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ZeroSpace is built around distinct Factions that play very differently from one another. There are four base factions and six mercenary factions, and players can combine a base faction with mercenary forces to build a custom army. The official Early Access description lists all four main factions, all of which became playable at the Early Access launch, including the robotic Xol.
Base Factions
Faction | Identity | Playstyle |
|---|---|---|
Human military | Defensive and supportive, with self-healing structures and durable, veteran units | |
Insectoid species tied to plant life | Spreads biomass across the map and grows its economy organically | |
Fanatical horde | Fields up to three heroes at once, backed by powerful customizable tanks and cheap, fragile basic units | |
Robotic machine race | Merges simple units together into larger, more complex ones. It became playable at the Early Access launch as the newest faction, early in development and not yet in ranked matchmaking. |
The Grell rely on a creeping biomass substance that they spread across terrain, which also reduces the vision of enemies standing on it. The Legion of Truth break the usual one-hero rule by deploying three heroes together, leaning on elite tanks and expendable basic troops called thralls. The Xol are the fourth main faction, a synthetic race of self-evolving machines that became playable for the first time at the Early Access launch, though the studio has held them out of ranked matchmaking until further community balance testing.
Roster size differs noticeably between the four. The current build data, read in September 2026, counts 16 units and 11 structures for the Protectorate, 14 units and 12 structures for the Grell, 13 units and 14 structures for the Legion of Truth, and 11 units and 9 structures for the Xol. Hero entries run to three each for the Protectorate and the Grell, four for the Legion and one for the Xol, and the same data files Marv and Mera under both the Protectorate and the Grell with identical stat lines. The balance notes group changes to those two under a general heroes heading rather than a faction one.
Mercenary Factions
Alongside the base factions, six mercenary groups add specialized battle groups you can contract mid match and fold into your forces. All six are in the Early Access build, and the published roadmap holds a seventh mercenary faction for the 1.0 release. Each one is led by its own commander:
Mercenary Group | Motto | How They Fight | Commander | Forces |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Masters of energy technology | Long range sharpshooters and Halo Tanks behind layered energy shields | Hel, Ambassador | Badger, Halo Tank, Heavy Trooper, Pulse Skimmer and Sharpshooter, plus the Bulwark structure | |
Battle is the only calling | Brutal frontline warriors who can summon a caged champion, the Beast | Mondar, Anathema; Torq | Beast, Flame Walker, Hound, Shock Trooper and Tow Bot, plus the War Vault | |
Chaos, and empty coffers | Hit and run raids on harvesters, plus traps, sandbag cover and ambushes | Caylan Yearl, Corsair Captain | Deadeye, Flamer, Hovercraft, Raider and Rover, plus the Mercenary Outpost | |
Reality is negotiable | Interdimensional warping that drops units where it hurts, in unconventional roles | I'olin, Malicant Enforcer | Asterion, Chronowarper, Ethermancer, Judgement and Phoenix Guard, plus the Penumbra | |
Blood for blood | Twin earth and water temples and blood magic, fighting beside colossal war crabs | Loi'Kru, Voice-King | Chas'ki, Clakjaw, Ghost Crab, Hat'un, Pak'o and Saq'chi, plus the Temple of Anqas and the Temple of Stars | |
The hunted remnant of the Arandi | Cloaked shades and leeches that choose when the fight starts | Umbra, Hero of the Conclave | Devourer, Impaler, Needler, Shade, Shadow Leech and Wyrm, plus the Silent Hollow, a production structure that lifts off at night as the Awoken Hollow |
Several names in the two rows above changed late in August 2026. The update of August 28, 2026 recorded that unit names had been revised for the Cha'Kru and the Endari, and the build that followed carries the Cha'Kru Cultist as the Pak'o, the Cha'Kru Rageborn as the Saq'chi, the Endari Drake as the Wyrm, the Endari hero She Who Stalks as Umbra, the Endari outpost as the Silent Hollow and its night form as the Awoken Hollow. The Wyrm name is confirmed in the studio's hotfix notes of September 1, 2026. Clakjaw is the spelling the build uses; patch notes have also written it Clackjaw.
Two names cause confusion. The pirate group was called the Dread Raiders during development, and that older label still appears on the total-damage board of the official standings page, but the group ships as the Free Corsairs and appears under that name in the balance notes. The Koru are not a mercenary group at all: they are the plant-like species living in symbiosis with the Grell, and the name survives in Grell abilities such as Koru Symbiosis.
The Koru name has the longer history. A September 2023 announcement video introduced "The Savage Kingdom & The Koru" as new mercenary factions, and neither shipped under those names. The Savage Kingdom appears to be the earlier name of the Cha'Kru Kingdom, and the Koru were dropped as a mercenary group entirely. Lists that still count seven mercenary factions are reading the store listing summary, which was written before launch and also describes only three of the four main factions as active.
Each faction brings its own units, structures, and Heroes and Commanders, so learning their strengths is a big part of both Skirmish and the Galactic War. Across all of them, ZeroSpace offers more than 150 units and buildings. The studio's own Early Access summary gives a separate figure counted on a different basis: over 90 unique units and heroes.
Faction choice is tracked competitively as well as thematically. The ranked ladder keeps a separate per-faction rating alongside your overall one, and standings can be filtered by the Protectorate, Grell, Legion, Xol, or Random. See Skirmish for how the leagues are structured. Every unit each of them fields now has its own page, indexed by faction on the units hub.