Star Wars Zero Company Best Companions Guide

Latest Update: September 10, 2026 – Categories: Star Wars Zero Company

All companions ranked in Star Wars Zero Company, from Luco to Jae, with signatures, best classes, and how each one fits your squad on Expert difficulty.

This guide is updated for Star Wars Zero Company Patch 1.1

Related SWZC

• All Story Characters
• Complete Classes Guide
• Character Creation
• All Focus Trees/Skills
• The Den Facilities & Upgrades
• Weapons & Mods Guide

The best companions in Star Wars Zero Company are the six authored story operators, and picking the right ones changes how the whole campaign feels. You only get three squad seats around Hawks, so every companion you recruit and keep has to earn that spot. What sets them apart from any custom recruit is their unique talent: a fixed, respec-proof ability that a generic operator simply cannot copy.

In this guide, we rank all six from worst to best for squad value, from Luco at the bottom to Jae at the top. Jae takes the crown because her Final Shot deletes low-HP targets for free, saving you AP and damage on every turn. We will cover each companion’s signature ability, best class, and how to slot them into a party, then explain how you can lose them and who to protect on Expert. Hawks sits above the list as your commander, so we cover him separately at the end.

What You’ll Learn

• All six story companions ranked from worst to best for squad value
• Each companion’s signature ability, best class, strengths, and weaknesses
• How each one fits into a party and which comps they shine in
• How companions can be lost, and who to protect on permadeath
• Where Hawks fits as your commander

Star Wars Zero Company Best Companions Summary

Here is the full ranking. Jae takes the top spot for her free kills, while Luco brings up the rear as a redundant sniper. Hawks is your commander and is not part of the numbered list. The full breakdown, tier by tier, is below.

• 1. Jae Mordant (S Tier): instant kills without AP; fits any build or spec.
• 2. Cly Kullervo (S Tier): mobility, AOE, and an Advantage machine that can wipe a group.
• 3. Trick (A Tier): when you value survival, no one beats Trick.
• 4. Kabb Uppercut (A Tier): a great melee companion that refunds AP on melee kills.
• 5. Tel-Rea Vokoss (B Tier): a high-risk, high-reward character you get later.
• 6. Luco Bronc (C Tier): a late-game addition who can be redundant with another Sharpshooter.

How We Ranked Them

Every companion is judged on what they add to a four-person squad, not raw stats in a vacuum. The criteria:

• Unique Talent: how much their fixed, respec-proof talent swings a fight.
• Damage: how much they kill, and how reliably.
• Survivability: how well they hold up on Expert and permadeath.
• Utility and control: healing, AP, Advantage, crowd control, and positioning tools.
• Flexibility: how freely they respec and slot into different comps.
• Availability: how early you get them and how often they earn a seat.

Companion Tier List

1. Jae Mordant – S Tier

• Race: Shu-Torun (Noble, Ore-Baroness)
• Starting Specialization: Assault
• Specialization Locked: No; respecs freely and keeps Final Shot
• Unique Talent: Final Shot
• Availability: Early; joins after Cycle 3, In Debt to the Hutts

Jae Mordant is a flexible Shu-Torun noble who is the best overall companion in Star Wars Zero Company. That comes down to her unique, unchangeable talent, Final Shot. It eliminates a low-health target automatically without using AP. At first, it is weak: only 4 HP or less, once per turn. Fully maxed, the talent becomes an unstoppable killing machine, allowing two uses per turn on targets up to 10 HP.

Final Shot lets you build Jae nearly any way you want. The two best setups we have found are a Scout/Medic support style or, on Expert, Sharpshooter/Scoundrel. Before we break down how to use her, here are the pros and cons:

How to Use Them in a Party

If you are playing on the highest difficulty, keep Jae in the back with a Sharpshooter, Scoundrel, and Longarm setup. Since her talent has no range requirement, she can pew pew across the entire map, killing low-HP targets. She also has no defensive bonuses, and Expert can be brutal on survival, so distance keeps her safe.

The Sharpshooter wants to get up high, hunker down, and fire from range. Use one AP to move into position, another to hunker down with Zero In, and grab an extra AP from another operator. The easiest way to do that is with Hawks’ AP-granting ability Pico-5 (three Advantage), or the Astromech’s Built-In Comlink. On turn one, you move, buff, shoot.

