Marathon’s faction system is one of the most important parts of the game’s seasonal progression. At launch, Bungie rolled out full faction and contract progression for all six factions, making them a core part of how players unlock better gear, expand their options, and grow stronger over the course of Season 1.
If you are trying to understand how contracts work, what each faction actually gives you, and which progression path makes the most sense early on, this guide breaks down everything you need to know.
How factions work in Marathon
In Marathon, factions act as your long-term progression track during a season. Bungie has confirmed that full faction and contract progression is part of the live game, and Bungie’s season overview also makes clear that faction progression is one of the systems that resets when a new season begins. That means your faction grind matters a lot within the current season, but it is also designed to be replayed when the next reset arrives.
Factions are basically the game’s macro progression layer. Even if you lose loot during a run, faction progress remains through the season, letting you steadily unlock stronger options over time. Those upgrades can include better armory access, more inventory or vault utility, stronger baseline stats, and even improvements tied to Rook.
How Marathon contracts work
Contracts are the main way you build a reputation with a faction. Each faction offers standard contracts and priority contracts. Standard contracts are repeatable objectives that provide steady rewards, while priority contracts are one-time missions with better rewards and more narrative importance.
Contracts usually ask you to loot, kill, extract, destroy targets, or interact with specific objectives during your runs. You can only have one contract active at a time, though squad play helps because contract progress is shared and teammates can contribute to your progress. Once the contract is complete, you turn it in to the faction’s agent for loot, resources, and reputation.
Unlocking additional factions is tied to liaison contracts. Once you progress far enough, ONI offers liaison contracts that open up new faction tracks, after which you can start earning their reputation and unlocking their upgrades with Credits and Salvage. Bungie has separately confirmed that liaison contract progression carries over between seasons, so you do not have to unlock every faction from scratch each time.
Importance of Faction Progression
Faction progression is where Marathon starts to feel less punishing. As your reputation increases, you unlock seasonal upgrades that improve your account in meaningful ways. These can include stronger sponsored loadouts, better armory inventory, expanded storage, stat boosts, and other account-level benefits that make future runs more manageable.
This system is especially important because Marathon is built around seasonal resets. Bungie says each new season wipes gear, player level, contract progression, and faction progression, while cosmetics, titles, achievements, and Codex progression remain. In other words, factions are a major part of your seasonal power climb, but not a permanent account unlock in the traditional MMO sense.
CyberAcme explained
CyberAcme is widely seen as the beginner-friendly faction in Marathon. They are the megacorporation behind the Onboard Navigation Intelligence installed in Runner shells, and note that it is essentially the starter faction for new players. Reputation comes from completing CyberAcme contracts, extracting successfully, activating TADs, and participating in Intercept events.
Its rewards are focused on practicality. CyberAcme offers ammo, torso implants, backpacks, and basic weapons, while the faction also leans into economy and utility upgrades such as better credit flow, more vault space, better backpacks, and higher heat capacity. This makes CyberAcme one of the best early progression choices because it helps stabilize your runs and improve your overall economy.
NuCaloric explained
NuCaloric is tied to survival, sustenance, and utility. In the game’s lore, it is a major agricultural company connected to humanity’s long-term survival and the failed Tau Ceti colony. In gameplay terms, reputation with NuCaloric is earned by completing its contracts and extracting with NuCaloric valuables.
Its reward track is built around staying alive longer. Consumables, salvage items, and implants are among its rank-up rewards, while survivability upgrades include more shield charges, patch kits, self-revive options, status effect mitigation, and improved self-repair speed. If you want a safer and more forgiving early game, NuCaloric is one of the strongest factions to prioritize.
Traxus explained
Traxus is the faction for players who want stronger weapon access and more combat-focused armory options. Traxus is a massive corporation trying to recover value from the failed Tau Ceti mission, with its contracts pushing players toward salvage, drones, lockers, and event objectives. Reputation comes from Traxus contracts, looting arms lockers and tool carts, destroying UESC drones, completing Convoy and Lockdown events, and extracting with Traxus valuables.
The payoff is obvious for weapon-focused players. Traxus rewards include weapon chip mods, salvage items, and weapons, while its armory offerings are centered on weapons and mods. Mobalytics similarly frames Traxus as the faction that expands your access to guns and attachments, making it a strong choice if your goal is to deepen build crafting and firepower early in the season.
MIDA explained
MIDA is one of Marathon’s more aggressive and chaotic factions. They are basically an anarchist group with anti-establishment goals, and their reputation sources reflect that design. You progress MIDA by completing contracts, looting lockboxes and munitions crates, finding coordinates and caches, completing secured resource events, and extracting with MIDA valuables.
Its rewards support gadget-heavy and mobility-oriented builds. Salvage items and leg implants are among its rank-up rewards, while MIDA unlocks more explosives, traps, implants, and agility-oriented progression. Players who like using utility items and playing faster, more disruptive builds will likely get a lot of value from MIDA.
Arachne explained
Arachne is the faction most directly tied to PvP pressure. They are a mysterious death cult focused on violence and pushing shells to their limits, with their agent actively encouraging players to kill other Runners. Its reputation gains come from Arachne contracts, looting dead Runners, landing precision downs, performing finishers, and extracting with Arachne valuables.
That design carries into the reward track. Arachne offers weapon mods, salvage, weapons, and armory access to more offensive tools, while Mobalytics notes that it also improves melee-related performance and Finisher Siphon progression. If you enjoy hunting squads and leaning into PvP, Arachne is one of the clearest faction identities in Marathon right now.
Sekiguchi explained
Sekiguchi Genetics is the sixth launch faction and one that Bungie explicitly highlighted as part of the full launch progression rollout. It is closely tied to the biomata technology behind Runner shells, which makes it one of the more important lore factions in the game’s universe.
Detailed launch week information on Sekiguchi’s progression path is still less complete than that of the other factions. Its known armory offerings include cores and implants, and Sekiguchi leans toward ability cooldown improvements, buffs, augments, and more targeted core progression. That makes it look especially attractive for players who want to push shell power and ability-focused builds rather than pure economy or raw gun access.
Which Marathon faction should you level first?
As a beginner, CyberAcme and NuCaloric look like the safest early investments. CyberAcme helps with economy, backpacks, and foundational run stability, while NuCaloric improves healing, survivability, and recovery. Those are the kinds of upgrades that make every future run easier, especially when you are still learning maps, contracts, and extraction pacing.
After that, your best faction choice depends on your playstyle. Traxus is ideal if you want stronger weapons and more build customization. MIDA fits players who like explosives, utility, and movement. Arachne is the PvP faction if you plan to chase kills and pressure other squads. Sekiguchi appears to be the better fit for players interested in shell optimization, cores, and ability-driven progression.
Marathon’s factions are not just side content. They are the backbone of the game’s seasonal progression. Contracts feed your reputation, reputation unlocks upgrades, and those upgrades shape how strong, flexible, and efficient your runs become over time. Bungie has clearly designed factions to be one of the main reasons you keep coming back during a season, even when individual runs go badly.
If you are just starting out, focus on learning how contracts work, choose one or two factions that support your current playstyle, and build your progression steadily. In Marathon, faction planning is often the difference between barely surviving and actually snowballing into a strong season.
