Marathon Update 1.0.6 Patch Notes Highlights – Season 1 Mid-Season Update

Bungie has released their extraction shooter Marathon’s first major update for season 1 that’s meant to shake up the meta and give a fresh spin on the game after being out for over a month. Based on player feedback, nerfs and buffs were implemented, alongside improvements to player onboarding and UI. There’s also a new event that entices players to play nice.

The mid-season update can be read here as it’s a long list of changes, but here are the highlights.

Marathon Update 1.0.6 Highlights

C.A.R.R.I. Event Now Live

The first event for the game is live and it’s generally meant for players to help other Runners to complete their objectives when grouped, and exfiling together as solo players. Yes, if you cooperate to leave together, you get rewarded.

The C.A.R.R.I. event will last until the rest of the season as each exfil can reward you with CyberAcme Commendations, a new material that lets you buy unique items from the new section of the CyberAcmen armory. It’s another batch of gear to buy, but the interesting one here is that you can use this new currency to buy items that increase faction experience for each of the other factions, giving players another opportunity to speed up their progress on a specific faction.

Solo Progress might be easier and more friendly

I don’t expect Arc Raiders levels of cooperation with the new event, but there might be more VOIP usage in solo after this patch as players can now use the new Mercy Kit item that allows players to revive downed enemy runners.

The patch also increased faction reputation gains while playing solo, as it was slower to progress compared to playing with a team. Lastly, they also included a cheap self-revive kit that can be found in raids, which again gives another element to stay alive in case AI takes you down when playing free kits or a cheaper kit.

New Player Experience Changes

When players start playing the game for the first time, the first map Perimeter will have its beginner version last until Seasonal Level 12, allowing solos to not encounter players until season level 12. They also added five new contracts (quests) that will only be available in Perimeter (beginner) for new and existing players below level 12 to help understand the game’s systems more.

UI has been updated as well as icons for Implants, Weapon Chips, and more have been changed to hopefully make it easier to distinguish what it is at first glance. We’ll have to see if that will be the case after a few games.

Hopefully this helps as this is one of the biggest pain points for a game this punishing. If you are new and starting out, here’s my beginner’s guide that will hopefully make things a bit easier for you.

Thermals gutted, Snipers, Biotoxic Disinjector, and bully SMG Nerfed

This is the spicy section of the update as the most performing weapons have been adjusted. Bully SMG is essentially less reliable at hitting targets as before, which is reasonable considering that this is the go-to weapon for even highly geared players in Cryo. It’s a fantastic gun and it being less accurate gives other guns a chance to look viable. Expect the Copperhead RF and BRRT SMG to make the rounds in raids as these weapons are hardly used due to the Bully existing.

Snipers are heavily nerfed for this patch. For one, rare thermal attachments are removed from the game entirely, making thermals rare for snipers and other guns as I believe the purple mods with thermals are left. The real kicker is that the Longshot’s rate of fire was nerfed from 90 RPM to 60 RPM, rightfully so as getting hit by the sniper felt like I was getting hit by a single-shot rifle with good rate of fire. They also lessened the accuracy from repeated shots, so don’t expect easy kills now with this rifle. Outland also received a rate of fire nerf from 43 RPM to 39 RPM.

The change in snipers alone will change the meta considerably, especially in Dire Marsh.

Lastly, the Biotoxic Disinjector, the red weapon you get after beating the boss in CryoArchive, received another wave of nerfs across the board. The grenades it spits out isn’t as effective, and these grenades can now damage the player with the weapon.

Railguns Improved

Across the board all railguns have been improved as we hardly see them being used, and one of the big reasons is that charging the weapon at full will automatically shoot the charged shot, so it was difficult to time the shot and make it connect. Now, we can hold it indefinitely.

The VOO Zeus RG and Ares RG have been buffed with increased base magazine sizes, improved charge times and more. A good change considering it’s more used to sell than use due to its value cost.

Recon Buffs Could Make the Shell Meta

The changes to the Recon Shell are live in this update and essentially makes it a true wall-hack of a Shell. The Recon’s Echo Pulse can now distinguish which are UESC or enemy players, and Tracker Drones are said to be more reliable now when used.

We’ll see, but clearly knowing if there’s an enemy player with Echo Pulse is a game changer in terms of team compositions and possible solo, as solo runs are mostly infested with Assassins staying in the shadows.

11 New Deluxe (Blue Rarity) Unique Weapons Added

This is one of the most exciting additions to the patch as Perimeter and Dire Marsh now have 11 new rare weapon variations. I’m still not entirely sure what these uniques are, but these types of weapons are essentially weapons with a mod that can’t be removed from the weapon but makes it stand out from the standard versions of that weapon type.

There’s more to the new patch, but these are the biggest changes that will likely shake up the game for all players.

Want my full thoughts on Marathon after over 100 hours? Here’s my review.

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About the Author - Carlos Hernandez

Carlos Hernandez is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Too Much Gaming, where he writes about video games, reviews, and industry news. A lifelong gamer, he would do anything to experience Final Fantasy Tactics for the first time again and has a love/hate relationship with games that require hunting for new gear to improve your character.