With the rest of your operators, always factor in that low HP equals an instant kill. You do not have to finish a target yourself. If Jae has the angle when it drops below the Final Shot threshold, she takes it. That opens up far more kills and saves you countless AP, instead of blowing a 2 AP blaster rifle shot on a target sitting at 5 health.

Feel free to play Jae any way you want, but upgrade Final Shot as priority number one. Always position her where she has the angle to trigger the free attack. If you drop an enemy to 4 HP but they are around a corner, nothing happens.

This might not look like an impressive character or talent on paper, but on the highest difficulty it absolutely is. She constantly saves you precious AP and takes less incoming damage by squeezing off a round to finish that annoying battle droid. That is why we rank her the best and highly recommend bringing her along.

2. Cly Kullervo – S Tier

• Race: Mandalorian (Clan Verminoth)
• Starting Specialization: Mandalorian Warrior (Exotic)
• Specialization Locked: Primary locked to Mandalorian Warrior; keeps her jetpack, secondary spec is free
• Unique Talent: Combat Jump (jetpack), with Electroweb Dart and Electroweb Surge
• Availability: Mid-campaign

Cly Kullervo is the opposite of Jae: aggressive, with the best mobility in all of Star Wars Zero Company. She can wipe out an entire group with a combo built around Advantage. She also loves the fire debuff; combine her jetpack with a flamethrower and you can literally melt whole packs.

Combat Jump is her unique ability. She jumps, pushes targets, and once upgraded, debuffs every enemy hit with four stacks of Burning. Burning deals 1 damage per stack and ignores defense, so it acts as reliable damage over time. Combat Jump costs two Advantage, can be used multiple times per encounter, and is not limited. That makes her the perfect knock-off-the-ledge killer, or your get-to-the-rally-point companion.

To play Cly right, though, you must be ultra-aggressive. On Expert that can be risky: if you jump into a pack and cannot finish them or jetpack out, you will likely be downed. Play her with Advantage and mobility in mind, or she will feel weak.

How to Use Them in a Party

To make the most of Cly, you want another party member like Jae running Scout. Your Scout uses Combat Recon on turn one to generate a big pile of Advantage. There is also a Den bonus that lets you start with three Advantage on turn one, and combined, the two fuel Cly’s jump-and-blast combo.

Once your Advantage is topped up, jetpack into a group. Fire an Electroweb Dart at a target just outside your immediate radius, then plan your exit. You need two Advantage to jump back out if you cannot finish the enemies and avoid getting downed. Otherwise, spend four Advantage and trigger Electroweb Surge for massive AOE damage.

Now a spread of targets will be low HP. If you are running Gunslinger, finish them with Quick Draw, since each strike generates AP. You also want the Custom Ergonomic mod on your weapon so each attack stacks, up to four, making your pistol hit much harder.

Once targets are low, Jae executes them with Final Shot from a safe distance. Each of these strikes generates Advantage, so you can end your turn either jetpacking out to safety or staying aggressive on another target.

Cly is incredibly fun to play, but she takes planning and positioning. On the highest difficulty it can be tough to avoid heavy incoming damage if you do not kill everything immediately. When you pull it off, she and Jae together are a perfect pairing that can wipe an entire group on turn one.

3. Trick – A Tier

• Race: Clone Trooper
• Starting Specialization: Soldier
• Specialization Locked: No; respecs freely and keeps For My Brothers
• Unique Talent: For My Brothers
• Availability: Early; one of your first three companions

Trick is valuable because of his For My Brothers unique talent: once downed, he automatically revives himself, and once upgraded, he comes back topped off with full health. That lets you play him ultra-aggressively as an Assault, or as a tank with Heavy. Trick starts as a Soldier, but you want to lean on his bonus and run some kind of melee spec and ability. Assault’s Bull Rush and Soldier’s Brutal Strike are your bread and butter.

On the pro side, you get Trick right away and he helps you survive difficult early encounters. His power does start to fade, though, especially if he never actually gets downed. You end up with an amazing talent on paper that you do not need. On Expert, however, that talent is needed, especially early.

How to Use Them in a Party

The best way to use Trick is as a melee damage dealer, either Assault or Soldier, with Gunslinger as a secondary spec if Cly is not in your party. Charge in and land a melee strike. Look for enemies near ledges, because they can be instantly killed; their health bar will completely yellow out, which tells you a melee knockback will finish them.

