Graveyard Keeper 2: How to Make Zombies Work and Fix Idle Stations
Putting undead laborers to work in Graveyard Keeper 2 requires matching station Mastery, establishing automated transport routes with the Zombie Supplier Station, and configuring perk trees.
Workstation Assignments and Mastery Requirements
Zombies can be deployed across most crafting and gathering stations, but each workstation imposes a strict Mastery threshold. A minion cannot initiate work unless its current level satisfies that requirement. You can elevate a zombie's effective rating by equipping tools into its hands or by unlocking specialized perks.
- Farming: Zombie farmers assigned to garden plots require shovels equipped to tend the soil (see our farming and fertilizer guide for crop setup). Gameplay testing shows you must also erect wooden tablets at each plot to designate whether workers cultivate wheat or flax.
- Old Mine: Constructing the Zombie Miner blueprint (built with 2x Wooden Plank and 4x Brick under Zombie Mining tech) allows you to station up to two miners. Every 8 ticks, each working miner extracts 1x Iron Ore and 2x Coal, with a 10% chance to yield a bonus Gem if possessing Magpie’s Eye.
- Forest and Quarry: Specialized tech nodes like Zombie Lumberjack, Zombie Stone Mining, and Zombie Marble Mining enable dedicated gathering outposts across the world map — locate these raw materials via our resource location guide.
Automating Supply Chains with the Zombie Supplier Station
Workstation laborers do not fetch their own raw materials from distant containers. Instead, required crafting resources must be ferried directly to the bench by a dedicated logistics worker assigned to a Zombie Supplier Station. That same supplier is responsible for collecting finished products and hauling them into designated storage chests.
To establish this logistics backbone, research the Zombie Assistant technology in the Building tech tree (requiring Tool Rack and costing 35 red and 5 green points). You can erect the 4x4 station in the Yard or Alchemy Lab using 4x Wooden Plank and 4x Bronze Nails (or inside your Home with Kitchen II unlocked). Conveyor belts (which place facing up by default per patch notes) can be positioned to automate storage transfers.
Collar Tiers, Experience Points, and Zombie Perks
Much like the Keeper, zombies earn experience points while working at assigned benches, and they gain red tech points from winning skirmishes in our town battles walkthrough. You can invest these accumulated points into a specialized zombie talent tree to unlock passive perks.
A worker's capacity to equip perks depends on its skull quality and equipped Zombie Collar; if you are just starting your Morgue operation, consult our guide on how to make zombies to assemble flawless corpses:
- Bronze Zombie Collar: Accommodates basic minions with 0–5 skulls.
- Golden Zombie Collar: Handles mid-tier corpses with 0-10 skulls.
- Steel Zombie Collar: The highest-tier collar supporting up to 0-99 skulls.
Collars can later be replaced with better collars at any time. When selecting perks, prioritize Belt Master: this ability causes working zombies to provide additional gears when operating on conveyor belts.
Troubleshooting Idle Zombies and Common Bottlenecks
- Missing Tools or Low Mastery: Ensure agricultural workers hold shovels. If an assigned worker lacks necessary tool proficiency, the entire workstation stalls.
- Mismatched Crop Signs: Community reports note that if unexpected seeds sprout in designated plots, zombie farmers may pause harvesting until mismatched crops are removed.
- Full Output Chests: If chests linked to your Zombie Supplier Station fill completely, suppliers cannot deposit finished goods, backing up production lines.
- Zombie Cap Panic: Operating above your allowed undead cap triggers the zombie Panic debuff.
- Patch Fixes: Patch 1.010 and Update 1.011 resolved collision and station issues. Update 1.011 allowed Zombie Assistant units to start and finish autocrafts at Furnaces and the Kiln in the Yard. In the Quarry, workers now deliver Stone and Marble to chests independently without needing a supplier assistant. Previous bugs involving workers trapped on winery stairs, firewood racks, or clay pits have also been resolved.