Alchemy in Graveyard Keeper is not a guessing game once its three layers are separated. First identify an ingredient at the Study table. Then turn it into the correct reagent form: powder, solution, or extract. Finally place those reagents in the exact left-to-right slots of Alchemy Workbench I or II. Most failed batches diagnose one of those layers, and the goo returned by a failure points toward the element that belongs in the incorrect slot.
This guide records useful core recipes and the production logic behind them. DLC-only formulas are labeled. Recipe names and workstation panels in the current client take priority over an old translation.
Unlock the laboratory as a chain, not a single conversation
The church opening gives access to the cellar laboratory and Study table. Clotho, found in the swamp during the day, unlocks alchemy progression. Reaching her is only the first gate: an unknown ingredient cannot be processed until it has been studied, and study consumes stored Science plus Faith.
Build the chain in this order:
- produce clean paper and add Science at the Study table;
- save enough sermon Faith to study a representative set of ingredients;
- build the mill for powders and hand mixer for solutions;
- add a distillation cube when three-reagent recipes need extracts;
- keep separate trunks for raw ingredients and finished reagents so identical icons do not enter the wrong slot.
The Scientist perk increases reagent yield by one. It improves throughput, not recipe discovery. If a studied item still cannot enter the mill, mixer, or distiller, that item may not produce the reagent form you are trying to make.
Use elements to interpret a failed batch
Reagents belong to paired alchemical elements: Health and Toxic, Order and Chaos, Acceleration and Slowing, Life and Death. When an undiscovered recipe fails, Workbench I produces one goo and Workbench II produces two. The goo is feedback about the element needed in a bad slot; it is not proof of the exact ingredient or form.
Change one slot at a time. For example, Health goo tells you to test a Health-element reagent in the suspect position, but the recipe may specifically need Health powder rather than Health solution. Replacing every slot after each failure destroys that information. Record the displayed order because powder, solution, and extract are not interchangeable even when they share an element.
Workbench I uses two slots. Workbench II uses three and has a different recipe list; it is not a drop-in upgrade that can make all two-slot products. Keep both stations available.
Workbench I recipes that unblock progression
| Product | Left slot | Right slot | Why to keep it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spices | Salt | Health solution | Merchant’s hiccup chain |
| Healing potion | Health powder | Chaos solution | Dungeon recovery |
| Healing potion | Life powder | Health solution | Alternative input path |
| Energy potion | Acceleration powder | Acceleration solution | Long work sessions |
| Zombie juice | Health powder | Blood | Resurrection at the zombie table |
| Dark elixir | Death powder | Blood | Source for dark injection production |
| Freshener | Oil | Order solution | Perfume and later crafting chains |
| Growth enhancer | Ash | Life solution | Fertilizer chain |
| Energy elixir | Acceleration powder | Slowing solution | Buff production |
| Energy elixir | Slowing powder | Acceleration solution | Alternative order-paired inputs |
Zombie juice is easily confused with the resurrection itself. The recipe makes only the juice; creating a worker later also costs a suitable corpse and ten Faith. Three ready-made juices can be found near Gunter, which makes the first workers possible before a full laboratory production run.
Black and white paint each have multiple valid routes
Black paint can be made from Graphite powder plus Water, Ash plus Oil, or Death powder plus Water. White paint can be made from White powder plus Oil, Alcohol plus Slowing solution, or Electric powder plus Water. Choose the route whose inputs are renewable in your current workshop. Burning scarce bones or buying a reagent for a single batch may be worse than expanding a graphite or ash line.
Decorative paints follow the displayed pigment powder plus Oil pattern. Those products are not substitutes for black or white paint in writing and church recipes, so check the requested item name before producing a large batch.
