How to recruit Darth Vader in Fortnite

After facing his samurai iteration, you can recruit Darth Vader to your squad in Fornite, though be aware that he’ll now talk to you with an AI-recreated version of James Earl Jones’ iconic voice.

The Chapter 6 Star Wars season of Fortnite, called Galactic Battle, is bringing famous characters and seasonal items themed around a galaxy far, far away. But no Star Wars-themed season could ignore the most famous Sith Lord of them all, Darth Vader.

If you’re interested in having one of the most powerful characters of the Star Wars universe in your squad, we’ve got you covered. In this Fortnite guide, we explain how to recruit Darth Vader and where you can find him.

Update (May 19): We’ve updated this guide to reflect that Darth Vader now appears in a different location.

Where to find Darth Vader in Fortnite

If you want to find Darth Vader, you’ll need to head to Vader Samurai’s Solitude in the southwestern part of the island.

At launch, Vader would spawn in one of three locations (Vader Samurai’s Solitude and two unnamed ship docks on the southern half of the island), but this was changed the evening of May 16 — which makes Vader Samurai’s Solitude a very tough drop location, as players are all scrambling to get access to the Darth Vader AI.

How to recruit Darth Vader in Fortnite

Since Darth Vader is a boss in Fortnite, you must defeat him first before you can recruit the Sith Lord. As usual when it comes to dropping on these types of bosses, the greatest difficulty here is going to be taking out other players who also want to recruit him. That said, come moderately geared up — you’ll need to earn your spot alongside Darth Vader first.

He’ll use his usual slew of attacks from previous seasons:

• Force Pull, which brings you close to him so he can dish out lightsaber melee damage
• A lunge toward you, which does the same thing as above (though just the other way around)
• A lightsaber spin that reflects bullets back
• A lightsaber throw, which then comes back like a boomerang

You’ll want to keep your distance, jumping back the second he pulls you or lunges at you to minimize the damage you take. You’ll also need to stop shooting when you notice him spinning his lightsaber.

After taking him out, he will open a portal to Mustafar and a text prompt will appear asking you to join him or not. If you agree, you’ll walk in (and promptly out) of the portal with a new lightsaber and some abilities — along with Darth Vader on your team.

What you get from recruiting Darth Vader

After accepting Darth Vader’s proposal, you’ll get a Sith Apprentice Lightsaber that also lets you throw the saber (the way that he does).

New to Fortnite with this specific boss, you’ll also be able to talk to him using whatever button the right side of your screen prompts you with. (For keyboard/mouse players, it’s the Y key.) Yes, you can just have a conversation with an AI version of Darth Vader, which is… bizarre, but OK. Note that other players seemingly can hear him talking — we hid in a bush with him to play with the AI feature a bit, but once he started talking, other real-life players were able to find us hiding (unless that was just all a weird coincidence?).