Graveyard Keeper - Advanced Starting Tips (2024)

I made a extensive guide with many tips for new and experienced players. I tested all the tips myself. The guide can help players improve their skills.

Useful Tips and Tricks for Better Start

Fast Starting Early Game

Start a new game. Dig up Gerry. You can explore the game world before talking to the donkey. This helps you learn the map and characters. Time won’t move until the bishop tells you to get your tools from the graveyard trunk. You can get quests and read signs during this time.

Take the corpse from the morgue. Cut the flesh. Go to the backyard. Look at the left sign. It tells you to talk to an inquisition member. Do this in the first week. Go before the sun reaches the middle of the sundial. The donkey appears when the sun passes this point.

Bury the corpse. The bishop will tell you to fix the graveyard. Don’t clean all bushes yet. Only remove bushes blocking graves. Leave 2 spaces between graves for flowerbeds. Flowerbeds need materials and give +2 gravescore.

Use the F key after harvesting to move faster or choose what to dig. This saves time and energy. Tool durability decreases based on actions, not time.

Talk to the bishop about the certificate. This starts the day timer. Get tools from the chest. Go to the tavern. Talk to Horadric about the garden, contract, and meat. Trade him the contract.

Go to the blacksmith. Give him the letter. Sharpen your sword. Fight slimes efficiently. Line them up to hit both at once. Turn in the quest.

Break barrels for items. There are 4 in the village and 2 in the tavern. Try to get 6 metal parts. Buy some from the blacksmith if needed.

Sleeping is the best way to regain energy. It’s better than eating unless you’re far from home or in a hurry.

Clear bushes around your work area. Get 10 sticks. Unlock the first wood technology. Place it down. Go northeast to gather berries.

Cut trees between your house and the morgue. Dig up stumps so trees regrow. This gives red points to unlock “soft spares”.

For green points, harvest mushrooms and berry bushes. Vine bushes give 5 green points but use a lot of energy.

Be near the lantern at dusk. If the donkey brings a corpse, put it on the autopsy table quickly. This stops decay. You can then sleep, sharpen tools, or work on the corpse.

Tech Tree and Fast Progression

• Unlock Sawing. Gather sticks and cut trees to get 20 red tech points.
• Unlock wood working before anvil. Make planks for red points.
• Count iron parts. You need 4 for the anvil.
• In early morning, trade certificates for money. Sell starting tools except hammer and sword. Buy iron ingots.
• Place wooden anvil at home. Make new tools: shovel, axe, pickaxe.
• Clear basem*nt debris with new tools.
• Get Firewood and first grave decoration tech.
• Make wood wedges, planks, and iron parts. Clear wall northeast of house.
• Build furnace to process iron ore.
• Get hard spares. Remove skull, skin, and bone from a botched corpse.
• Tend graves. Repair crosses and fences. Build flower beds.
• Make wooden fences and crosses for graves.
• Unlock church and faith. Plant carrot seeds from donkey’s gift.
• Buy seed oil from Dig. Deliver honey to unlock cake recipe.
• Improve graveyard quality for better sermon income.
• Clear church basem*nt. Decompose bronze chapter for science points.
• Unlock “inborn blacksmith” and “comfort of faith”. Build church benches.
• Visit lighthouse on sloth day. Gather apples and dig stumps.
• Hold first sermon by week 3.
• Unlock church workbench. Gather materials to build it.
• Bury corpses with 2 or less red skulls. Cremate botched corpses for ash, salt, and burial certificate.

Take the merchant’s loan for 5 silver right away. Use 2 silver for a teleporter stone. Buy grape seeds and a pie recipe with the rest. Grow grapes by fixing trellises and using peat. Make grape pies to sell for money. Build two confessionals in the church to boost your score.

There’s a way to craft many items at once, which helps with cooking and metalwork. Get the Circular Saw tech to fix basem*nt shortcuts. Use the basem*nt tunnel to get to town faster. Different storage trunks need different amounts of iron.

Help the inquisitor to get more graveyard space. Get the combo prayer tech to make more money and faith. Open the dungeon when you can for useful items. Fix the swamp bridge to meet Clotho and get new tech. You can now eat honey for health and energy.

The starting tools are better now, so you can make iron tools slowly instead of rushing to buy them.

Anatomy

Don’t rush the early game. Opening the church too fast can cause problems. The donkey will start charging carrots, and it’s hard to get organs cleanly at first.

Get the Gentle Butcher tech as soon as you can. It helps you remove body parts without mistakes. Get Surgery tech after you finish the inquisition quest for Dark Bodies.

After you talk to Clotho in the swamp, you’ll unlock alchemy. Don’t buy alchemy storage tech until you’re ready to build alchemy stations and can get wooden beams.

You need to build both tier 1 and tier 2 alchemy workbenches. The tier 2 bench can’t make recipes with two ingredients.

