Zombies in Graveyard Keeper 2 gradually let you automate a significant amount of routine work around your base. You can assign them to process wood, transport resources, and handle other production tasks, but their efficiency directly depends on the body's characteristics, the number of red skulls, and their Mastery. The game gives you your first workers through the story, while the ability to create and improve new zombies has to be unlocked separately.In this guide, we'll explain how to get zombies, unlock the Resurrection Lab, choose the right bodies for your workers, increase the number of red skulls, and set up automated production at your base.
How to Get Your First Zombies
After progressing through the story and meeting the Plague Doctor, you will receive your first two zombies. At this stage, there is little reason to spend too much time worrying about perfect stats. It is much more useful to put your new helpers to work immediately and learn how the automation system works.Image unavailableOne zombie can be used as a supplier, while the other can work directly at a production station. The first will deliver required materials from nearby storage, while the second crafts the selected items. Even this basic setup can significantly reduce the amount of manual work you have to do early in the game.Zombies do not automatically receive high Mastery levels. Each worker effectively has its own progression, similar to the Keeper's skills. If you want a zombie to work with wood, for example, it needs the corresponding Mastery, and one of the easiest ways to reach the first level is to give it the appropriate tool.For example, you can give a Rusty Axe to a zombie that you plan to assign to woodworking. This provides the necessary Mastery and allows the worker to perform the operations available to it. As it progresses, spend new points in its own Talent tree to unlock more advanced tasks and improve its working speed.
Which Bodies Are Best for Zombies?
Preparing a corpse for the graveyard and creating a good worker require completely different approaches. For burial, increasing the number of white skulls is usually beneficial. Zombies, on the other hand, particularly value red skulls. The more red skulls a body has, the more room the worker has for further development.For this reason, a corpse with strong red-skull characteristics is usually better saved for Reanimation instead of being buried. Leave important organs and other body parts that provide red skulls inside the corpse, then use it to create a zombie.Image unavailableEarly on, there is no need to turn every worker into a perfect zombie. A basic supplier can function perfectly well with mediocre characteristics, while bodies with many red skulls are better reserved for workers that will eventually need a more developed Talent tree.
How to Increase the Number of Red Skulls
The number of skulls on a body can be changed through surgery. If you find a promising corpse that falls slightly short of your target, replace weaker parts with higher-quality ones taken from other bodies.Bones and organs with additional red or white skulls are particularly useful. You do not need to use a valuable extracted part immediately. Store it and transplant it later into a more promising body. This way, you can gradually assemble a worker with the exact combination of characteristics you need.You can even perform these procedures on an existing zombie. If a worker has four red skulls, place it back on the Autopsy Table, remove a weaker part, and replace it with a better one. This allows you to upgrade a working zombie to five red skulls without having to create another one from scratch.
Why You Need Vegetable Salad
A sufficient Anatomy Mastery level is especially important when performing difficult operations. A mistake while removing a valuable body part can ruin its characteristics, so before making serious changes to a future zombie, it is worth temporarily increasing your Mastery.Image unavailableVegetable Salad is useful for this. After eating it, you can temporarily increase Anatomy Mastery by up to three points for roughly seven and a half minutes, which is especially helpful early in the game. This bonus lets you safely perform advanced operations much earlier than your permanent Mastery would normally allow.To make it, you need:
2 Carrots;
2 Beets;
2 Onions.
You will also need sufficiently developed Farming. Early in the game, it is easier to buy Onions from a merchant because growing them yourself may not yet be convenient.
How to Improve Organs
Once you develop Alchemy, you gain access to Organ Improvers. Different versions can add white or red skulls, allowing you to strengthen a good organ before transplanting it. The white-skull Organ Improver uses two Flowers. The red-skull version is made using Flux and Melted Fat.Image unavailableOrgans themselves also come in different qualities. Rarer variants can provide more additional skulls, so potentially valuable body parts are worth storing separately instead of using them unnecessarily. Later, several such finds can be combined to create a much more effective zombie.
How to Unlock the Resurrection Lab
Receiving your first workers is not enough to create more zombies yourself. For that, you need to unlock the separate Reanimation system. First, progress through Alchemy and unlock Distillation, then build the corresponding equipment in the Laboratory.One of the required resources is Melted Fat. Producing it requires the Distillation Cube, Fuel, and regular Fat obtained while working with corpses.Once you have produced Melted Fat, you can open the old door leading into the Resurrection Lab. Inside are the necessary materials, notes explaining the process, and the central resurrection device, which also needs to be restored.Keep in mind that zombies can be raised on the green Envy day. Prepare the required corpses and materials in advance so you do not waste the appropriate day gathering resources.
How to Unlock the Reanimation Technology
Several Technologies are required for further progression. In addition to Alchemy, Distillation, you need to unlock the technology for working with skulls and teeth. This eventually gives you access to Reanimation.The next step is unlocking the Resurrection Tables. Building them requires more advanced materials than the basic early-game resources: Glass, Polished Stone, and Oiled Planks.Glass can be produced from Sand after unlocking the corresponding Technology. Polished Stone becomes available after researching polishing, while Oiled Planks can be crafted at the woodworking station once you have the required Building progression.You can install several Resurrection Tables in the room at once. If you plan to create workers regularly, it is worth preparing up to four spots so you can perform several procedures during the same suitable day.
How to Create a New Zombie
Once a Resurrection Table is ready, bring over a suitable corpse and place it on top. Ideally, complete all necessary surgery beforehand and reach the desired number of red skulls, although you can still modify the worker later.The procedure requires:
Reanimation Liquid;
Zombie Collar.
Add both items, prepare the body, and start the process. Once it is complete, you will receive a new zombie that can be picked up, carried back to your base, and assigned to the job you need.If its characteristics turn out worse than expected, there is no need to create another worker from scratch. Put the zombie back on the table and continue operating on it, replacing weaker body parts with better ones.
How to Automate Production with Zombies
Once you have several workers, do not try to make every zombie capable of doing everything. Early on, it is much more efficient to assign specific jobs to different workers.Image unavailableAssign one zombie as a supplier. Its job is to bring materials to production stations. Another can work with wood, while a third can later be assigned to stone or metal production. As your base expands, more production chains become available for automated workers.A supplier takes the required resources from nearby available storage, so chest placement matters as well. Keep your main production materials close to the relevant workstations and make sure there is enough free storage space.If the storage for finished products becomes completely full, the worker will stop producing new items. Even with extensive automation, you will still need to check your base occasionally and clear out storage.Also keep in mind that items produced by zombies do not give the Keeper the same regular progression rewards as crafting things manually. For that reason, handing absolutely every production task over to workers early in the game is not always beneficial. It can be useful to continue performing some operations yourself to develop the Mastery branches you still need.
Which Zombies Should You Make Early in the Game?
Your first workers do not need perfect characteristics. Use the zombies provided through the story to learn how automation works and assign them the simplest jobs. Even a relatively weak supplier already saves a considerable amount of time.Once you unlock full Reanimation and start finding better organs, begin preparing more specialized workers. Save bodies with many red skulls for advanced production, then improve them through surgery, Vegetable Salad bonuses, and Organ Improvers.This gradually takes you from two slow helpers to a fully automated base where much of your resource processing and production runs with almost no direct involvement from the Keeper.
