Tech Tree Guide - All Masteries & Point Costs
The five masteries of Graveyard Keeper 2 - Building, Smithing, Farming, Book writing and Anatomy - their node counts, point costs and research order.
Published September 22, 2026 · Last updated September 24, 2026
Quick Answer: How Does the Tech Tree Work?
Graveyard Keeper 2 keeps the series' three-colour research system: red tech points come from practical work, green points from farming and nature, blue points from scientific study. You spend them to unlock technologies across the board — but the biggest sink in the sequel is the five mastery trees, because those are the skill trees your zombies inherit. A fully-unlocked mastery tree turns a resurrection from "extra pair of hands" into a specialised worker that runs the Factory or the fields better than you do.
| Mastery Tree | Nodes | Total Point Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Building | 17 nodes | 4,600 red points |
| Smithing | 17 nodes | 4,450 red points |
| Farming | 17 nodes | 4,650 green points |
| Book writing | 19 nodes | 1,500 red + 835 blue points |
| Anatomy | 15 nodes | 1,500 red + 1,075 blue points |
The Three Point Colours and Where They Come From
The colour system carries over from the first game: red is the practical column, green is the farming-and-nature column, blue is the scientific column. You accumulate points by doing work in that column — crafting and smithing feed red, crops and harvests feed green, study and laboratory work feed blue. Because the mastery trees above cost thousands of points, the practical question is never "what do points do" but "which tree am I feeding this week", and the answer should match the zombie workforce you are building.
| Colour | Theme | Typical Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Red points | Practical work | Crafting, smithing, building labour |
| Green points | Farming & nature | Crops, harvesting, garden work |
| Blue points | Scientific study | Study, laboratory and alchemy work |
Mastery Trees and Your Zombie Workforce
Each of the five masteries — Building, Smithing, Farming, Book writing, Anatomy — is a tree your zombie inherits when resurrected, and a tool adds +1 to +6 mastery on top of it. That is why the tech tree in the sequel is an equipment decision as much as a research decision: unlocking Anatomy supports an autopsy specialist, unlocking Smithing supports an ingot line, and so on. Plan the trees around the jobs you hate doing by hand, because that is exactly the labour zombies take over.
- Building (17 nodes, 4,600 red) — construction and repair automation.
- Smithing (17 nodes, 4,450 red) — metalwork and weapon production.
- Farming (17 nodes, 4,650 green) — the field and vineyard line.
- Book writing (19 nodes, 1,500 red + 835 blue) — paper and sermon support.
- Anatomy (15 nodes, 1,500 red + 1,075 blue) — corpse work and autopsies.