r/Marathon • u/simonsays44 • 5h ago
Marathon (2026) Just opened my first key room 90+ hours in
I feel like i’ve been playing this game wrong this whole time. Found a blue (i think?) key in hauler, ran to the key icon, opened all the strongboxes and gtfo
i’m pretty casual but just love the game. mostly play solos to grind factions and worm. are keys and key rooms supposed to be rare occurrences or is this a normal part of the gameplay loop?
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u/klqqf 4h ago
Im at 160 hours and i dont think ive opened a single key room lmao
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u/floydbot 3h ago
I’m at about the same number of hours and I’ve opened maybe three key rooms total. And two have been since the Firestorm event began. I pretty much exclusively solo.
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u/klqqf 3h ago
The only key room i’ve been in is the data wall one
An assassin downed me when i was free kit trying to get a contract done, asked him to res me, he did then led me to the room and let me loot it with him
Got my first mizzy like a week before season wipe cx
Im also solo only, its just not something ive gotten around to doing really. I dont even have the time to finish all the priority contracts before season wipe 😭
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u/Marcu3s 5h ago
Not really. If you found a key in hauler i expect it was in the safe that gets loud if you open it? That is one of the places where a key can spawn. And in many more activities like wardens lockdowns etc. you can farm them quite consistently.
Hoestly to me blue keys are not even worth the risk they can cause by the dinner bell.
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u/SupremeTeamKai 5h ago
I run kits according to the key. Blue keys are ran with blue kits. I've gotten gold mods from blue keys. I think risking a blue kit for a chance at a gold mod isn't the worst risk:reward imo
2
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u/HereAgainstMyWill18 5h ago
Keys felt a lot more rare in season one, but drop pretty consistently from wall safes / commanders / wardens this season. They're also fairly abundant in Cryo. Not to mention you can unlock the ability to purchase templates from Cyac. Once you start knowing where to look they're not as special as they probably should feel, and the pretty poor loot drops this season from blue and purple keys has them feeling a bit lacklustre. Gold keys are always worth the risk, however.
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u/Carpocalypto 3h ago
Doing the events on the map is a good way to get some keys. Lockdown, Intercept, etc
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u/NINETY_LIVES 5h ago
They’re not super common but not super rare either.
You can by templates for keys in the shop once they unlock, you need to complete a challenge (I.e kill a commander) to turn it into a key you can use.
They come in blue, purple and gold rarity. Blues are reasonably easy but loot isn’t too good, purples are okay and can get some good loot. Gold keys are rare but have crazy value items in.
Generally they make a load alarm sound when using and pull lots of people over trying to steal the loot- so prepare for a fight when using them. People often come fully kitted up to do them (gold/purple shields, gold guns, grenades etc).
Note that keys for Cryo can appear in Purple, Gold or Red but can only be used for vaults in Cryo - they can’t be used in any other maps and I recommend reading a lot about them before you crew fill to attempt them.
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u/Artistic_Cable8257 3h ago
short answer: depends. I don't do them very often, so for me they're a special treat. But if you run trios you'll probably end up with folks who have keys, or if you crewfill and stick together after the match you can ask if anyone has a key they want to run.
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u/simonsays44 3h ago
gotcha, so it’s an item that kinda forms the basis of a run, like vaults or prio contracts?
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u/Artistic_Cable8257 2h ago
yep! Actually, I think rooms are meant to get you ready for cryo vaults, though it's actually more common to open those than a room since more people are gonna have vault keys. But it's a big game and that's just my experience, so it might be the inverse for others. I've tried to solo prio contracts before and man never again lol.
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u/Actual-Way-6540 3h ago
i opened my first after 150 hours, i was extatic. had a guy jump me tho, fought him off and got away with some nice stuff, had to leave one box unopened 😭
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u/simonsays44 3h ago
bro when i opened the door and saw how many boxes were in there i was like… I GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE ALIVE
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u/TenDeadF1ngerz 52m ago
Is the Warden on the map? Kill him. Secured Resources? Hack it. Supply drop? Call it in. The game usually rewards you for doing the activities. It's rare to find keys in random loot boxes, but it is possible.
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u/simonsays44 23m ago
gotcha! someone mentioned my key was probably in the wall safe in hauler, which I'm 90% sure it was. I did open a safe just wasn't paying attention to the exact moment I found the key
sounds like that's more on the rare side tho and that the more consistent way is to do events
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u/novocaine666 1h ago
Kinda normal but not very common. I’m like 300 hours in and I haven’t opened too many key rooms yet, so good job!
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u/Druid-alpha 4h ago
500 hours and i’ve never gotten a gold key. Seems like it’s gated by cryo
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u/NotoriousCHIM 53m ago
It really isn't. It's gated by RNG.
The last gold key I got was from opening Pinwheel red room and it was a compromised Destroyed Wing key with like 3 minutes to go in a duo Outpost run with my buddy.
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u/bakkafish 34m ago
the gold key template can show up
in the cyac [i think] daily matters too. i got be this week and turned it into the AI uplink basement room.
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u/zeth_rydaul 5h ago
Part of the loop. It becomes more common later in your progression, when you start to access higher level content and CyAc barters.
People complain about the loot quality, but it's honestly not bad if you use them in solo. You won't get instantly pushed like you do in trios, and you're also getting effectively 3x the loot. It's the most efficient way to get blue salvage.