Star Wars Zero Company guide | The best builds for each operator | Release date: Aug. 27, 2026

Return to a galaxy far far away in Star Wars Zero Company, a turn-based strategy game from Bit Reactor and Electronic Arts. Set during the Clone Wars, you play as mercenary Tesh Hawks, who has to lead a disparate band of warriors and ex-criminals against a malevolent threat known as the Infinite Coil.

Our Star Wars Zero Company operators guide discusses everything you need to know about the characters in the game. We tackle everything from recruiting unique heroes and custom-made combatants, as well as ideal builds for your teammates.

There are two types of operators in Star Wars Zero Company:

Authored characters: These characters are integral to the story. They also have unique talents and perks.

Custom characters: These are recruited via the terminal in your Den. These include humanoid options and Astromech Droids.

When talking about the best builds for Star Wars Zero Company operators, at least among custom characters, you should consider the default/universal talents:

A Life of Labor (passive): Gain bonus health, defense, melee damage, and critical hit damage.

Anticipation (action): Gain a stack of evasion.

Built-in Comlink (action): This talent is for Astromech’s only. It allows them to grant action points to allies.

Cold-Blooded (action): Gain a stack of vicious (guaranteed critical hit).

Espionage (passive): Gain bonus intel whenever this operative completes a mission.

Fortitude (passive): Gain bonus defense if you’re injured.

Grit (action): Apply stacks of invulnerability.

Sabotage (action): Detonate an explosive object on the battlefield.

Taunt (action): Taunt a target and reduce its damage.

The Bigger They Are (passive): Deal bonus damage against elite and boss enemies.
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⁠Thievery (passive): Gain bonus credits whenever this operative completes a mission.
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⁠Specializations, meanwhile, are akin to classes or archetypes. The eight options include the Assault, Gunslinger, Heavy, Medic, Scoundrel, Scout, Sharpshooter, and Soldier.

Characters have a default specialization once you recruit them, but you can still freely change and refund the points that you’ve previously allocated. Later in the game, you may also select a second specialization.

Star Wars Zero Company offers a lot of flexibility when it comes to choosing the right build for your character.

Unique talent: Fearless Leader - Increases the assist damage and defense of all other operators if Hawks is present.

Viable specializations - Since Hawks is the main character, you’re bound to undertake dozens of missions with them in the party. So, when you pick a specialization, it should be a class that complements your teammates’ roles. Here are our suggestions:

Medic: You’ll boost the health and damage of your allies, and you’ll restore more HP.

Scout: Generate more advantage points in battle so you can activate ultimate abilities early.

Sharpshooter: The unique character who’s also a sniper can only be recruited much later in the campaign. Hawks can fill this role for a while.

Trick is a clone trooper who served under Hawks. Since the two are no longer part of the Galactic Republic’s armies, they’ve set their sights on becoming mercs for hire.

Unique talent: For My Brothers - Once per mission, when Trick is downed, he automatically self-revives next turn at full health. The upgraded version of this perk prevents Trick from suffering an injury the first time he’s downed in each battle.

Default spec 1: Soldier - The Soldier class in Star Wars Zero Company will be your area-of-effect damage dealer for the first few hours of the campaign. That’s because of the Rocket Strike ultimate, which deals 30+ damage in a wide blast radius.

Suggested spec 1: Heavy - If you want to stick with Trick as a Soldier, then you might want to pick the Heavy as a second specialization. The increased health and defense ought to help Trick survive, and he can self-revive thanks to his unique talent.

Kabb, a Felshi, is a hardened crook who’s now a member of Zero Company. Just like Trick, he joins your team at the start of the campaign.

Unique talent: Uppercut - Rush toward an enemy, dealing melee damage and knocking the target backward. Defeating this foe restores all the action points (AP) that you used to activate the skill.

Default spec 1: Scoundrel - Kabb starts off with a support role, given that the Scoundrel’s job is to assist your heavy-hitters when shooting hostiles.

