There’s always something interesting to see when a new season of Fortnite rolls around. This time, it’s all about an alien invasion and the collective effort to stop it. The craft aren’t just here to abduct players anymore, however. You can now pilot the alien ships and use the advanced technologies that come along with them. Those in control of an alien UFO will be not only be able to travel in them, but attack with the weaponry, abduct enemy players or objects, and quickly rotate to different locations around the map. Here’s where to find these craft.
UFOs will appear around the map, but one surefire way to come across them during matches is to look for the points of interest with glowing purple letters or blue smoke. These locations will vary match to match. There may also be grounded craft around the map that we have yet to discover. We know of one that can be found in some bushes on the southern island of Camp Cod and another located underneath a bridge southeast of Corny Complex. For now, we’ll focus on the UFOs that are airborne.
How to use UFOs in Fortnite
Once you spot some UFOs in the air, feel free to open fire on them until they are knocked out of the sky. This won’t permanently destroy the craft. You’re just temporarily disabling them so that you can kill the alien pilot and claim the craft for yourself and/or your team. Piloting the UFO is pretty easy. You can adjust your altitude, and you have three boost charges that cool down over time. One thing to note about UFOs is that these craft don’t run on gas for fuel and thus cannot be refilled. UFOs are battery powered, which means you can leave them running and not pollute the air. Oh wait, I’m getting sidetracked.
You have several abilities when piloting a UFO. The first is a ray beam that causes 30 damage per hit. This is great for pressuring enemies that are spam-building structures if you have a team to finish them off. Just keep in mind the ray beam projectile has a slow velocity, but makes up for it with splash damage. It takes more than a second to charge the first shot, but the rate of fire decreases slightly after the first shot if you keep firing. Again, this makes it great for spamming damage, and firing the cannon doesn’t affect the battery.
Your other ability is a tractor beam that can grab enemies or objects and pick them up. You’ll need to be relatively close to the objects to lock on with the tractor beam. You can then lift whatever you grabbed off of the ground and redeploy it. This includes downed enemies, cars, and more. You can also pick up live enemies, but they will be able to shoot you, as the pilot seat is rather exposed.
Great for map rotations
Your team can also ride on top of your UFO. Just set down and let them jump in like it’s any other human vehicle. Just be careful about getting shot down, as UFOs only have 600 HP, making this a real risk. Crashing will cause you to take around 70 damage. Don’t panic and jump out when this happens though, as you’ll fall to your death. Alternately, if you’re about to run out of the battery charge, don’t worry. You won’t crash if the battery dies. The craft will gently float down to the ground.
One last thing to know is that UFOs in Fortnite have “lives.” That’s right, like some kind of Galaga ship, your UFO in Fortnite can come back as good as new. There is a limited number two extra lives, so just keep that in mind. You’ll also need to wait on the ship to revive itself after getting shot down.
Keep the UFO locations in mind whenever you need to travel a longer distance to the next storm circle and Fortnite will feel a lot less like a walking simulator. For more guides on Season 7 changes, Quests, mechanics, and more, check out our guides and features hub.
