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Marathon: Items Explained – Mods, Consumables, Currency and More!
Learn how Marathon items work, including rarity levels, weapon mods, cores, implants, consumables, key cards, and more! Video guides are also available.
The Important Details
- Items are part of your build, not just your backpack. Marathon’s customization loop is built around moddable weapons, implants, and core system upgrades tied to your Runner shell.
- Focus on swapping weapon mods, cores, and implants outside a run rather than in the heat of the moment…you never know who or what is lurking nearby.
- Consumables are your survival layer. Current guides consistently frame healing, shields, debuff-cleansing, and utility consumables as high-value inventory decisions during extraction runs.
March 21, 2026
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START HERE, RUNNER
ITEMS OVERVIEW & RARITIES
- Items are the gear and support tools you bring into, find during, and extract from a run.
- They generally fall into a few main buckets:
- Weapons
- Weapon mods / attachments
- Cores
- Implants
- Consumables
- Ammo, loot, and other carried resources
- Marathon has a buildcrafting system built around moddable weapons, body implants, and core upgrades.
WEAPONS AND WEAPON MODS
- Your Runner shell is your foundation.
- Your cores and implants shape how that shell performs.
- Your weapons can be tuned through mods and attachments.
- Your consumables help you survive fights, recover, or counter threats mid-run.
- A few notes:
- You can swap cores, implants, and weapon mods outside a run.
- Inspecting a weapon outside a run opens the mod workbench.
- Not all cores are universal; only Standard (gray) cores work on every shell, while others are shell-specific.
WEAPON RARITIES
- Item rarity follows a tiered color-coded system that indicates the value, complexity, and scarcity of gear.
- Notably, weapon rarity is dynamic and primarily determined by the quality and/or number of attachments or mods currently equipped on the gun.
HOW RARITY WORKS
- Weapon Scaling: Unlike other shooters where a “Rare” gun is a fixed drop, a gray magnum can become a blue magnum if you install higher-tier attachments, like a blue barrel.
- Gameplay Impact: Higher rarity doesn’t just buff stats; it can introduce unique mechanics like invisibility backpacks or burst-fire shotguns.
- Acquisition: Most loot in standard containers is gray or green.
- Higher rarities (Purple and Gold) are generally secured behind locked vaults in locations like the Cryo Archive or Pinwheel Base, requiring specific key cards.
RARITY LEVELS
- The standard progression of rarity, from most common to most coveted, is as follows:
- Standard (Gray/White): Common base items and resources with no or basic mods.
- Enhanced (Green): Uncommon tier, often containing basic improvements or low-level key cards.
- Deluxe (Blue): Rare items that typically offer better stats or more attachment slots.
- Superior (Purple): High-tier gear with advanced effects, often found in locked rooms requiring purple key cards.
- Prestige (Gold/Yellow): The most elite tier, providing significant gameplay shifts or “special effects” that change how a weapon functions. For Destiny players, this would be considered exotic-level.
- Red: A highly exclusive rarity level found only in endgame activities, such as Cryo Archive.
WEAPONS AND WEAPON MODS
- Weapons are one of the main pillars of your loadout.
- In short…
- Mods let you tune how a weapon behaves
- Some improve consistency or handling
- Some lean into utility or survivability
- Some can push a weapon into a more specialized role
- Mods can influence a weapon’s overall rarity/profile, and some specialized mods appear to alter how the weapon functions rather than just nudging stats.
AMMO
- Typically used by standard, high-rate-of-fire assault rifles and SMGs (e.g., Overrun AR).
- They offer high stability but lower damage per hit.
- Used by high-caliber weapons like the Bully SMG or Demolition rifle.
- They offer high damage and significant stopping power but often come with higher recoil.
- Specialized ammo for high-damage, single-shot, or high-impact weapons, such as sniper rifles and shotguns.
- Used by energy-based weapons.
- Sprinting slowly regenerates ammo.
- Reloading a Volt weapon discards any remaining energy in the magazine.
- High-capacity, energy-based ammunition used for advanced, electrified weaponry.
