Marathon’s second season, NIGHTFALL, switches on for everyone on June 2, 2026. It is the biggest content swap since Bungie’s extraction shooter launched, and it lands together with the game’s first seasonal reset, so the date matters for more than just new maps and weapons.
Bungie confirmed the launch window in its Season 2 announcement, and the new season replaces Season 1 directly. The season turns over at the same instant worldwide, rather than rolling out by region, so the calendar date is the same for players in North America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania once Bungie performs the reset.
Marathon Season 2: NIGHTFALL start time for all regions
The date is locked to June 2, 2026, and the changeover happens globally in one pass. An exact clock time has not been published for the season start itself, so the safest plan is to treat June 1 as your last full day of Season 1 play and wrap up any farming or claims before the day ends in your time zone.
Image credit: Bungie
End of Season 1 events before NIGHTFALL
Bungie closed out Season 1 with update 1.0.9, which loosened a lot of the loot rules to give players a strong final stretch. Map events including Intercept, Lockdown, Warden spawns, Convoy, and Anomaly are now guaranteed to appear on every run, and Wardens drop locked-room keys with no RNG attached.
Key Templates also changed from Fragile to Compromised, so losing a key on death no longer forces an overly cautious playstyle, and Deluxe keys can now drop from any looted wall safe. Rook’s Signal Mask received a buff too, staying active longer while sprinting and shrinking the range at which AI hears footsteps.
The end-game zone, Cryo Archive, has been open daily from May 21 through June 2, with a free Cryo Archive Sponsored Kit delivered to player mailboxes each day during that window. A final Season 1 ranked event, Cryo Archive: Ranked, ran from May 24 at 10 AM PT through May 28.
What carries over in the Marathon Season 2 wipe
NIGHTFALL is the first time Marathon performs a full seasonal reset, and it behaves like a classic extraction wipe that hits every player at once. Some progress survives, but most of your levels, currency, and gear do not.
| Carries over to Season 2 | Wiped at season start |
|---|---|
| Cosmetics earned and redeemed in Season 1 | Runner Level |
| Weapon styles, titles, and emblems | Ranked Level |
| Codex challenge progress | Faction Level and upgrades |
| Faction access | Credits |
| LUX and SILK balances | All inventory and Vault items |
| Rewards Pass progress | Unclaimed gear and equipment reward packages |
You will know the reset has taken effect when your Runner, Ranked, and Faction levels read back at the start and your inventory and Vault are cleared. Cosmetics, titles, and emblems you already redeemed will still be in your collection.
Season 1 ranked rewards to claim
Ranked payouts from Season 1 are based on the highest rank you reached and become claimable in the Codex. They run from a Bronze Runner emblem at the bottom up to the Expanse, Repeater HPR style, and the Ascendant Survivor title at the top. Each tier unlocks a different weapon or shell skin.
| Rank reached | Reward |
|---|---|
| Bronze I | Bronze Runner emblem |
| Gold III | Glacial Impact Destroyer Shell |
| Platinum I | Toolkit – Stryder M1T Weapon Style |
| Diamond I | Glacial Strife Bully SMG Weapon Style |
| Pinnacle I | Expanse, Repeater HPR Weapon Style and Ascendant Survivor title |
One catch on the titles. If you do not reach the same rank again by the end of Season 2 that you held in Season 1, you lose that title, so the final Season 1 ranked push is worth taking seriously.
What’s new in Marathon Season 2: NIGHTFALL
The headline addition is Night Marsh, a nighttime version of Dire Marsh that arrives as a new playable map on June 2. A new Runner shell and new weapons come with it, and a “new threat” on Dire Marsh is set to interfere with Runner activity. New points of interest in Perimeter, Dire Marsh, and Outpost will spawn Wardens, and UESC dropships appear more often on Perimeter.
NIGHTFALL also introduces The Cradle, a system that lets you customize your Runner shell stats and adds build crafting that the game has not had before. Faction progression speeds up across the board, and Bungie is folding in several quality-of-life changes drawn from community feedback.
With the wipe wrapping up Season 1 and NIGHTFALL flipping on June 2, the most useful thing you can do right now is spend down everything that will not survive the reset, lock in your ranked rewards, and head into the new season with your cosmetics, balances, and Codex progress intact.
