Graveyard Keeper 2 Alchemy Recipes and Rune Combinations

How does alchemy work in Graveyard Keeper 2?

Alchemy is exact rune arithmetic. Every ingredient carries red, green and blue runes, and a formula demands a precise total; one rune over or under and the lab produces nothing at all. Load order does not matter — only the colour totals do.

Runes are added by colour, and any single colour caps at 5 per mix. That cap is why the strongest formulas need three ingredients: five red, five green and five blue cannot split across two slots.

Rule	How it works
Runes	Each alchemy ingredient carries some number of red, green and blue runes
Matching	Add the ingredient runes by colour; the total must equal the formula exactly
Slot limit	Laboratory I takes 2 ingredients, Laboratory II at most 3
Colour cap	Any single colour tops out at 5 runes
Discovery	A successful mix is written into your Folio permanently
Tech unlock	25 formulas count as tech-tree unlocks
Scale	63 ingredients produce 6,960 valid mixes; 35 need one ingredient

How many ingredients fit in Laboratory I and Laboratory II?

Laboratory I accepts up to 2 ingredients and Laboratory II up to 3, and that slot count — not the rune total — decides which lab a formula needs. Six formulas have no mix that fits two slots at all, so they need the bigger lab however cheap their ingredients look in the Folio.

Lab	Ingredient slots	Formulas that require it
Laboratory I	2	23 of the 29
Laboratory II	3	6 of the 29

Source: gamebalance_full.json → alchemyMixSourceDefs[], build 25509347.

One naming warning: the station dataset registers a single Alchemy Workbench record, while the alchemy documentation and Fextralife both describe two tiers, Laboratory I and II. No source confirms these are the same facility, so the crafting station list uses the dataset name.

Why can’t you add an ingredient you already own?

Because every ingredient must be researched once at the Study Table before its runes become visible, and the lab refuses anything unstudied. One study per item type is permanent, so stocking Science early beats hunting an ingredient later; see tech point farming.

What else does the lab need before it will run?

It needs flask charges and fuel. Every brew consumes Alchemy Flasks from the Flask shelf plus Fuel, and a lab missing either one will not start. Discovered formulas are written into the Folio permanently, so a successful mix is never lost and never has to be re-derived.

The Alchemy Workbench costs 6 Wooden Plank, 8 Iron Nails and 10 Brick, and the Flask shelf turns 1 Alchemy Flasks I into 5 usable flasks. Fuel is the bigger bottleneck than most expect: the same pool feeds eight stations including the Distillation Cube — see factory power.

What are all 29 Graveyard Keeper 2 alchemy formulas?

All 29 formulas are below, and the rune column is an exact target: two green means exactly two green runes and nothing else. Organ Improver is the one formula with two outputs, a red-skull and a white-skull version, so it takes two rows and the total comes to 29.

Formula	Rune combination	Lab required	Base price (bronze)	Mixes	Buyer and tier
Dream Dust	1 green + 1 blue	Laboratory I	100	23	Alchemist 1–3
Paint	2 green	Laboratory I	200	21	Trademaster 1 (priceMod 300); Alchemist 1–3; Furniturer 3, 0/batch
Lacquer	2 blue	Laboratory I	200	14	Trademaster 1 (priceMod 300); Alchemist 1–3; Furniturer 3, 0/batch
Healing Potion	2 red	Laboratory I	50	13	Alchemist 1–3
Healing Potion II	4 red	Laboratory I	250	52	Alchemist 2–3
Healing Potion III	5 red	Laboratory I	1,000	76	Alchemist 3
Damage Potion	1 red + 1 green	Laboratory I	100	23	Alchemist 1–3
Damage Potion II	2 red + 2 green	Laboratory I	500	216	Alchemist 2–3
Damage Potion III	3 red + 3 green	Laboratory I	2,000	471	Alchemist 3
Zombie Motivator Potion	1 red + 1 blue	Laboratory I	150	17	Alchemist 1–3
Zombie Motivator Potion II	1 red + 2 blue	Laboratory I	750	64	Alchemist 2–3
Zombie Motivator Potion III	3 red + 3 blue	Laboratory I	2,500	253	Alchemist 3
Berserker Potion	1 red + 1 green + 1 blue	Laboratory I	200	112	Alchemist 1–3
Berserker Potion II	2 red + 1 green + 1 blue	Laboratory I	1,000	204	Alchemist 2–3
Berserker Potion III	3 red + 2 green + 2 blue	Laboratory II	3,000	887	Alchemist 3, 0 per batch
Weak growth elixir	1 red + 2 green	Laboratory I	200	102	Alchemist 1–2
Rich growth elixir	1 red + 3 green	Laboratory I	400	218	Alchemist 2–3
Miracle growth elixir	1 red + 5 green	Laboratory I	1,500	363	Alchemist 3
Preservative	3 green	Laboratory I	400	70	Alchemist 1–3
Organ Improver 🔴	4 red + 1 green	Laboratory I	500	197	Alchemist 2–3
Organ Improver ⚪	4 green	Laboratory I	400	136	Alchemist 2–3
Reanimation Liquid	2 red + 1 green + 4 blue	Laboratory II	700	556	Gunter 1–3; Alchemist 1–3
Tannin Liquid	4 red + 2 green + 1 blue	Laboratory II	2,000	512	Alchemist 3
Alkali	1 red + 4 green + 2 blue	Laboratory II	2,000	945	Alchemist 3
Explosive Dust	2 red + 2 blue	Laboratory I	150	123	No buyer in the data
Spices	2 green + 2 blue	Laboratory I	400	250	Alchemist 2–3
Umami	4 green + 4 blue	Laboratory II	1,500	440	Alchemist 3
Philosopher Stone	3 red + 3 green + 3 blue	Laboratory II	5,000	432	Alchemist 3
Third Eye Salt	1 red + 5 blue	Laboratory I	1,500	170	Alchemist 2–3

