Marathon classes, also known as runner shells in-game, all have different abilities and play different roles. Some classes will seem familiar — there’s a standard medic, for example — whereas others are a little unorthodox, as Marathon isn’t just another extraction shooter.
There are six Marathon classes in total in Season 1 — more will be added in future seasons — and while it’s tough to say which is the “best,” they do all have their strengths and weaknesses. Here are all the details on each of the six Marathon classes and their abilities.
Marathon classes list
Here are all Marathon classes listed along with their role according to Bungie:
- Assassin (shadow agent)
- Destroyer (combat specialist)
- Recon (intel specialist)
- Thief (covert acquisitions)
- Triage (field medic)
- Vandal (combat anarchist)
There’s also Rook, which is essentially a scavenger, used when you don’t want to sacrifice your own gear, but you can only join matches that are already in progress, and you can only play as Rook when solo.
Here are all six classes and their abilities explained.
Assassin
First up, the Assassin is all about being stealthy, as you might expect, given the name. It’s essentially a ninja. It has a number of tools to stay hidden, but the downside is that it isn’t as well-equipped for direct combat. As an Assassin, you’re better off staying unseen and striking when your enemy least expects it. This is the best class for solo players thanks to its ability to dip in and out of combat with ease.
- Prime ability: Smoke Screen
- Smoke Screen fires out a line of smoke grenades, creating essentially a wall of smoke. Thanks to the Assassin’s passive trait, Shroud, every time they enter this smoke, they turn invisible.
- Tactical ability: Active Camo
- Turn yourself invisible temporarily. Invisibility disappears when performing most actions, including but not limited to: firing your gun, taking damage, and using abilities. Even moving too fast will reduce the effectiveness of the invisibility.
- Trait 1: Shadow Dive
- While airborne, activate this to slam a smoke disc into the ground, triggering a smoke screen.
- Trait 2: Shroud
- Every time you enter a smoke cloud, turn invisible, and stay invisible for a few seconds after leaving the smoke.
Destroyer
The Destroyer is, for all intents and purposes, the tank. It’s aggressive, it’s designed to get into the fray as quickly as it can, and it has a shield. If your squad has a Destroyer, they need to lead the line, start combat engagements, and utilize their heat-seeking missiles. The only problem is, it struggles out in the open as it’s easy for enemies to flank behind. Destroyers should stick to close-quarters combat, which is where their abilities shine.
- Prime ability: Search and Destroy
- These are your heat-seeking missiles, deployed from your shoulder pads, that focus on targets you’ve dealt considerable damage to already in order to finish them off.
- Tactical ability: Riot Barricade
- Meanwhile, this is your shield. It’s an energy shield, which means it drains energy over time, and the more damage it absorbs, the faster it’s consumed. It’s not a full-body shield either; it’s big, but it’s rectangular, and must be held in front of you.
- Trait 1: Thruster
- While airborne, you can activate boosters that give you an extra burst of speed in the direction you’re moving.
- Trait 2: Tactical Sprint
- Sprint even faster than normal, but it generates additional heat. Every runner shell has a specific heat capacity, which is how many movement actions it can take before overheating.
Recon
The Recon shell, Bungie has revealed, was internally called the “fun police” before it got its proper name. That’s because Recon is all about being a detective as you track enemies, disable their capability to move and shoot, and highlight enemies on your HUD. If you break an enemy’s shield, they also leave footprints behind, so they’ll struggle to run away. If you’re familiar with Apex Legends, the Recon functions similarly to Bloodhound.
- Prime ability: Echo Pulse
- This sends out regular sonar pulses, revealing the locations of nearby enemies.
- Tactical ability: Tracker Drone
- The tracker drone, much like the Destroyer’s search and destroy, is also heat-seeking. This spider-bot tracks down nearby enemies, explodes, and overheats any foes in the explosion.
- Trait 1: Awareness
- Makes you aware when another enemy pings you. If you perform a finisher on an enemy, it shows you the location of their teammates.
- Trait 2: Stalker Protocol
- When you break an enemy’s shields, they leave behind footprints so you can track them.
Thief
The Thief is a great choice if your sole aim is to get as much loot as you can. It offers x-ray vision, showing you exactly where loot is behind walls, and it has a grappling hook that can latch onto anything — including thin air — to enable quick relocation. Finally, it has a flying drone that can steal loot from enemies and bring it back to you. The playstyle encourages you to be a loot goblin, then get the heck out of dodge.
- Prime ability: Pickpocket Drone
- Deploy a flying drone that you must pilot remotely, that can knock loot out of enemy hands and collect it, and ping enemies from afar.
- Tactical ability: Grapple
- A grappling hook that can launch you in any direction.
- Trait 1: X-Ray Visor
- Show loot through walls, including the rarity tier of the most valuable item any given container is holding. It also highlights any enemies you have line of sight too, and if you aim at an enemy for a brief window, it hacks their vision until you look elsewhere.
- Trait 2: Unnamed stat-booster
- Improve your weapon handling and the recharge rate of your Grapple Device based on how many items are in your backpack.
Triage
Triage is essentially the medic of Marathon, so if you want to operate as a support, this is the role to play. The pre-launch consensus is that the Triage is mandatory for any three-player squads, as it can revive allies at range, restore both health and shields, and can even apply an electromagnetic pulse to enemies when you break their shields with a volt-powered weapon.
- Prime ability: Capacitive Gauntlets
- Revive teammates from afar or inflict an EMP effect on enemies.
- Tactical ability: Med-Drone
- Deploy a drone that can either replenish your own health shields, or send it to heal an ally.
- Trait 1: Battery Overcharge
- Increased weapon performance and grants your battery weapons the power to EMP enemies when their shields break temporarily.
- Trait 2: Shareware
- Any teammates being healed by your Med-Drone also receive the benefits of any consumables you use.
Vandal
Finally, Vandal is the most agile of all the runners, and is capable of some seriously impressive stunts. Since it moves so much, it has high heat generation, but it’s incredibly quick and has tools to disrupt enemy combat encounters.
- Prime ability: Amplify
- When activated, temporarily gain increased movement speed, weapon handling, and reduced heat generation from movement abilities.
- Tactical ability: Disruptor
- Essentially a knockback grenade with a charging period. The longer you hold it, the more damage it deals and the bigger the blast radius, knocking enemies out of cover or off buildings.
- Trait 1: Microjets
- A double jump ability that generates additional heat.
- Trait 2: Power Slide
- A faster slide that allows the Vandal to travel further, but again, it generates additional heat.
As mentioned, there’s also the Rook, but it isn’t a typical runner. It doesn’t have any abilities outside of being able to stop non-player enemies from targeting it, and it must be played solo. Make sure you check out our top Marathon tips for more help getting to grips with the game.
