Marathon's latest update brings its mighty knife down a few pegs, with developer Bungie reducing its lunge distance and majorly nerfing the amount of bonus damage granted by the Melee Damage stat.

Though it might not seem like it at first glance, Marathon's knife, a weapon every runner comes equipped with automatically, is among the most powerful weapons in Bungie's extraction shooter. Since launch, it's featured a Halo Energy Sword-esque lunge and enough damage to bring down even well-geared hostile runners in a single blow with the right upgrades.

As of update 1.0.5.3, that is no longer the case. The knife's lunge distance has been trimmed by 10% along with a 20% reduction in its targeting angle. But that's not all that Bungie has changed. The Melee Damage stat also received an overhaul, reducing the maximum amount of bonus damage against Runners granted by the stat from 100% to 50%. Bonus melee damage against enemy NPCs is unchanged.

That should make the knife less of a go-to option and more of a weapon of opportunity for most players. In a developer's note, Bungie explained its reasoning for the changes, noting that while the knife is meant to be a high-risk weapon that can go toe-to-toe with close range weapons like shotguns and SMGs, it became too powerful too quickly with the right upgrades and stats.

"However, the breakpoints for quick melee kills show up too early in the Melee Damage stat progression, which means additional investment into a build isn't required to get the maximum effective output," Bungie states. "We don't want to compromise on having melee feel powerful, but believe that getting to that maximum output should be the result of meaningful buildcrafting and upgrade progression. Our goal for this change and the knife lunge changes above are that the knife remains a powerful backup tool, but requires more thoughtful play--both in and out of run--to be most effective."

The knife isn't the only powerful tool in Marathon getting a downgrade. The Bubble Shield, a popular defensive consumable that has quickly shaped the game's meta, has increased in rarity and had its HP reduced by 33%. However, the shield's resistance to UESC damage has been increased by 17% and its vulnerability to Volt weapons removed. Overall, it sounds like the Bubble Shield will not only be harder to find but easier for enemy runners to smash through, which should shake up how encounters play out.

Last week's Marathon update patched out a Thief glitch that allowed for some cool movement tech. Despite allowing for some impressive plays, Bungie made clear it viewed the glitch as bad for the game's health.

"Unbounded movement, while expressive and clip-worthy, is ultimately unhealthy for the pace of play we want to maintain for Marathon," Bungie said.

Marathon Update 1.0.5.3 Patch Notes

Combat

Knife

• Reduced the maximum lunge distance by ~10% and trimmed down the targeting angle by ~20%.

Bubble Shield

• Increased rarity from Deluxe (blue) to Superior (purple)
• Reduced bubble HP by 33%
• Removed vulnerability to Volt Weapon damage
• Increased resistance to UESC damage by 17%

Runners

Stats

• Melee Damage
  • Reduced bonus damage provided by the Melee Damage stat from a maximum of 100% to a maximum of 50% against enemy Runners. Damage against non-Runner targets is unchanged.
  • DEVELOPER NOTE: Melee in Marathon is intended to be a high-risk but potent method to contest close-quarters weapons like shotguns and submachine guns. However, the breakpoints for quick melee kills show up too early in the Melee Damage stat progression, which means additional investment into a build isn't required to get the maximum effective output. We don't want to compromise on having melee feel powerful, but believe that getting to that maximum output should be the result of meaningful buildcrafting and upgrade progression. Our goal for this change and the knife lunge changes above are that the knife remains a powerful backup tool, but requires more thoughtful play - both in and out of run - to be most effective.

Thief

• Fixed additional Grapple-related slide cancel movement exploits.

Vault and Armory

• Fixed an issue causing the Vault and Armory to sometimes appear to be empty.
• Fixed an issue causing the Armory item refreshes and free daily items to not appear consistently.

Contracts

Traxus

• Removed “in a single run” condition from Traxus Return On Investment 4/5.

Zones

Cryo Archive

• Fixed an issue that would cause an exfil countdown to reset if the 1st crew member to enter left the circle, even if the other crew members were in the circle.