Star Wars Zero Company Best Party/Squad Composition Guide

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

The best party composition in Star Wars Zero Company: two top squads, a full companion tier list, and the mechanics that carry you on Expert and permadeath.

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 party composition in Star Wars Zero Company comes down to three seats, not four. Every story mission forces Hawks into the squad, so the real question is which three operators you build around him. Get those picks right and even Expert feels fair. Get them wrong and permadeath will thin your roster in a hurry.

This guide covers the two squads that carry you through the campaign. The first leans on companions, because their innate bonuses and bonds are simply overpowered compared to anything a custom recruit brings. The second is the best team you can build from custom operators, for skirmishes, injury coverage, or players who just want to run their own builds. We will break down why each pick works, then rank every companion for squad value.

What You’ll Learn

• The single best all-around squad
• The best squad you can build from custom operators
• What actually makes a party strong in this game
• A companion tier list ranked for squad value
• How to build your own squad and the mistakes to avoid

Star Wars Zero Company Best Squad at a Glance

The best overall party uses Hawks, Jae, Trick, and an Astromech to balance damage and survival. If you only read one line, that is your team. Full roster details live on the All Characters and Squad Members page.

• Hawks (Medic / Scout): his job is to keep the party alive and healthy, boosting damage with Stims, getting Advantage with Combat Recon, and rolling heals over time with Morale Boost.
• Jae (Sharpshooter / Scoundrel): she makes the best long-range sniper because of Final Shot, which automatically kills low-HP targets. Set her up high and use Zero In, and she will delete one enemy at a time from clear across the map in safety.
• Trick (Gunslinger / Assault): his unique benefit is automatically reviving on being downed, which lets him play more aggressively in melee range.
• Astromech: giving your party AP, healing, and passive utility bonuses, nothing beats the Astromech’s utility, especially on Expert difficulty.

What Makes a Party Strong

What makes a party strong in Star Wars Zero Company is damage and survival. On Expert mode specifically, you cannot avoid getting hit. Over half of your health is gone in one shot, so you must be able to recover HP, especially at the beginning. Having a Medic and an Astromech might seem redundant, but early on you only get to use a Medpac once per combat encounter. Always err on the side of survivability early in the game, until you unlock a secondary specialization around cycle 18.

Companions also have innate bonuses that custom operators do not, and those bonuses can be major strengths or weaknesses. For instance, Luco is a ranged sniper who gets Sharpened Senses, which is similar to the Sharpshooter’s Zero In. Extra ranged damage and chance to hit is nice, but Jae’s ability to instantly kill a low-HP enemy at massive range, without using any AP, vastly outweighs it. All this to say: companions matter because of their bonuses, and one change can dramatically increase your party’s effectiveness.

Next, you need build diversity. You want an aggressive melee build that pushes the line. Oftentimes you can get instant kills against high-HP targets simply by knocking them off a ledge. It also pressures the frontline and keeps your Snipers and Healers free from pressure. You want a support character too, either a Medic or an Astromech. Healing is a must at the start, and you can always change your party if you are not healing nearly as much. Last, you can run a mix of ranged DPS: a Gunslinger to eliminate low-HP targets with a pistol, or a Sharpshooter (my favorite) for huge damage at range.

Action Points are not the only concern of a well-equipped party. Advantage matters just as much. Building the shared pool is easy with a Scout who can Recon on turn one, granting a massive amount of Advantage for one AP. That can feed AOE kills, single-target kills, or even healing depending on your need. The goal is to use Advantage as an extra attack or a defensive move every turn, without spending AP, to push your performance further.

Lastly, you need a deep bench, because operators will get injured and permadeath is a reality in this game. Swap them out in the medbay and recruit at least a couple of custom operators to bring along when your main Sharpshooter is recovering.

Quick Class Role Reference

Party Comp 1: Best Overall Squad (Companions)

The best overall squad is Hawks, Jae, Trick, and an Astromech. This combination gives you massive healing, a passive assist boost, instant kills on low-HP targets, and a worry-free aggressive build. Let’s explain each character and how they work.

Hawks (Medic / Scout)

The strength of Hawks is his Fearless Leader passive, which grants increased assist damage and defense for all operators. Since you can assist a fellow party member on every turn, this is a priceless bonus that applies to every offensive and defensive action you take.

When you first start a new game, the difficulty is brutal. You need healing, and that is why the Medic shines. Its key is upgrading Morale Boost, which grants Morale. Each stack restores two health at the start of your turn. When fully upgraded, it grants 10 stacks, essentially healing you for 20 points of health, then less. It is so strong that you can use it on turn one and almost never heal again, because the passive healing is that good.

Plus, you can use Combat Stim on a different target, which grants max health, melee, and ranged damage. Fully upgraded, you are looking at three more damage and 12 more max health, and it only costs one AP. Put these two abilities together and you can pre-buff your team on turn one, especially if they are not spread out. Everyone will hit much harder and be nearly impossible to kill for the first few turns. That is a massive break on Expert, where two shots and your characters are down.

