MarathonRecon Guide - Stats, Traits, Abilities and Cores

Recon is a Runner Shell in Marathon. This shell excels in tracking and stalking enemy players, including the invisible ones. This class is a great choice for players who want to stay aware of enemies' locations.

Below, you will find an overview of this Shell, as well as its abilities, traits, compatible cores, best Recon builds and loadouts and preferred weapons.

Updated on June 2nd 2026

The Recon is the best Runner Shell for gathering intel for their squad to act upon. They're your go-to choice if you hate getting ambushed and want to make Marathon as close to a chess match as possible. Echo Pulse and Tracker Drone allow you to constantly keep tabs on your surroundings while Interrogation and Stalker Protocol give you the ability to track enemies to finish the job.

  • Best-in-class for info gathering

  • Keeps stealthed enemies and rats in check

  • One of the best choices for teamplay

  • Needs to know how to convert info into value

  • Lacks raw combat ability

  • Doesn't have mobility options

| Echo Pulse | | Prime Ability | | Base Cooldown: 229 seconds | | Activate your shell's advanced detection systems, releasing a series of sonar pulses that reveal the location of nearby hostiles. |

| Tracker Drone | | Tactical Ability | | Base Cooldown: 74 seconds | | Deploy a mechanized microbot that tracks down nearby hostiles and explodes, overheating any targets caught in the blast. |

| Interrogation | | Trait 1 | | When pinged by a hostile Runner, you automatically receive a warning in your shell's HUD.
Performing a finisher on a Runner pings their crew. |

| Stalker Protocol | | Trait 2 | | After breaking a combatant's shields, they leave behind a lingering holographic trail for a short time. |

  • Stick in the middle of your group while using Echo Pulse. This will give you a larger range to ping targets while also not being the front line fighter. This also allows you to quickly grab finishers on downed targets.
  • In larger maps consider not being hidden when moving from each POI. By doing this enemy teams can ping you giving you an alert they are nearby. You'll be more exposed, but that gives your team intel on who might be around.
  • Use you Tracker Drone for PvE content like Secured Resources or Lockdowns to take out UESC enemies. They will have a very obvious spawn allowing you to save ammo and equipment in a fight.

| Movement | | Heat Capacity | 20 | | Agility | 15 | | Loot Speed | 10 | | Fall Resistance | 5 |

| Combat | | Melee Damage | 5 | | Finisher Siphon | 25 |

| Recovery | | Prime Recovery | 5 | | Tactical Recovery | 10 | | Self-Repair Speed | 5 | | Revive Speed | 10 |

| Systems | | Hardware | 10 | | Firewall | 15 | | Ping Duration | 25 |

| Core | Description | | Hot Pursuit | Your Tracker Drone travels faster and further before automatically detonating. | | On the Trail | The trail left by your Stalker Protocol lasts much longer. Defeating hostiles affected by your Stalker Protocol reduces your generated heat. | | Cluster Payload | Tracker Drone detonations create shrapnel submunitions that explode on impact, dealing additional damage. | | Intuition | Interrogation now triggers upon downing a hostile runner. | | Early Warning System | You receive an alert on your HUD when a hostile Runner is nearby.

CyberAcme and Sekiguchi are great choices for Recon to prioritize.

CyberAcme gives you improved stats along with vault and wallet space while Sekiguchi gives you access to Recon cores andHEAD_START.EXE (Rank 1) which gives you Tracker Drone faster.

The BR33 Volley Rifle is a reliable option for any Runner Shell due to its range and accuracy while Bully SMG is a useful close-range weapon for Recon to let you push into fights and activate Interrogation.

For more recommendations head to our Marathon Weapon Tier List !

UAV Recon Build

By Byrdman ∙Updated on Mar 8, 2026