Marathon: Sådan låser du op for fraktioner og får deres belønninger

Marathon factions are the six mega-corporations that drive your long-term progression in Bungie's extraction shooter, launching March 5, 2026. Each one assigns contracts, builds reputation, and unlocks permanent seasonal upgrades that carry across every run.

You start with access to one faction and unlock the remaining five through Liaison Contracts early in the game. There is no lock-in — you can level all six simultaneously without penalties. Every faction suits a different approach, from hunting other Runners to controlling resource zones deep into a season.

How Marathon Factions Work

Factions issue contracts, which are objectives you take into matches before dropping into Tau Ceti IV. Completing a contract while successfully extracting earns reputation, XP, gear, and seasonal upgrades. You can only carry one active contract per run, so each drop requires a deliberate choice about what you want to accomplish.

There are three contract types:

• Standard contracts — repeatable missions with straightforward requirements and baseline rewards.
• Boosted contracts — more specific conditions, better returns.
• Priority contracts — one-time missions required to increase your Faction Rank, with the most narrative weight attached.

To unlock the five locked factions, complete the tutorial and the Welcome To Tau Ceti contract first. That opens Liaison Contracts, each tied to a specific faction. Finish a Liaison Contract once, and that faction unlocks permanently. From there, reputation earned through contracts and successful extractions accumulates automatically, pushing your rank higher with each faction you work with.

Higher rank opens superior seasonal upgrades, expanded vault space, starting loadout options, and black-market gear — all purchasable with your own resources.

Marathon Reward System Explanation

Faction upgrades in Marathon are seasonal, meaning they reset and must be rebuilt each season — closer in structure to Destiny 2's Seasonal Artifact than a permanent account progression. Once unlocked within a season, upgrades apply to every run for the remainder of that season, covering stat boosts, cooldown reductions, and mobility perks. The investment is significant, which makes early faction decisions matter more than they might first appear.

All Marathon Factions List

Six factions operate on Tau Ceti IV at launch, each backed by a distinct corporate identity and a separate contract track.

• Arachne
• CyberAcme
• Sekiguchi
• MIDA
• Traxus
• NuCaloric

None of these factions can be permanently lost or locked out, but the order in which you build reputation shapes which upgrades you access earliest in a season.

What Marathon Faction Is The Best?

I think Traxus is the strongest starting point for most players — its contracts focus on salvaging valuables, rare weapons, and weapon mods, producing practical upgrades that improve nearly any build early. That said, Traxus is not the answer for every path forward. Players who run aggressive PvP will find MIDA's sabotage and disruption bonuses more consistently rewarding, and anyone building toward long-term seasonal power should look seriously at Sekiguchi, whose durability and regen upgrades compound over time. CyberAcme is also a reliable opener for players who want survivability and utility rather than raw combat output.

Because faction upgrades reset seasonally, prioritizing one faction early does not close off others — it just determines what tools you carry into the middle of the season.

Every Marathon Faction Explained

Each faction operates from a distinct lore position that feeds directly into its contract design. The ideology is determines what you do in every run. Here’s the full Marathon factions explanation list.

Arachne

A death cult built around kill pressure, Arachne rewards players who force PvP engagements and dominate gunfights.

• Requirements: hunting and killing other Runners.
• Rewards: damage upgrades, combat uptime bonuses, kill-focused stat boosts.

Arachne contracts require active aggression — passive runs where you avoid contact will not move this faction's reputation meaningfully. Squad players benefit most, since coordinated fights produce consistent kills. Its upgrade tree leans into output rather than resilience, so pair Arachne progression with a shell that can sustain extended combat.

CyberAcme

The corporation behind Runner Shell ONI systems, CyberAcme, centers on tech utility and survivability rather than combat dominance.

• Requirements: tech interactions, respawn systems, and shell management.
• Rewards: survivability perks, QOL buffs, cybernetic advantage upgrades.

CyberAcme is the recommended starting faction for new players precisely because its upgrades apply broadly across playstyles. No single build is left behind by its progression tree. I see this faction as the most forgiving entry point — its contracts do not demand high mechanical skill, and the rewards reduce friction across every subsequent run.

Sekiguchi

The company behind the biomata Runner Shells, Sekiguchi, builds around biological resilience and sustained operations under pressure.

• Requirements: survival tasks, enduring dangerous zones, attrition-based objectives.
• Rewards: health upgrades, resistances, regen-style perks.

Sekiguchi contracts do not reward aggression — they reward outlasting. Players who prefer positioning over mechanical dueling will find the upgrade tree aligns tightly with their runs. This faction scales well deep into a season, making it one of the stronger long-term investments if you commit to its progression early.

MIDA

Originally a political movement turned terrorist organization from the original Marathon trilogy, MIDA operates through sabotage and infrastructure destruction.

• Requirements: destroying assets, sabotage objectives, malware deployment, and explosives use.
• Rewards: explosive damage bonuses, objective damage perks, disruption-focused upgrades.

MIDA contracts do not require you to win gunfights — they require you to destabilize areas and force other Runners into worse positions. This is a strong faction for players who prefer indirect pressure over direct combat. Its upgrade tree rewards chaos, not precision.

Traxus

Described as the most powerful corporation in human history, Traxus operates from the shadows and funds itself through resource extraction from Tau Ceti IV.

• Requirements: salvaging valuables, tracking specific weapons and mods, and disrupting UESC supply lines.
• Rewards: economy upgrades, loot access, power-scaling gear.

Traxus contracts map cleanly onto standard extraction shooter behavior — loot, extract, repeat. That alignment makes early progression feel natural rather than forced. The faction's upgrade tree rewards players who treat loot acquisition as a primary objective, not a secondary one.

NuCaloric

An agricultural and resource megacorp, NuCaloric focuses on food, energy, and the infrastructure keeping the Tau Ceti colony functional.

• Requirements: zone control, resource node interactions, and long-term resource network objectives.
• Rewards: late-game scaling upgrades, macro-control perks, compounding seasonal bonuses.

NuCaloric is not built for early aggression. Its power builds gradually through zone control and resource interaction, making it most effective for players who think across a full season rather than individual runs. If you prioritize map positioning and scaling advantages over per-match output, NuCal's upgrade tree pays off significantly by mid-season.

Marathon Beginner Guide

Marathon releases on March 5, 2026 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, with full cross-play and cross-save supported at launch. Check the system requirements before day one — minimum specs call for an Intel Core i5-6600 or AMD Ryzen 5 2600 with a GTX 1050 Ti, while recommended specs step up to an RTX 2060 and i5-10400. The Standard Edition runs $39.99, with a Deluxe Edition at $59.99 that adds shell cosmetics and a Premium Rewards Pass Voucher.

Marathon puts seven Runner Shells at launch, each representing a distinct archetype — using a Marathon class guide to understand shells like Destroyer, Assassin, Recon, Vandal, Thief, Triage, and Rook will save significant time early. Shells are not fixed classes; cores and implants modify how each one functions, allowing the same shell to fulfill different roles across different builds. Beginning with CyberAcme or Traxus while experimenting with a Vandal or Thief shell gives new players the broadest foundation to learn both the faction system and Runner buildcrafting simultaneously.