The Marathon ship contains some of the absolute best loot in the game, with multiple locked rooms containing Prestige items. To open these, you'll need specialized Marathon keys for the Cryo Archive to take full advantage, but these are extremely rare and only appear in very specific sources. This guide will show you where to get these Marathon keys consistently so you can make some bank with Cryo Archive’s treasures.
Best Sources to Farm Cryo Archive Keys
#1: Warden Bosses
The Warden bosses have a chance to appear on a map whenever you spawn in. These bosses are located in Overflow for Perimeter, Algae Ponds for Dire Marsh, and Dormitories for Outpost. Each time you kill these bosses, they have a good chance of dropping a Marathon key, but be careful, as they’re extremely tough to kill even with a full crew. They will also drop a Deluxe to Superior weapon at a minimum.
#2: Outpost Prestige Room
In Pinwheel Base, there is a room in front of the door to the Command Wing that requires 2 Master Clearance Codes and 1 Supply Clearance Code to open, rather than the standard keycards for most locked rooms. This room contains a supply crate that is 100% guaranteed to contain a Marathon key ranging from Deluxe rarity to Prestige. This method can be risky, as there are only two ways to access Pinwheel Base: the Security Breach method, which is loud, and the Conveyance Request method, which allows only one player or one team to enter silently.
#3: Locked Rooms
Each zone may contain a Prestige-level locked room that also guarantees Marathon keys in one of its containers. Note that lower rarity locked rooms are less likely to have these. You can discern the value of the room by the rarity of the key, as Deluxe keys only open locked rooms with Deluxe loot at the highest, while Prestige keys guarantee Prestige loot.
#4: UESC Commanders
The Commander enemies are far more common than Wardens and can be found in most PoIs. These enemies usually contain a higher value loot pool than the drops from Recruits, Ghosts, or Assault UESC. Commanders may not always drop a key, but the standard loot they drop is valuable in its own right, as they usually drop Deluxe valuables. They’re the least risky option, but you would have to get lucky for one to drop from them.
