Star Wars Zero Company: Kabb Uppercut Melee Build Guide

Kabb Uppercut joins Zero Company early, punches like a former prizefighter, and is easy to underrate because he starts as a Scoundrel. His fixed talent, Uppercut, is the whole reason to rebuild him. It rushes a target, hits it, shoves it backwards, and refunds every action point the move consumed if the target dies. Built around that refund, Kabb stops being a melee unit and becomes a mobility engine that clears cover for the rest of your squad.

Quick answer: Respec Kabb to the Assault specialization at the Den, pour Focus into Fleet of Foot and the Uppercut talent first, take Soldier as his secondary once you reach Cycle 18, and open every fight by using Uppercut on a low-health rank-and-file enemy so the kill returns the action points and lets him keep moving.

How the Uppercut action point refund works

Uppercut costs 1 action point plus additional points depending on how far Kabb travels to reach the target, and it can be used once per turn. He strikes for melee damage, pushes the enemy backwards, and adds +4 impact damage for every object the target is knocked into. Defeating the target restores all of the action points the ability used, travel included.

That refund is the build. Kabb can spend his full turn crossing the map, punch out an ordinary droid on arrival, get the points back, and still have a normal turn ahead of him. Weak enemies become stepping stones rather than obstacles, which is why he pairs so well with a class that would otherwise burn its whole turn repositioning.

The push matters as much as the damage. Knocking a target out of cover exposes it for your ranged operators, shoving it through a barrier clears the obstruction, and pushing it into a squadmate’s Overwatch cone triggers that reaction shot for free damage. Forced movement also damages a droideka through its ray shield, which makes Kabb a specific answer to an enemy most of your squad struggles with.

You know the refund fired when Kabb’s action points return to full after the kill animation and he can immediately act again. The most common reason it doesn’t trigger is simple: the target survived the punch. Uppercut’s base damage climbs from 10 at Tier 1 to 18 at Tier 6, so investing in the talent directly widens the pool of enemies he can one-shot.

Kabb Uppercut build summary

Set Assault as Kabb’s primary specialization at the Den

Kabb’s specialization can be swapped as soon as you arrive at the Den, and Assault is a standard class, so nothing here is permanent. Uppercut stays with him regardless of what you pick.

Assault fits because its kit answers the same problems Uppercut does. Fleet of Foot extends his first movement, Bull Rush gives him a second knockback attack, and Strike the Flanks pays out on the enemies he just shoved into the open.

Focus tree priorities: Fleet of Foot and Uppercut first

Focus is earned through play and spent in the operator’s Focus Tree, so the order you buy things in decides how quickly the build comes online. Max Fleet of Foot early. Every extra metre of first movement is a metre Uppercut doesn’t have to charge you for, which makes the refund loop reach further across the map.

Uppercut ranks are the second priority, since higher base damage means more enemies die to the punch and refund the points. Sweeping Salvo is worth taking to the top for the moment it starts landing critical hits, but it draws from the squad-wide Advantage pool, so it fires far less often than his basic attacks. Bull Rush stays cheap and useful as a second push, though it is a lower priority than the passives that make Kabb faster and hit harder.

Note: Advantage is shared across the whole squad, and every class ultimate takes a large chunk of it. Budget for one ultimate per turn, not four.

Add Soldier as the secondary specialization at Cycle 18

Secondary specializations unlock at Cycle 18, and you can pick any class Kabb isn’t already using. Soldier is the natural pairing because it feeds the same melee number that Uppercut and Bull Rush both scale off. Focus Tree upgrades in a secondary specialization stop at Tier 5, so a secondary is always a little weaker than the same class run as a primary.

Strength is the pick that matters most, since it raises the damage on every melee hit Kabb throws, including his talent. Brutal Strike gives him a second melee attack and applies Daze, which forces the affected enemy to use non-damaging moves on its next turn. That is genuinely strong against tougher humanoid targets like the Infinite Coil.

Repeater weapon and mod loadout

The Repeater suits a brawler who is already standing next to his target. It has modest base damage but gains substantial Rapid Fire Damage when fired with 2 or 3 action points, and firing it consumes all available action points. Accuracy matters less at the ranges Kabb operates at, so the high rate of fire is doing the work.

Mods are slotted freely in the Armory before a mission, so there is no cost to tuning the loadout per fight. The Amplifier in the barrel slot is the highest-value pick because it raises damage at short range, exactly where this build lives.

Against droid-heavy compositions, swap to an Ion variant of the Repeater. Ion damage is the difference between grinding through a droid line and clearing it.

Squad pairings that make the push pay off

The displacement is only worth as much as the squad standing behind it. Set an Overwatch before Kabb moves, then punch a target into that cone for a reaction shot on top of the melee damage. Ranged operators benefit the most, because a target knocked out of cover becomes Exposed and gives them a much higher chance to hit.

Tel-Rea’s Force Push stacks with this idea. Between her displacement and Kabb’s, you can drag enemies out of position almost every turn and line them up for area damage. A Medic in the squad keeps Kabb standing through the return fire he inevitably attracts by fighting at contact range.

Hawks can also spend Advantage to refresh one squadmate’s action point once per turn. Spending it on Kabb after a failed Uppercut is a clean way to salvage a turn where the target lived.

Heavy secondary: The tankier alternative

If Kabb keeps dying rather than keeps punching, Heavy is the other viable secondary. Conditioning raises his health, Unstoppable grants two stacks of Retaliation so he shoots back at anyone who attacks him, and Bulwark taunts every enemy in a radius to pull fire off the rest of the squad. It trades the extra melee damage from Strength for staying power, and it needs a Medic supporting him to be worth the trade.

Because respecs are free and the Uppercut talent never goes away, there is no reason to agonise over the choice. Run Soldier while you want Kabb deleting rank-and-file enemies and chaining refunds across the map, and switch to Heavy for the missions where he needs to soak damage instead.