Star Wars Zero Company Character Creation Ultimate Guide

Latest Update: September 11, 2026 – Categories: Star Wars Zero Company

Character creation in Zero Company is more than picking a look. Your choices at the start define who Hawks is, what role they play in every tactical mission, and how your entire roster takes shape from there. This guide walks you through every decision you will face, from Hawks’ species and appearance to class selection, custom operator recruitment, and everything in between.

This guide is updated for Star Wars Zero Company Patch 1.1

Star Wars Zero Company is a turn-based tactics game from Bit Reactor, the studio staffed by veterans of the modern XCOM series, published by EA and developed in collaboration with Respawn Entertainment and Lucasfilm Games. Set during the final days of the Clone Wars, the game puts you in charge of a mercenary outfit called Zero Company and sends you across the galaxy to take on the Separatist-aligned threat of Kundri Fathom. The game launches August 27, 2026 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Star Wars Zero Company Character Creation Summary

Zero Company’s character creation starts with Hawks, your fully customizable protagonist and the fixed leader of your squad. You choose their species from six options, set their gender, appearance, voice, name, outfit, and starting Specialization. Your class pick determines Hawks’ role in combat and can be changed later at the Den. Species is purely cosmetic and has no effect on combat proficiency. After Hawks, you fill out your roster with a mix of Authored Operators, named story characters who join as the campaign unfolds, and Custom Operators you build from scratch at the character terminal. Custom recruits have access to 10 species, 12 classes, 4 weapon types, and 10 personality types.

Who Is Hawks?

Hawks is the player character and the fixed center of Zero Company’s story. A disgraced former Republic officer, Hawks assembles this ragtag outfit of mercenaries, clones, a Mandalorian, a Jedi, and whoever else you bring on board to operate in the shadow war of the Clone Wars. Hawks is mandatory on every story mission and takes up one of your squad’s four field slots. If Hawks dies in a mission, the mission ends immediately, unlike the deaths of other operators which are painful but survivable from a campaign perspective.

Hawks also has a unique command ability that persists regardless of which class you assign. Once per turn, Hawks can spend a small amount of the shared Advantage resource to refresh a single Action Point for another squad member. This makes Hawks a force multiplier in any squad, not just a damage dealer, and it is worth keeping that flexibility in mind when you choose a starting Specialization.

Hawks Species Options

At character creation, you choose Hawks’ species from a set of six options. Species choice is purely cosmetic in Star Wars Zero Company. The six species available for Hawks are Human, Twi’lek, Togruta, Zabrak, Mirialan, and Devaronian.

Human

Description: Humans are the most common sentient species in the galaxy. Their proliferation makes it difficult to pin down an original home world.

Twi’lek

Description: Twi’leks, known for their distinctive lekku head-tails, have spread from their Outer Rim homeworld of Ryloth to become one of the most common species in the galaxy.

Togruta

Description: Healing from the bucolic world of Shili, Togruta sport two montrals growing up and three lekku trailing down from their skulls.

Zabrak

Description: A proud and independent species native to the planet Iridonia, and found also on Dathomir, many Zabraks sport distinctive cranial horns.

Mirialan

Description: Many members of the colorful Mirialan species, native to the desert planet Mirial, sport traditional geometric facial tattoos.

Devaronian

Description: Originally from the Jungle planet of Devaron, Devaronians are characterized by their distinctive head horns or vestigial bumps on their foreheads.

This is a smaller pool than what is available for custom recruits, who have access to up to 11 options including Rodian, Weequay, Ovissian, Neimoidian, and even Clone, on top of the base six. If a particular species appeals to you and it is not available for Hawks, you can still use that species for a custom operator on your squad.

Pro Tip: You can re-customize Hawks’ species and appearance at any time at the character terminal in the Den, so do not stress over your initial pick. Nothing about this decision is permanent.

Custom Operator Species Options

These additional species are not available for Hawks but can be chosen freely for any custom recruit in Star Wars Zero Company.

Weequay

Description: Weequays have leathery skin that evolved to help them survive the harsh environment of their desert homeworld, Sriluur.

