[Zero Company] Bonds and Cross - Training Guide: Earning, Farming, Optimising

The system creates an interesting tension. Zero Company gives you plenty of Operators to experiment with, but constantly rotating everyone slows relationship development because Bonds belong to pairs rather than the squad as a whole.

A four-Operator team contains six individual pairings. Keep that same four together and you advance all six relationships during a mission. Swap characters every deployment and that progress gets spread across a much larger network.

That does not mean you should never rotate the roster. It means rotation should be deliberate.

How Bonds work in Zero Company

A Bond represents the relationship between two individual Operators.

As the pair works together, its relationship level increases. Raising that relationship provides progression rewards for both characters, including Focus Points and Cross Training.

Focus Points feed directly into Operator progression, letting you improve Talents, Specialization abilities, and passives. That means Bonds are not merely a friendship meter or narrative extra. They influence how quickly your squad becomes stronger.

Relationships progress through multiple ranks before reaching Very High at Relationship +8. Rewards become increasingly significant toward the upper end, so repeatedly developing the same useful pairing is considerably more efficient than leaving twenty half-developed relationships scattered across the roster.

There is also a narrative side. Operations and story decisions can strengthen or weaken relationships. Some characters begin with different attitudes toward one another, and choices that please one Operator may not necessarily please somebody else.

For the practical side of squad building, however, the important formula is simple:

How to earn Bond XP faster

Simply completing missions with the same Operators will develop Bonds, but there are several ways to accelerate the process.

Use Call for Backup instead of treating it as optional flavor

Call for Backup is one of the easiest Bond-building habits to overlook.

It is a Free Action and brings another Operator into the attack, so there is little reason to leave it unused when the additional shot helps. Repeated assists build exactly the kind of pair relationship you want anyway: two characters who regularly fight together become better at fighting together.

Do not deliberately waste attacks just to farm Bond XP. The mission still matters more. Instead, look for enemies who will survive the first shot, armored targets, or priority enemies where another blaster joining the attack has actual tactical value.

Medic abilities can double as relationship management

Medic is particularly useful if you are deliberately pushing one relationship upward.

Combat Stim buffs an ally’s Health, Melee Damage, and Ranged Damage, while Morale Boost supports several nearby allies. Those are useful actions on their own, so gaining relationship progress from them is effectively free progression.

The rule is the same as with assists: do not heal somebody who does not need healing just because you want a number to increase. But when two valid targets exist, favoring the Operator whose relationship you are developing can make sense.

Best squad-management strategy for Bonds

The fastest approach is not “never change your team.” It is build a core, then rotate deliberately around it.

1. Start with a core four

A four-person deployment develops six pair relationships simultaneously:

• Operator A + B
• Operator A + C
• Operator A + D
• Operator B + C
• Operator B + D
• Operator C + D

That is extremely efficient. Running the same core for several cycles quickly produces a network of useful Cross Training bonuses instead of one isolated maxed relationship.

2. Rotate one Operator at a time

If you want to bring somebody new into the main team, a three veterans + one newcomer structure is usually better than replacing half the squad.

The new Operator immediately begins three relationships with experienced characters while the three veterans continue progressing their existing pairings.

It also keeps the squad tactically functional while the newcomer catches up.

3. Use the Lounge to keep reserves alive as a progression option

The Unlock Lounge Crew upgrade gives Operators left at the Den Bond XP whenever the active team goes on a mission. The upgrade currently grants +5 Bond XP, while Improved Lounge adds another +5.

That may look small next to an active deployment, but over a campaign it substantially reduces the penalty for maintaining a broad roster.

If you enjoy switching characters rather than running the same four for forty missions, the Lounge is therefore a strategic upgrade rather than a cosmetic convenience.

4. Build several strong relationships, not one perfect one

A single extremely developed pairing is powerful, but a tactical squad consists of four Operators.

Focus on a small relationship network rather than one inseparable duo. That gives you enough flexibility to replace somebody who is injured, unsuited to the map, or unavailable without dismantling your entire progression plan.

This is especially important with permadeath enabled.

Our Zero Company review reached a similar practical conclusion: Bonds strongly reward a relatively concentrated roster, even though the game gives you plenty of characters you may want to use.

How Cross Training works

Cross Training is the permanent progression layer attached to Bonds.

