Evidenced before launch
Bulwark + Grit
Pull a whole group onto one Operator, then make two of their attacks do nothing at all.
- Confidence
- Strongly supported
- Verified
- 23 August 2026
- Version
- pre-release preview build (August 2026)
What it needs
- In the squad
- Heavy — Bulwark · Grit Talent
- The builder checks
- A Heavy carrying the Grit Talent.
Mechanism
Why it works
Bulwark taunts every enemy in a large area into attacking the Heavy. On its own that is a way to lose the Heavy — it converts scattered fire into concentrated fire on one Operator.
Grit's Invulnerable stops incoming damage outright rather than reducing it, and reaches two stacks at maximum rank. Two whole attacks are ignored regardless of how large they were.
Together they invert the taunt's risk. The enemy group spends its entire turn attacking a target that cannot be hurt by the first two of them, and every one of those attacks is one not aimed at the rest of the squad.
This is the pairing that most clearly needs both systems: a Specialization ability and a Talent, chosen independently, neither of which is expressible in a model that folds Talents into classes.
Cost
What it gives up
The Heavy's Talent slot, and the Advantage Bulwark spends. Past two stacks the Invulnerable runs out and the taunt is still working.
What we don't know yet
The game has not been released. These are open questions we have chosen not to guess at.
- Bulwark's Advantage cost and its radius.
- Whether Invulnerable stacks are consumed by any attack or only by damaging ones.
- Whether a taunted enemy with no line of sight to the Heavy attacks somebody else or does nothing.
Read next
Sources
- Is Z-COM our new X-COM? Star Wars Zero Company gameplay deep dive
ChristopherOdd · Tier 3 — Hands-on preview · accessed 11 August 2026
Supports: 2:13–13:51 — Sweeping Salvo at 4 Advantage with three uses per mission; Hawks granting an ally 1 AP for 3 Advantage; Combat Recon granting 1 Advantage per unit scanned; the Grit Talent's stacking invulnerability; Heavy attacks taunting; the droideka ray shield; the Scout's Spotted status; Defense as flat damage reduction
- 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