Next, use Assault’s Sweeping Salvo for AOE damage plus a disorient that lowers enemy accuracy. Unlike your other companions, Trick is not afraid of getting hit or downed, so he can afford to sit up front in a pack. Then spend your last AP on a blaster round or a grenade for extra AOE.

For the squads Trick anchors and the exact deployment order, see the Best Squad and Party Composition Guide.

Do not be afraid to play Trick aggressively. Push him forward and pull pressure off your squishier characters. Lean on melee attacks and AOE to grab enemy attention and keep the rest of your party alive.

4. Kabb Uppercut – A Tier

• Race: Felshi
• Starting Specialization: Scoundrel
• Specialization Locked: No; respecs freely (commonly run Assault, Heavy, or Soldier) and keeps Uppercut
• Unique Talent: Uppercut
• Availability: Early; one of your first three companions

Kabb is a strong melee brawler with a unique talent called Uppercut. What makes Uppercut so good is that it refunds AP if the target is killed. That gives Kabb an edge over Trick, because you can one-two punch and shoot. Run him as Assault or Soldier and you get two melee attacks in a single turn.

The downside is that Kabb is forced into a melee role, and on some maps you may never get to use it. If the map is large and you cannot rush in, the talent goes to waste. On other maps it is a cheat code, especially with ledges nearby: rush in, chain melee, shoot, and your AP feels limitless.

How to Use Them in a Party

The best combo with Kabb is rush and shoot. Since Uppercut refunds AP on a kill, look for a low-HP target or a knock-off-the-ledge for an instant kill. That refunds all of your AP, including movement. So if you spend three AP moving across the map to kill a 7 HP droid, boom, all of your AP comes flooding back.

Then target another enemy with a blaster or a second melee attack. Depending on your Advantage, fire Sweeping Salvo for conal AOE damage, then use your last AP to chuck a grenade for even more AOE. If you have the Advantage and Sweeping Salvo is leveled, you can use it again.

The result: charge in, melee kill, Sweeping Salvo, grenade or blaster, Sweeping Salvo.

Kabb is fun, strong, and a great addition early on. Later in the campaign, though, you can barely take down one enemy per turn with him, and that is when his power fades. That is the point where you want a more sustainable damage dealer who does not have to put themselves in harm’s way.

5. Tel-Rea Vokoss – B Tier

• Race: Tognath
• Starting Specialization: Jedi Padawan (Exotic)
• Specialization Locked: Yes; fully locked and cannot respec
• Unique Talent: Strong with the Force (Harmony)
• Availability: Mid to late campaign

Tel-Rea Vokoss is the most unique companion, using the Force and lightsabers as her weapons. Like Kabb, this locks her into a melee-focused build. She can Force push and pull enemies, which is extremely helpful and gives her some range. She does not get a utility slot like other builds, though, and she cannot use weapon mods. That uniqueness is fun and interesting, but it limits how she handles specific situations, like droids, AOE grenades, or a utility that boosts everyone’s movement.

Her unique talent is a little complex: Strong with the Force. It is a passive that grants two stacks of Harmony, which increase deflection chance and lightsaber damage. Deflection gives an independent chance to block ranged attacks before the standard chance-to-hit check, and each stack grants 4 percent. Your goal is to build a ton of Harmony so she can deflect incoming blaster bolts like Anakin Skywalker. She is a strong companion, but she can be more complex to pilot than the rest of your roster. Leave her in the open without much Harmony built up and she is target practice for the Coil.

How to Use Them in a Party

Your goal with Tel-Rea is to pressure the frontline while keeping her survival up. The Armory gives her Meditations instead of utilities; the most important ones generate Harmony from actions you take every turn. Attuned to All Things grants +1 Harmony when you use Push and Pull, and anything that generates more deflection keeps her from getting fried in the open.

Your lightsaber melee attack is her primary damage source and requires AP to reach a target. Use one AP to pull an enemy to you, and your melee attack will kill most targets. Then spend your last AP to raise deflection toward the enemy, or push a target, ideally off a ledge. Always end your turn with deflection up via Noble Stance, or with a stack of Harmony, or she will get melted by blaster fire.

Tel-Rea is a blast early and can carry fights with the right Harmony management. She gets harder to justify late, when her squishiness shows and the setup cost adds up, so lean on her while she is ahead of the curve.

