Graveyard Keeper 2 has ten equipment slots that carry a mastery bonus and four that carry combat numbers, and almost every ladder runs Rusty, Bronze, Iron, Steel. The interesting part is that most of them do not finish.
Steel is where the tier list breaks. Nothing in the game produces a Steel Ingot, so the top rung of every ladder has to be bought from a shop, and four of them cannot be reached at all.
The ten tools that raise mastery
A tool on your belt adds its bonus to one of the five mastery tracks, and the sum runs over every matching tool rather than the best one. Two tools feed each track, so a book and a talisman stack.
| Building | Axes and pickaxes |
| Smithing | Hammers and small tool kits |
| Farming | Shovels and fishing rods |
| Anatomy | Surgical kits and alchemy kits |
| Book writing | Books and talismans |
| Axe | Rusty +1 | Bronze +2 | Iron +4 | Steel +6 |
| Pickaxe | Rusty +1 | Bronze +2 | Iron +4 | Steel +6 |
| Hammer | Rusty +1 | Bronze +2 | Iron +4 | Steel +6 |
| Shovel | Rusty +1 | Bronze +2 | Iron +4 | Steel +6 |
| Fishing rod | Basic +1 | Advanced +4 | Pro +6 | Master +8 |
| Small tools | Bronze +1 | Iron +2 | Steel +4 | |
| Surgical kit | Butcher’s +1 | Surgeon’s +2 | Master Surgeon’s +4 | |
| Alchemy kit | Starter +1 | Alchemist’s +2 | Good +4 | |
| Book | Primer +1 | Dictionary +2 | Glossary +4 | |
| Talisman | Bronze +1 | Silver +2 | Golden +4 |
The fishing rods are the odd family out and the most generous. They jump straight from one to four and end at eight, which is the largest single bonus any item in the game carries.
The steel tier cannot be crafted by anyone
Every steel item is made at the steel anvil and every one of them asks for at least one 
Steel Ingot. Sixteen recipes want that ingot and nothing in the game produces one, through any route at all.
The Steel Axe, the Steel Pickaxe and the Master Surgeon’s Kit are the three mastery tools with no way in. They have recipes, the recipes are correct, and the ingredient does not exist.
Steel Detail is buyable from the Smithy, thirty at a time, which sounds like a way round it and is not. Every steel recipe wants the ingot as well.
What saves the tier list is the shops. Six steel items sit on vendor shelves at their third tier, one of each, so the top of most ladders is a purchase rather than a craft.
| Steel Hammer | The Smithy, third tier | 1 |
| Steel Sword | The Smithy, third tier | 1 |
| Steel Armor | The Smithy, third tier | 1 |
| Knight’s Spear | The Smithy, third tier | 1 |
| Steel Shovel | The Vegetable Stand, third tier | 1 |
| Steel tools | The Jeweler, third tier | 1 |
| Golden Talisman | The Jeweler, third tier | 1 |
| Pro Rod | The Fisher, third tier | 1 |
The best you can hold in each slot
Strip out everything with no source and the tier list gets shorter and much more useful. This is the gear a finished run is wearing.
| Fishing rod | Pro Rod | 6 | Buy from the Fisher at his third tier |
| Shovel | Steel Shovel | 6 | Buy from the Vegetable Stand at its third tier |
| Hammer | Steel Hammer | 6 | Buy from the Smithy at its third tier |
| Axe | Iron Axe | 4 | Craft. The steel one has no source |
| Pickaxe | Iron Pickaxe | 4 | Craft. The steel one has no source |
| Small tools | Steel tools | 4 | Buy from the Jeweler at his third tier |
| Alchemy kit | Good Alchemist’s kit | 4 | Craft, one Golden ingot and one Alchemy Flasks II |
| Book | Glossary | 4 | Craft at the Newspaper Press |
| Talisman | Golden Talisman | 4 | Craft, or buy from the Jeweler |
| Surgical kit | Surgeon’s Kit | 2 | Craft, one Iron Ingot and two Leather Scroll |
Every other track can reach at least +4 from one tool. Anatomy stops at +2 on the surgical side, because the Master Surgeon’s Kit is the one kit in the game that asks for steel.
