Finding ammunition early in Marathon can be difficult. In a single run, you might use up five or six stacks of ammo but struggle to find enough to keep going. Even the free loadouts don’t help much, since they usually provide only a couple of stacks per run.
Here’s how you can secure more ammo and consistently bring several stacks with you during your runs.
Where to Get Ammo in Marathon
Because the game’s UI isn’t always intuitive and the tutorial only covers basic mechanics, many players miss the fact that you can actually purchase ammo directly from the armory.
Once you accept your first contract and unlock the CyberAcme faction, head to the Armory tab in the upper-right corner. Select CyberAcme and browse through the shop. The tutorial mainly focuses on sponsored kits, so weapons and ammo are easy to overlook.
Inside the armory page, check the ammo section and purchase the stacks you need. Keep in mind that costs can add up quickly, especially if you like bringing five or six stacks of ammo on each run.
If you’re extracting successfully on a regular basis, maintaining your ammo supply shouldn’t be too difficult. But if you occasionally lose your gear, you may need to rely on sponsored kits and run a few quick matches in the Perimeter or another map where you feel confident.
Even quick extractions without filling your inventory can help. Bringing back your loadout along with a few items and consumables will gradually rebuild your resources. A handful of successful sponsored-kit runs can earn enough credits to support your heavier runs when you want to bring stronger gear.
Beyond buying ammo, you can also find it scattered around the map in ammo caches. Defeating elites or commanders may also reward you with weapons and additional ammunition. Another often overlooked method is collecting Unstable Gunmetal, which appears in specific areas such as the Station on Perimeter.
Unstable Gunmetal can be used for bartering to obtain ammo, so it’s best not to sell it right away. A useful tip is to read the tooltips for salvage materials like Unstable Gunmetal to understand their purpose. While they don’t sell for many credits, trading them can sometimes provide greater value over time.