A new arena has opened up for Runner to explore in Season 2, and it’s Marathon Night Dire Marsh, or Narsh to some. This new map, or rather a variation of a current map, features new challenges and rewards for the Runners to capitalize upon. But taking your first step into the darkness without the knowledge to support it is an unwise choice.
So, that’s why I’m going to give you a short guide on the Marathon Night Dire Marsh map before you inevitebly get yourself killed. I’ll break down what’s different between the night and day variants of Dire Marsh, and how you can survive the night variant. Now let’s get started, because the new Season’s here, and I wouldn’t want to keep you for too long.
What The Marathon Night Dire Marsh Map Has To Offer
The Marathon Night Dire Marsh map has the same layout as its day variant, but its gameplay is different in every way. Not only does the night variant have the obvious shroud of darkness across the entire map, but Narsh also provides more challenges that lurk in the dark. And that’s what we’ll cover first, the dangers and rewards that lurk in the twilight.
The Dangers and Rewards of the Marathon Night Dire Marsh Map
Let’s begin with the dangers of the Marathon Night Dire Marsh map first, as it’s most likely going to be the first thing you encounter when materializing in the area. Besides the obvious darkness that won’t hurt you directly, Narsh also introduces a new enemy into the fray. The enemies are the so-called Anomalous Husks, or Husks for short.
The Husks
The anomalous properties of Dire Marsh are ramping up with the sun gone, and the anomaly seems to have gotten creative. Now that the sun has set, the anomaly of Dire Marsh has taken it upon itself to make use of the various discarded shells in its domain. The Marathon Night Dire Marsh map is now home to the haunted Shells of unfortunate Runners.
While the Husks are as much of a nuisance as an average Tick, the darkness surely doesn’t help to make them less terrifying. You’ll encounter Husks either out in the open or lurking indoors, and that’s the worst time to run into them. The indoor Husks will stalk you indoors before striking, and the anomalous hallucinations of them don’t help.
If you manage to get a bead on an approaching Husk, make sure to take them out before they get too close. One, they’ll claw at you with their numerous emaciated limbs, and two, they’ll explode when killed. But it isn’t all for nothing, as Husks sometimes drop a bit of loot when killed, though the heart attack required to get it might not be worth it.
The Anomalies
Since the anomalous properties of Dire Marsh have gotten stronger with the sun gone, it seems it’s decided to materialize itself more often. When traversing the dark landscape of Narsh, you may encounter anomalous rifts that will attack you when they detect you. These “rifts” act like turrets and will launch anomalous projectiles at Runners in range.
Both the rifts and their projectiles are destructible with conventional weaponry, so treat them like any other hostile. Interestingly, turrets usually protect something, so these anomalous “turrets” may be protecting something. Unfortunately, I’ve been too scared to find out for myself, so you’ll have to find out for yourself now that you know how.
The Rewards
With the beginning of Season 2, the UESC has bumped up its supplies for the sole purpose of combating Runners. However, we’re as elusive as they come, so we’ll be taking those supplies, thank you. But as always, the UESC isn’t going to hand its dear supplies over to us without a fight, so we’ll have to take them from them as per usual.
Unfortunately, they seem to have figured out what a lock and key are, so you can’t sneak in and grab their supplies like usual. Thankfully, the UESC is still stupid beyond belief, as they carry the keys necessary to unlock these loot stashes and caches. The keys in question are the Certifications that you can acquire from UESC units.
These Certs are used to unlock various locked boxes around the map or to activate UESC Network Towers to locate caches. Both the locked boxes and caches contain goodies for Runners, so make sure to keep an eye out. However, make sure you have at least five Certs at all times, as it’s one of the only ways to reveal where an extract is.
Not only does the UESC bring a trove of goodies, but those cute cargo drones you occasionally see overhead also have goodies for Runners. However, these defenseless drones seem to have been affected by the anomaly of Dire Marsh, which has granted them a certain ability. The ability in question is the ability to teleport.
Though if you do manage to catch it and nab its cargo crate, then you’ll be rewarded kindly with all sorts of high-tier loot. You may even get a contained anomaly sample, though be careful, it’s still highly volatile, even in its container. When holding this sample, Runners will occasionally receive a random debuff, so make sure to get out with it quickly.
Oh, and another thing, do you remember those stairs that lead up to nowhere in Complex? Well, those stairs lead to something new and very valuable, so arm yourselves to the teeth before you take that one for yourself. And one last thing, you’re going to have to make it out with that loot, so keep an eye out even when finishing that activity.
How to Survive the Darkness of the Marathon Night Dire Marsh Map
While the darkness of the Marathon Night Dire Marsh map seems daunting at first, Runners do get plenty of tools to help them. Most of these tools cost a certain amount of credits, but there are a couple of things that Runners get for free. Thankfully, you can acquire these rather easily, similar to the other equipment in Marathon.
The equipment that can help you in the dark in the new Marathon Night Dire Marsh map is as follows:
- Flashlights: A new tool given to all Runners who dare step foot into the new Marathon Night Dire Marsh map.
- Vector Rounds: A new type of magazine that creates pools of pulsing light where your bullets land. These impacts act like sonar pulses, illuminating surrounding structures and hostiles alike.
- Vector Grenades: A new throwable that lights up the area, similar to Vector Rounds, but much larger.
- Darksight Scopes: A new scope that highlights the environment around you when ADSing, similar to the Vector items above, for a brief period.
- Signal Flares: Another new throwable that comes in multiple colours to light up the environment.
Is That All For The New Marathon Night Dire Marsh Map?
Well, the Marathon Night Dire Marsh map also has a few exclusive Contracts from a few factions, and you can do those too. But we’re here for the new fun stuff in the new map, so I apologize for leaving out this minor detail until the very end. Though let’s not waste time on trivial matters, the new Season has begun, so enjoy it!
With that said, I hope to see you out there, but you certainly won’t see me because I’m lurking and stalking when you least expect it. Good luck!
For more information on games and Marathon, stay tuned with us.