- They function as magazines for energy weapons (like the V75 Scar or V00 Zeus).
- Sprinting slowly regenerates ammo.
- Reloading a Volt weapon discards any remaining energy in the magazine.
WEAPON MOD TYPES
- Customizable attachments that modify weapon stats and performance, with most weapons supporting 3-4 slots for components like Chip, Magazine, Barrel, and Grip mods.
- These attachments can be swapped in your loadout, increase weapon rarity (e.g., green/blue), and are essential for maximizing combat efficiency.
- Refer to the top left icons on the images below to understand which mods are for what weapon component.
- Mods can be swapped by pressing ‘V’ (or your keybind) while hovering over a weapon in your loadout.
- Mods can be found in the field or through supply drops.
- The rarity of a weapon is determined by the rarity of the attached mods.
- Universal slot providing direct, core performance stat boosts.
- Changes ammunition capacity and reload behavior.
- Influences range, accuracy, and handling.
- Improves stability and control.
CORES, IMPLANTS, EQUIPMENTS AND SHIELDS
- Cores are closer to shell upgrades.
- Implants are closer to passive perks and stat tuning.
- Together, they help determine how your shell plays before you even fire a shot.
- Not every core is universal, so shell compatibility matters.
- Class-specific, high-impact modifiers that change how your Runner Shell operates.
- You can equip two Cores per run.
- They often add new mechanics or drastically enhance existing abilities, such as allowing a Vandal to turn their arm cannon into a mobility tool for rocket jumping or letting a thief use a second grapple.
- They are usually locked to a specific Shell archetype (e.g., Recon vs. Triage).
- Universal, wearable tech that can be used by any Runner Shell.
- You have three slots (Head, Torso, Legs).
- They primarily boost base stats (e.g., higher heat capacity, faster agility) and provide a random perk.
- They provide raw stat enhancements rather than changing the fundamental mechanics of a skill, allowing for fine-tuning a build’s performance.
- In-match tools (tactical gear) for survival or navigation.
- These are generally items that directly aid in looting, survival, and escaping the map rather than modifying your character’s abilities.
- Typically limited per run; there are various grenades and claymores, some for damage or survival, like smoke.
- The primary defensive layer for your Runner Shell, crucial for surviving high Time-to-Kill (TTK) encounters.
- These occupy a specific, often missed, slot in your loadout.
- They protect your health bar and can be upgraded for higher capacity (e.g., Enhanced Shields).
- While implants provide minor survival buffs, the Shield is your main protection against damage.
CONSUMABLES EXPLAINED
- Consumables are your emergency tools during a run.
- Some restore health or shields.
- Some clear dangerous status effects or software disruption.
- Some boost mobility, cooldowns, or stealth.
- It is recommended to bring a mix of health, shield, and cleansing consumables per run.
MEDICAL, SHIELD AND SURVIVAL CONSUMABLES
- Patch Kits restore health.
- Shield Charges restore shields.
- Higher-tier medical items are stronger, faster, or more complete recovery tools.
- Self Revive is especially valuable for solo play.
- ONI Tip: Bring healing if you want your loot to survive longer than your optimism.
- Restores your health.
- Higher rarity medical consumables restore more health.
- Recommended to have on every run, if available.
- Restores your shield.
- Higher rarity shield consumables recharge your shield to full, and faster.
- Allows for self-revive when downed.
- This can be found around the maps, or sometimes purchasable via the armory once completing the Introducing NuCaloric Priority Contract and unlocking the Self-Revive item in the NuCal’s skill tree,
- It can take up to 10 seconds to revive yourself with these consumables.
- Extremely beneficial to have on hand if downed by a PvE combatant.
- Fully restores health, fully recharges shields, and removes hazardous status effects.
- This includes removing negative effects like toxins and frost!
UTILITY AND CLEANSING CONSUMABLES
- Some consumables fix problems instead of restoring health.
- Mechanical cleanse tools remove physical or environmental effects, like getting hit by spores.
- Software cleanse tools counter hacking or EMP-style disruption.
- These are more situational than healing, but can save a run in the right zone or fight.
