Graveyard Keeper 2 Zombies Guide

How zombies work

Seven steps carry one body from the graveyard to a workstation or a battlefield. Every section below is one of them.

1. 1Start with a body
2. 2Prepare the corpse
3. 3Meet the resurrection requirements
4. 4Resurrect the zombie
5. 5Assign a role
6. 6Work a compatible workstation
7. 7Or join the fight

A zombie is a body, a collar and a workstation or an encounter that accepts it. Nothing on this page is a hidden mechanic: every condition below is one the game checks or one the published data documents, and where the data documents nothing the page says so.

How to unlock zombies

The whole system opens with one technology. Until it is researched, nothing else on this page can happen, so this is the first thing to check.

Zombie system requirements

Technology

Reanimation

Requires

Alchemy, Distillation · Skull and Teeth

Workstation

Resurrection Table I

Required items

Bronze Zombie Collar · Prayer for Storms

The technology is what makes the rest of the requirements available: it grants the resurrection workstation, and the items it unlocks are the ones a resurrection consumes. Researching it is therefore the only unlock step, and the planner can work out what has to come before it.

How to raise a zombie

Six steps, in this order. A body that fails one of them stays a body until the step is fixed.

1. 1Prepare a suitable corpse
2. 2Unlock the reanimation technology
3. 3Build the resurrection workstation
4. 4Gather the required resurrection items
5. 5Choose a collar the body fits
6. 6Put the corpse in and perform the resurrection

What kind of corpse can become a zombie?

Whether a body can be raised and what a raised zombie is worth are two different questions. This section answers the first one only.

Resurrection eligibility

• Main organs present

  Every main organ has to be on the body and none of them may sit in the wrong slot. That is the check the resurrection performs before anything else about the body matters.

• A collar inside the body's range

  The collar decides how many red skulls a body may carry. The published collars accept Bronze Zombie Collar (up to 5) · Golden Zombie Collar (up to 10) · Steel Zombie Collar (up to 99).

• Reanimation liquid

  1 reanimation liquid is consumed per resurrection.

  Where to get it

• A free slot in the resurrection area

  The resurrection area caps how many zombies a player may keep. A full area blocks the next resurrection even when the body and the collar are fine.

Eligibility vs zombie quality

This section answers whether a body can be raised at all. Whether the raised zombie works faster or fights better is a separate question, and the published data does not carry a performance table for it. Where this page shows no number, the game data states none.

What you need to resurrect a zombie

A station, a collar and a liquid. Each one is a published item or technology, so the acquisition detail lives on its own page and this page only says what it is for.

• Resurrection Table I

  The resurrection workstation comes from the reanimation technology. The body is placed here and the resurrection runs here.

  Granted by a technology rather than crafted from a recipe.

  Open item
• 

  Bronze Zombie Collar

  A collar is what a raised zombie wears, and its limit decides how many red skulls the body may carry. This one accepts up to 5.

  Open item
• 

  Golden Zombie Collar

  A collar is what a raised zombie wears, and its limit decides how many red skulls the body may carry. This one accepts up to 10.

  Open item
• 

  Steel Zombie Collar

  A collar is what a raised zombie wears, and its limit decides how many red skulls the body may carry. This one accepts up to 99.

  Open item
• 

  Reanimation Liquid

  The resurrection consumes 1 of this per body, so stock it before queueing several resurrections.

  Open item

Why can't I resurrect this corpse?

A resurrection fails on one reason at a time. These are the conditions the game checks, in the order it checks them.

Resurrection requirements

• Resurrection station is free

  The station must hold no body and no finished zombie. An occupied station rejects the next body.

• Zombie capacity has room

  When the zombie limit is active, the resurrection area has to have room for one more zombie.

• Main organs are on the body

  Every main organ type has to be present, and none of them may sit in the wrong slot.

• Reanimation liquid is available

  The required amount has to be in the station before the resurrection can run.

  Reanimation Liquid

• A collar is selected

  A collar has to be selected in the resurrection window, not merely owned.

• The collar accepts the body's skulls

  The selected collar has to accept the body's white and red skull counts. A body outside its range is rejected.

These conditions come from the game data, not from a reading of your save. Tick what is already true for you and the check below names the first condition still missing.

How to assign a zombie to work

A zombie produces nothing until it stands at a workstation that accepts it and its inputs are supplied.

1. 1Choose a workstation that takes a zombie worker
2. 2Assign the zombie to that workstation
3. 3Supply the inputs the process needs
4. 4Collect the output and keep the chain fed

Assignment is a property of the workstation, not of the zombie: the same body can staff one station and be refused by another. Not every workstation accepts a zombie worker, so the list below is every station the published data marks as taking one.

Zombie automation

A zombie covers one step of a chain. The chain itself is what decides whether production keeps running.