Suggested specs: Heavy and Soldier - The best build for Kabb in Star Wars Zero Company is actually akin to Trick’s. We focus on the three Heavy perks–i.e. Conditioning, Unstoppable, and Bulwark–to improve Kabb’s survivability in close-range engagements. Then, we’d go for the Strength and Brutal Strike perks in the Soldier tree to boost Kabb’s offense.

Jae is a baroness who seeks your aid against the Infinite Coil faction. Don’t let her noble bearing fool you because she’s as ruthless as they come. She joins your crew after completing Cycle 3: In Debt to the Hutts.

Unique talent: Final Shot - Jae eliminates an enemy at low health after an operator has attacked it. Upgraded variants allow her to do this twice per turn

Default spec 1: Assault - Jae’s Assault specialization is decent enough on its own due to the Sweeping Salvo ultimate. The bullets you unleash in a wide cone are guaranteed to hit hostiles

Suggested spec 2: Gunslinger - For Jae’s second specialization, we recommend the Gunslinger. This is to help increase her critical hit chance via the Keen Eye perk.

The skilled Jedi Tel-Rea becomes one of your stalwart allies in the campaign. You initially meet her during Cycle 7: Dark Waters, but she officially joins up once you complete the Jedi Undercover/Smugglers’ Den main mission.

Note that Tel-Rea’s build in Star Wars Zero Company is fairly unique since she doesn’t utilize the standard specializations/classes. Instead, she starts off as Padawan, before becoming a Wayseeker as you progress through the campaign.

Unique talent: Strong With the Force - Begin each turn with stacks of harmony, which improve your lightsaber attacks and deflection.

Spec 1: Padawan - To make the most out of Tel-Rea in combat, you should allocate points into Padawan Training and Force Push. The former improves her critical hit chance and lets her equip additional Meditation passives. The latter, meanwhile, allows you to push away opponents in various directions.

Spec 2: Wayseeker - Lightsaber Throw deals a lot of damage. For starters, though, we recommend leveling up the Force Pull skill. When used in conjunction with Force Push, you’ll be able to reposition enemy units around, setting them up for devastating area-of-effect abilities.

Cly is a Mandalorian who’s searching for her bounty targets. In our playthrough, she appeared in the Den at the start of Cycle 13.

Unique talent: Combat Jump - Spend 2x advantage points to jump to a distant location using your jetpack.

Spec 1: Warrior - Cly also happens to have a unique first specialization, the Warrior, which lets you utilize electricity-based abilities:

Initially, you’ll want to max out Electroweb Dart. This lowers the requirement to just 1x advantage points.

Level up Electroweb Surge only if you have many focus points to spare. That’s because you still need to focus on her second spec.

Suggested spec 2: Scout - The Star Wars Zero Company best build for Cly Kullervo makes use of both Tactical Timing and Combat Recon to gain more advantage points. The idea is to amass enough advantage so you can keep tagging enemies with the Electroweb Dart.

If you’re able to, try to use push, pull, or knockback effects so that your foes are bunched up together as well. Then, when you’re ready, activate Electroweb Surge to blast the area around Cly and every enemy affected by Electroweb Darts. This whole setup can decimate entire Infinite Coil hordes, preventing them from replenishing their health and gaining more surge powers.

Luco is an Umbaran sniper, who begrudgingly joins the team during the Casualties of War portion of the campaign. This whole sequence comprises three separate missions.

Unique talent: Combat Gas - Gain Sharpened Senses stacks, which increase your ranged damage and chance to hit.

Default spec 1: Sharpshooter - Both Zero-In and Pick Them Off are good perks to have since they improve your hit chance and overwatch damage.

Suggested spec 2: Scoundrel - You’re mostly after the Scoundrel’s Instinct and Never Play Fair passives. The former causes your shots to penetrate defenses and the latter increases your assist damage.

That does it for our Star Wars Zero Company guide about recruitable operatives and their respective best builds. We hope these tips help you as you create a squad that’s ready for every challenge.

Those who want to experience turn-based tactics in the Star Wars universe should pick up Star Wars Zero Company, which is available now on the Epic Games Store. We also suggest getting the Deluxe Edition when you can, as it includes the Grand Army of the Republic cosmetic pack, the Shadow Collective cosmetic pack, and several themed weapon sets.