This one covers the milestone achievements in Graveyard Keeper 2 — the ones that track big cumulative numbers like trees felled, corpses buried, ingots smelted, and so on. If you’re aiming for a full completion run, or you just want to know which milestones you can let tick up on their own and which ones need a bit of forward planning, this should give you a clear picture of each target and how to hit it without a boring grind at the end.
What I like about this particular set is that almost none of it demands special detours. The traps are the quiet requirements — the things that look like they should count but don’t. I went through each achievement and pulled out the exact qualifier alongside the shortcut I’d actually use, because the difference between “I’ll get this eventually” and “why is this still not popping” usually comes down to one small rule the game never spells out.
Tree Bane — 100 Trees Felled
Fell 100 trees completely so a stump is left behind. Only trees that leave a stump count toward the total — dead trees, driftwood, and anything that vanishes without a stump are ignored entirely. That last part catches people out, since chopping dead wood feels like it should feed the counter.
My approach is to just cut trees whenever I need lumber and let the number climb on its own. If I’m starving for wood later, I’ll spend a session clearing forest rather than treating this as a dedicated grind.
True Graveyard Keeper — 50 Corpses Buried
This one needs 50 graves filled with corpses, and it only counts actual burials. Cremating a body or dumping it in the river contributes nothing, which is the easy mistake to make if you’ve been clearing corpses the fast way. Bury them as you go instead of cremating everything.
Later corpse deliveries can hand you two bodies at once, and when I need to push deliveries along I fall back on the 1-Energy sleep method to move time forward.
Patron of Merchants — 11 Merchant Stalls
Progress Town restoration until all the merchant stall spots are available, then build the lot — 11 qualifying Tier I Town shops in total. I’d rather build these as I restore than leave all eleven sitting at the end, since spreading the cost makes it far less painful.
Urban Planner — 15 Houses Restored
Keep restoring the Town until every repairable house is done: 15 qualifying houses. There’s a wrinkle here worth knowing — the game data actually contains one extra repair that has no matching world sign, so it can never be completed, and the house the story restores for you doesn’t count either. That means 15 is the real ceiling.
Same advice as the stalls: keep chipping away at houses as you progress rather than banking them all for a final push.
Home Sweet Tomb — 200 Graveyard Quality
Raise your Graveyard Quality to 200. The reliable path is stacking good-quality corpses together with Crypts, Columbariums, benches, monuments, and flower beds. Getting your hands on 4–6 skull corpses makes the last stretch toward 200 noticeably easier, so it pays to keep an eye on what you’re burying.
Bronze Age — 100 Bronze Ingots
Smelt 100 Bronze Ingots as part of your regular production. Each qualifying batch counts for however many ingots it produces, so larger runs obviously move the needle faster.
I lean on zombie-assisted production here and keep Bronze smelting running whenever the resources are on hand, rather than standing at the furnace manually hammering out all one hundred.
Iron Age — 100 Iron Ingots
Smelt 100 Iron Ingots while you craft and build your way through the game. Set up zombie-assisted Iron production early and the total basically builds itself in the background — this is one I never really think about once the line is running.
Supplier — 50 Supplies
Unlock the Town supply system, then produce 50 qualifying Supply items. I’d work this alongside Town Orders and keep a steady production chain going instead of trying to make all fifty in one sitting.
Merchants’ Best Friend — 25 Town Orders
After the Town supply system opens up, complete and claim the reward from 25 Town Orders. Claiming matters — an order you finish but never collect doesn’t move the counter.
I take orders whenever they appear and keep common supplies in storage so I’m rarely caught short. If I miss a required day, the 1-Energy sleep method nudges the calendar forward so I can get back on schedule.
Warmaker — 50 Battle Items
Unlock combat crafting and start producing weapons and battle equipment. You need 50 qualifying battle items, and Bronze Armor, bows, pikes, and swords all count.
I fold this into my normal combat prep. When I need a little extra progress, I’ll craft cheap equipment rather than burning valuable materials on gear I don’t actually need.
Master Cook — 100 Dishes
Unlock cooking and cook 100 qualifying dishes. Recipes contribute different amounts, so it’s not one-dish-one-count — Berry Pie and Bread each add four, while Baked Apple adds five.
Keep the kitchen running in the background with zombie assistance. One quirk worth remembering: one-star Pumpkin Soup currently does not count, though its higher-quality versions do — so don’t lean on the cheap version to pad the number.
Necromancer — 50 Zombies Resurrected
Unlock the zombie system and resurrect 50 corpses as zombies. Starting your zombie workforce early is the play here — every zombie you raise also helps with gathering, transportation, and production, so this one quietly supports the rest of your run. If you’re still learning how that side of the game fits together, my breakdown of the zombies system covers the essentials.
Master Farmer — 100 Harvests
Unlock farming and keep harvesting your Garden Beds and Vine Trellises. Each harvested bed counts once no matter how many crops it throws out, so it’s the act of harvesting that matters, not the yield.
I keep a small field planted at all times. Wheat is the convenient pick if you want to push the number along faster.
Alcohol Baron — 100 Alcohol Produced
Unlock alcohol production and keep brewing. You need 100 qualifying alcoholic drinks, and batches vary — Soldier’s Ale counts for five, while Wine counts for four per batch.
My order is Mead from Honey first, then Beer once Hops are available, with Wine production kept going throughout since you’ll want good Wine for other parts of the game anyway. If you’re chasing the brewing side seriously, it’s worth lining up all alchemy recipes alongside this so you’re not doubling back later.
Shepherd of Souls — 50 Sermons
Unlock the Church and hold 50 weekly sermons. Making them part of my weekly routine is the sane way to do it — they slot in naturally once the Church is up and running.
If you want to speed this along deliberately, the 1-Energy sleep method advances the calendar, but I’d still use the days in between productively rather than sleeping straight through them.
Stroke of Genius — 150 Inspirations
Purchase 150 Inspiration levels. This is a pure progression achievement, so the honest advice is not to grind it — develop your Town, Graveyard, production, and research, and the count fills in on its own as your character grows.
Novice Alchemist — 25 Alchemy Brews
Unlock Alchemy and brew 25 qualifying formulas at the Laboratory. Once you have Health Potions II, mass-produce them — they count toward the achievement and they’re genuinely useful for combat, so it’s a two-for-one rather than busywork.
Fish Magnet — 50 Fish Caught
Unlock fishing and land 50 fish at any fishing spot, with each catch counting once. Start on the easier fish and work your way up toward the catches that need Bread, Insects, or Life Bait.
The trick I’d pass on is simply to fish whenever you’re already near water instead of saving all fifty for a final session — it’s far less tedious that way.
Conclusion
None of these milestones demand special detours if you plan them into what you’re already doing, which is exactly why I treat this set as tips rather than a strict step-by-step guide. Bury instead of cremate, keep your production lines running with zombies, and remember the small qualifiers — the missing stump, the unclaimed order, the one-star soup — and the whole list should tick over cleanly on your way to 100%.
