Graveyard Keeper 2 combat: why a battle will not start

What to check, in order

1. 01

   Equip a sword and armor on the toolbar; carry a bow too if you have one.

2. 02

   Check the battle’s allowed day; most are Sloth only.

3. 03

   Read its defence power and squad count at the guard post.

4. 04

   Build barricades and towers in the Barracks and hire mercenaries if you are short.

5. 05

   Place structures during setup; the clock is frozen while you are on the battlefield.

6. 06

   Hold every base flag until the final wave ends.

The three entry checks

A greyed-out battle is failing one of three checks, and the guard post tells you which if you read it carefully. First, equipment: armor and a sword must both be on your toolbar. A bow is great in the fight but does not count for entry. Second, the day: most battles only begin on Sloth. Third, defence power: your selected squads and structures must add up to the battle’s requirement.

Structures only need to exist in the Barracks to count toward defence power. You do not have to deploy them before the check passes.

Battles and their requirements

Here are the story battles in roughly the order you meet them. The sewer brawls and the Sewerena run alongside the story, start on any day and pay Keys for Looters, which open loot chests elsewhere. No battle pays technology points.

Field note: Before the very first battle, Herbert gives you the red banner. From then until the end of the next Sloth, battles can start on any day.

Graveyard Keeper 2 release date trailer

Squads, zombies and mercenaries

Squad power is the sum of each fighter’s weapon and armor quality. Zombie squads fight with pikes or bows plus armor, never swords, and only copies of them enter the battle, so losing them costs you nothing. Squad slots come from Defender’s Emblems handed to the Battle Ram, up to four slots, and four battles award emblems.

Mercenaries fill a squad slot for a fee and always join once paid. One payment covers one victory. They start at power 8 and can be upgraded to 16 and 24 with Iron and then Steel Ingots.

Structures

Structures are built in the Barracks and placed during the setup phase. Barracks space is limited at first; Victory Banners expand it. Dismantling a structure refunds it fully, so experimenting is cheap. Sewer Brawls do not allow structures at all.

Each structure has three levels, and quality rises 2, 4, 6 with them, which counts toward defence power. Spiked Barricades hurt anything that hits them, and Archer Towers do real damage on their own.

How damage works

Damage is the attacker’s damage minus the target’s armor, never below zero. No critical hits, no random rolls. Most enemy zombies hit for 4 to 7, a Barrel Zombie for 10, and Master Armor at 4 makes you immune to ordinary Wild Zombie hits. That is why every armor upgrade feels dramatic. The one thing armor does not stop is a Stinker’s death burst.

A sword swing costs 20 of your 100 stamina and an arrow costs 10, and bows hit much harder at each tier. The community line is fair: you need the sword to enter, but the bow wins fights. Fighter potions add 3 damage per level, the Berserk potion makes attacks cost no stamina, and the God’s fury sermon buff adds 2 to swords and 3 to bows.

• Sword damage by tier: 4, 5, 7, 10, 13.
• Bow damage by tier: 4, 8, 15, 22.
• Armor by tier: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4.
• Health resets to 100 after every battle.

Winning and losing

You win if every base flag is yours when the final wave ends; any enemies still standing collapse. You lose if a base falls or your health hits zero. The world clock freezes while you are on the battlefield, so take your time in setup, read the lanes, and put barricades where the pressure arrows point.

Losing is cheap. You keep your items and money and only lose the potions you used, so a failed attempt is mostly a scouting run. Wins pay Town Gratitude and Zombie Goo, sometimes Keys for Looters, and the key story battles hand out Defender’s Emblems or Victory Banners.

Preparing for Sloth

Treat the days before Sloth as prep time. Check your sword and armor, brew Healing Potions (just 2 red runes, so one Stone does it), add a structure if you are short on defence power, and pay a mercenary in advance. Then walk to the guard post on Sloth morning with nothing left to buy.

If you miss Sloth, the battle waits a week. Nothing is lost, but the town stays locked behind it, so it is usually worth planning the week around.

Common questions