Rodian

Description: Rodians’ large eyes, sensitive antennae, and suction cup-tipped digits evolved to help them navigate their swampy homeworld of Rodia.

Ovissian

Description: Ovissians are found throughout the galaxy and known for their pleasant-looking expressions and tow sets of facial horns.

Neimoidian

Description: Hailing from Neimoidia and her string of wealthy Purse World colonies, Heimoidians are a highly strategic species perhaps best known for running the Trade Federation.

Customizable Clones

Description: Originally created to serve in the Grand Army of the Republic, these elite soldiers were grown from a genetic template of the bounty hunter Jango Fett.

Yes, it is possible to take a squad of clones into battle with you in Star Wars Zero Company! This assumes you want to deal solely with custom operators, and neglect most of the story characters (see below). Interestingly, one story character, Trick, is also a clone, so that gives you yet another option to build out your custom clone squad in Zero Company.

Hawks Appearance, Gender, and Voice

After species, you set Hawks’ gender, appearance, and voice. The development team built two distinct voice performances for Hawks, one leaning toward what they described as an outlaw cowboy feel and the other toward a more by-the-book approach. Both are fully voiced throughout the campaign, and both are tied to the same story and same dialogue options. You can also set Hawks’ first name and outfit at creation, with clothing options that can be adjusted later at the Den as well.

The visual customization options scale with your species choice, since different species have different options for features like head shape, markings, and coloring. The appearance screen is not as deep as something like a full RPG character editor, but it covers the basics of making your version of Hawks feel distinct.

Custom Operator Personality Options

Custom Operators in Star Wars Zero Company also have their own version of a character voice which the game calls their personality. This is not the same as Hawks voice selection during character creation, and these personality choices are only available for your Custom Operators. Personality determines both a character’s voice and the types of things they will say in combat and when you speak with them at The Den. There are currently 10 options for Personality in Star Wars Zero Company.

Personality	Description
The Bruiser	The Bruiser is a heavy hitter with a heart. Taciturn and reliable, they look forward to lending their strength to Zero Company.
The Firebrand	The Firebrand is on the side of the people, and sometimes that means working for outfits like Zero Company. The cause needs credits too.
The Gunny	Eccentric and inquisitive, the Gunny knows better than to believe anything any government tries to tell him. You can question the Gunny’s theories (and frankly, you probably should) but you can’t deny his skills.
The Maverick	Young, dumb, and full of coaxium, the Maverick lives to fight. He’ll be the first to tell you he’s the best operator in the business and the last to back down from a challenge.
The Mentor	The Mentor has been in the game long enough to watch crime lords rise and fall, governments crumble, and mercenary outfits turn to dust. She’s happy to share her hard-won wisdom with anyone who asks (and even some who don’t).
The Professional	The Professional is all about the job at hand. Cool, competent, and matter-of-fact, they prefer to keep their personal life to themselves.
The Rake	The Rake is a street-smart former associate of a major crime syndicate. Although he still talks like an underworld agent, his loyalty is to Zero Company now.
The Rogue	The Rogue is a woman for all seaons. Urbane, confident, and self-possesed, she’s an experienced con artist and operator whose deadliness is matched only by her charm.
The Specialist	The Specialist isn’t cheap, but they’re damn good. Expertly trained and highly experienced, their known for their clean, discreet work.
The Wildcard	The Wildcard just wants to have a good time. They got into the operator game on pure nerve and stay in it for the thrills.

Selecting A Talent

When you create any custom operator in Star Wars Zero Company, another core choice you make is your Talent. A Talent is a persistent ability that stays active regardless of which class your operator is built around. For custom operators, you pick from a pool of ten Universal Talents, each of which serves a distinct role and upgrades over the course of the campaign.

Talents upgrade through the Focus Tree in the Den’s Personnel facility, the same place you handle class respecs and secondary specializations. Upgrade paths are not all the same: some Talents simply improve their raw numbers at higher tiers, while others change what the Talent does entirely, extending personal bonuses to allies or adding usage stacks for example. See all Zero Company Talents.

