Marathon Releases Patch Notes For Massive Midseason Update

The highly anticipated mid-season update for Marathon has finally arrived, and with it comes tons of quality-of-life improvements, further balancing changes, and new content to hunt in the game. Since it launched back in March, Marathon has proven to be a very reactive experience, especially when compared to Bungie’s other live-service game, Destiny 2.

In about a month and a half, Marathon has seen numerous major changes to the core experience, largely fueled by the community of players voicing their opinions online. Bungie has even quickly added new features and content, such as shifting its weekend schedule featuring Ranked Mode and the endgame Cryo Archive map, so players wouldn’t have to pick one or the other. A Duos mode for Marathon was also heavily tested publicly, with creative director Joe Ziegler keeping fans updated on how things were going.

How Marathon 2026 relates to the original

How Marathon Relates to and Improves On the Original 1994 Game

With a remarkable connection to the classic 1994 boomer shooter, Marathon 2026 bucks the tired trend of rebooting beloved IP for name value alone.

One of the biggest additions in Marathon’s mid-season update is the “C.A.R.R.I.” Protocol. As part of Marathon‘s CyberAcme faction, it rewards both solo Runners and crews for completing contract objects and exfiling together. Players are awarded CyberAcme Commendations for helping teammates complete contract objectives, completing objectives as a solo, or successfully exfiling as the Rook shell. Not only that, bonus commendations are also rewarded for exfiling with random players, which is likely Bungie’s way of trying to force players to not simply shoot on sight. Players can then spend their commendations in the C.A.R.R.I. Armory, a rotating selection of weapons, Salvage Crates, and Reputation Packs.

To further the idea of playing nice with others, Marathon is adding a few new features and tools, including the Mercy Kit, which allows players to revive downed players, either as allies or completely random strangers. All Rook Shells in Marathon now spawn with a Mercy Kit by default.

Bungie is also adding a new Stay Together feature, allowing random players to opt in to staying together as a crew after successfully extracting. In addition, players can now toggle proximity chat on and complete a new set of Codex Challenges to unlock the Pacesetter title. Finally, new players get a 15% boost to reputation earned for CyberAcme and NuCaloric through the first 5 levels.

Following up on the previous Biotoxic Disinjector nerfs in Marathon, the mid-season update has also gone a bit further with changes to the unique weapon. While a number of bugs were fixed with the weapon, Bungie has also increased the ammo cost for the weapon’s beam and grenade fire modes, while also reducing fire rate, damage, and attack radius. Players should also take note that with this update, grenades will now cause self-damage, so spamming them down long hallways could prove to be fatal for both enemies and the player.

Balance the critic averages

Easy (6)Medium (8)Hard (10)

However, it’s not all bad news on the weapons front, as the update adds 11 new blue rarity unique weapons, which Bungie confirms could drop from showcase encounters on Perimeter and Dire Marsh. Railgun weapons no longer auto-fire after reaching maximum charge, allowing players to essentially hold it indefinitely. The popular Bully SMG saw a number of nerfs, including decreased aim assist and magnetism range, while snipers like the Longshot and Outland were tuned to prevent a run and gun style, forcing players to methodically pace their shots.

In terms of weapon mods, Bungie added three new families of Weapon Chips across all rarity types. Common Enemy makes opposing players take additional damage from allied or other runners after the user has damaged them. Pocket Change drops weapon ammo after killing an enemy and immediately reloading. Exit Buddy grants allied players increased movement speed after downing or killing an enemy.

Six Runner shells in Marathon were also tweaked in this update as well. While Bungie teased some of the Recon changes in Marathon‘s mid-season update, Destroyer, Thief, Triage, Vandal, and Rook also saw various issues getting fixed or other tweaks. Some equipment, like CLaymores and Self-Revives also saw a few changes, like the former getting improved enemy detection, while the latter has increased its rarity from Blue to Purple.

