Marathon is a competitive first-person extraction shooter where the difference between survival and being sent to the main menu is measured in milliseconds. In games like Marathon, getting every bit of advantage or leverage against the competition is a necessity, which is why these 5 tips and tricks will make survival and managing your inventory much easier.
1. Get free loot using Rook
Maximize the 'Eco-Meta'
In every extraction shooter, players need some form of ability to earn free loot. For EFT, it's scavving, and for ARC Raiders, it's using the free loadout. However, in Marathon, the best way to earn free loot is by using Rook. By spamming Rook in your matches, you can learn the maps and best spots to loot and engage in PvP without really putting anything at risk.
2. Switch to 'Display Item Value'
Optimizing the UI/UX
It's no secret that players have visibility issues with Marathon's UI. While certainly unique and highly stylized, the UX has reportedly been abysmal. One way to help players identify what's worth looting and what should be left behind is to switch the display. Instead of displaying item icons, the switch in the bottom-left corner of the inventory can display item values. This setting helps determine which loot to prioritize and eliminates ambiguity about the item's value.
3. Track your Faction Upgrades
Prioritizing loot for Faction Upgrades
There are currently 6 factions in the game, all with different needs for their upgrades. Finding and tracking all of them mentally is genuinely impossible, which is why the game features a tracking system. To use this feature, simply press the Track option when browsing the upgrade menu. This option provides you with a display that details what items you need, for which faction, and the quantity of those items needed. Also, when looting in-game, tracked items will have a green eye icon to indicate that they are required.
4. Best FOV is 100
Maximizing visibility for easier spotting
Marathon has large, open maps with many spots where players can ambush you and steal your loot. To reduce the chances of this happening, you can increase your FOV to gain a small yet significant advantage. Doing so widens your perception, allowing you to see more and potentially spot enemies hiding in corners or on rooftops. While amazing for spotting enemies, it does come with a cost. A higher FOV can reduce your frames since your system needs to render more assets at once, and reduces the zoom effect when you ADS.
5. Communication is key
The 'secret sauce' streamers use
Dropping into Tau Ceti IV solo is great and all, but let's be real, the game is balanced for trios and not solos. Playing with strangers can be frustrating because you can't really predict what they'll do. This fact makes being able to communicate with your teammates the single most important advantage you can give yourself. Bringing a bit of order and coordination to an otherwise chaotic battlefield can be the difference between extracting and dying. To do this, go into settings and enable Push-to-talk. This change gives you full control of when you want to speak to your teammates and coordinate efficient ambushes and responses.
