Marathon Season 2 Patch Notes

Marathon's Season 2 patch notes landed June 2, 2026 as update 1.1.0: the largest the game has seen since launch. Bungie did not come quietly. New runner, new map, new progression architecture, weapon balance pass, 100-plus bug fixes. If Season 1 was the beta nobody paid beta prices for, Season 2 is the apology tour.

The headline additions: Sentinel (defensive runner shell), Night Marsh (Dire Marsh after dark), and The Cradle (stat progression that doesn't require you to worship a specific faction for forty hours). Bungie also made it free-to-play until June 9. Because nothing says confidence like giving the product away.

Open Play: Marathon is free until June 9, 2026. Cryo Archive returns June 11. Ranked returns June 14.

Weapon Balance Changes

The most significant portion of the patch by volume. Bungie touched every weapon category and most individual attachments. What follows covers the changes that will actually alter how you play: not every minor stat decimal they moved by 3%.

New Weapons

• KKV-9SDNEW: Pistol-frame SMG with integrated suppressor and a folding stock. Close stock: hip-fire bonuses. Unfolded: ADS bonuses. Effective against UESC and runners without alerting nearby contacts. Synergizes with Sentinel.
• D54 Battle PistolNEW: Full-auto three-round burst sidearm. Medium rate of fire, high handling. Pairs well with any long-range primary and anyone who runs out of main weapon ammo immediately from Marathon map raids.

Weapon Buffs / Nerfs Summary

Sniper thermal optics and the Slick Mag family are removed from the game entirely. Sniper thermal optic was flagged as problematic in Season 1. It's gone. No replacement announced.

Implant Rework

Season 1 implants were confusing. Season 2 Marathon implant changes simplify them: each implant now has a single fixed perk and a fixed stat package. The implant is named after its perk. Rarity determines stat totals, not perk variety. You know what you're getting. This is notable because previously you might equip something hoping for one effect and get a completely different combination.

Notable New Implants

• Blindside (Head): Finisher on a downed runner grants Signal Jammer effect briefly.
• Going Dark (Torso): Channeling a healing consumable makes you invisible. Potentially very strong.
• Dynamo (Head): Increased agility and heat capacity when both abilities are fully charged. Stacks twice.
• Duck and Cover (Legs): Sliding increases self-repair speed and consumable use speed.
• Splash Guard (Torso): Taking splash damage briefly boosts agility. Grenade yourself with Sentinel. This is not irresponsible advice.
• Trailblazer Kit (Legs): After a melee/knife kill, next slide generates no Marathon item service.

Matchmaking and Ranked

High-stakes and low-stakes ranked queues are now merged into a single mode. In Season 1, Marathon ranked mode high-stakes queue was functionally dead: the population never justified splitting it. Now there's one queue. You queue with players at your rank. Simple. Ranked returns June 14, giving Bungie twelve days of Season 2 to let players establish new skill baselines before competitive locks back in.

• Duos queue: Now a regular option: one zone per day has an active duos marker.
• Matchmaking network preference: Experimental option to wait longer for geographically closer lobbies. Should reduce rubber banding for players outside Bungie's preferred server regions.
• New player protection: Fresh accounts more likely to match with other new accounts in early Season 2 window.
• Countdown timer: Matchmaking now shows a countdown before launching into a run.

Quality of Life and Bug Fixes

Marathon update 1.1.0 bug fixes number in the hundreds. Highlights that matter:

• Streamer mode added: hide names, replace yours with a generic tag, add matchmaking queue delay to prevent sniping.
• Weapon mods can now be dragged directly between weapons in loadout UI.
• Mods can be dragged from equipped weapons into containers mid-run.
• Mantle adjusted for more consistent terrain climbing. Railing bump bug fixed.
• Doors no longer desync from the server (usually).
• Priority contracts no longer require faction rank to access.
• Grenade ready animation extended 0.2 seconds: a subtle attempt at reducing grenade spam frequency.
• Frame generation support added on PC for players struggling with performance.
• CPU performance improvements: Bungie says this is the first of many planned rounds.
• Container-specific salvage removed. No more needing a specific container type for a specific item. The grind remains, but it is less baroque.
• Death boxes can no longer spawn out of bounds or in inaccessible areas.

Invisible wall fixes: Multiple zones had invisible walls blocking runner movement. Fixed. Geometry with improper hit detection: fixed. Broken ladders: fixed. One season late, but fixed via Marathon faction boost.