Talent	Effect	Tier Upgrades
A Life of Labor	The Operator gains bonus Health and Defense as well as Melee Damage and Critical Hit Damage at higher tiers.	Tier 1: +5 Health; +1 Defense Tier 2: +5 Health; +1 Defense; +2 Melee Damage Tier 3: +5 Health; +1 Defense; +2 Melee Damage; +2 Critical Hit Damage Tier 4: +7 Health; +2 Defense; +4 Melee Damage; +4 Critical Hit Damage
Anticipation	This Operator gains a stack of Evasion.	Tier 1: 1 use per turn Tier 2: 2 uses per turn Tier 3: 3 uses per turn Tier 4: 3 uses per turn, can also target an ally
Cold Blooded	Applies a stack of Vicious to this Operator.	Tier 1: 1 stack; 1 per combat Tier 2: 1 stack; 2 per combat Tier 3: 1 stack; 3 per combat Tier 4: 2 stacks; 3 per combat
Espionage	Earn additional rewards when this Operator completes a combat mission. Does not stack.	Tier 1: +5 Intel Rewards Tier 2: +7 Intel Rewards Tier 3: +9 Intel Rewards Tier 4: +12 Intel Rewards
Fortitude	Increases Defense while this Operator is injured.	Tier 1: +2 Defense Tier 2: +3 Defense Tier 3: +4 Defense Tier 4: +6 Defense; ignore the chance-to-hit penalty for injury
Grit	Applies stacks of Invulnerable to this Operator and increases their Max Health.	Tier 1: 1 stack per 1 turn, +2 Max Health Tier 2: 1 stack per 1 turn, +4 Max Health Tier 3: 1 stack per 1 turn, +8 Max Health Tier 4: 2 stacks per 1 turn, +12 Max Health
Sabotage	Trigger an explosive object on the battlefield to detonate, immediately affecting any nearby units. Costs 2 Advantage.	Tier 1: 1 per combat Tier 2: 2 per combat Tier 2: 3 per combat Tier 4: Unlimited
Taunt	Taunts the selected enemy and reduces its Damage for the rest of the turn at higher tiers.	Tier 1: 1 Taunt per turn Tier 2: 1 Taunt per turn; reduces Damage by 2 Tier 3: 1 Taunt per turn; reduces Damage by 4 Tier 4: 1 Taunt per turn; reduces Damage by 6
The Bigger They Are…	This Operator’s Ranged and Melee Attacks deal bonus damage against Elite and Boss enemies.	Tier 1: +2 Damage Tier 2: +3 Damage Tier 3: +4 Damage Tier 4: +6 Damage
Thievery	Earn additional credits when this Operator completes a combat mission. Does not stack.	Tier 1: +150 Credits Tier 2: +200 Credits Tier 3: +250 Credits Tier 4: +300 Credits
Built-In Comlink (Astromech Only)	Grant an ally AP. Costs 1 AP to use.	Tier 1: +1 AP; 1 per turn Tier 2: +1 AP; 2 per turn Tier 3: +1 AP; Unlimited

Starting Specialization (Class)

Your most impactful character creation decision is your starting Specialization, which is Zero Company’s term for a class. There are 8 standard Specializations available to Hawks and all custom recruits. Every Specialization carries four abilities: an Ultimate, a Standard, and two Passives. The good news is that any character, including Hawks, can be respecced to a different standard class at any time from the Personnel facility at the Den. This is not a permanent decision, though it is worth starting with something that fits your instincts.

Assault

Assault is the close-to-medium range damage dealer. Assaults excel at maneuvering into flanking positions and cracking enemies out of cover. The Bull Rush ability can even push enemies into voids, which is an instant kill against anything near a ledge, turbolift shaft, or body of water. This is a strong pick if you want Hawks to be in the thick of the fight.

Heavy

Heavy is your frontline tank. Heavies suppress enemies, eat damage, and control the ground. Trick, the story companion and clone trooper who has served with Hawks the longest, defaults to the Heavy class, which tells you something about its dependability. If you want Hawks to be the immovable center of your squad while others operate around them, this is your pick.

Sharpshooter

Sharpshooter rewards patience and positioning. Sharpshooters deal long-range burst damage and delete priority targets before they become a problem. The class shines when you can set up sightlines and take turns after enemies have committed their movement. This is a strong choice if you prefer a more deliberate, sniper-style approach.

