Marathon’s latest patch has landed, and while 1.0.6.3 isn’t the kind of sweeping overhaul that rewrites the rulebook, it’s a focused update that touches some of the game’s most important systems. From a significant shakeup to how grenades work, to meaningful improvements to the C.A.R.R.I. Armoury economy and better rewards for engaging with map events, there’s plenty here worth paying attention to. Let’s break it all down.

The Big One: Grenades Are Being Reined In

This is the change that will have the most immediate impact on how the game feels moment to moment. Bungie has implemented a hard cap on stack sizes for almost all grenades, in a shift intended to emphasise precision and tactical resource management over explosive volume. If your loadout has been built around grenade spam, it’s time to rethink.

The EMP Grenade, Chem Grenade, Frag Grenade, Heat Grenade, and Flechette Grenade have all had their in-run stack sizes reduced to one. Claymores have been capped at a maximum stack size of 2, and any Rooks or Sponsored Kits that previously came with 3 Claymores will now grant only 2. Proximity Sensors, Smoke Grenades, and Ammo Crates remain untouched at a stack size of three. On top of all this, barter limits for grenades have been cut from ten to three per day, further restricting how aggressively you can stock up between runs. Destructoid

Grenade-heavy builds have been a reliable crutch, and Bungie is clearly signalling that they want tactical decision-making to matter more than raw explosive output. Adapt your loadouts accordingly.

More Reasons to Run Map Events

One of the most immediately welcome changes in this patch is the expansion of Prestige Salvage rewards to select map events. Lockdown on Dire Marsh, Intercept on Perimeter, and Convoy on Outpost can now drop Prestige Salvage as part of their loot rewards.

Since Prestige Salvage is one of the more desirable loot rewards, this gives players a genuine reason to actively engage with these activities instead of bypassing them during runs. If you’ve been treating these events as background noise on your way to the extraction point, that calculus has now changed.

C.A.R.R.I. Armoury Gets Some Much-Needed Attention

The C.A.R.R.I. Armoury sees three meaningful changes in this update.

First, the quantity of salvage dropped from Deluxe C.A.R.R.I. Salvage Crates have been increased across all rarities, making those crates a more worthwhile investment.

Second, a frustrating bug that caused C.A.R.R.I. weapons to not appear when they were identical to a voucher offer already in your possession has been resolved.

The third change is arguably the most significant for regular Armoury users. Previously non-refreshing C.A.R.R.I. offers will now have their stock reset weekly. The Superior Key Template’s weekly reset is capped at 1, though this doesn’t affect its starting stock of 5 or any remaining stock above that threshold.

For players who have been frustrated by dried-up inventories, this is a genuine quality-of-life improvement — just keep an eye on how the Key Template cap plays out if that item is central to your playstyle.

Zone Changes and Ranked Adjustments

Over in Cryo Archive, Bungie has added secure vents to the Cargo and Index areas specifically to prevent spawn rushing, a change that should make those zones feel fairer and more controlled for everyone involved.

On the ranked side of things, Gold Holotags can now enter High Stakes, while Platinum Holotags can now enter Low Stakes, broadening the matchmaking pool at both ends of the ranked ladder. It’s a measured adjustment that should help with queue times and give players more flexibility in where they compete.

Quality of Life and Bug Fixes

Several smaller but important fixes round out the patch. A bug where runner eliminations were incorrectly appearing on the player HUD has been resolved. Tier 3 Contracts that can reward either Enhanced or Deluxe salvage will now always display Enhanced salvage as the baseline reward, making it easier to understand what you’re working towards before committing to a contract. The Stryder M1T’s Prestige Precision Optic Mod has also been updated to properly distinguish between UESC and enemy Runners, a small but meaningful readability improvement in the heat of a run. PS5 players will also be relieved to hear that the bug preventing crew joins via platform invite when crew privacy is set to invite-only has now been fixed.

What the Marathon Community Is Saying

The r/Marathon subreddit lit up following the patch drop, and the overall sentiment is broadly positive — though not without some pointed criticism and a few lingering frustrations. Here’s how the community broke it down.