When a pair reaches a new relationship rank, visit the Personnel facility and open the Bonds section. You are presented with three Cross Training choices drawn from the available pool.

Choose one, and both Operators permanently receive that upgrade.

There are three important rules:

1. Cross Training affects both Operators. Pick for the pair, not just your favorite character.
2. The bonuses can stack. Taking the same training repeatedly can build a pair strongly around one job.
3. Cross Training cannot be refunded. Unlike Focus Point allocation, these choices are permanent.

The three options are also random. You cannot simply decide that your Sharpshooter will receive Reflex Fire Training at the next rank and force it to appear.

The useful way to plan is therefore to have a priority order for each pairing rather than one mandatory upgrade.

All standard Cross Training upgrades

Best universal Cross Training upgrades

Cross Training is pair-dependent, so there is no absolute best choice. Several upgrades are nevertheless useful across an unusually large number of builds.

Freeform Training: usually the safest pick

+2 Focus Points to both Operators is difficult to waste.

Flat damage bonuses improve one statistic. Focus Points can improve abilities, Talents, or passives and can therefore strengthen the actual mechanics defining each character.

It is particularly attractive early and mid-campaign, when both Operators still have important Focus Tree upgrades waiting.

Speed Training: movement is AP economy

Speed Training looks modest until movement is the difference between reaching cover in one action and needing two.

Zero Company’s entire combat system revolves around extracting as much value as possible from three Action Points. If extra first-move distance saves an AP, that +0.50m has effectively become another attack or ability.

This is excellent on Assault Operators, Gunslingers, Medics moving between allies, and anybody carrying an expensive weapon.

Timing Exercises: simple, scalable offense

+3% Critical Chance works with a wide range of offensive roles and becomes increasingly useful when the rest of a build already rewards critical hits.

It is less specialized than Overwatch or grenade bonuses, making it a strong fallback when the random Cross Training draw does not produce your ideal option.

Fitness Work: nothing complicated about staying alive

+4 Max Health is rarely exciting, but it is rarely bad.

It is particularly useful on frontliners, Operators carrying important support abilities, and anyone you cannot afford to have sidelined by an injury.

A Friendly Game: excellent early, weak late

A Friendly Game gives +40 Bond XP instead of making either character immediately stronger.

That is valuable when taken early because it accelerates access to several future relationship rewards. Near the end of the Bond track, it becomes much harder to justify sacrificing a permanent combat bonus simply to reach the finish line slightly sooner.

Best Cross Training upgrades for each Specialization

Remember that both members of the pair receive the selected upgrade. A perfect Sharpshooter bonus is much less attractive if the second Operator is a Medic who never uses Overwatch.

When possible, choose the highest-value overlap between both characters.

Assault: movement first

Assault is explicitly designed around aggressive medium- and short-range positioning. Its Fleet of Foot passive already increases the first movement, so stacking Speed Training reinforces exactly what the class wants to do.

Close Combat Drills also improves Bull Rush, while Fitness Work compensates for spending more time near enemies.

Gunslinger: flat damage gets multiplied by volume

Gunslinger is built around repeated attacks. Open Fire allows multiple shots, Quick Draw can refund AP after a kill, and Onslaught increases the damage of repeated primary blaster attacks.

That makes Ranged Combat Drills particularly attractive. If an Operator attacks several times in one turn, a flat damage increase may contribute more total value than it would on a slower class.

Heavy: survive first, optimize damage second

Heavy’s Bulwark and Intimidating Posture are designed to make enemies attack the Heavy instead of somebody else.

Fitness Work and Agility Drills therefore do exactly what the class needs: let it absorb more attention without collapsing.

Do not automatically take Cover Combat Practice. Heavy is often valuable precisely because it can function when standing somewhere a less durable Operator would not want to be.

Medic: movement and Focus beat narrow damage bonuses

Medic gets less from highly specialized offensive trainings than most classes.

Speed Training helps reach an ally without wasting the entire turn on movement, while Freeform Training feeds more Focus into Combat Stim, Morale Boost, and the class’s support passives.

Fitness and Agility are also useful because the healer becoming the person who needs rescuing is generally poor squad management.

Scoundrel: make assists hurt

Scoundrel has the clearest direct Cross Training synergy after Sharpshooter.

