Quick answer: If a Graveyard Keeper 2 battle won't start, check the day: most battles only start on Sloth (the exceptions are Break Through to the Port and the sewer arena fights). Battles are picked at the blue/white shield icon on the map. Planting the banner doesn't start the fight: use the stand next to your starting control point and choose Start Battle, or the Start button in the barricade menu. To win, capture every enemy flag and hold it until the timer runs out. You lose if your health runs out or the zombies take your base.
Players ask this in several ways. How to start battle and how to star battle (a common typo) are the same question: where the start button is. Battles not starting and battle problem are usually the wrong day or a frozen timer. How to capture the flag is about holding a flag circle with your squad. German players search Graveyard Keeper 2 Kampf; the answers below are the same.
Quick facts
- Day: Sloth, for most battles
- Where: the blue/white shield icon on the map
- Start: the stand beside your control point, or Start in the barricade menu
- Win: capture every enemy flag and hold it until the timer ends
- First battle needs: mercenaries, the magic bell and enough swords (12)
Before the first battle
Do Herbert's quests
Swords and Bell leads into the first fight (Herbert).
Pay the mercenaries
They're in the Barracks. In a 100-day playthrough: "There's mercenaries in the barracks… Pay for a battle." Hiring them adds 8 swords.
Make the magic bell
It forces the zombies to retreat if the battle goes badly.
Build barricades to reach the sword count
Herbert wants 12 swords. Use the build table on the right as you enter the Barracks. Barricades need reinforced planks: oil planks with melted fat and add bronze details. In a recorded 100% playthrough, three barricades took the count to 14.
How to capture the flag
Start it at the stand
Interact with the stand beside your control point and pick Start Battle.
Lead with the banner
Pick up a squad's red banner and the squad follows you. Drop it to leave the squad defending a spot.
Take and hold the flags
Keep the squad inside a flag's circle until it's captured. Capturing a flag clears the nearby green fog.
Leave a squad on each captured flag
Enemy zombies retake empty flags. Keep one squad on each flag and move a third between them.
Battle won't start?
| Problem | Fix |
|---|---|
| Nothing happens | Wait for Sloth |
| Can't find the battle | Look for the shield icon on the map |
| Timer frozen at 3:50 | Use the Start button in the barricade menu |
| Not enough swords | Hire the mercenaries and build barricades |
If time still doesn't move, players fixed it by locking the frame rate to 30 FPS in the main menu, then opening and cancelling the barricade menu 2–3 times. Stuck in green fog or facing a closed gate? See the Central Districts Purge bug.
Sleep before battle day. The game saves only when you sleep, so a lost or bugged battle costs you just that day (How saving works).
How to make zombies fight
After your first win you get a shield that unlocks another squad. Give each zombie armour and a pike or bow (swords are player-only), carry it to the zombie pen in the Barracks and put it in the chains; lying on the floor doesn't count. Zombies don't gain experience from fighting, so level their combat perks with another job first.
FAQ
On Sloth, go to the shield icon on the map, then use the stand next to your control point or the Start button in the barricade menu.
Usually it isn't Sloth, or the timer is frozen. Use the Start button in the barricade menu; if that fails, lock the game to 30 FPS and retry.
Hire the soldiers in the Barracks (8 swords), then build barricades at the build table until you reach 12.
Carry your squad's red banner into the flag's circle and stay until it's captured, then leave a squad there so the zombies can't take it back.
Related
- Herbert: he gives out every town battle
- Central Districts Purge bug: green fog and locked gates
- Where is the Astrologer: the first win opens the Port
- Town Gratitude: the first win raises the cap to 20
Sources: a recorded 100% playthrough and a 100-day playthrough on YouTube, Steam Community discussions ("[BUG] Battles Not Starting", "Herbert More Swords?"), Fextralife, AllThings.How.