Graveyard Keeper 2 Best Layout & Graveyard Rating

Rating is a number you can farm deliberately: every grave and decoration contributes, and placement matters as much as quality. This page covers the layout principles and clears up the “26 skulls” figure players confuse with graveyard rating.

How Graveyard Rating Works

• Each burial scores the skull value of the corpse you placed — which is why body prep is a layout topic, not just a zombie topic
• Grave decorations (headstone, fence, desk) add per-grave points on top of the corpse
• Free-standing decorations score in a radius rather than per grave — placement decides whether one decoration buffs five graves or one

Layout Principles

1. Grid your graves first — rows that leave decoration slots at both ends, not a spread-out scatter
2. Cluster decoration so its radius covers as many graves as possible; overlapping buffs beat spreading them thin
3. Keep the church approach clear — it is the highest-traffic path and the easiest place to double-dip decor value
4. Reserve a strip between graveyard and production zones so future expansion does not force you to dig up graves

Church Layout & Splendor

• Splendor benches come in six slots and each takes 2 planks + 6 bronze nails — plan the benches before you plan the pews
• Temple quality is one half of the faith payout formula, so church layout is a direct income decision
• The Writing Desk is an underground build and counts toward the same progression

The Launch-Build Rules (Community Consensus)

• Place the free 12x12 zones from the blueprint table in advance — each zone type is capped at two, unlocked through the tech tree, and only items inside zones count toward rating.
• Every grave scores as 1 gravestone + 1 fence — a missing fence half is rating left on the table.
• Grave decoration can never exceed the corpse’s white skulls — a decorated bad corpse is still a bad corpse.
• Penalties at the bishop’s weekly review: empty graves (−3 each), trees (−1 each), weeds, stumps and broken markers.
• Prep corpses in the morgue first — bury above 90% freshness, and use an exhumation certificate to swap bad bodies out.
• The big boosts come from columbariums, crypts, benches, monuments and flower beds, plus upgraded fences and paths.
• Early level 10: 2–3 good graves plus a few decorations is enough — do not wait for a full grid to start earning rating.

The “26 Skulls” Number, Explained

Twenty-six is the maximum white skulls on a corpse, worth 65% zombie efficiency — it is a worker-quality benchmark, not a graveyard score. If that is what you came for, jump to zombies and body prep. Twenty-six white skulls is the ceiling you build toward with organ swaps and full embalming.

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