Source: gamebalance_full.json → itemDefs[].basePrice, alchemyMixSourceDefs[].formulaId and vendorDefs[].tierDataList[].vendorProducts[], build 25509347. Of 803 vendor product records, 790 carry priceMod = 0; two of the 13 that do not are Paint and Lacquer. Trademaster and Alchemist list 5 units per batch at tier 1, 10 from tier 2. What a trader pays is computed at runtime, so this page quotes no selling price; only Explosive Dust has no buyer. The 6,960 mixes are on alchemy ingredient combinations.

Which six formulas need Laboratory II?

Six formulas have no valid two-ingredient mix, so Laboratory I can never produce them: Berserker III, Reanimation Liquid, Tannin Liquid, Alkali, Umami and Philosopher Stone. Every recorded mix for those six uses all three slots; the other 23 each have one that fits two.

Source: gamebalance_full.json → alchemyMixSourceDefs[].ingredient1–3, build 25509347.

Three of the six matter beyond collection: Philosopher Stone is the only Formulation Bench route to Golden nugget, Tannin Liquid feeds Master Armor, and Alkali feeds Master Sword. Item prices and selling covers how trader level and purse cap volume.

What do the combat potions actually do?

The four potion lines cover healing, raw damage, zombie attack speed and stamina-free attacks. Durations run 15 to 60 seconds, and every tier is additive within its line, so brewing the II variant does not replace the I variant — carry both.

Potion line	Effect	Source
Healing I / II / III	Restores 20 / 40 / full health (100)	2, 4, 5 red
Damage I / II / III	+3 / +6 / +9 sword and bow damage, 30 s; zombies and arrow towers get nothing	1–3 red plus equal green
Zombie Motivator I / II / III	Halves zombie warrior attack interval, 15 s / 30 s / 1 min	1–3 red plus 1–3 blue
Berserker I / II / III	Sword and bow cost no stamina for 15 / 30 / 45 s	1–3 red plus green and blue

Zombie Motivator is the one to brew first if you run a zombie production line: it accelerates workers you already have. Damage and Berserker are player-only, so they matter for clearing content, not throughput.

Which ingredients carry which runes?

Ingredients carry different rune mixes, and the most-used are single-colour filler: Clay, Flesh and Sand each one red, Berry, Leaf and Stick one green, Blueberry, Blood and Seed oil one blue. Those three runes are the backbone of almost every formula; the counts below are how many of the 29 use each.

Ingredient	Red	Green	Blue	Formulas it appears in
Clay	1	0	0	21
Flesh	1	0	0	21
Sand	1	0	0	21
Berry	0	1	0	18
Leaf	0	1	0	18
Stick	0	1	0	18
Blueberry	0	0	1	14
Blood	0	0	1	14
Seed oil	0	0	1	14
Flax	1	1	0	13
Flour	0	2	0	13
Zombie goo	0	0	2	10

Two more groups matter. The 19 Alchemic Powders carry exactly the runes in their name — “Alchemic Powder (1 red, 2 blue)” is one red plus two blue — and the Apothecary buys them. Organs mix too, but only gold-quality Heart, Brain and Guts carry runes.

Which alchemy products feed fertilizer?

Four of the formulas above are farm inputs, not combat gear: Weak, Rich and Miracle growth elixir plus Dream Dust. They brew in Laboratory I and assemble into Headstart, Crop Boosting and Farming Fertilizer tiers at the Formulation Bench. The mapping is in growth elixirs; single recipes on rich growth elixir and dream dust.

Recipes mentioning the Church workbench or quality fertilizer with roman numerals belong to the first game, not this one.

Is there a Bloody Nails recipe in Graveyard Keeper 2?

No recipe by that name exists in the 425-recipe dataset — searching returns zero rows. Bloody Nails is a first-game item from the Iron Maiden to Snake chain, surviving in search suggestions, not in this game’s crafting list. A guide telling you to craft it here recycles the previous game.