So the best Anatomy pair is a Surgeon’s Kit and a Good Alchemist’s kit for six, against twelve for Farming with a Steel Shovel and a Pro Rod. That gap is worth knowing before you plan a surgery run.
Swords, bows, pikes and armor
Combat gear does not touch mastery. Weapons carry a damage number and armor carries nothing at all beyond its tier, which is the game saying that a suit of armor is a rank rather than a stat.
| Sword damage | Rusty 4 | Bronze 5 | Iron 7 | Steel 10 | Master 13 |
| Bow damage | Simple 4 | Reinforced 8 | Battle 15 | Heavy 22 | |
| Pike damage | Simple 2 | Light 4 | Battle 6 | Knight’s 10 | |
| Armor rank | Rusty 0 | Bronze 1 | Iron 2 | Steel 3 | Master 4 |
Bows are the hardest hitting thing in the game by a distance, at a range of six against a pike’s two. The catch is that the 
Heavy Bow needs a steel ingot and no shop stocks it, so the Battle Bow at fifteen is the real top of that ladder.
Master Sword and 
Master Armor are real items with real recipes and they are worn by the Knight rather than sold. 
Master Rod is stranger still: it has a mastery bonus of eight, no recipe, no vendor and no drop, so the best rod in the game exists only as a number.
Every tool is also worth blue
A spare tool is not dead weight. Studying one pays blue, and the amount scales with the tier, so the tools you replace are worth carrying back to the Study Table rather than selling.
| Tier 1 | 0 | 20 |
| Tier 2 | 5 | 40 |
| Tier 3 | 10 | 60 |
| Tier 4 | 20 |
The kits are the ones worth the trip. A third tier kit, book or talisman pays sixty on its own, which is more than most things in the game and the reason to buy the Golden Talisman even if you already have a Silver one.
Questions about equipment in Graveyard Keeper 2
What is the best tool in each slot?
Pro Rod, Steel Shovel and Steel Hammer at plus six, then Iron Axe, Iron Pickaxe, Steel tools, Good Alchemist’s kit, Glossary and Golden Talisman at plus four, and the Surgeon’s Kit at plus two.
Why can I not craft the Steel Axe?
Because it needs a Steel Ingot and nothing in the game makes one. Sixteen recipes ask for that ingot and no craft, vendor, fight, corpse or fishing spot produces it, so the Steel Axe and Steel Pickaxe cannot be obtained at all.
Can I buy steel gear?
Some of it. The Smithy stocks a Steel Hammer, Steel Sword, Steel Armor and Knight’s Spear at its third tier, the Vegetable Stand a Steel Shovel, the Jeweler Steel tools and a Golden Talisman, and the Fisher a Pro Rod. One of each.
Which mastery track has the weakest tools?
Anatomy. Its best pair is a Surgeon’s Kit and a Good Alchemist’s kit for six, because the Master Surgeon’s Kit needs steel. Farming reaches twelve with a Steel Shovel and a Pro Rod.
Does armor have a defense stat?
No. Armor carries only its tier, from Rusty at zero to Master at four, so the rank is the whole of it. Weapons are the ones with a damage number.
What is the strongest weapon?
A bow. The Battle Bow does fifteen at a range of six, and the Heavy Bow does twenty two but needs a steel ingot, so it cannot be made. A Steel Sword bought from the Smithy does ten.
Is the Master Rod obtainable?
No. It has a mastery bonus of eight and no recipe, no vendor and no drop of any kind, so it is the one item in the game with a stat and no way in.
Do two tools of the same track stack?
Yes. The total runs over every matching tool, so a book and a talisman both add to Book writing, and a shovel and a rod both add to Farming.
