How to Get Shields in Marathon

Marathon features an extremely unique yet equally terrifying setting, filled with dangerous UESC enemies and rival Runners out to get your hard-earned loot. As you tackle these enemies headfirst, you will need to maintain both your HP and your Shields. Since Marathon is an extraction shooter, even a simple thing like healing can be a bit complicated to get around.

If you find yourself wondering how you can get and recharge your Shields during runs in Marathon Server Slam, here’s everything you need to know.

How to Recharge Shields in Marathon

You can recharge your Shields using specific consumables during a run on one of the Marathon maps. During a match, your shield is bound to take damage from UESC enemies, rival Runners, or environmental hazards.

To come back from this and rejoin the battle, you can find Shield Charges and Advanced Shield Charges and use them to recharge your Shield. Shield Charges are single-use consumables that gradually restore your shield energy to full. These take a couple of seconds to properly register, which can leave you momentarily vulnerable.

If you are heading deeper into high-threat, however, you will need Advanced Shield Charges. These are simply a more powerful version of the Shield Charge, providing a larger restoration of shield energy and even a temporary Overshield, depending on your Marathon Runner Shell.

In addition to these two, Marathon also features Depleted Shield Charges. While these can still restore your shield, the restoration amount is almost negligible, and Depleted Shield Charges should be your absolute last resort.

Where to Find Shields in Marathon

You can find Shield Charges in Medical Cabinets all around the Marathon maps, mounted on walls inside UESC facilities. These containers don’t just include Shield Charges but also Patch Kits that allow you to restore your HP. Apart from the Cabinets, you can always loot the defeated UESC enemies in Marathon, who even have a chance at dropping Advanced Shield Charges, rewarding you for each elimination.

Additionally, you can get more Shield Charges through the Faction contracts, which will grant you regular freebies when Marathon fully releases. Finally, there is always the old-fashioned way of getting more Shield Charges: taking down enemy Runners and looting their caches.

How to Buy Shields in Marathon

If you are having a hard time coming across Shield Charges on your Marathon runs, you can always head to the Armory and buy some in exchange for Credits, one of the two primary currencies in Marathon. A single Shield Charge currently goes for 300 Credits in the Armory, but this price could change with Marathon’s full release. You can also purchase Patch Kits along with Shield Charges in the Armory, allowing you to stay stocked up on both HP and shield resources.

How to Upgrade Shields in Marathon

Before you even depart on a run in Marathon, you can determine your base shield strength by equipping Implants. These are gear pieces that you slot into one of the Marathon Runner Shells in the Loadout screen. You can equip multiple levels of Shield Implants. As of the Server Slam, players have been having a tough time finding Implants to upgrade their shields. However, players can expect to see a plethora of Shield upgrades with Marathon’s full release.

Apart from the Shield Implants, other Implants can also help players with maintaining their Shield integrity. This includes the Finisher Siphon Implant, which boosts your Shield regeneration speed after performing a finisher on an opponent Runner.

How have you been faring on Tau Ceti IV in the Marathon Server Slam? Tell us in the comments below!