1. 1A zombie worker
2. 2At a workstation that accepts it
3. 3Running one production recipe
4. 4Fed with its inputs
5. 5Producing an output you collect

A zombie does not solve the supply chain. If the recipe needs a raw material or an intermediate item, something still has to provide it: you by hand, an upstream workstation, or another zombie. That is why the planner exists - it works out the whole chain instead of one workstation.

This page explains what a zombie worker is. How many stations a specific item needs is the planner's answer.

Zombies in combat

The same body that staffs a workstation is the force the combat system draws on. This section says where that force fits, and hands the detail to the combat surfaces.

1. 1Raise the zombie
2. 2Equip it for the encounter
3. 3Improve what it brings
4. 4Prepare the ground it defends
5. 5Fight the encounter

What a zombie may be equipped with and how it improves are decided by the systems that own them, so this page does not restate them. The encounter list is where the requirements are published: each one states what has to be in place before it can be won, which is the checklist a force is planned against.

17 encounters are documented on this site. Their requirements are the checklist to plan a force against.

The data behind this site covers the demo build. Army, training and town defence belong to the full release, so this section marks where they fit in the system and stops where the data stops.

Zombie equipment

What the published encounters require, and where the items that meet those requirements live.

• Defence power of at least 144

  Required by 15 published encounters

  Open the encounter list

• A sword equipped

  Required by 17 published encounters

  Open the encounter list

• Body armor equipped

  Required by 17 published encounters

  Open the encounter list

• Only one item carried overhead

  Required by 17 published encounters

  Open the encounter list

• The encounter unlocked in its battle camp menu

  Required by 7 published encounters

  Open the encounter list

Equipment is documented on the encounters themselves, so this page aggregates those requirements instead of keeping a second copy. Weapons, armour and the technologies behind them are browsable as items; what they cost to make is the crafting calculator's question. Dedicated troop gear belongs to the full release and is not in the published data yet.

Technologies related to zombies

The technologies that grant the zombie system and the workstations a zombie can be assigned to. The technology hub owns the tree itself.

• Reanimation

  Opens the zombie system: it grants the resurrection workstation and the items a resurrection consumes.

  Open technology

• Zombie Assistant

  Adds the zombie supplier building, which is how the economy side of the system is reached.

  Open technology

• Alchemy, Distillation

  Unlocks 1 workstations that accept a zombie worker, running 9 automated processes between them.

  Open technology

• Brick Making

  Unlocks 1 workstations that accept a zombie worker, running 3 automated processes between them.

  Open technology

• Bronze Forge

  Unlocks 1 workstations that accept a zombie worker, running 1 automated processes between them.

  Open technology

• Bronze Melting

  Unlocks 1 workstations that accept a zombie worker, running 7 automated processes between them.

  Open technology

• Bronze Works

  Unlocks 1 workstations that accept a zombie worker, running 15 automated processes between them.

  Open technology

• Chopping

  Unlocks 1 workstations that accept a zombie worker, running 3 automated processes between them.

  Open technology

• Millstone

  Unlocks 1 workstations that accept a zombie worker, running 9 automated processes between them.

  Open technology

• Pottery I

  Unlocks 1 workstations that accept a zombie worker, running 2 automated processes between them.

  Open technology

• The Concept of Stone

  Unlocks 1 workstations that accept a zombie worker, running 16 automated processes between them.

  Open technology

• The Concept of Wood

  Unlocks 1 workstations that accept a zombie worker, running 2 automated processes between them.

  Open technology

• Woodworking I

  Unlocks 1 workstations that accept a zombie worker, running 17 automated processes between them.

  Open technology

• Writing Basic

  Unlocks 1 workstations that accept a zombie worker, running 10 automated processes between them.

  Open technology

Zombie troubleshooting

The problems the game data can actually explain, each one routed to the surface that answers it.

• I can't resurrect this corpse

  Six conditions gate a resurrection. Check them in order and fix the first one that is missing.

  Open this section

• My collar doesn't work

  A collar has to be selected, and it has to accept the body's white and red skull counts.

  Open this section

• I can't assign this zombie

  Not every workstation accepts a zombie worker. Check the station before the zombie.

  Open this section

• The workstation won't automate

  Automation needs a supported process, a free worker and supplied inputs. The diagnose view lists each requirement in order.

  Open this section

• Production stopped

  A stopped chain is usually a missing input or an upstream step nobody covers. Trace the chain from the product backwards.

  Diagnose the chain

• I can't use zombies in combat

  Encounters publish their own requirements, and part of the combat system belongs to the full release. Start from the encounter you want to win.

  Open this section

Version notes

What this page is built from, so an unverified section is visible instead of implied.

• Built from the published game data

  Resurrection requirements, collar limits, zombie-capable workstations and encounter requirements are read from the site's game data projection, so a data change updates this page instead of leaving stale advice.

• Full release

  Army, training and town defence belong to the full release. Their sections stay in place and say so until the data arrives, rather than being filled with demo-era guesses.