Marathon Update 1.0.6 Patch Notes

Some missed additions for our 1.0.6. patch notes:

Refreshed icons for cores, implants, and chips to add visual clarity.
Signal Jammers are now purchasable from the Armory.
Added a new “toggle to open” voice chat option, so players can turn Proximity Chat and Team Chat open with one press and close it with another.

General

ONI has launched the C.A.R.R.I. or CyberAcme Runner Reinforcement Initiative, a new protocol that rewards both solo Runners and coordinated Crews for completing contract objectives and exfiling together.
- CyberAcme Commendations are a new material earned by helping crewmates complete contract objectives, completing contract objectives as a solo Runner, or successfully exfiling as a Rook. Extra commendations can be earned when you exfil with other players outside of your Crew. Play nice, now.
Added Stay Together, a new end-of-run experimental feature that allows you to stay with the Runners you just successfully exfiled with by creating a new Crew with them. Who said you can’t make friends on Tau Ceti?
- Only one crewmate needs to successfully exfil for Stay Together to be available – if you’re eliminated, stay connected!

Added the capability to access the Rewards Pass from the top left display of SILK.
We want to increase the value of the Rewards Pass, both the Free and Premium tracks. As a result, we are adding four new Runner Shell styles, a WSTR Shotgun style, and a profile emblem to the Season 1 Rewards Pass:
- Premium Track: Thief, Assassin, Destroyer
- Free Track: Recon, WSTR Shotgun, Profile Emblem
Fixed an issue where the rank up rewards tutorial could be out of sequence.
Disciples of Arachne earnable shell styles are now available in the Codex.
Updated the Perimeter (Beginner) new player map to now be a solos-only map that remains available to players until Seasonal Level 12.
- The Perimeter (Beginner) map presents a reduced risk of encountering other Runners.
Added five new contracts for the Perimeter (Beginner) map.
- New and existing players under Seasonal Level 12 will also have access to new optional CyberAcme contracts tailored for the beginner experience to help with their first steps in Marathon.
- To help players understand the mechanics around the Perimeter Beginner contracts, these new contracts can only be progressed while in Perimeter Beginner or Perimeter Solo Runs.
- These contracts are no longer accessible after reaching Seasonal Level 12 and will be removed even if decrypted or active.
When the final exfil is active and there are less than 10 seconds remaining, the timer for other exfils will be reduced to match the remaining session timer. Tie goes to the Runner, after all.
- Developer Note: Previously, the 10-second countdown for non-final exfils was being overwritten by the final exfil timer. Because the difference was only a few seconds, players would see the exfil animation and believe they successfully exfiltrated only to discover they did not in the Run Report. We think this change will result in last-second exfils feeling more “fair”.

Progression

Increased runner level and faction reputation earning for solo players.
Increased standard contract faction reputation rewards for all players.

Armory

The C.A.R.R.I. Armory allows you to spend CyberAcme Commendations for Salvage Crates that grant a random stack of Salvage items or Reputation Packs that provide reputation for their associated faction. Salvage Crate and Sponsored Kit stock refreshes daily while other C.A.R.R.I. offers do not refresh and can only be purchased once.

Codex

Pacesetter Codex challenges focus on collaborative objectives and award the new Pacesetter title. These challenges are a permanent addition and can be completed in future seasons.
Fixed an issue where the “Up here!” Vandal challenge would not complete at certain kill distances.
Fixed an issue where the “Safe!” Vandal challenge would not complete under certain circumstances.
Fixed an issue where the “Life Taker” Thief challenge description did not specify the correct requirements.
Fixed an issue where the “Trifecta” Recon challenge wouldn’t not properly handle both downing and eliminating a runner.
Fixed an issue where the “Where there’s smoke” Destroyer challenge was not completing under certain circumstances.
Fixed an issue with the Compiler lore image not being displayed.
Fixed an issue with the Cryo Archive collectible lore images not being displayed.
Fixed an issue where the “Requiem for a Cyborg” codex challenge name was being displayed instead of “Requiem for a Compiler”.

