How to Play as Destroyer in Marathon

In Bungie's new extraction shooter, Marathon, surviving is easier said than done. In order to fend off wave after wave of UESC forces, hostile runners, or weird alien lifeforms, you'll need to know your characters' abilities and tech inside and out.

Out of the six classes known as 'shells', the destroyer is definitely one of the most versatile, but getting used to the playstyle will take a bit of practice.

In this guide, I'll show you how to use the destroyer's high-mobility, high-damage kit to its full potential in Marathon, and become a riot-shield-wielding, missile-launching legend.

Destroyer Abilities, Explained

• Search and Destroy (Prime): Dealing sustained damage to targets launches homing missiles, immobilizing and dealing damage upon impact.
• Riot Barricade (Tactical): Toggle an energy barricade that blocks incoming damage, draining tactical ability energy over time. Taking damage drains additional energy.
• Thruster (Trait): Activate while airborne to fire boosters that thrust you in the direction you are moving.
• Tactical Sprint (Trait): Double-press sprint to move faster at the cost of generating additional heat.

Despite the name, the destroyer shell is more than just a formidable offensive force that shines bright while engaging enemy teams, it's also an excellent protector.

In the right hands, the destroyer becomes a life-saving, defensive tool that will frustrate your opposition and buy your team precious time to heal or revive each other when combat gets hectic.

Destroyer Strategies

Be the savior of your squad by soaking up damage. When you encounter swarms of UESC, be the first runner on your team to draw their attention, and quickly deploy your riot barricade.

This will give your teammates a better opportunity to deal sustained damage and eliminate targets quickly while you distract them. If you look closely in the picture above, you'll notice the UESC unit is focused on my destroyer, while my assassin teammate has positioned themselves behind the enemy for an easy kill.

As you traverse the landscape, it's almost inevitable that sometimes you'll get caught out in the open, but as long as a destroyer is present, you'll always have cover. Stay close to your teammates, and be ready to protect them when an ambush occurs.

When you're not saving lives, use the destroyer as a frontline, damage-dealing fanatic. Whether it's enemy runners or powerful UESC units, push aggressively and use the destroyer's prime ability, search and destroy, to fire missiles at your target and start each conflict off with a bang.

When you activate search and destroy, you'll need to deal sustained damage to your target before your missiles will lock on and fire. Once you begin damaging your target, yellow bars will appear in the middle of your screen (seen above), indicating the lock-on process has begun.

Continue dealing damage to the same target until all three bars have turned yellow as seen in the picture above. As the search and destroy ability also immobilizes your target in addition to dealing damage, the destroyer is extremely effective at engaging battles and setting up your squad for big-time plays.

Best Team Composition

The best team composition I've experienced so far has been: destroyer, triage, assassin. This trio brings an incredible amount of sustain and utility, as well as strong PvP potential.

The key in this formula is using the destroyer to bait and annoy your enemies using the riot barricade, while the assassin slips into the shadows and prepares to attack from the flank.

While the assassin and destroyer are out causing mayhem, triage, the field medic, will be ready to provide life-saving healing and speedy reboots when things get too chaotic.

The sustain provided by triage compliments the defensive capabilities of the destroyer perfectly. For those blood-pumping moments where you're low-health, out of meds, and under-fire, this trio still has plenty of tricks up their sleeves to help you come out on top.