Watch Dogs: Legion - Drone locations: How to find and ride Cargo Drones and drone unlocking explained
Come fly with me.
Drones have always been a staple of Watch Dogs - but in Legion, they're literally bigger than ever.
Sourcing Cargo Drones in particular are the most useful, as their larger size allow you to ride them around London - taking you high up tall buildings, past sentries and to far-flung attractions without dealing with London traffic.
It's essentially the best way to explore the game - allowing you to shortcut your way around the city with ease.
Thankfully, finding Cargo Drones are pretty straightforward if you know where to look - and while unlocking new drones takes a bit of work, the effort is worthwhile.
On this page:
For more pages on Watch Dogs: Legion, read about available map and landmarks, finding a Spy and Hitman, arrested and injured operatives, as well as camera controls.
How to ride and fly a drone in Watch Dogs: Legion
The concept of riding on a drone is introduced early in the story as part of the Reporting for Duty mission, where you must recruit a construction worker with the ability to call in a Cargo Drone wherever they are.
This mission occurs in the first 90 minutes or so of the game's critical path, and completing this mission is a good explainer of how riding drones work.
In short, once a Cargo Drone is within range, press L1 / LB as you would any hackable object, and select the hijack prompt. You'll now be in control.
Now lower the drone to ground level, or whatever your operative is, so they are able to climb onto it. Back out of controlling now with the Circle / B button to control your operative again.
To climb on the drone, press X (on PlayStation) or A (on Xbox) next to it, as you would when scaling a low wall. Now repeat the hijacking process to pilot the drone wherever you need to go - with your operative riding on top.
Though in a firefight it'll go down fairly quickly, Cargo Drones can go an unlimited distance - so if you set a waypoint on the other side of London on your map, you can make your way there as the crow flies as opposed to dealing with cars, pedestrians and enemies.
How to find drone locations in Watch Dogs
Though using a construction worker - or other operative with a Drone ability - to summon a drone is probably the easiest way to get one, you'll likely have a preferred operative to play as for your next mission in mind.
To find a drone you can ride when playing as any operative, you must find a Drone Dock. These are small shelves which stick out of the edges of buildings, and allow you to summon drones freely when in range.
You can also find them flying flat on the ground in certain locations, such as enemy strongholds.
Though they won't show up on the main map screen, they do appear on the mini-map while exploring - indicated by a square with a four sections of a circle inside - and the good news is that they are dotted pretty much everywhere across the city.
Wherever you are on the map, start going in a direction, and one should soon appear on the mini-map. Now head towards it, and look up - chances are it'll be on the outside of a building.
If not, it might be on the roof - which requires a bit of effort, so feel free to continue exploring on the ground for a more accessible one.
If you are struggling, then note most 'red' enemy areas that you must trespass to explore will have one - so try there.
Again, check the mini-map to know for sure. For example, we found one in the back of Buckingham Palace on the ground floor:
Alternatively, there is one easily located next to the starting hideout in Westminster. Head south-west from the front door on foot, as if you are going towards Broca Tech (the red enemy building close by on the map) and you'll come to a Drone Dock on a building to the right.
From here, you can unlock any of the four drone types you have access too.
How to unlock more drones in Watch Dogs: Legion
By default, you have access to the Cargo Drone - perfect for moving certain objects in puzzles, as well as being a mode of transport around the city.
The Drone Dock will have three other options greyed out, however - the Chase Drone, Riot Drone and CT Drone.
These three Drones can be unlocked in the Tech tree. Specifically, you can find them on the right side of the tree. All three drones have their own nodes, and to unlock them, you must upgrade them until you unlock the 'hijack' option.
The ability to hijack these drones also unlocks the ability to spawn them from Drone Docks - which is arguably more useful.
We recommend unlocking the CT Drone in particular. You can't ride it like a Cargo Drone, but it comes with some decent firepower - useful for certain mission types or if you want to make an unsubtle appearance.
If you're in the need of Tech Points, then the good news is the drone is the best way to get to them. They'll appear on the mini-map when you get close, so scout around from above, jump off and back on again, and you'll get what you need before you know it.