All Runners in Marathon and their abilities

Marathon is Bungie’s latest extraction shooter, which is already getting plenty of buzz despite not releasing until September. Regardless, thanks to the Alpha, we have all the details on the Runners you can play as when it finally drops.

While Marathons nature as a paid game and removal of proximity chat have been quite controversial among the game’s budding community, there’s no denying there’s a fair amount of hype surrounding Bungie’s latest adventure.

Players come together in teams of three to destroy other players, grab loot, and ensure they don’t lose a battle, or all of that aforementioned loot will disappear. While succeeding is mostly down to skill, it’s also down to fully understanding your Runner. So, here’s all you need to know.

All Runners in Marathon

Currently, there are four different Runners (classes) you can play as in Marathon, though this number will be going up when the game releases in September.

Blackbird

Bungie

• Kit Type: Scout

Blackbird thrives as a scout, spotting enemy and player locations all while tackling them from a safe distance.

• Prime Ability: Echo Pulse
  • Activate your shell’s advanced detection systems, releasing a series of sonar pulses that reveal the location of nearby hostiles.
• Tactical Ability: Tracker Drone
  • Deploy a mechanized microbot that tracks down nearby hostiles and explores, overheating any targets caught in the blast.
• Trait 1: Interrogation
  • When pinged by a hostile Runner, you automatically receive a warning in your shell’s HUD. Performing a finisher on a Runner pings their crew.
• Trait 2: Stalker Protocol
  • After breaking a combatant’s shields they leave behind a lingering holographic trail for a short time.

Locus

Bungie

• Kit type: Destroyer

Locus is a brutal soldier best used for those who like gunfights and pushing their loadouts. They’ve got a strong offense and weaker defense, meaning aggression is the key feature here.

• Prime Ability: Search and Destroy
  • Activate your shoulder-mounted missile launchers to deal sustained damage to targets, launching homing missiles, immobilizing, and dealing damage on impact.
• Tactical Ability: Riot Barricade
  • Activate an energy barricade that blocks incoming damage, draining tactical ability energy over time. Taking damage drains additional energy.
• Trait 1: Thruster
  • Activate while airborne to fire boosters that thrust you in the direction you are moving.
• Trait 2: Tactical Sprint
  • Double-press sprint to move faster at the cost of generating additional heat.

Void

Bungie

• Kit type: Stealth

Void thrives when they go unseen. They’re a stealth class that uses active camo, smoke grenades, and careful positioning to take the enemy down without being spotted.

• Prime Ability: Smoke Screen
  • Throw a smoke disc that emits a line of smoke fields in front of you, disrupting the optics of those who step inside.
• Tactical Ability: Active Camo
  • Activate your shell’s camouflage systems, pulling a shroud of invisibility over yourself. Performing offensive actions, taking damage, and using abilities or consumables briefly disrupts your invisibility.
• Trait 1: Shadow Dive
  • Activate while airborne to slam a smoke disc into the ground, deploying a smoke field.
• Trait 2: Shroud
  • Your shell automatically activates camouflage systems when entering any smoke field, making you invisible. Invisibility persists for a short time after leaving the smoke field.

Glitch

Bungie

• Kit type: Disruptor

Glitch is all about speed and agility, dominating through positioning and bringing enemy players out of their comfort zones.

• Prime Ability: Amplify
  • Overcharge your movement systems, reducing the heat buildup of movement abilities. Increases movement speed and weapon dexterity.
• Tactical Ability: Disruptor
  • Transform your arm into a cannon and fire a high-powered energy projectile that deals damage and pushes targets away. Hold down to overcharge the arm cannon, greatly increasing the size and damage of the blast.
• Trait 1: Microjets
  • Activate in the air to perform another jump at the cost of generating additional heat.
• Trait 2: Power Slide
  • Grants a supercharged slide that generates additional heat.

How do Runners work?

Runners are essentially Marathon’s versions of heroes or classes, depending on what games you play. When diving into the game, you’ll need to choose one of the available Runners as your primary class, to which you’ll gain their abilities and playstyle.

As such, each has its own best loadouts, ideal way to play, and of course, their own abilities that you’ll need to master.

How many Runners will there be?

As highlighted by Bungie, when the game fully releases in September, there will be six different available Runners, and therefore classes, for you to choose from.

During the Alpha, there will be four, but two more will be added shortly after. Naturally, there’s no word regarding any new classes coming after the game’s released as no roadmap has been revealed.

If there are any changes, we’ll be sure to update this article, so check back soon.

In the meantime, be sure to check out how to sign up for Marathon’s closed Alpha test to try out the game early.