- Helps remove OS debuffs such as the effects of being hacked or from an emp blast.
- Maximizes your Firewall stat for a duration, with added benefits the greater the rarity.
- Helps remove hazardous effects such as frost, immobilize, overheat and toxin.
- Maximizes your Hardware stat for a duration, with added benefits the greater the rarity.
- This allows you to safely enter the “Big Red Lockdown” force field zones without taking instant damage.
- It acts as a protective buffer that slowly depletes while active, allowing runners to navigate high-threat, restricted areas, clear corruption, and secure high-tier loot.
- It mitigates, but does not completely eliminate, the damage over time, allowing for temporary survival in restricted areas.
- Temporarily scrambles your visual profile, obscuring your appearance to hostile Runners, UESC, and various sensors.
- It allows you to safely pass through enemy mines, such as Claymores, and is ideal for escaping or sneaking past squads while carrying high-value loot.
PERFORMANCE AND STEALTH TOOLS
- Some consumables are about momentum, not recovery.
- Use them to move faster, recharge abilities, or avoid detection.
- These tools are often strongest when used before a push, escape, or extraction attempt.
- Provides a massive burst of stamina, allowing you to quickly rotate around a flanking squad or outrun a closing threat.
- Temporarily spikes your Agility (movement speed) and Heat Capacity (stamina/overheat management).
- Helps in chasing down enemy players or to get the frak out of intense combat.
- Increases the recharge rate of your Runner’s primary and tactical abilities, the greater amount the higher the rarity.
- It is ideal for use just before or during a heavy fight to allow for spamming abilities.
- When paired with specific upgrades, it can allow for sustained, high-uptime abilities (e.g., permanent invisibility with certain builds).
- Is your build ability-focused? Stock up on these!
KEY CARDS AND HIGH-TIER MATERIALS
- Runners (players) can find high-value items like Gold Key Cards (e.g., Cryo Archive keys) to unlock restricted loot, along with premium materials like Alien Alloys, Ballistic Turbines, and Hazard Capsules.
- These rare, prestige-tier items are often secured in locked rooms or high-tier vaults found in locations such as the Outpost’s Pinwheel Base.
VALUABLE KEY CARDS AND LOOT
- Gold Key Cards/Prestige Keys: These open high-tier vaults and prestige-locked rooms, often in the Cryo Archive.
- Purple Key Cards: These are considered high-tier, frequently opening special locked rooms containing elite gear like deluxe guns, mods, and backpacks.
- Green Cards: More common than gold or purple, these can be found frequently in areas like the Rook map, offering access to lower-level locked areas.
Where can you find keys?
- Warden Bosses, UESC Commanders, and specific lockboxes found in buildings with red flares are primary sources.
Prestige and High-Tier Materials
- Alien Alloy: A high-value item often found in Cryo Archive vaults or Locked Rooms [Prestige].
- Ballistic Turbine & Hazard Capsule: Rare materials needed for faction upgrades, typically locked behind Prestige keys in the Outpost’s Pinwheel Base.
- Biogenic Alloy: Found in locked rooms and used for advanced upgrades.
HOW TO THINK ABOUT ITEM VALUE
- Not every item is worth keeping.
- Prioritize gear that supports:
- Survival
- Your shell build
- Your weapon setup
- Your extraction goal
- Treat some low-impact consumables as “use now” items instead of stash items.
- Backpack space matters, so every slot should justify itself, especially in more difficult maps like Outpost.
WHY ITEMS MATTER ACROSS SEASONS
- Item knowledge will matter more over time, not less.
- Marathon’s seasonal model expands the available gear and build options.
- Understanding item roles now makes it easier to adapt when new metas and loadout paths emerge, especially at season resets.
VIDEO GUIDES
// ONI CONNECTION SUCCESSFUL
12:48
9:31
4:50
19:28
ASSESS // CONSUMABLES
1:06
10:47
ASSERT // I LIKE GOLD
12:51
25:50
29:35
9:20
ASSERT // WHERE KEY?
5:38
5:18
0:31
4:21
21:31
END
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