Contracts

Players are no longer prevented from claiming completed contracts in the lobby if they’ve selected Rook.
Fixed multiple bugs where contract progress was being prevented or not properly sharing progress across crew members.

Combat

Slightly improved audio clarity of enemy footsteps at close and mid range.
Players are now more resistant to fall damage while downed.

Fixed an issue where the player reticle could swing wildly after a finisher if the player continued to provide look input during the finisher animation.

Weapons

Weapon Rewards

Added 11 new Deluxe (Blue rarity) Unique weapons
- These can drop from Showcase encounters in Perimeter and Dire Marsh. Can you collect them all?
- Developer Note: These Deluxe Uniques follow a similar paradigm as the Prestige Uniques found in Cryo Archive Locked Rooms but are at a power appropriate for a Deluxe weapon. This means each Deluxe Unique comes with a specially designed sweetener that can only be found on that Unique version of the weapon. Happy hunting!
- For example: The DRRVISH Prestige Submachine Gun found in Cryo Archive has a custom-made mod for the BRRT SMG which increases stability, handling, and accuracy when firing from the hip. It additionally has the unique trait Hypertemporal Shot that fires all 5 rounds of the burst at once in a tight spread.

Weapon Ammo

Fixed an issue where Volt Cell weapons were not generating heat on impact with enemies.

Railguns

All Railguns will now no longer auto-fire when the maximum charge time has been met. Also, charged Railguns can now be held indefinitely.
- Developer Note: We believe making this behavior change to all Railguns will make them a more competitive option as a mid-to-long range archetype. We expect players to be able to use them more effectively when peeking against longer range options now that you don’t have to stand out in the open to get a fully charged shot off. As always, we’ll monitor the feedback and see if Railguns will need additional tuning to be successful in their range profile.
V00 Zeus RG
- Increased max aim assist cone size by ~20%. Also, the aim assist cone now grows during charge-up instead of shrinking during charge-up.
- Increased base magazine size from 2 shots to 5 shots.
- Reduced max magazine size from 20 shots to 15 shots.
- Reduced base charge time from 1.1 seconds to 1 second.
- V00 Zeus RG Prestige Mod: Overclocked Generator
  - Magazine size is now doubled by this Prestige mod so the double-shot will not reduce the total number of trigger pulls per magazine. This fixes split shots on odd-numbered magazine sizes.
Ares RG
- Reduced base charge time from 2 seconds to 1.25 seconds.
- Increased magazine size at all stat tiers:
  - Base magazine size increased from 4 shots to 6 shots.
  - Max magazine size increased from 10 shots to 12 shots.
- Slightly increased aim assist cone scale during overcharging by ~10%.

SMGs

Copperhead RF
- Increased base magazine size from 21 shots to 28 shots.
  - Max magazine size remains unchanged.
- Slightly increased base accuracy and effective range from 15m to 16.2m.
- Increased minimum damage at maximum damage falloff range from 30% to 50%.
- Slightly decreased initial error cone size while in ADS by ~8.5%.
BRRT SMG
- Increased minimum damage at maximum falloff range from 30% to 50%.
Bully SMG
- Decreased aim assist and magnetism range falloff:
  - Base aim assist falloff start decreased from 13m to 12m.
  - Base aim assist falloff end decreased from 24.2m to 22.5m.
  - Base magnetism falloff start decreased from 30m to 27.8m.
  - Base magnetism falloff end decreased from 37.1m to 34.5m.
  - Max aim assist falloff start decreased from 40m to 37.2m.
  - Max aim assist falloff end decreased from 80m to 74.4m.
  - Max magnetism falloff start decreased from 93m to 86.4m.
  - Max magnetism falloff end decreased from 101m to 93.9m.
- Increased error cone size by 7.5%.

Snipers

Longshot
- Decreased accuracy when firing rapidly to better reward more methodically paced shots.
- Decreased rate of fire from 90rpm to 60rpm.
- Fixed a bug that allowed the Kingmaker Mag Prestige mod to trigger when shooting teammates.
Outland
- Decreased rate of fire from 43rpm to 39rpm.

