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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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.
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.
The alien invasion of Fortnite continues with the arrival of mothership abducting, UFOs, Alien Artefacts, Cosmic Chests and ray guns.
There are new Epic Challenges for you to complete, including finding spray cans and graffiti. Elsewhere, there are time-limited Legendary Quests, such as finding body scanners and a dead drop.
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.
It’s here where you can also pick up a Legendary Ray Gun – one of the more useful guns to use from a distance right now.
If you’d like to learn more about Fortnite Season 7, then check out our pages on the Battle Pass, alien artefacts, cosmic chests and IO Tech weapons.