6. Luco Bronc – C Tier

• Race: Umbaran
• Starting Specialization: Sharpshooter
• Specialization Locked: No; can respec and keeps Combat Gas
• Unique Talent: Combat Gas (builds Sharpened Senses)
• Availability: Late; the final major story companion

Our least favorite companion is Luco Bronc, who comes equipped with the Combat Gas special action as his unique talent. It does not cost AP, only two Advantage, and it grants an increased chance to hit and more ranged attack damage. The game really wants you to use him as a sniper, and to that end he can put out the most damage possible thanks to this bonus. Beyond that, though, he does not do much for the party, and when it is time to exfil across the entire map, he is likely to get picked off by the enemy.

How to Use Them in a Party

The obvious way to use Luco is as a Sharpshooter. Use one AP to get high, two Advantage to activate Combat Gas, and one Advantage to activate Zero In from the Sharpshooter tree. Then grab an AP from the Astromech or Hawks and fire. The downside of this combo is clear: it requires him to be stationary, and it needs a lot of setup and a lot to go right, which is exactly why we rank him where we do.

Luco can hit hard from range, but a custom Sharpshooter or Jae covers the same job with less fuss and more upside. Bring him if you want a dedicated marksman and have the Advantage to spare; otherwise, that squad seat is better spent elsewhere.

Where Hawks Fits (Your Commander)

Hawks is not a companion you recruit; he is you, the commander of Zero Company, and he is required on nearly every story mission. That is why he sits above the ranking instead of inside it. His unique talent, Fearless Leader, increases the assist damage and defense of every other operator while he is deployed. Since you can assist an ally on almost every turn, that passive touches every fight you take, which effectively makes him an S-tier squad member you almost never leave home.

The catch is that his death fails the story mission and forces a restart, so protecting him matters more than protecting anyone else. The safest way to build him is a Medic and Scout hybrid: Morale Boost and Combat Stim keep the squad healthy and buffed, while Combat Recon floods the shared Advantage pool for your companions’ talents and ultimates. For the full build and the squads he anchors, see the Best Squad and Party Composition Guide. A handful of late missions let you leave Hawks behind, and those are the rare times you can bench him for a fourth companion.

How Companions Can Be Lost

Two different things can take a companion off your roster for good, and both are worth understanding before you get attached.

First is permadeath. Companions are not exempt from it. Injuries stack when an operator goes down, and an operator who is downed while already carrying two injuries is Killed in Action and gone for the rest of the campaign. On Standard and Beska modes, this is permanent, so a careless push with a low-health companion can cost you a favorite for the whole run. Losing Tel-Rea stings the most, because her Jedi Padawan class leaves with her and no recruit can replace it.

Second is story Dilemmas. At authored moments, Hawks has to make a decision and every operator weighs in. Most Dilemmas just shift Bonds, but some carry heavier consequences, and certain choices can drive a companion away from Zero Company entirely.

The takeaway is simple: protect your S-tier operators. Keep Jae and your commander out of the line of fire, do not push an injured companion into a bad position, and think twice before a Dilemma a key operator feels strongly about, especially on Expert where one bad turn is all it takes.

What About the Den Crew?

Not everyone at the Den fights. M-3VO, Runa Blask, Bennic Halloren, and Neesh Renark are base personnel who run the operation and drive the story between missions rather than deploying with your squad. They are worth talking to for their conversations and assignments, but since they never take a field slot, they are not part of this ranking.

Star Wars Zero Company Best Companions FAQ

1. Who is the best companion in Star Wars Zero Company?

Jae Mordant. Her Final Shot instantly kills low-HP targets for free, which saves AP and damage every single turn. Cly and Trick round out the top of the list.

2. Can you lose companions permanently?

Yes. Companions can be Killed in Action through permadeath on Standard and Beska modes if they are downed while already carrying two injuries, and some story Dilemmas can drive a companion away entirely.

3. Can you respec companions?

Most of them, yes. Trick, Jae, Kabb, and Luco can move into any standard specialization at the Den’s Personnel facility. Cly is locked to her Mandalorian Warrior primary, and Tel-Rea cannot respec at all; she stays a Jedi Padawan. Every companion keeps their unique talent through a respec.

4. Who is the best companion for Expert mode?

Trick, for his For My Brothers self-revive, paired with Hawks and an Astromech for sustain. Expert punishes mistakes, so a free revive and steady healing matter more than raw damage.

5. Is Tel-Rea worth using?

Early, absolutely; her lightsaber burst and Force control carry fights. She falls off later as enemy damage scales and her squishiness shows, so whether you keep deploying her comes down to how much you enjoy the playstyle.

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