Marathon silk explained

If you're accumulating silk in Marathon, but you have no idea what it does or don't know how to use it, you've come to the right place. Marathon has a few different currencies to get to grips with, and silk is one of the more confusing ones, especially for anyone who played during the Server Slam because it was completely useless at that point.

However, now that the full game is out, silk now serves a purpose and is usable. Here's everything you need to know about silk in Marathon and what it's used for.

How to use silk in Marathon

Silk is the currency used to unlock rewards in Marathon's reward passes. Think of these like decks in Arc Raiders or warbonds in Helldivers 2, if you've played either of those games; permanent, tiered battle passes with various cosmetic and gameplay-focused rewards. Silk cannot be bought with real money — you can only earn it through progression — and reward passes are permanent, so even when the season ends, you can continue to redeem its rewards.

How to get more silk in Marathon

Silk is linked to your season level. Every time you level up, you'll earn 10 silk. You can increase your season level via earning XP, which comes from performing most actions in-game: killing enemies, looting containers, completing contracts, and so on.

However, you can only have a maximum of 200 silk at any given time, so if you find yourself accumulating it quickly, you should spend it as soon as possible. That includes a balance limit of 140, and an extra 60 "overflow" limit. However, at the time of writing, we're unsure exactly what that means. The Server Slam did not have reward passes available to test, and we haven't earned enough in-game yet to verify. Once we do, we'll update this guide.

Additionally, if you've bought Marathon's deluxe edition, you'll be given 200 silk right off the bat. This also comes with a premium reward pass voucher, which we're assuming can be used to unlock a paid section of a reward pass. The default method for unlocking reward passes isn't confirmed yet; it may be with silk, or it could require a different currency.

Want some more Marathon guides? Check out our guide to all of the weapons and classes, along with walkthroughs for the "Introducing: Traxus" and "Survival Directive" priority contracts.