Rifles

M77 Assault Rifle
- Fixed an issue where the Interval Mag Prestige mod would potentially increase the rate of fire of other weapons.
V75 SCAR
- Changed the timing of when the magazine is considered loaded to better match other Volt weapons. This should give players a little earlier of a window to sprint or fire, canceling out of the reload animation.

Pistols

V11 Punch
- Fixed an issue where the rpm was displaying an incorrect value.

Precision Rifles

Stryder M1T
- Fixed an issue where the Vital Intel Prestige mod was activating its audio effect despite the mod not being equipped.
- Fixed an issue where the Vital Intel Prestige mod’s audio effect did not benefit from the increased distance of the Prestige Unique Fist of Phobos variant.

Biotoxic Disinjector

Fixed an issue where the reload animation did not have controller rumble.
Fixed an issue that prevented the grenade projectiles from setting off toxic plant hazard.
Increased ammo per Beam from 6 to 8 per tick.
Increased ammo per Grenade from 33 to 37.
Reduced Grenade rate of fire from 0.76 to 0.52.
Reduced Grenade travel speed from 42 meters per second to 34.
Reduced the minimum Grenade damage from 5 to 3.
Reduced damage from Grenade when stuck to an enemy from 90 to 65.
Reduced max damage radius of the Grenade by 50%
Increased the rate of damage falloff from the Grenade detonation.
Increased arming duration of the Grenade from 0.9 seconds to 1.3.
Enabled self-damage on Grenades.
- Developer’s Note: Stay safe out there.

Weapon Mods

Chips
- Added three new families of Weapon Chips across all rarities:
  - Common Enemy: Damaging enemy combatants causes them to take increased damage from allied or enemy Runners for a short duration.
  - Pocket Change: Reloading quickly after a kill or down drops ammo of this weapon’s type.
  - Exit Buddy: Downing or killing an enemy grants you and nearby allies increased movement speed with equipped weapons for a short duration.

Circuit Tracers
- Increased cooldown from 0.5 seconds to 1 second.
- Reduced ammo refund by 5% at the Standard tier and by up to 40% at the Superior tier.
Opportunist
- Fixed an issue that allowed the effect to activate from friendly fire.
Alternating Current
- Fixed an issue that allowed the effect to activate from friendly fire.
Mini-Jammer
- Fixed an issue where the Mini-Jammer effect was not granting the full benefits of Signal Jammer.
Optics
- Thermals
  - Removed all Deluxe rarity thermal optics across all weapon archetypes from the loot tables and they can no longer drop.
  - Superior SP Scope III sniper optics now decreases aim assist and range stats in addition to the ADS speed penalties.
  - Decreased Superior SP Scope III sniper optics thermal highlight range from 100m to 80m.
- Variable Zoom Optics
  - Fixed an issue where these optics were reporting an incorrect aim assist cone.

Equipment

Added Depleted Self-Revive kits that spawn during solo play only.
- These cannot be extracted from a solo run and will be auto-sold, same as other Depleted items you may find in a run.
Added the Mercy Kit which allows you to revive downed enemy Runners. Eliminated enemy Runners cannot be revived with a Mercy Kit.
- All Rooks now spawn with a Mercy Kit by default.
- Developer Note: We wanted the new Mercy Kit to provide ways for players to bring back enemy players without spending a self-revive. Sometimes the de-escalation happens after the fight is over, we get it. Now you can make up for that quick trigger finger.
Claymores
- Improved enemy detection when placed near ledges or ground clutter.
- Fixed an issue where players in full cover near a doorway would still take damage from a claymore detonation.
Self-Revive
- Increased rarity from Deluxe to Superior.