Never Play Fair increases Assist Damage, while Easy Mark creates an assist opportunity against a selected enemy. Combined Fire Games adds another +1 Assist Damage, letting the class lean harder into coordinated attacks.

Scout: reliable hits create opportunities

Scout supports the squad by generating Advantage and applying Spotted.

Target Practice helps the Scout make useful attacks outside ideal range, while Speed Training makes it easier to establish sightlines for Combat Recon or reach a better firing angle.

Sharpshooter: Reflex Fire actually has a home here

Reflex Fire Training is much narrower than its name initially suggests.

Its +1 Overwatch Damage only matters if the Operator is regularly using Overwatch. Sharpshooter’s Pick Them Off already improves both Overwatch accuracy and damage, making this the class where stacking Reflex Fire has an obvious purpose.

Target Practice and Ranged Combat Drills are the safer alternatives if Overwatch is not central to your build.

Soldier: lean into grenades when you can

Soldier’s Armsmaster already improves the damage of its primary blaster and grenades, while Rocket Strike supplies another area attack.

Grenade Training therefore strengthens an existing specialty rather than trying to invent a new one.

Ranged Combat Drills and Close Combat Drills are also solid because Soldier genuinely uses both blaster fire and melee through Brutal Strike.

Relationship +8 makes your Specializations matter again

The normal Cross Training rules change at the top of the relationship track.

At Relationship +8, the pair receives access to passive Cross Training rather than simply another basic stat upgrade.

This is also where Secondary Specializations matter.

EA’s September 9 Patch 1.1 specifically fixed a bug where a Secondary Specialization did not correctly add its passive Cross Trainings to the available selection pool at Relationship +8. Secondary Specializations also now correctly count when Operations check for Specialization-specific requirements or outcomes.

That has an important planning consequence:

You should not take a bad secondary class purely to manipulate a future Bond reward. Immediate battlefield synergy remains more important.

But if two Operators are approaching Very High Bond and you are choosing between two similarly useful secondary Specializations, the passive pool becomes a legitimate tie-breaker.

Bond XP and Cross Training best practices

The best Bonds are the ones your squad naturally uses

It is easy to turn the Bond system into another optimization spreadsheet, but Zero Company actually rewards a much simpler approach.

Pair people who make sense together tactically.

A Scoundrel creating assists for another ranged attacker naturally wants Combined Fire Games. A Sharpshooter spending half the battle in Overwatch naturally wants Reflex Fire. A frontline pair naturally benefits from extra Health. A Medic and an AP-hungry Gunslinger can both appreciate additional movement.

The strongest Bond is therefore not necessarily the relationship with the largest number beside it.

It is the one where the way you gain Bond XP, the Cross Training you choose, and the way the two Operators fight are all reinforcing the same plan.

For a closer look at individual characters and the roles they fill, our Star Wars Zero Company guide covers the wider campaign and progression systems, while our Zero Company vs. XCOM and Midnight Suns comparison explains where its relationship-driven squad design comes from.

Zero Company Bonds FAQ

What is the fastest way to raise Bond XP?

Keep the same Operators together across Tactical Missions and Operations, use Call for Backup and genuine support actions regularly, and unlock the Lounge so inactive Operators continue developing. A stable four-person core progresses six relationships simultaneously.

What is the best Cross Training upgrade?

Freeform Training is the safest general-purpose choice because both Operators receive +2 Focus Points. Speed Training, Timing Exercises, and Fitness Work are also broadly useful. More specialized options such as Reflex Fire or Grenade Training are stronger when both the class and build actually use them.

Can Cross Training be reset?

No. Cross Training choices are permanent. This makes them more important to plan than Focus Points, which can be reallocated.

Do Secondary Specializations affect Bonds?

Yes at high relationship levels. Patch 1.1 fixed Secondary Specializations so their passive Cross Trainings correctly enter the selection pool at Relationship +8. They also now count for Specialization-specific Operation requirements and results.

More Star Wars Zero Company on G2A News

• Zero Company review – a triple treat – our full campaign review, including how Bonds affect roster management.
• Star Wars Zero Company: Release Date, Editions, Gameplay, and Story Guide – the broader overview of Zero Company’s campaign systems.
• Zero Company vs. XCOM and Midnight Suns – how Bit Reactor’s tactical systems compare with two of their clearest influences.
• Why you should care about Zero Company – a shorter overview of what makes the game distinctive.