishing Bar bigger and my favorites are Dish 'O The Sea and Seafoam Pudding for difficult Fish. Also choosing the right Fishing Tackle is useful as many people like the Cork Bobber since it also makes the Fishing Bar bigger, but many other people like the Trap Bobber for the most difficult Fish as they "run away" from your Fishing Bar a bit slower.

I've used both and it seems that the Trap Bobber (in addition to the Food buffs!) works better to help me catch things like the Octopus and Legendary Fish.

 

[CrankyTemplar]

One other advantage with spicy eels is that the serpents in Skull Caverns also drop them so besides the Desert Trader option that Lew Zealand mentioned you'll probably get a good stack of them anyhow which makes keeping a constant buff easier.

 

[Magically Clueless]

I think lucky lunch is perfectly fine! I actually take BOTH to the caverns with me hahaha. spicy eel can be good since the serpents also drop them and the speed is nice, but the +3 luck can feel great

 

[ArtifactSpot]

One other advantage with spicy eels is that the serpents in Skull Caverns also drop them so besides the Desert Trader option that Lew Zealand mentioned you'll probably get a good stack of them anyhow which makes keeping a constant buff easier.

And crab cakes! Speed buff for almost the whole day!

 

[CrankyTemplar]

Crab cakes are definitely great to also get but I find I never get anywhere near as many as spicy eels. I like using crab cakes when I'm not going to go to Skull Caverns for the full day speed buff.

 

[ArtifactSpot]

Crab cakes are definitely great to also get but I find I never get anywhere near as many as spicy eels. I like using crab cakes when I'm not going to go to Skull Caverns for the full day speed buff.

They do restore a ton more energy and health though. But for the most part I use them when I’m traveling around the town.