How To Get Abducted By Aliens In Fortnite

Fortnite - Mothership abduction: How to get abducted in Fortnite explained

How to step inside the alien base - and get loot in the process.

Mothership abductions in Fortnite arrive as part of the v17.10 update.

After weeks of unpredictable abductions in the build up to Season 7, getting beamed into an Abductor spaceship is a feature of the new season.

Doing so allows you to get your hands on some loot as part of a mothership mini-game where you collect Vault Orbs, and the more you grab, the better the loot.

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Abductor locations in Fortnite
How to be abducted by the mothership in Fortnite: Mothership abductions explained
Mothership mini-game in Fortnite explained

Fortnite Mothership abduction gameplay

Abductor locations in Fortnite

The mothership abduction feature has been made possible with a new point of interest - Abductors. These are large ships which hover over points over named locations on the map, with three appearing per match.

Though they are visible from afar, whether on the ground or as you fly across the map on the Battle Bus, they are also shown on the map with a UFO icon. Note - these are not to be confused with 'regular' UFO locations, which appear at named locations which have purple, shimmering text.

fortnite_mothership_abduction_42 — Abductor locations can be shown here at Pleasant Park, Lazy Lake and Misty Meadows.

How to be abducted by the mothership in Fortnite: Mothership abductions explained

Abductors will hover above named locations, and occasionally, send out green beams of light onto the ground.

If you stand in one of these and wait, you'll soon be sucked into the air, and whisked away to the mothership.

Sounds simple right? In our experience, how often this happens appears to be somewhat unreliable. Only in one of several matches did we see beams of light search the ground at all; it's possible it might require multiple players to be within the vicinity of an Abductor for this to activate (which would make some sense, since the mini-game that follows has others playing alongside you).

Either way, if you can, start the match and head toward a location with multiple Abductor ships. From there, you can hopefully see any abductions happening - allowing you to swoop in and join the action.

Recently added to the game is the Refer a friend program and the Cube Queen skin. Recent quests include Touch a Cube, Spirit Vessel Caretaker's footprints, Command Signal, scroll locations, mini-pufts, seismographs, Ghostbusters signs and deploying a ghost trap for the Containment Specialist. Elsewhere in Season 8, you can start using Sideways weapons, partake in Sideways encounters, and find colour bottles for Tonna Fish.

Mothership mini-game in Fortnite explained

When on the mothership, an 'experiment' will take place - a mini-game where you and several other players will be in a low gravity environment to pick up orbs.

Vault Orbs are the ones you want to go after, indicated by orange shafts of light. Interact with the Orb when it drops, then continue to another location, and so on.

There are also Time Orbs, which are dotted around the environment, and add five seconds when collided into. Five seconds is less time than you think, so we'd recommend only grabbing these if they are on the way to another Vault Orb.

Players will have a weapon which can blast others away, which is why you may occasionally ping across the arena. Since there isn't a limited number of Vault Orbs, we would advice ignoring what everyone else is doing and focus on getting Vault Orbs instead. Try and get some away from other players to avoid being attacked - but if there is another player at a location, then be sure to blast them away with your weapon.

If you fall into the abyss, you'll respawn back up top, with some time lost. Otherwise, it's a case of getting a feel for the low gravity movement as you hunt for Vault Orbs.

Once you have all five Vault Orbs, you'll be teleported to the Vault, and are able to open several chests filled with Legendary gear. The more time you have remaining, the more chests you can open.