Marathon Characters, Runners, and Their Unique Skills

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Choosing the right Marathon character, or Runner Shell, is crucial to completing missions, collecting loot, and ultimately safe extraction. Each Shell is a biologically printed body that you can control, and it comes with its own set of tools and abilities to help you survive on Tau Ceti IV, the UESC, and against other players. You’ll find energy shields and healing drones for protection and team support, along with mobility tools like grappling hooks and power slides. So far, there are six Runner Shells in Marathon, plus a special character called Rook, which I’ll explain below.

Each Shell offers unique abilities suited to different playstyles. At the start, every Runner has a powerful Prime Ability, a Tactical Ability for combat situations, and two Traits. Traits can be passive benefits or mini-abilities, such as extra speed or enhanced senses. These abilities can be upgraded through loot or in-game unlocks, allowing you to build a powerful set of gear for your character. Combining abilities, weapons, and shields is key to creating effective builds, but there’s always the risk of losing everything if you don’t make it out alive. Also, you can have multiple copies of the same Shell in your team. Whether your team coordinates with identical characters or each picks a different one, the choice is yours.

Destroyer Shell
This Shell is for aggressive players who want to dive into battle. Its skills focus on charging into fights and avoiding damage. It’s perfect for those who like to brawl with enemies and take on tough drones.

Prime: Search and Destroy – Launch shoulder-mounted missiles that lock onto and fire at enemies you’ve dealt damage to.
Tactical: Riot Barricade – Deploy a frontal energy shield that absorbs damage, with its cooldown increasing the longer it stays active.
Traits: Thruster (a quick side dash while in the air) and Tactical Sprint (a faster sprint that generates more heat).

Assassin Shell
Designed for stealth, this Shell uses invisibility and smoke screens to stay hidden. Great for sneaking past enemies or setting up ambushes.

Prime: Smoke Screen – Throw a disc that releases a line of smoke, impairing enemy vision and disrupting optics.
Tactical: Active Camo – Turn invisible temporarily. Moving faster makes you less visible, but actions like shooting or taking damage reveal your position.
Traits: Shadow Dive (drop to the ground creating a smoke cloud that prevents fall damage) and Shroud (become invisible when entering a smoke cloud, with invisibility lasting a few seconds).

Recon Shell
This character excels at revealing and tracking enemies. Its abilities are perfect for hunting down targets, making it a good choice for players who enjoy reconnaissance.

Prime: Echo Pulse – Send out sonar waves that reveal nearby enemies, even if they’re invisible.
Tactical: Tracker Drone – Launch a small robot that seeks out enemies, explodes on contact, and causes burn damage and movement limits.
Traits: Awareness (alerts you when enemies ping or are tagged) and Stalker Protocol (leaves footprints after shields are broken, making enemies easier to follow).

Vandal Shell
This Shell is highly mobile and disrupts enemies with powerful attacks. It’s best for chaos and close-quarters combat, but it generates a lot of heat.

Prime: Amplify – Boost movement speed, handling, and reduce heat buildup for movement abilities temporarily.
Tactical: Disruptor – Fire an energy blast that damages and pushes enemies back; holding the fire button increases its power.
Traits: Microjets (double jump with added heat) and Power Slide (fast, extended slide risking more heat).

Thief Shell
Focused on looting, the Thief is perfect for gathering gear and escaping quickly.

Prime: Pickpocket Drone – Control a drone that can steal loot from enemies and retrieve it.
Tactical: Grapple – Fire a dart and reel yourself toward it for rapid movement.
Traits: X-Ray Visor (see through walls to find loot and spot enemies) and a passive trait that boosts stats and grapple recharge the more loot you carry.

Triage Shell
A support-focused character that helps keep allies alive and healthy.

Prime: Capacitive Gauntlets – Fire shocking tendrils to zap enemies or revive allies from a distance.
Tactical: Med-Drone – Deploy a drone that heals and shields your team.
Traits: Battery Overcharge (improves weapon performance and EMP ability) and Shareware (teammates healed by your drone share the benefits of consumables you use).

Rook Scavenger Frame
Rook is a unique character, mainly playable solo. You cannot join teams or bring gear from your vault into matches, but you start with basic gear and have a special disguise ability that makes UESC drones ignore you temporarily.
This character’s main ability is a UESC disguise that allows you to blend in, making it harder for enemies and drones to detect you. Rook is ideal for players who want to focus on looting and scavenging without risking high-value items. Playing as Rook means risking being sent to solo matches where others don’t get notified of your arrival, making it more challenging but also more strategic for certain playstyles.

These six Shells, plus Rook, make up the initial roster of characters in Marathon. More are expected to be added over time. Content updates and new characters will likely follow, and we’ll keep this guide updated with any new information as it becomes available.