Embalming Liquids tech might seem useless at first, but it lets you make Fridge Pallets. These are cheap to make and can store two bodies for a long time.

Only get Embalming Liquids 2 and 3 when you have a tier 2 alchemy workbench and start getting bodies with 4 or more red skulls.

Theology

Get Power of Faith tech after Light of Faith and Comfort of Faith. It’s good for confessionals. Don’t bother with shrines, they’re too expensive and not as useful.

Only get Softness of Faith when the merchant has tier 3 goods and you have Assembly Stand tech.

Price of Faith is good to get early-mid game. It helps you make more money. You can make a combo prayer with Writing, Books, and Paper Crafting techs.

Incense techs need smooth stone and marble. They boost Church score. You’ll need basic alchemy setup to make incense. Tier 2 incense needs Strong Alcohol tech.

Don’t get Graveyard Enhancement and techs after Cremation. Cremation is good to have early, but the techs after it are too hard and not worth it.

Try to wait on getting Stone Gravestones tech. If you get it before Stone Carving 2, you can only make stone grave fences, which isn’t very useful.

Writing

Wait to get Inventing Stories, Writer’s Inspiration, and Playwright techs until you want to make a gold quality prayer book.

Old books aren’t useful right now.

Get Paper Crafting tech soon after you can make complex iron parts for the workbench.

Only get Writer’s Inspiration when you can make lenses with Assembly Stand.

Paper Production tech isn’t necessary early on. You can get bat wings for paper by visiting the swamp and hill at dusk. There are plenty of bats in these areas to collect wings from daily.

Farming and Nature

Wait to get fertilizer and gardening techs until you have a tier 2 alchemy table. Simple fertilizers just speed up growth, which isn’t that useful. Quality fertilizers are only needed for crops with quality.

The Master Gatherer tech isn’t very useful early on. It slightly increases what you get from gathering, but it’s not worth it until you need to make quality fertilizer II.

You can grow grapes before finishing the Inquisitor’s quest by fixing damaged trellises. Use peat and bronze grape seeds to make grape pies for profit.

Beekeeping tech lets you get beeswax, but you can gather honey without it. Insect tech is mainly for alchemy or if you want a free fishing pole.

Bee Domestication and Bee Friend techs are hard to use but can give you more energy from honey.

Only get Brewing tech when you need to make gold quality beer for a quest. You’ll need gold quality onions and hops first.

The Digestion tech isn’t very useful. You can skip it after getting Winemaking.

The Winemaster perk from Blending tech isn’t worth it. It can accidentally make higher quality wine than you need. It’s better to grow lots of gold quality grapes and hops using fertilizer.

Smithing

Get Glass tech after “The concept of dirt” from the episcop. It’s a good source of blue points. Be careful not to wear out your shovel too quickly when digging sand.

Imborn blacksmith tech is helpful but not necessary. By the time you can get it, you should have plenty of iron anyway.

Avoid Weapons and Martial Skills techs early on. You can buy weapons from a night merchant if needed.

Only get Engineer tech when you’re halfway through the marble tech tree. It’s not useful early on.

Rules of Burning tech isn’t very helpful. It’s better to build multiple furnaces instead.

Glassblower 2 tech is needed for alchemy and marble work. Get it when you’re ready for those tasks.

Prioritize Iron Castings tech after Circular Saw but before Assembly table. Keep at least one furnace at tier 2 for flexibility in crafting.

Building

Get Sawing and Woodworking techs first. They’re great for making red points easily.

Get Firewood tech after building your first furnace. It helps clear blockages and access important areas.

Only get Woodcutter tech when you need to clear dead trees in specific areas.

Get Precious Metals before Steel techs. It’s needed for making steel and gives you a chance for precious nuggets.

Circular Saw tech is useful for making shortcuts, especially to your church basem*nt.

Skip Related Ore tech for now. It’s not very useful until late in the game.

Get Stone Carving 1 and 2 together, along with Stone Gravestones. They’re good for making red points and grave decorations.

Tricks of the Trade tech is best after Grave Monuments tech. It makes angel statues cheaper to make.

Assembly Stand is needed for steel equipment and lenses.

Wait to get Marble techs until you can fully embalm corpses. They don’t give blue points when crafting, only when studying.

Cookery List and Sources

• Simple and Tasty: Good early recipe. Use apples from the lighthouse area. Buy apple saplings from Clotho when possible.
• Cake+: Get from Dig for 5 honey. Gold quality cake gives useful buffs for research.
• Good Carbs: Get from woodcutter for an iron axe. Lasagna is good, pasta isn’t.
• Jelly: Not worth making.
• Vegetable Dishes: Carrot cutlet is the best option. Buy seeds regularly from the farmer.
• Sweet Baking: Muffins are great for energy.
• Pies: Good replacement for cake once you have grapes.
• Soups: Get from Clotho for a silver star pumpkin. Good for energy recovery during sleep.
• Skip Tasty and Healthy and Fish Delicacies recipes.
• Beer Snacks: Free after getting your first onion. Onion rings are decent.
• Fish Dishes: Free from the fisherman. Fish fingers needed for an achievement.
• Fish soup is good if you like fishing. Fish near the waterfall for best results.
• Fish Kebab: Only worth it if you fish a lot.
• Nectar of the Gods: Lets you make mead, but it’s not very powerful compared to other drinks.