Scoundrel

Scoundrel is the control and disruption class. Scoundrels set up the rest of the squad by creating openings, applying status effects, and generally making the enemy’s turn worse. If you enjoy playing tactically rather than just dealing damage, the Scoundrel rewards creative squad synergy.

Soldier

Soldier is the all-rounder and the most forgiving starting pick for new players. Masters of AOE damage and grenade throwing, Soldiers are sturdy and dependable, able to supply plenty of damage when needed.

Gunslinger

Gunslinger is a stand-out class in Zero Company. The Gunslinger gets an attack that refreshes an Action Point on kill, meaning a well-placed kill opens up a chain of additional actions in the same turn. When it comes together, Gunslingers can swing an entire engagement with one well-positioned turn.

Scout

Scout handles vision and squad safety. Scouts expand what your team can see, flag enemy positions before they become threats, and keep the squad from walking into bad situations. This is a support-focused pick that becomes more valuable the more you understand the mission layouts.

Medic

Medic is your sustain option. Medics keep operators alive and in the fight, which matters more as the campaign extends and permanent death becomes a real threat. A Medic in your squad directly reduces how often you are treating Injuries at the Den between missions and spending Credits on Bacta Tank recovery.

Exotic Specializations

Beyond the 8 standard classes, Zero Company has 4 Exotic Specializations that are restricted to specific characters and cannot be assigned to custom recruits. These are locked by story or character identity and represent the most distinctive combat roles in the game.

Jedi Padawan

Jedi Padawan belongs exclusively to Tel-Rea Vokoss, the Tognath companion who lost her master before joining Zero Company. This is the one Specialization in the entire game that cannot be changed. Vokoss stays a Jedi Padawan regardless of any other loadout decisions, and her kit reflects that completely, including a Shockwave ability that costs 6 Advantage to push all nearby enemies away from her.

Mandalorian Warrior

Mandalorian Warrior is tied to Cly Kullervo, the Mandalorian story companion. This is the mobile skirmisher class, reflecting the Mandalorian combat style. Cly is also the only operator who can wear Mandalorian armor in the cosmetics system.

Astromech

Astromech covers your droid squad members in Star Wars Zero Company. Astromechs are not recruited the way custom human or alien operators are in Zero Company. Instead, you build them from scratch at the Droid Bay facility inside the Den. At the Droid Bay you choose your droid’s chassis from the available models: the R2 series, R3 series, R4 series, and the BR-1, a new droid design created specifically for Zero Company by Bit Reactor.

The fourth Exotic has been referenced but not fully detailed ahead of launch.

Secondary Specialization System

One of the most important systems to understand before you start is that every operator, including Hawks, eventually unlocks a Secondary Specialization midway through the campaign. This is a second full class slot that sits alongside the primary, giving each operator access to abilities from two different classes simultaneously. The two slots are labeled Spec 1 and Spec 2, and you cannot assign the same class to both. Any standard class can fill either slot, which creates a very wide range of two-class combinations as your roster develops.

Each Specialization also has a linked Talent, a fixed or pooled ability separate from the three class abilities, and a Weapon Specialization drawn from four options: Longarm, Repeater, Rifle, or Pistol. These layers help to make every operator in your squad feel different even when two operators share the same primary class.

Building Custom Operators

In addition to Authored Operators, the named story characters who join over the course of the campaign, you can recruit and fully build Custom Operators at the character terminal in the Den. These are the XCOM-style mercenaries you create from scratch to fill out your roster, and they are subject to the same permadeath rules as everyone else.

Custom operators have access to a wider pool of options than Hawks at creation. You choose from up to 10 species including all six available to Hawks plus Rodian, Weequay, Ovissian, and Neimoidian. You set their appearance, name, backstory, Weapon Specialization, primary Specialization, and one of 10 personality types including Maverick, Wildcard, Professional, and Bruiser. There is no XCOM-style nickname pool here; every name and backstory is written by you.

