How to recruit defeated Henchmen in Fortnite

Fortnite recruit defeated henchmen
(Image credit: Epic Games)

Being able to recruit defeated Henchmen in Fortnite was one of the big selling points for the latest Absolute Doom season, with Epic saying that "Everyone deserves a chance to do the right thing!" while explaining this new gameplay mechanic. It even features in one of the Week 2 Fortnite quests, where you need to hire Characters or recruit defeated Henchmen a total of five times to clear it from your list. Unfortunately, the option to recruit defeated Henchmen in Fortnite is currently disabled due to unexpected issues, which means you'll need to hire Artemis, Centurion, or Ruckus instead if you want to tick off this challenge, but here's the latest on what's happening with recruitment.

Can you recruit defeated Henchmen in Fortnite?

Fortnite recruit defeated henchmen

(Image credit: Epic Games)

At the time of writing, you can't recruit defeated Henchmen in Fortnite as the feature has been disabled. Previously you could approach a downed Henchman and follow the prompt that appeared to recruit them to fight alongside you, but now the only option you get is to Carry them. This was likely done because there wasn't a limit to how many Henchmen you could recruit, meaning you could assemble a small army with the right preparation, while you're capped at hiring only one of the Fortnite characters at a time – and need to dismiss them before another can join your team. This means for now, you'll need to hire Artemis, Centurion, or Ruckus if you want to make progress in this assignment.

Fortnite Henchmen at Dig Sites locations

(Image credit: Epic Games)

If you want to track down some Fortnite Henchmen to check if the recruiting feature has been reenabled, or just take some of them out for one of the Story quests, then they are currently located at nine different Dig Sites around the island searching for artifacts. I've marked these on the map above, so if you go to any of those places then you should find some Henchmen patrolling around – unless other players have already eliminated them.

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Iain Wilson
Guides Editor

Iain originally joined Future in 2012 to write guides for CVG, PSM3, and Xbox World, before moving on to join GamesRadar in 2013 as Guides Editor. His words have also appeared in OPM, OXM, PC Gamer, GamesMaster, and SFX. He is better known to many as ‘Mr Trophy’, due to his slightly unhealthy obsession with amassing intangible PlayStation silverware, and he now has over 600 Platinum pots weighing down the shelves of his virtual award cabinet. He does not care for Xbox Achievements.