Prestige Salvage Changes: Near-Universal Praise

The map event loot changes were the most warmly received part of the patch. The top-upvoted comment in the thread simply read “Thank god for prestige level drops from events,” pulling in over 200 upvotes, with players immediately discussing how it would breathe life into underplayed maps. Perimeter, in particular, got a lot of love, with multiple players expressing excitement about the map getting more traffic now that Intercept has a reason to be contested. One player summed up the general mood well: “Played Perimeter recently, I almost forgot how great a map it is.” There was also a lively side discussion about how the Intercept event actually works, with veteran players stepping in to explain the mechanics to newer Runners — a sign that the loot incentive is already drawing curious eyes toward content people had been skipping.

C.A.R.R.I. Armoury: Excited but Questions remain

The weekly C.A.R.R.I. refresh sparked significant discussion, with players initially unsure whether it applied to reputation packages or only to barter offers. That uncertainty resolved quickly once players got in-game and confirmed that reputation packs had indeed been restocked. The reaction shifted from cautious optimism to outright celebration, with one player posting simply “THE REPUTATION PACK RESTOCKED YESSSS.” Others noted the broader implications, highlighting that the change makes faction levelling considerably more accessible. One criticism did surface, however — a player pointed out that while the quantity increased on Deluxe C.A.R.R.I. Salvage Crates are welcome; it’s the quality that has been the real community complaint, suggesting Bungie may need to revisit the tier of rewards inside those crates down the line.

Grenade Nerfs: Welcomed, But Questioned as a Long-Term Fix

The grenade stack changes prompted the most nuanced debate. The majority of players were glad to see Bungie act on what had become a widely acknowledged problem — one commenter described it as something they had been “daydreaming about,” calling it an effective way to cut grenade spam roughly in half. Others were more measured, arguing that the stack size reduction is a sensible short-term fix but doesn’t address the core issue. Several players made the case that a cooldown, a longer throw animation, or a fuse delay would be more impactful changes, with one comment landing well: “We need a cooldown, cooking time or longer animation on nades, plus some time before they detonate so there’s counter play. Stack size fixes so little.” The general consensus seems to be that this is a good first step, with the community broadly expecting — and hoping for — a more mechanical solution when Season 2 arrives.

Rook Players Are Not Happy About the Claymore Change

If there’s one group feeling hard done by in this patch, it’s Rook mains. The Claymore reduction to a stack size of 2 and the Rook kits losing their third Claymore drew vocal backlash. “Rook catching strays” became something of a rallying cry in the thread, accumulating nearly 300 upvotes, with players arguing that the Claymore nerf was collateral damage in a war against frag grenade spam. Claymores function very differently from thrown grenades — they’re defensive, positional tools — and a chunk of the community felt they were swept up in a change that didn’t need to touch them. One player put it bluntly: “I need that 3rd claymore man, wtf stop killing the Rooks.”

Ranked Changes: Misunderstood but Mostly Supported

The Holotag entry requirement adjustments sparked some initial confusion, with several players questioning why Platinum Holotags should be able to drop into Low Stakes lobbies. More experienced ranked players pushed back on this interpretation, explaining that higher-ranked players were already playing low stakes voluntarily to manage risk and points — this change simply formalises that and gives them more flexibility. The broader discussion revealed that a significant portion of the playerbase doesn’t fully understand how the two-queue ranked system works, which itself became a talking point. There’s also a vocal contingent calling for ranked to be removed entirely, arguing it fragments an already modest player pool — a sentiment that drew dozens of upvotes, though it was countered by players who enjoy ranked and see it as a vital tool for separating competitive and casual lobbies.

The General Mood

One comment captured the wider feel of the thread as well as any: “Damn, feels like I’m back in the Destiny sub with all these ridiculous negative comments. More prestige salvage opportunities, C.A.R.R.I. refresh, and a quick fix to help reduce nade spam are all awesome.” That tension — between players who see the patch as a meaningful step in the right direction and those frustrated that deeper systemic issues remain unaddressed — defines where the Marathon community is right now. Engaged, invested, and watching closely to see what Season 2 brings.

The Verdict

Update 1.0.6.3 is a focused cleanup patch that does exactly what it sets out to do. The grenade nerfs are the headline and will force a real shift in how players approach their loadouts. The Prestige Salvage additions and C.A.R.R.I. economy improvements reward players who engage with the game’s systems rather than route around them. It won’t reinvent Marathon, but it makes it a tighter, fairer experience — and that’s exactly what a patch like this should do.