Species is cosmetic for custom operators just as it is for Hawks. No species carries a weapon proficiency advantage, which means you can build your squad around whoever looks and feels right for the story you want to tell.

You can also build Astromech droids as squad members at the character terminal. Available models include the R2 and R3 series, as well as the BR-1, a new Astromech model designed specifically for Zero Company by Bit Reactor. Clone Trooper operators unlock after a certain point in the story, at which point you have the option to run a full clone squad if that is the direction you want to take.

The current operator roster cap is 20, though you start with a maximum of 7. That cap expands through Den upgrades, story progression, and as new Authored Operators join over time.

Appearance Customization for Story Companions

The six Authored Operators, Trick, Tel-Rea Vokoss, Cly Kullervo, Luco Bronc, Jae Mordant, and Kabb Uppercut, have fixed appearances but can be re-customized between missions. Their class and loadout can be adjusted at the Personnel facility at the Den except for Tel-Rea (Jedi Padawan) and Cly Kullervo (Madalorian Warrior) who Specialization is locked permanently. Clone Trooper cosmetics include a range of paint jobs and armor patterns for helmets and body armor, and Clone Trooper helmets apply a voice modulation effect. Mandalorian armor is exclusive to Cly Kullervo and cannot be worn by any other operator.

What to Pick First: Practical Tips

The class question is the one that trips up most new players, and the answer depends mostly on how you played games like XCOM. If you are new to the genre, Soldier is the safest starting pick since it is flexible and forgiving. If you played XCOM and liked your Ranger or Grenadier, Assault or Heavy will feel familiar. If you want something with a higher ceiling and more interesting decision-making on your turns, Gunslinger and Scoundrel are the most rewarding options once you understand the Advantage system and action chains.

Squad composition matters more than any single class choice though. A balanced team wants at least one damage dealer like an Assault, Sharpshooter, or Gunslinger, a control or setup piece like a Scoundrel, a durable frontliner in a Heavy or Soldier, and either a Medic or Scout to handle the support role. Because Hawks occupies one of your four field slots and is always present on story missions, you effectively need the other three slots to cover roles Hawks is not filling.

Remember that you can respec any operator at the Den at any time for any standard class. The only truly permanent call is giving Tel-Rea a different class, which is not possible. Everything else is adjustable as you learn what your squad needs.

The Final Word

Character creation in Star Wars Zero Company helps you build a squad that reflects how you actually want to play. Take your time in the character terminal before you deploy. Pick a species that excites you, choose a starting class that matches your playstyle, and don’t worry too much about making the wrong call on day one. The Den gives you room to adjust. What matters is putting operators on the field, learning how they work together, and building a Zero Company worth fighting for.

Star Wars Zero Company Character Creation FAQ

1. Can you change Hawks’ class after character creation?

Yes, any standard Specialization can be changed at any time at the Personnel facility in the Den.

2. Does species choice affect combat stats or weapon proficiency?

No. Bit Reactor confirmed that no species carries any mechanical advantage over another, so your pick is purely cosmetic.

3. Can you play as a Jedi?

Not as Hawks or a custom recruit. The only Jedi Padawan in Zero Company is the story companion Tel-Rea Vokoss, whose exotic class is permanently locked to her.

4. Can you change Hawks’ appearance after character creation?

Yes. Hawks’ species, appearance, and outfit can all be re-customized at any time at the character terminal in the Den.

5. Is Hawks subject to permadeath?

No. Hawks is the only permadeath-exempt operator, but if Hawks dies in a mission it triggers an automatic mission failure and you will need to restart.

6. Can custom operators be Jedi or Mandalorians?

No. The Jedi Padawan class is locked to Tel-Rea Vokoss and Mandalorian Warrior is locked to Cly Kullervo, so custom recruits are limited to the 8 standard Specializations.

7. Do outfits and cosmetics affect gameplay stats?

No. Bit Reactor confirmed outfits are purely cosmetic, with the only notable restriction being that Mandalorian armor is exclusive to Cly Kullervo.

8. Can you run a full squad of the same class?

Yes, you can field four operators with identical standard Specializations, though a full squad of Jedi or Mandalorians is not possible since those exotic classes belong to specific story characters.