What is Silk used for in Marathon?

Marathon Silk currency balance shown on main menu — (Image credit: Bungie)

Marathon Silk is specifically used to unlock items from premium Reward Passes, and it's quite easy to earn too. Essentially, you just need to play the game, and you'll get Silk whenever you level up in Marathon. But to spend Silk, you need first need to get a Reward Pass using a different currency that costs real money. It's a little confusing, so I've explained exactly how Silk and these Reward Passes work in Marathon below.

Marathon Silk uses explained

Marathon Silk currency reward for increasing season level — (Image credit: Bungie)

Silk is a currency in Marathon that is used exclusively for unlocking cosmetic items from premium Reward Passes. These Reward Passes are like battle passes full of cosmetics for your Runner Shells, Marathon weapons, and more – think Helldivers 2 Warbonds or Arc Raiders Decks but for visual customization only.

You're awarded Silk in small chunks of 10 whenever you increase your Season Level by earning enough XP, so you get it from simply playing the game and it cannot be purchased with real money. Your Marathon account can hold up to 140 Silk with an overflow limit of 60, so your effective maximum Silk is 200. But once you hit the overflow limit, any Silk you earn will be lost forever. The limit likely also means you can't make a single purchase that is worth more than 140 Silk, but I'll be sure to update this guide with full details on how Silk works when the proper Marathon release time comes.

To spend your Silk in Marathon, you first need to buy a Reward Pass using a separate premium currency called Lux. While that means these passes cost real money, the good news is that they are permanent additions to the game and never expire, so you can buy Reward Passes from previous seasons and spend your Silk on them at your leisure. Note that if you pre-ordered the Deluxe Edition of Marathon, you get 200 Silk and one Reward Pass Voucher, letting you unlock one pass of your choice for free.

You can also use Lux to buy other cosmetics in the Marathon store, such as skins for Marathon characters. But unlike Silk, it's not yet clear if Lux can also be obtained just by playing Marathon. You also don't have to spend real money, Lux, or Silk in Marathon as there are plenty of cosmetics to unlock for free just from completing Codex challenges. And you can sometimes get exclusive cosmetics through Marathon Twitch Drops too.

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Will Sawyer is a Guides Editor at GamesRadar+ with over five years of experience in writing online guides, news, and features, and has a BA (Hons) in Journalism. Starting as a freelancer, Will contributed to startmenu and Game Rant before joining the GamesRadar+ team in August 2021. Since then, he has written hundreds of guides about a huge range of games, with shooters and action games being his areas of expertise. Outside of writing about games, Will hops between multiplayer shooters with friends, such as Darktide and Helldivers 2, and delves into whatever has been on his backlog for far too long. He also tries to get through his never-ending Warhammer pile of shame of grey Tyranids, Aeldari, and Chaos Space Marines.