Marathon Season 2 Arrives June 2 as the Seasonal Reset Sets Up the Biggest Test Yet for Bungie’s Extraction Shooter

When Marathon launched back in March, and after the launch of Cryo Archive, outside of dwindling player numbers, the dark cloud hanging over the game has been the question of how players will deal with Bungie's promise of seasonal resets. Of course, we don't know how that'll go until it happens, but we now know when it'll happen, as Bungie reveals that Season 2: Nightfall will start on June 2, 2026, and makes some significant changes for the remainder of Season 1.

Beginning with what's changing for the rest of Season 1, arguably the biggest change is that Cryo Archive will now be available every day for the remainder of Season 1, starting on May 21, 2026. You'll also get a free Cryo Archive Sponsored Kit every day also beginning on May 21, so you'll get one free shot at the endgame raid each day instead of once per weekend.

Other major and more immediate changes are the fact that UESC troops are going to become even more plentiful and aggressive, as Bungie adds more Warden encounters on Perimeter, Dire Marsh, and Outpost. It even teases that "a new threat" will be deployed on Dire Marsh and Perimeter.

On the flip side of that, Wardens are guaranteed to drop keys to locked rooms, and map events like Lockdown, Convoy, Anomaly, and Warden spawns are guaranteed to happen each run, so while there will be more UESC pressure, you'll also get more from your successes.

All of those changes will go into effect next Tuesday, May 19, 2026, with Marathon's next update. Which, also brings about a couple of balance changes, like increasing the time that a Rook's Signal Mask ability is active while sprinting, and UESC enemies won't be able to detect your footsteps from as far away.

Now, as for the reset that'll happen with the start of Season 2, the main thing you'll need to do to prepare for it is to make sure you've claimed any rewards earned from your time playing Ranked. Otherwise, there's nothing to 'prepare' save your own mental state when all of the following is reset:

• Runner Level
• Ranked Level
• Faction Level and Upgrades
• Credits and other currencies (save for LUX and Silk)
• All items in your inventory and Vault
• Purchases unlocked by Schemas
• Messages, rewards, and returned items in your mailbox
• Priority Contracts (save for the first contract for each faction)
• Gear-granting seasonal codex entries for your Runner and Ranked levels

All of that gets reset back to zero, and you start Season 2 with pretty much an entirely fresh slate. As for what doesn't get reset, you won't see Codex challenges for combat, feats, loot, maps, your Runner, or titles get reset. Your Faction unlocks won't reset, neither will your Rewards Pass progress, or your Cryo Archive subroutine progress be reset.

But everything in that bullet-point list will get reset, so might as well throw caution to the wind for the rest of Season 1. At the end of it, depending on your Runner Level, you'll be rewarded with a different level of Sponsored Kit for each level milestone you passed. Runner Level 75 is the top goal, with the other markers coming at 10, 25, and 50. So if you're level 75 or higher, you'll get four sponsored kits to start Season 2 with.

How players react to all of the stuff they've earned getting wiped from their Vault and how many keep playing after that will be Marathon's biggest test so far as a multiplayer shooter trying to find its feet in an incredibly competitive landscape. For more on Marathon, check out our hub page for all of our coverage.

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