Triage is likely going to emerge as the best Shell in Marathon, as he is able to provide support to your entire team and even makes for a solid solo choice due to his medical drones. Each Shell in Marathon has the potential for specific builds and loadouts due to the class-specific Cores that can be found while looting, or via the SekGen faction skill tree.
These cores provide bonuses to a Shell’s abilities and general functionality, and finding them will really help your class shine. For Triage, that means better healing and support for your team. Let’s get into the best build for Triage.
Triage Overview
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Reboot+
- Reboot+ is Triage’s Prime Ability. It allows you to revive teammates from a distance, but it can also be used offensively to EMP hostiles.
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Med-Drone
- The med drone is Triage’s tactical ability and signature bit of kit, allowing you to heal both the shields and the health of yourself and allies.
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Shareware.exe
- Shareware.exe is one of Triage’s traits (or passives) that shares the benefits of medical consumables between Triage and any ally who has the drone attached.
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Battery Overcharge
- Battery Overcharge is Triage’s second trait and is more offensive than defensive or supportive. It allows you to overcharge your weapons to deal EMP damage when you break an enemy’s shield, but it will cost heat generation.
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Reboot+
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Triage is the support class in Marathon, providing quick revives with his Reboot+ prime ability and health and shield regeneration with his medical drone. Marathon is a difficult game and the NPCs are not to be messed with. Having a Triage with you helps you maintain shields and health without having to stack your inventory with healing items, which take up space and are quite expensive early on before you unlock more contracts for the armory.
Triage specializes in volt weaponry with a few different passives and core-specific abilities that are impacted by volt damage. I’ll go into this a bit more below as I pick apart each core and decide which one you should ultimately use.
I think that Triage is almost a must-have on your team during the first few days of a Marathon wipe just because of that extra early game healing. That means you might as well play him in the hopes that you end up with at least one on your team. Despite not having the most glitzy abilities or mobility, you just can’t deny his utility.
Marathon: Complete Guide To Factions
Want to know which faction to level first in Marathon? We’ve got you covered in this complete guide.
Triage Best Loadout
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Equipment |
Bubble Shield |
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Shield |
The best shield available to you |
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Core #1 |
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Core #2 |
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Head Implant |
Triage actually has a lot of great choices for a Head Implant, including Ping which increases consumable speed while allies are nearby, Augmented Capacitor which increases Prime Recovery (Reboot+) recovery time, and Regen, which provides extra weapon handling and ADS speed, while also providing faster revive speed and self repair speed. |
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Chest Implant |
I’ve gone for the Helping Hands chest implant as it provides extra Revive Speed. I play in a tight trio, though, and work together. If you’re solo, you might want to instead go for something like the Survival Kit, which provides all-round bonuses. |
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Leg Implant |
Again, this is quite subjective, but generally I’ve played with the Distance Runner (improved heat generation) and Solid Stance (ready weapons more quickly) Implants of each rarity. |
There are a few different things to consider when planning the ideal loadout for a Shell in Marathon: the best equipment, the best weapons, the best cores, and the best implants. These make up the foundations of the build.
Best Triage Equipment
I’ve been torn between smoke grenades and the bubble shield as the best equipment for Triage, and in the end, I’ve settled on the bubble shield. You can throw this down to cover your teammates, give everyone a chance to heal from your drone, and grab a revive on downed allies.
Best Triage Shield
The shields don’t have specific bonuses for Shells, so you just want to use the strongest shield that you have available to you.
The best shield in the game is currently the Protector V3, but this is end-game stuff. Early on, you just want to focus on getting your first green shield, and then you can go from there.
Focusing early on NuCaloric faction contracts will help you gain access to better shields from the armory.
Best Triage Cores
I’ve broken down the best Triage cores into the different stages of the game, as the Prestige Samaritan core is not something that will be available to you right at the start of the game.
Instead, I’ve opted for High Voltage as the starter core as it leans into Triage’s volt damage. I’ve found this to work amazingly if you get an early volt weapon, activate Triage’s battery overcharge to EMP enemies, and then stack that bonus against NPCs or enemy players. It helps you clear larger groups of NPCs quickly.
For the secondary core, if you’re lucky enough to find a second Triage-specific core, go for Ounce Of Prevention. Alternatively, if you are sticking with the standard cores, Trophy Hunter is a great pick.
As you move into the mid-game, hopefully you’ve managed to find some Deluxe Triage cores while playing. The two best are Hypocratic Oath and Electron Recapture Sinks.
You can also run Electron Recapture Sinks alongside High Voltage to maximize that early volt damage and cooldown reduction for your Battery Overcharge. This turns Triage into a more aggressive Shell rather than just your typical support character.
In the late game, the Samaritan core is an obvious choice. It provides a significant cooldown to your medical drones every time you share healing via the Shareware.exe passive.
Best Triage Head Implant
I haven’t been able to decide which is the best implant for Triage between the three best ones: Ping, Augmented Capacitor, and Regen. All of them seem quite good, and I think it comes down to your specific playstyle when deciding between them.
Ping is a solid support implant, providing extra healing to nearby allies.
Augmented Capacitor is a good choice if you want to lean into hitting enemies with the Reboot+ over and over again, and Regen if you like to shoot but also want to be able to heal yourself (and therefore, your allies via Shareware.exe) quickly.
Best Triage Chest Implant
Helping Hands is the best chest implant for Triage, as it increases revive speed. You could also run with the Survival Kit as it provides more all-round benefits, including self-repair and revive speed.
Best Triage Leg Implants
The Leg Implants scale in power with their rarity. For example, the Distance Runner green implant is great because it provides extra heat generation, but once you get into the deluxe rarity, it will also grant you extra salvage when you successfully exfil. Most of the leg implants don’t impact Triage’s core abilities and traits so you have a bit more flexibility here with what you choose.
Marathon: Best Team Compositions
Here are the best teams of three in Marathon.
