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Best Starting Squad

An untested first-campaign squad, built only from confirmed mechanics — the reasoning is ours, and it has not yet been played in the retail build.

Theorycraft
Confidence
Theorycraft
Verified
4 August 2026

Build summary

New players choosing a first squad and wanting to avoid early mistakes.

Campaign phase
early
Difficulty
Standard, permadeath enabled
Game version
Pre-release evidence — retail verification pending
Strong against
mixed

This build has not been tested

Every mechanic cited below is confirmed and all of them exist in the retail build. The combination of them is our reasoning rather than anything played: this squad has not yet been tested by Zero Company Builds. It will be re-labelled when it has.

Loadout

The four bays

Weapon choices below are role-based. Damage and Action Point costs are in the database from launch-build reporting; accuracy is not, and no squad here has been tested end to end — so treat these as reasoned starting points rather than optimised picks.

  1. Bay 1

    Hawks

    Medicpistol

    Required for story missions. Building him as a Medic combines the mandatory slot with Injury prevention and Combat Stim, and his AP support Talent stays available regardless.

  2. Bay 2

    Custom Operator

    Gunslingerpistol

    The confirmed Combat Stim target, and the squad's source of Advantage generation through frequent attacks.

  3. Bay 3

    Custom Operator

    Heavyrepeater

    Absorbs attacks in the open so the squad's fragile Operators accrue fewer Injuries.

  4. Bay 4

    Custom Operator

    Sharpshooterlongarm

    One long-range option — but only one. Developers state that four long-range Operators is a mistake.

Reasoning

Why it works

Mechanic by mechanic. Anything stated as confirmed traces to a source listed at the bottom of this page.

  • It covers close, medium and long range, avoiding the sightline problems that come with an all-long-range squad.
  • It contains the one confirmed damage synergy available at launch: Combat Stim on a Gunslinger.
  • It has sustain and Injury prevention, which directly addresses permadeath being enabled by default.
  • It has exactly one Advantage spender besides Hawks, so the shared pool is not overcommitted.
  • It uses only base Specializations and no authored Operators beyond the mandatory one, so it is available from the first mission.

Interactions

Synergies in this squad

Found by running these four Operators through the same engine the Squad Builder uses, so this page cannot claim a pairing the builder would not report.

Execution

Example opening turn

An AP and Advantage plan. Costs are unpublished, so the order matters more than the exact budget.

  1. Step 1

    Turn 1 — Heavy: advance and take the exposed position.

  2. Step 2

    Turn 1 — Sharpshooter: take elevation if the map offers it.

  3. Step 3

    Turn 1 — Medic: apply Combat Stim to the Gunslinger.

  4. Step 4

    Turn 1 — Gunslinger: attack repeatedly to convert the buff into damage and build Advantage.

Strengths

  • No unlocks, no authored Operators beyond Hawks, no campaign-phase requirements.
  • Balanced across every evaluation dimension rather than optimised for one.
  • Avoids the two failure modes developers have explicitly warned about: four long-range Operators, and overcommitting the Advantage pool.
  • Every choice traces back to a confirmed mechanic.

Weaknesses

  • This is a hypothesis. Nothing here has been played.
  • Balanced squads are rarely optimal for any specific mission.
  • Whether Hawks can actually take the Medic Specialization is unconfirmed.
  • No displacement, so entrenched enemies are a genuine weakness.

Alternatives

Safer and more aggressive versions

Including what to do when an authored Operator in this squad is permanently lost.

Safer
Replace the Sharpshooter with a second frontline Operator if early missions turn out to be close-quarters.
More aggressive
Replace the Heavy with a Scoundrel to add the critical-hit setup, accepting more Injury risk in exchange for faster fights.
If displacement is available
Once Tel-Rea Vokoss or Kabb Uppercut joins, replacing the Heavy with either adds an anti-cover answer this squad lacks.

What still needs testing

Originally published as pre-release theorycraft, and still theorycraft: the retail build is out and this squad has not been played in it. Replacing this page means playing the opening missions on standard difficulty with permadeath enabled, comparing at least three compositions, and publishing the tested result — not an edit of this hypothesis.

Mechanics this build depends on

Other builds

Sources

  • Star Wars Zero Company: How Some of the Greatest Minds in Tactics Games are Pushing the Genre, Again

    Xbox Wire · Tier 2 — Developer interview · accessed 6 August 2026

    Supports: Greg Foertsch and James Brawley on the eight Specializations, Combat Stim + Gunslinger synergy, Advantage, and Specialization changes on authored characters

  • Lead Zero Company To Victory on August 27

    Electronic Arts · Tier 1 — Official · accessed 6 August 2026

    Supports: Operator introductions; 3 Action Points per turn; Advantage caps at 10; the eight Specializations; Bonds in the Personnel Facility; Hawks' species options

  • Answering the Internet's Biggest Questions about Star Wars Zero Company

    Electronic Arts · Tier 1 — Official · accessed 6 August 2026

    Supports: Squad limit of 4, with additional characters controllable in certain missions; roster starting at 7 and capped at 20, raised by Den upgrades, story progression and authored Operators joining; no species or faction weapon-proficiency advantage; Clone Trooper and astromech recruitment; permadeath default and toggleable; Hawks required on story missions. The headline itself is the evidence for the game's abbreviation: "Answering the Internet’s Biggest Questions about SWZC"