The second part of this build is using the Scout to stack Advantage. Once everyone is pre-buffed, you switch to Combat Recon to gain Advantage per enemy you hit. Once this is maxed out, you have a huge range and radius, granting 6 or more depending on the map and enemy density. You can also upgrade Tactical Timing to grant even more Advantage when you kill an enemy.

While this is not the sexiest way to play Hawks, your team will be incredibly hard to kill, even on Expert. As you advance and require less healing, you can swap the Astromech for another character, but I highly recommend keeping Hawks, or at least one party member, on this combo to support your group.

Jae (Sharpshooter / Scoundrel)

The best marksman in the game is not Luco, it is Jae, because of her Final Shot passive: once per turn, instantly kill an enemy with 4 or less health. Once maxed out, this becomes twice per turn at 10 health or lower. How often have you had an enemy sitting at 2 HP, only to burn a 2 AP blaster just to finish them off? With Jae, that does not happen.

The way to play her is to move on turn one to high ground if possible, using only 1 AP to move. Then use another AP on Zero In, which grants a higher chance to hit and critical chance. Use Hawks’ free-AP ability or the Astromech so she has two AP to fire with the Longarm, and BANG! Something clear across the map gets chunked or deleted. On turn two, if you do not need to move her, use two AP for an attack and one for Overwatch into a choke point where the enemy is forced to move. She will pick off targets passively, at massive distances, making the game much easier.

Trick (Gunslinger / Assault)

You need one party member to rush forward and hit targets, and Trick is the best at this. His For My Brothers passive lets him fully recover from being downed, without Injury, once maxed out. That gives you a party member who gets a free down and can push the line aggressively without worry.

The Assault skill Bull Rush is critical to use. The damage is not impressive, but you want it to knock enemies off ledges and cliffs for instant kills. Angle it and look at the health bar: if it is completely gone on the preview, the attack will knock them off and instantly kill them. The downside is that you will be up front and vulnerable after launching into a melee attack. Thanks to For My Brothers, that is not a problem on Trick.

Sweeping Salvo is also a clutch ability, because it is a massive conal AOE attack. Yes, you need to be close, but that is far less risky on Trick. It does good damage, has massive range, and disorients targets, which lowers their chance to hit. Once fully maxed, it only costs four Advantage, giving you a one-two combination: charge in, knock a target off a ledge, then spray AOE damage, which feeds the last mechanic.

Running a Gunslinger as a primary or secondary spec gives you access to Quick Draw. You pull out a weapon and hit a target for six damage, and if you kill them, it refunds your AP. The trick (no pun intended) is to use Sweeping Salvo first to get targets into that low-HP threshold. Jae will either kill them or you can pick them off, feeding AP and Advantage. With the 7-HP droids that flood the early game, you can easily land three or four kills depending on your range. Each one grants Advantage, which gives you another Sweeping Salvo. The result is a massive chain, bouncing from Sweeping Salvo to Quick Draw and wiping an entire team.

Astromech (Support)

The Astromech is your support character, which might seem redundant with Hawks playing Medic. Its real strength, though, is granting AP to other operators, not just healing. The Built-In Comlink ability can feed your Sharpshooter that vital extra AP for another blast at range. You also get extra utility-item usage, perfect for lobbing grenades or healing with a Medpac.

The best ability, however, is Coordinated Support. On the hardest difficulty, later maps force you to exfil a huge distance with multiple waves of reinforcements, and sometimes you cannot escape fast enough because of a lack of movement and AP. With Coordinated Support maxed out, you grant all operators +2 AP, one time per combat.

The result is that you get to move a massive distance in a single turn. The best way to use it is leap-frogging back and forth while the operator in front provides Overwatch for the party lagging behind. If the Astromech or Hawks is up front, use their AP-granting abilities to feed the trailing party member another AP to catch up. Without this ability, the later-stage matches are brutal to complete unless your positioning is perfect.

Combat Sequence

Turn one is about setup, not spending. Open with Hawks on Combat Recon to flood the shared pool, pre-buff a frontliner with Combat Stim, and move Jae to high ground with Zero In. From there the pool pays for itself: every hit adds Advantage, Trick’s Sweeping Salvo only costs four once maxed, and Jae’s Final Shot kills for free. Hold enough in reserve for the Astromech’s Coordinated Support when the whole squad needs to reposition. The pool caps at 10, so spend down before a big turn instead of sitting capped.

Alternatives

• Swap the Astromech for Cly once you want real group control from her Electroweb Surge.
• Push Hawks to a Gunslinger secondary once you have enough healing, for extra cleanup and AP refunds.
• If injuries pile up, run Hawks as Scout and slot a custom Medic so you keep the healing without a companion.

Party Comp 2: Best Custom Operator Squad

Let’s be honest: Story Companions are usually the best. Their innate passives are overpowered in the right situations, so if they are healthy and available, you bring them. This custom squad is for the times you have bench full of injured story companions, or players who just want to run their own builds. The goal is to rebuild the same four pillars with pure class kits, knowing you give up the free passives like Final Shot and For My Brothers. That means you lean harder on positioning and sustain, not raw aggression. Class basics live in the Ultimate Classes Guide.

The best custom squad is Hawks, an Assault, a Sharpshooter, and a Medic, with a Scout secondary spread across the backline so Advantage never dries up.

