If you’re an extraction shooter fan who enjoys the process of customizing your playstyle and loadouts, Marathon should be right up your alley with its distinct class system, which assigns a selection of abilities to your character based on which of its seven Shell types you’re using. Whether you’re an aggressive, fast-paced player seeking to strike down your foes in style, a loot goblin who just wants to stuff their backpack, or a more supportive player who wants to aid in keeping your team safe, rest assured that there’s a Shell for everyone.
Knowing which type of class will work best for you might spell the difference between surviving and dying when venturing into Marathon’s dangerous world. Below, we’ll fill you in on each of Marathon’s Shells, what to expect from their playstyle, and what their unique kits bring to the table to help you fight your way to extraction.
Destroyer
The Destroyer class is ideal for players who like to go in guns blazing with some tanking abilities for protection.
- Prime: Search & Destroy – Shoots homing missiles that will deal damage to enemies
- Tactical: Riot Barricade – Spawns a shield of energy to block incoming damage
- Trait: Thruster – Lets you dash in any direction
- Trait: Tactical Sprint – Makes you move faster but generates more heat
Assassin
The Assassin class is pretty much exactly what you’d expect, allowing you to disrupt your foes and sneak in for kills.
- Prime: Smoke Screen – Throws down smoke to block enemy sightlines
- Tactical: Active Camo – Turns you invisible temporarily, but is canceled when you use any other actions
- Trait: Shadow Dive – Causes you to dive down and create a field of smoke
- Trait: Shroud – Turns you invisible by default when you’re within your smoke
Recon
As the name suggests, the Recon class is great for tracking other players and providing valuable intel to your team.
- Prime: Echo Pulse – Sends out sonar pulses to reveal the location of other players
- Tactical: Tracker Drone – Sends out a tiny bot that tracks nearby enemies before exploding and overheating them
- Trait: Interrogation – Alerts you when an enemy pings you
- Trait: Stalker Protocol – When you break an enemy’s shield, they’ll leave behind a trail you can follow
Triage
Serving as a medic on the battlefield, the Triage class is an important member of any team that might just keep everyone in the fight long enough to come out on top.
- Prime: Capacitive Gauntlets – Can be used to revive teammates or hit enemies
- Tactical: Med-Drone – Sends out a healing drone that can provide health and shields for your team
- Trait: Battery Overcharge – Allows your weapon to EMP enemies when breaking their shields
- Trait: Shareware – Grants your boosts to any teammate being held by a Med-Drone when you use consumables
Thief
The Thief class is all about the loot ‘n scoot playstyle, meaning you’ll be focused on rapid movement and gathering resources.
- Prime: Pickpocket Drone – Lets you control a flying drone to attack UESC drones and other players, causing them to drop loot you can then pick up
- Tactical: Grapple – Sends a dart out that you’ll then be able to use for grappling
- Trait: X-Ray Visor – Lets you see loot containers and enemies through walls
- Trait: ? – We’re still waiting to learn more about this trait.
Vandal
The Vandal is great for players who want to stay on the move and be as frustrating for the enemy team as possible.
- Prime: Amplify – Grants you increased movement speed and weapon handling while reducing your heat generation from movement-based abilities
- Tactical: Disruptor – Fires a burst of energy to push away enemies from a location and deal damage to them, with the size and damage of the blast increasing based on how long you hold the button
- Trait: Microjets – Lets you double jump, but generates additional heat
- Trait: Power Slide – Your slide distance and speed increase, but it generates additional heat
Rook
The Rook is a unique “free loadout” class and can only be played while venturing solo. This class is limited to joining in-progress matches and can’t be equipped with anything from your vault, so it’s best used for basic loot runs with a focus on simply surviving and getting back home with a fresh batch of stuff.
