Star Wars season has proven to be a pretty dramatic change of pace for Fortnite’s battle royale mode, but this week’s big update has introduced a massive surprise: an AI-powered Darth Vader NPC who will fight alongside your squad and actually talk to you and answer your questions in the voice of the late James Earl Jones.
It’s just a little novelty that won’t likely affect how you play at all, but it’s unusually amusing for that sort of thing, since this Darth Vader-themed chatbot’s delivery is spot-on. It’s not any smarter than any other chatbot, since it can’t track a conversation very well, but if you want to listen to Darth Vader say a bunch of stuff–not all of it kid-friendly–while you’re playing Fortnite, he’s good to have around.
The big question, of course, is how do you find and talk to him? The AI Darth Vader NPC has replaced the Darth Vader Samurai boss NPC that had been hanging out at Vader Samurai’s Solitude, but that location is only one of three possible spawn points for Darth Vader each match. Just as it was when Darth Vader first invaded the island three years ago, his location is randomized at the start of each match.
Where to find the AI Darth Vader NPC on the Fortnite island
As mentioned, the AI Darth Vader spawns randomly in one of three possible locations each match: at Vader Samurai’s Solitude in the southwest corner, at the Imperial checkpoint south of the tunnel from Canyon Crossing, and at an Imperial checkpoint to the east of Foxy Floodgate, just over the nearby hill there. Check out our map.
You’ll be able to determine which spot he’s hanging out at by looking for a parked Lambda-class shuttle–Darth Vader will always be in the same place the shuttle is. While you won’t be able to watch the shuttle land from the battle bus like we could in Chapter 3 Season 3, the parked shuttle is quite visible from far away and will never be culled from your sight by view distance limitations.
How to talk to Fortnite’s AI Darth Vader chatbot
Once you figure out which spot to go to, you’ll have to beat Darth Vader in combat, along with the four stormtroopers that accompany him–not to mention any other players who might compete with you for Vader’s affections. Once you’ve beaten him, he’ll spawn a Force training portal where you’ll get a red lightsaber, the lightsaber throw ability, and Vader’s loyalty.
Once you’ve done all that, congrats! You can now talk to the Darth Vader chatbot and consult it on whatever topic you want. In order to address Darth Vader, you’ll need to hold down the chat button while you speak–by default that’s right on the d-pad for controllers, and the Y key for mouse and keyboard folks.
The Darth Vader chatbot has already been the source of a little controversy, after it quoted Loserfruit’s use of a curse word back at her on stream, but the official Fortnite twitter account says that he’s been hotfixed to not do that anymore.