Implants

Added five new implant perks that can drop across various activities:
- Group Therapy: Using a medical item grants you and nearby allies a stacking bonus to your Self-Repair Speed for a short time.
- Herd Immunity: Defeating hostiles grants you and nearby allies a stacking bonus to Hardware and Firewall stats for a short time.
- Fight Club: Striking hostiles with a melee or knife attack grants you and nearby allies a stacking bonus to Melee Damage for a short time.
- Divebomb: When you damage an enemy with explosives, you and nearby allies gain a large temporary boost to Agility.
- Evasive Maneuvers: When your shields break, you and nearby allies gain increased sprint speed and Heat Capacity for a short time.
Savior Complex now provides a smaller Revive Speed benefit while playing solo. Previously, it provided no benefit outside a Crew.
Increased the Heat Capacity stat bonus of Distance Runner from 5/10/25/50 to 10/20/30/50 across Standard/Enhanced/Deluxe/Superior rarity tiers.
Fixed an issue where Heat Capacity could incorrectly display as 0 in the Loadout when specific implant combinations were equipped. This was a visual bug only and actual stats were not affected.

Cores

Assassin’s Patience core now also requires you to be crouched to receive the timer pause benefit. This reduces accidental heat buildup from unintended activations.
Reduced resistance to incoming damage from enemy players provided to your Pickpocket Drone by Thief’s Premium Package core.
Fixed an issue where Vandal’s Low Profile core could reduce the duration of a Signal Jammer activated with the Enzyme Suppressants implant perk equipped and could grant an unintendedly long Signal Jammer duration when sliding.

Shells

Recon

Echo Pulse

Reduced the visibility of enemy Echo Pulse waves as they travel away from the activating Recon.
Echo Pulse pings now distinguish between enemy Runner and enemy UESC targets.
Signal Jammer no longer completely blocks Echo Pulse pings. Signal Jammed players now display the UESC ping navpoint instead of the Runner navpoint when hit by Echo Pulse.

Tracker Drone

Improved Tracker Drone tracking strength and turn rate.
Reduced Tracker Drone travel speed while it has no active target to help prevent it from overshooting tight corners that a target may be behind.
Tracker Drone now periodically reevaluates its tracking target. If it can no longer reach its original target, it will attempt to find a new one.

Destroyer

Thruster

Increased Thruster heat cost by approximately 9% to better account for its strong mobility and combat power.

Riot Barricade

Fixed an issue where Riot Barricade could be rapidly activated and deactivated without costing ability energy, allowing players to peek corners.

Thief

Pickpocket Drone

Each Pickpocket Drone can now accept a maximum of one Claymore attachment.
Increased Pickpocket Drone thruster audio volume to make active Pickpocket Drones easier to track.
Reduced Pickpocket Drone descent acceleration to more closely match ascent, making its movement feel more predictable.
Reduced the distance of the Pickpocket Drone rarity highlight on targets from 50m to 35m.
Reduced Pickpocket Drone base health from 70 to 60.

Triage

Med-Drone

Fixed an issue where Med-Drones could track to and attempt to attach to allied Pickpocket Drones, adorable as that might have been.
Fixed an issue where Med-Drones would sometimes not use the correct cosmetic color scheme based on the Triage’s equipped cosmetics.

Vandal

Amplify

Reduced Amplify base cooldown from 180 seconds to 150 seconds.

Rook

Signal Mask

Fixed an issue where swapping shield implants could cause Signal Mask to flicker.

Zones

Dire Marsh

Players standing in the location of the UESC Security Cache that spawns when Lockdown is started will now be pushed aside instead of through the floor.
Fixed issues preventing Rooks from being able to locate, stabilize, and then extract with Anomalous Samples.

Outpost

Added more potential spawn locations for the Conveyance Request for the elevator into the Drone Wing.
Restored the audio for the exhibit in Orientation.
Fixed an issue where players could get out of bounds in Dormitories.
Fixed an issue where the toxin debuff applied by the Unsanctioned Hostilities 4/5 contract couldn’t be cleared.

Released: March 5, 2026
ESRB: Teen / Animated Blood, Language, Violence, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
Multiplayer: Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op