10 Marathon tips to help you conquer Tau Ceti IV

If Tau Ceti IV is feeling a little tough to get to grips with, you could do with some Marathon beginner's tips and tricks to help you get by. Bungie's extraction FPS is landing after Arc Raiders has taken the gaming world by storm, but despite sharing a genre, the two are vastly different experiences when you're in the thick of it.

Marathon also has a steep learning curve, so we're here to help ease you in a little. Here are our top Marathon tips that you might not know to help you loot up, kill enemies, and exfil successfully.

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Crouch or get in water to cool down

What you'll likely know as stamina in other games is known as heat in Marathon. It affects all of your movement-focused actions, including running, jumping, and sliding. If you overheat, you can still move, but not particularly quickly.

If you need to get rid of heat, crouch or get yourself in some water to cool down quickly.

Search the outskirts of each map for ammo and meds

If there's one complaint players regularly have about Marathon, it's that healing items and ammo are significantly more scarce than in other games of a similar ilk. There are two reasons it feels like that. Firstly, it's easy to use more consumables than required by engaging in unnecessary combat, especially against UESC enemies.

Secondly, players are looking in the wrong places. Lots of the top tier loot is found at named places of interest in the center of the map, but healing items and ammo are much more common around the outskirts. If you're finding yourself short, head to the edges of the map, then return to the fray once you're stocked up.

Stop and listen frequently to gauge where enemies are

Marathon has phenomenal sound design. UESC footsteps are loud, as are gunshots, and if other runners aren't sneaking around, you'll also hear them long before you see them. Since the time-to-kill is so quick in this game, even if you have a shield, you'll find much more success if you stop and listen before going around corners. If someone else sees you before you see them, chances are you're dead meat.

So take a minute to pause, prick your ears, and listen out for anyone nearby. This isn't a game you want to play without sound; crank your headphones up as loud as you can.

Running with your knife makes a lot of noise

You may be tempted to run everywhere with your knife out because it's considerably faster than equipping a gun, but we wouldn't recommend it, especially while you're still learning the lay of the land. The faster you're moving, the more noise you're making, and it takes a second to switch back to your guns. If you're spotted with your knife equipped, you'll be taken out before you can react.

Using your knife helps conserve ammo

However, when you have the jump on enemies, especially UESC recruits, sneak up behind them with your knife equipped. You can take them down with just a few stabs, conserve your ammo, and draw no attention to yourself.

The Rook is one way Marathon tackles the concept of a free loadout, but it comes with restrictions, such as only being able to use it when playing solo and only being able to load into matches that are already in progress. Sponsored kits, which function similarly to free loadouts, work a bit differently when compared to the Rook. With a sponsored kit, you can't bring in any additional equipment, but they give you a basic gun, some consumables, and allow you to play without sacrificing your gear.

Sponsored kits also come with one huge bonus: they always have an ammo crate in the equipment slot. Using it saves you the hassle of having to trek to the outskirts of the map, if you run out of bullets.

Be careful when reloading volt weapons

Volt weapons are interesting, because they're basically energy weapons. You don't need to bring as many magazines in for these weapons; if you move around with one equipped, it slowly recharges, and there's even a mod you can get that will recharge your ammo while stowed.

However, if you do reload a volt weapon — it's easy to do out of habit, reloading after you're done shooting — the rest of the magazine will be discarded. Much like any type of weapon would work in real life.

Smoke breaks line of sight for UESC enemies

Smoke is one of the most useful tools at your disposal in Marathon, because as soon as you enter it, UESC enemies have no idea where you've gone. If you ever find yourself overwhelmed by enemies, drop a smoke and use it to reposition, take cover, and heal up. Also, Assassins have the added benefit of going invisible whenever they're concealed by smoke, which lasts for two seconds after leaving too.

Hover over your objective on the map

Got a contract you're not sure where to go to complete? Hover over it on your map while in-game! It will show you more specific details, such as the location of your objective. The brief contract descriptions usually only specify the named location on the map, so this extra info will save you from needing to look up a third-party guide… although we'd recommend still doing that if you want the exact locations.

It isn't your gear, it's just your turn with it

This isn't a Marathon-specific tip, but it is an important one to remember in any game where you lose your gear if you die: don't treat your gear as yours, per se. You can overcome "gear fear" — aka being scared of losing all your stuff and therefore not using it — by having the mindset that everyone in Marathon is simply sharing the shiny, fun toys. If you die with some cool stuff, you're simply letting someone else have a turn with it, and your turn will come back around soon.

For more tips, check out our guides to all the Marathon weapons and classes.