Bungie is about to usher in a new season of Marathon next month, but before it does, it’s making sure Season 1 goes out with a bang.
Season 1 ends on June 2

The first season of Marathon did a more than solid job establishing the world of Bungie’s new sci-fi shooter, and Bungie has done a lot of balancing work in the weeks since the game’s March 5 launch to make sure players are having fun looting, fulfilling contracts, and extracting. It’s also made some small tweaks to help newer players get up to speed and acclimated to Marathon‘s often intense and challenging gameplay loop.
Season 2 is starting on June 2, and Bungie has already put out a lot of information about the new season. Perhaps the biggest addition is the arrival of Sentinel, the newest playable shell that fans are excited to learn more about. Then, there’s the nighttime variant of Dire Marsh named Night Marsh that will provide players with a new set of challenges in the familiar zone. The return of duos has also been confirmed by Bungie, and the game’s director, Joe Ziegler, has expressed interest in experimenting with PVP modes in the game’s near future, potentially during Season 2.
New Marathon update adds Warden Hunt

There are still two weeks left in Season 1, and Bungie is making sure its final days will be worthwhile for players. Marathon’s new 1.0.9 update is adding “Warden Hunt,” which isn’t exactly a new mode but a series of changes that make the game’s incredibly dangerous Warden enemies appear more often. Post-update, players will be running into Wardens at more points of interest across the game’s three base areas, Perimeter, Dire Marsh, and Outpost. Wardens pose such a major threat that sometimes players opt to steer clear. However, players may want to take the opposite approach entirely, as each one is now guaranteed to drop locked room keys.
To help players enjoy their time in the game as Season 1 winds down, Update 1.0.9 is granting all players +50% runner and faction XP, which will allow them to level up quicker. However, the benefits of these XP boosts will be short lived, as once Season 1 ends, all players’ faction progress and runner levels will be wiped clean. Players who gain a ton of faction levels during these final two weeks of Season 1 would do well to use all the shiny new gear they’ve unlocked instead of hoarding it away, as players’ vaults will also be completely wiped for the start of Season 2.
For these final two weeks, Marathon‘s endgame map, Cryo Archive, will remain available until the end of the season, allowing players to take their very best gear out for a spin in the game’s ultimate proving grounds before vaults get cleaned out. Once this final Season 1 push ends and Season 2 arrives, though, all of these Update 1.0.9 changes are likely to be reverted; this is the time for Marathon players to go all out. Bungie will likely have more to share about Season 2 in the coming days before it goes live on June 2.
Marathon Update 1.0.9
Warden Hunt will be available until the end of Season 1
- New Warden Encounters: Wardens can spawn at new POIs in Perimeter, Dire Marsh, and Outpost.
- Locked room keys are guaranteed to drop from Wardens for the remainder of the season.
- Key Templates are now Compromised instead of Fragile.
- Every run now has a guaranteed chance for a zone event to occur (Ex: Lockdowns, Intercept, etc)
- +50% Runner Level XP
- +50% Faction XP
- Cryo Archive Sponsored Kits will refresh on a daily basis in the Armory
- Starting May 21, Cryo Archive will be available every day through the end of Season 1
- May 21 to 23: Cryo Archive
- May 24 to 27: Ranked Cryo Archive
- May 28 to June 1: Cryo Archive
Item Economy
- Self-Revive
- When the Revive Speed stat is at 0: 12s → 16s
- When the Revive Speed stat is at 100: 7s → 12s
Combat
- Kill Transport or Scan Drones: 5 → 10 Traxus XP
- UESC (Grenadiers, Assault, Sniper, Ghost): 7 → 10 XP
- UESC Commanders: 10 → 15 XP
- UESC Wardens: 15 → 50 XP
Weapons
Biotoxin Disinjector
- Fixed an issue that prevented the grenades from emitting explosion sound effects when not in range of the damage radius.
Mods
Chips
- Pocket Change
- Fixed an issue where ammo was being granted after defeating ticks.
- Common Enemy
- Fixed an issue where the tooltip incorrectly described the duration as moderate instead of short on the enhanced (green) rarity version.