Hawks (Scout / Gunslinger)

Hawks anchors this squad the same way he anchors every squad, because Fearless Leader still buffs everyone’s assists. Run him Scout primary for turn-one Combat Recon Advantage, then Gunslinger secondary for Quick Draw cleanup. In one seat he becomes your Advantage battery and your finisher, refunding AP every time Quick Draw lands a kill.

Assault Operator (Assault / Soldier)

This is your frontline and your Trick replacement. Bull Rush knocks high-HP targets off ledges for instant kills.  Sweeping Salvo is your conal AOE. The Soldier secondary adds durability and explosive damage, which matters because you do not have For My Brothers to bail you out. Play the ledges and cover here, not reckless aggression. Build details in the Assault build guide.

Sharpshooter Operator (Sharpshooter / Scoundrel)

This seat is your range and your crit machine. Zero In from high ground with the Longarm gives you reliable long shots. The key is the Scoundrel secondary: Identify Weakness applies Vulnerable, so your next Sharpshooter shot is a guaranteed crit. That “the bigger they are” combo is the custom answer to elites, and it is how you delete a beefy target without Jae’s free Final Shot. See the Sharpshooter build guide for the full setup.

Medic Operator (Medic / Scout)

The Medic is your survival anchor. Open with Morale Boost on turn one for passive healing, then Combat Stim to pre-buff your Assault before the push. A Scout secondary lets this operator also chip in Combat Recon Advantage on the turns nobody needs a heal. If you have built the Droid Repair Bay, a custom Astromech can take this seat instead for team AP and Coordinated Support. Healing details are in the Medic build guide.

Combat Sequence

The engine is the same: run Combat Recon on turn one from Hawks or the Medic, bank the pool, and spend it on the Sharpshooter’s ultimate or the Assault’s Sweeping Salvo. Without Final Shot you will spend a little more finishing enemies off, so lean on Gunslinger Quick Draw refunds to keep your AP flowing turn after turn.

Alternatives

• Tank: drop Hawks and add a Heavy running Bulwark to taunt and tank, so your backline stays safe without the assist buff.
• Swap the Medic for a custom Astromech if you built the Droid Repair Bay, for the +2 team AP on Coordinated Support.
• Double up on Sharpshooters for a pure ranged-control map, but keep one Scout secondary so the Advantage pool does not run dry.

Companion Tier List for Party Composition

This list ranks companions for squad value, not raw stats. Hawks sits at the top as the fixed leader; everyone else is judged on what they add to a four-person team.

How to Build Your Own Squad

If you would rather roll your own team, run it through this checklist before you deploy:

• Cover the four roles. Frontline, damage, control or setup, and sustain or vision. A squad missing sustain folds on Expert; a squad missing damage stalls out.
• Respect the Advantage budget. The pool caps at 10 and every ultimate pulls from it, so do not stack four units all begging for the same Advantage.
• Pair your bonds. Operators that deploy together build synergy bonuses, so pick a core four and deepen those relationships instead of rotating constantly.
• Keep a bench. Injuries and permadeath are real, so recruit at least two custom operators to cover your Sharpshooter or frontliner when they are in the medbay.

Common Mistakes

• Running four damage dealers. Damage feels great until the first turn you cannot heal. Bring sustain.
• Ignoring bonds. Rotating your whole roster every mission means you never bank synergy bonuses. Settle on a core four.
• No revive or sustain on Expert. Two hits can down an operator, so a squad with no Medic, Astromech, or Trick is one bad turn away from a permadeath.
• All melee on a ranged map. If your frontline cannot reach cover before it gets shot, you lose the exchange. Match the squad to the map.
• Over-exposing Hawks. His death fails the story mission and forces a restart. Keep him behind cover and let the frontliners take the hits.
• Sitting on capped Advantage. A pool stuck at 10 is wasted generation. Spend it, then rebuild.
• Lack of mobility. Every character is going to have to clear the entire map with enemies chasing, so make sure you can move!

Star Wars Zero Company Best Squad FAQ

1. What is the best squad in Star Wars Zero Company?

Hawks, Jae, Trick, and an Astromech. It combines healing, a passive assist buff, free kills on low-HP targets, and an aggressive frontliner who revives himself.

2. What is the best squad for Expert mode?

The same companion core. Expert punishes mistakes, so Trick’s free revive, Hawks’ healing, and the Astromech’s team AP and Coordinated Support matter more, not less.

3. Who is the best companion?

Jae, for the free Final Shot kills, with Cly and Trick close behind. Hawks sits above all of them as the fixed leader thanks to Fearless Leader.

4. Do you have to bring Hawks?

On story missions, yes; his death fails the mission and restarts it. Skirmishes let you drop him and run any mix of operators.

5. How many operators can you deploy?

Four in a standard mission. Your roster starts at seven and grows to twenty at the Den, but only four deploy at once, and some story maps hand you extra units to control temporarily.

6. Can you increase squad size?

Not in the base game. PC players have modded deployment up to six operators, but that is unofficial and not something the campaign is balanced around.

More Star Wars Zero Company Guides and Builds