Workbench II recipes for embalming and movement
| Product | Powder | Solution | Extract or third input |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acid | Toxic | Chaos | Toxic extract |
| Preservative | Slowing | Life | Slowing extract |
| Preservative | Life | Slowing | Slowing extract |
| Balsamic solution | Chaos | Water | Death extract |
| Alkali | Life | Death | Blood |
| Glue | Health | Life | Chaos extract |
| Silver elixir | Silver | Order | Life extract |
| Silver elixir | Silver | Chaos | Order extract |
| Golden elixir | Gold | Toxic | Chaos extract |
| Golden elixir | Gold | Order | Health extract |
| Speed potion | Acceleration | Chaos | Blood |
The table headings are slot roles, not universal ingredient categories: Water and Blood occupy the third position in the listed recipes even though they are not extracts. Insert every item in the displayed left-to-right order.
For corpse work, convert these products at the church workbench into the corresponding injections. Preservative stops further decay, while restore injection from balsamic solution removes half of decay already present. Glue, silver, and gold increase white skulls; alkali supplies lye; acid removes one red and one white and is usually a correction rather than a premium-body step. The corpse guide explains injection order and red-skull prerequisites.
Workbench II buff and quest recipes
| Product | Powder | Solution | Third input |
|---|---|---|---|
| Digestion potion | Health | Toxic | Acceleration extract |
| Restoring potion | Order | Health | Health extract |
| Protection potion | Order | Slowing | Slowing extract |
| Rage potion | Chaos | Death | Toxic extract |
| Berserk potion | Toxic | Death | Death extract |
| Flavor enhancer | Ash | Toxic | Life extract |
| Aromatizer | Acceleration | Alcohol | Life extract |
| Tanning agent | Slowing | Death | Order extract |
Do not mass-produce combat potions before testing one in the activity where you need it. Their value depends on the dungeon floor, equipment, and time saved. Speed potions are broadly useful for weekly NPC circuits, but blood also feeds zombie juice and some quest production; reserve a labeled stack for each line so one convenience batch cannot stop worker creation.
Memory tincture is a Game of Crone product made from Memory powder, Silver powder, and Gold powder. If Memory powder or its related station is absent, the issue is DLC availability or progression, not a missing core alchemy technology.
Build production around outcomes
For a high-quality corpse
Maintain four small reserves: Alkali for lye, Glue, Silver elixir, and Golden elixir. Add Preservative for bodies that may wait and Balsamic solution for a corpse that arrived decayed. Study and process enough source ingredients for one complete body before starting injections; a half-treated corpse can decay while you hunt for an extract.
For a zombie network
Separate Health powder and Blood for Zombie juice. The limiting cost after juice is often Faith, not reagents, because each resurrection consumes ten. Plan worker creation immediately after a strong sermon rather than converting all Faith into studies. Once three found juices are used, the laboratory must support a repeatable supply.
For the dungeon and weekly circuits
Keep Healing potions near the dungeon entrance and Speed potions near the route where a late NPC visit is most costly. Do not carry the entire reserve; death or inventory pressure can turn a useful batch into clutter. Energy potions compete with ordinary cooked food, so use them when inventory slots or time matter rather than as the default workshop fuel.
Diagnose the bench rather than repeating the failure
- The ingredient is dimmed: study it first, then verify that the workstation accepts its reagent form.
- A known recipe fails: check workbench tier and slot order. Tier II does not replace Tier I.
- The failure returns goo: treat the goo as an element hint for a slot, replace one input, and test again.
- An embalming product exists but no injection appears: take the product to the correct church-cellar crafting station and verify the associated technology.
- Production starves unexpectedly: look for a shared input. Blood connects speed potions, zombie juice, and other formulas; ash connects growth and paint routes.
- A listed recipe is absent: confirm DLC ownership, technology unlocks, and the current-client name before assuming the source is wrong.
Sources and version boundary
Recipe and workstation checks use official community-wiki data, the official Steam listing, and multiple verified community references. The covered client is the original PC release at patch 1.405. Memory tincture is labeled because it comes from Game of Crone; console menus and content packages may expose a smaller list.