General Tips

• Zombies efficiency doesn’t affect their transportation speed, so don’t waste injections on porters and strip organs.
• You get one free zombie in the questline, I usually place it as a quarry or felling site porter or the tavern greeter.
• Zombies can only port items from locations with stations, not to there, so no autosupply Quarry with wedges.
• A porter has 10 slots in it’s inventory. Sometimes a porter might stuck with 2 slabs in inventory and full storage in the workyard. If all three are stuck, you might get less other items per run. Assuming we zombie-cut iron and stone at the cabin and have one storage for marble at the endpoint, one porter dedicated to marble slabs is enough. Others will transport full inventory of other items, except marble. Uncheck slabs on two porters and other items on the last one and it will secure the proper porting to the workyard.
• If you’re behind the Dungeon gates but Gunther talk isn’t triggering, then you’re a little early and didn’t get cutscene with Gerry about your hard life. It happens automatically after about 3 weeks.
• Unfortunately, zombies only port Logs and Blocks from storage to srorage and may drop it on the ground by accident. Check manually for ground items from time to time.
• Krezvold will bring you a free damask gem sword if you finished his dagger quest but haven’t give booze to Dig yet.
• Tavern greeter zombie doesn’t benefit from any effeiciency, you can even strip all it’s organs for good.
• If you dug the corpse near the mill, interact with the spot near the gravesite to get the ring for Stranger Sins quest.
• Don’t forget to dig 10g behind the tavern after the last relic cutscene with A Brick from the Church.
• If you’re stuck with Farmer’s house quest, sleep over and meet him outside of your home with gratitude for his son’s flask.
• Tavern upgrades are tied to relic quests: Adam needs expansion, Koukol asks for new tables, Snake wants to start a Rat Race event.
• You can’t do Tavern events for quest and for achievement at the same time. Save before activating, launch event for quest, reload game and launch the same event for getting achievement.
• To progress with refugees camp advance in Vampires and Revolution quests and up Astrologer’s reputation.
• Save game prior finally building the watchtower to experience all possible Beatrice endings in one play.
• Perks for GoC endings are mutually exclusive. Thay way to get two of it in one of endings was patched.
• You can save mats for one of northern blockages if you leave it be untill Marquis Teodoro contacts you after opening the church.
• Alaric asks for blood even after questline is over, if you choose the stay ending. A drop for 25c ten times and 1 bucket for 2 teleports per day.
• Don’t forget to dig the bone leg when you’re in Misty Quagmire, you won’t get back here. Also, make sure that Witcher’s Eye and quest items are in your inventory or you’re stuck here.
• Moneylender doesn’t remind you about payback. Consider it as a free early 1g which you can repay at any time. Even if accumulated interest is high, there’ll be enough from other sources.
• Clotho must be in her mind to speak about witch ash. And bring her 2 Honey to get it.
• Fix barrels near the office for quest and then break it again to get a bit of raw materials, no one will notice.
• If Vagner isn’t at his usual place in Dead Horse, contact him via royal services box at the graveyard.
• You mostly unlock home furnishings right away, but one wallpaper unlocks on questline finish and some paintings unlock upon speaking to NPCs.
• You don’t need to advance in any NPC specific quests for sin shard bearers except Faith bypass for Ms.Charm and Snake. No reputation requirements.
• Use the soul workbench to determine organ skulls via modification recipes if you didn’t get Cultist yet. Look for the sin shard count. You can’t see -2 red skull without modifying, though.
• BSS max graveyard rating needs a lot of sin shards, which won’t be enough for a daily corpse even with sermon and full sin combo. In the end you’ll get money from other sources to go for aesthetics.

Pro Tips

You can abuse a game bug to repair grave decorations for free: queue tham to break and then cancel.

While maxing out church rating via crapload of candles may seem lucrative, it isn’t as profitable as it seems. You’ll need 26 more gold details, which are 26 more gold ingots and 52 more faith. You’ll need to check all domestic and wild hives for wax thrice a week, deplete Beekeeper, process every fat, bone and limestone and still buy expensive candles from Bishop. And you still won’t have enough for every week and have to skip some.

While you may feel like you don’t get enough faith at the start and try to get more via max church rating, you’ll gradually will get enough even with passive layout and new BSS mechanics. You’ll need 543 faith to study everything, ~400 for zombies and a small bit of around 15-20 for quests. All other faith goes to grave decor and you have too long journey ahead of you to max out all your corpses to really bother with huge faith per week ratio.

That’s all! I really appreciate it if you’ve made it this far. See you in the game!