Graveyard Keeper 2 alchemy: how rune combinations work

What to check, in order

1. 01

   Look up the product’s target: how many red, green and blue runes it needs.

2. 02

   Study the ingredients you own at the Study Table so the lab can see their runes.

3. 03

   Pick ingredients whose runes add up to the target exactly, colour by colour.

4. 04

   Read the result slot: a product name, a question mark, or blank.

5. 05

   Put enough flasks on the room’s Flask shelf for the batch size.

6. 06

   Brew one first, then queue the rest.

The rules, all of them

Alchemy in the sequel is much friendlier than it looks. There are only a handful of rules, and once they click you stop needing recipe lists. Each colour is added separately. Water (1 green) and Blood (1 blue) make a total of 0 red, 1 green, 1 blue, which is Dream Dust. Add a third ingredient and you add its runes on top.

Because nothing subtracts, you can never fix an overshoot by adding more. If your total has one red too many, swap an ingredient out. And because the picker refuses to let any colour pass 5, the biggest possible target is 5 of each.

• Runes add per colour: red with red, green with green, blue with blue.
• The total must match the target exactly, including zeros.
• Slot order does not matter.
• Ingredient quality does not change runes.
• No colour can exceed 5.
• An unmatched mix will not start, so you cannot waste ingredients on a failed brew.

Common ingredient values

You only see an ingredient’s runes after studying it, which is why the lab picker looks empty at first. Nineteen Alchemic Powders come pre-studied, and they are the most flexible ingredients in the game: the Apothecary sells powders in every rune combination, with one- and two-rune powders at tier I and three-rune powders from tier II.

Organs only carry runes at top grade. A lower-grade heart has no runes at all, which surprises people who expected to brew with their autopsy leftovers.

Product targets worth knowing

There are 29 alchemy products. A few targets are worth memorising because you will brew them constantly or need them for quests. Explosive Dust is a good example of how forgiving the system is: 123 different ingredient combinations reach its 2 red and 2 blue.

Field note: Healing Potion is just 2 red. A single Stone does it, which makes it one of the cheapest battle supplies in the game once Stone is studied.

Reading the result slot

The result slot tells you more than people realise. A product name means you have a match and know the recipe. A question mark means the runes match a real product, but you have not learned it yet. A blank slot means the totals do not match anything at all.

That question mark is useful. It means you are on to something, and the technology tree or a quest will usually reveal what it is. Do not assume a product is unavailable just because the tech tree has not named it; check the preview with the runes you have.

Lab setup: flasks, storage and Laboratory II

Every brew uses one flask, and the lab only sees flasks in its own room, on the Flask shelf. A bottle of Alchemy Flasks I holds 5 uses and Alchemy Flasks II holds 10. Ingredients also have to be in that room’s storage, not across the yard.

Laboratory I takes two ingredients. Laboratory II, unlocked for 20 red and 40 green technology points, takes three, and most of the stronger potions need that third slot to hit their targets. You can queue between 1 and 999 brews; touching an ingredient resets the count to 1, so set ingredients first and the count last.

Technology points and payoff

Brewing pays technology points that match the product’s runes, not the ingredients’. A Philosopher Stone with its 3 red, 3 green and 3 blue is generous; Dream Dust gives a little green and blue. If you need a specific colour, brew something whose target is heavy in it.

Alchemy is also where Anatomy mastery pays off outside the morgue, since alchemy jobs sit in the Anatomy branch. The Novice Alchemist achievement asks for 25 brews across any of the qualifying products, which a single long batch of Healing Potions covers.

Designing your own recipe

Pick the target, then build up from the ingredient you have the most of. Need 3 red, 2 green and 2 blue? Marble gives 3 red; Water twice would give 2 green but that is three ingredients already, so look for one item with 2 green and 2 blue, or a two-colour powder. Writing the three numbers on a scrap of paper and crossing them off is genuinely faster than trial and error in the picker.

When you are short on a rare ingredient, the Apothecary’s powders are the universal fix. They are cheap, they cover every combination, and they are pre-studied, so you never wait on the Study Table.

Common questions