Prestige (Gold) Mods
- Impact Shockwave (Ares Railgun)
- No longer downs players equipped with blue shields or greater in one shot
- Reduced explosive damage against players by 75%
- Overclock Delimiter (Circuit Breaker)
- Fixed an issue where Overclock Delimiter allowed players to shoot through UESC barriers.
- Removed the ability to allow charged projectiles to shoot through Bubble shields.
- Fixed an issue where Overclock Delimiter allowed players to shoot through UESC barriers.
- Ram-Page Mag (V75 Scar)
- Fixed an issue that was preventing damage dealt to Claymores when equipped.
Combatants
- A new threat looms above…
- Fixed an issue that caused the UESC Ghost to unexpectedly deal heavy burst damage.
Runners
- Fixed an issue that would allow reviving crewmates while performing a finisher.
Rook
- Until Season 2
- Rook starts with Deluxe Patch Kits and Shield Charges.
- Rook starts with Deluxe Shield Implants.
- Signal Mask remains active for longer when sprinting.
- The range at which AI will detect your footsteps when Signal Mask is active has been reduced.
- Fixed an issue where the Rook tooltip incorrectly stated that Season Level 3 was required to unlock.
Thief
- Fixed an issue where items dropped from the Pickpocket Drone could clip through red UESC barriers.
User Interface and Experience
- Fixed an issue that prevented the exfil countdown timer from appearing when entering an active enemy Runner’s exfil circle.
- Fixed an issue that caused quick pings to be intercepted by the clear door curtains.
- CORRECTION, updated at 7:59AM PT on 5/19/2026 – Added ten additional controller aim sensitivity levels to Settings.
Codex
- Fixed an issue where the Arachne Sponsored Kit challenge completions were not contributing to the total on the Factions progress bar in the Codex.
- Updated the Assassin’s Hidden Strike Codex entry to better clarify the completion window when exiting invisibility.
Contracts
Traxus
- Fixed an issue for Unsanctioned Hostiles [5/5] where the exfil condition was listed in the wrong objective step causing the contract flow to appear out of order.
Sekiguchi Genetics
- Fixed an issue for Co-Evolution [3/5] contract description that directs to Northern Flight Control when the objective is in Southern Flight Control.
Zones
Perimeter
- Fixed an issue that prevented gaining reputation experience for CyberAcme when successfully extracting UESC Crisis Supplies.
- Fixed an issue where only one crew member received CyberAcme reputation for completing Intercept event stepts instead of the entire crew.
- Fixed an issue that would prevent the Hauler’s honk audio from being heard when entering the sound radius while active.
Dire Marsh
- Fixed an issue that could prevent gaining Traxus reputation after completing a Lockdown event.
- Anomalous Matter:
- Fixed an issue that prevented Sekiguchi Genetics reputation gain when stabilizing the Anomalous Matter.
- Fixed an issue that would only give one crew member +25 Sekiguchi Genetics reputation when extracting the Anomalous Matter.
Outpost
- Fixed an issue in Pinwheel that prevented the Security Break audio from being audible while inside the other wings (Command, Drone, Destroyed).
Cryo Archive
- Fixed an issue that allowed Thief to bypass red UESC barriers from Cargo to Index.
- Fixed an issue that prevented location names from showing on the HUD when visited.
Localization
- Fixed a word wrapping issue in the Customize menu prompt for Shells and Profile.
- Fixed an issue where the vertical inversion setting in the Controller Settings section could display inconsistent text in some languages.
- Fixed an issue causing the “Free” Credit cost label to show as an em dash in the Russian language.
- Fixed an issue that caused the text in the C.A.R.R.I Armory tutorial prompts to overlap the button prompt in some languages.
General
- Fixed an issue that caused a duplicate and delayed audio voice over after completing the NuCaloric Liaison Contract.
- Fixed an issue that would prevent players from joining via a platform invite while Crew Privacy was set to Invite Only.
Marathon is available on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC.
The post Marathon Winds Down Season 1 with Warden Hunt, XP Boost, and More appeared first on VICE.




