Squads in Star Wars Zero Company are four operators drawn from a roster that mixes authored characters with fully custom recruits, and three weeks after launch a consensus core has formed: Hawks, Jae Mordant, Trick, and an Astromech covers nearly everything the campaign throws at you. More useful than any fixed list, though, is the role template underneath it. Here’s both.
The Role Template
The community’s working formula for a balanced four:
- Advantage generator: someone whose hit frequency feeds the shared Advantage pool
- Frontliner: absorbs attention and holds space
- Finisher: converts openings into kills
- Ranged control or sustain: overwatch angles, healing, or utility from depth
Any squad answering all four jobs works; squads doubling one job and skipping another are where campaigns wobble.
The Consensus Core
- Hawks (protagonist): the squad-wide force multiplier via the Fearless Leader talent; the Scoundrel build is the consensus setup.
- Jae Mordant (Sharpshooter): the finisher. Her Final Shot talent executes low-health targets, which converts the whole squad’s chip damage into guaranteed kills.
- Trick (clone trooper CT-3301): the frontliner, run Heavy or Gunslinger, with a self-revive talent that forgives exactly one catastrophe per mission, priceless under the three-injury permadeath rule.
- An Astromech droid recruit: the utility slot. Astromechs are widely called the strongest specialization in the game; their toolkit does control-and-support work no organic operator matches.
The flexible fifth name: Tel-Rea Vokoss, the Jedi Padawan, who can swap into the Astromech or Trick slot when a mission wants a mobile melee threat instead.
Named Characters vs Custom Recruits
Authored operators (Trick, Jae, Tel-Rea, Cly, M-3VO) bring fixed talents and story presence; custom recruits pick talents from a pool and fill exactly the role you’re missing (including species choice, which is purely cosmetic). The optimal roster uses named characters for their unique talents and exotic classes, then custom-builds recruits for the gaps.
Bonds: Play the Same Four
Operators build Bonds through repeated deployment together, unlocking synergies over time. That’s a quiet argument against constant rotation: a settled core four compounds, while a carousel stays at zero chemistry. Rotate for injuries and mission fit, not variety for its own sake.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there one objectively best squad? No, sources differ beyond the core names; the role template is the real answer, and Bonds reward whatever four you commit to.
Are Astromechs really that strong? It’s the most repeated claim in early coverage. If you build one custom recruit, make it an Astromech.
Can Hawks be benched? Hawks is the protagonist; build around Fearless Leader rather than around benching your multiplier.
What about the injured? Injuries stack a hit penalty until treated at the Den’s Medbay, and a third injury is death. Deep rosters exist for exactly this; keep one understudy per role leveled enough to deploy.