5 Tasks in Aimlabs to Warm Up for Marathon Before Launch

Marathon is nearly here! Bungie’s long-awaited extraction shooter is finally launching this week, reviving a universe that has been dormant since the 90s and bringing it into a genre that has exploded in popularity over the last few years. If you played the Server Slam last weekend and got a taste of what Marathon has to offer, you already know that this is a game that is going to punish sloppy aim. The TTK is unforgiving, the runners each bring their own movement tricks to a fight, and every engagement carries the weight of whatever you’ve got in your kit.

If you want to hit the ground running at launch, now is the time to get your mechanics in order. Below are five tasks you can jump into right now to start building the fundamentals that Marathon is going to demand from you. These are a taste of what’s to come as more Marathon-specific playlists and content arrive down the line, but they’ll give you a solid foundation heading into launch weekend.

VT Floatshot Intermediate – This task features five targets spread across a wide play area, each moving with large horizontal strafes and frequent but gentle vertical movement. Targets go down in a single shot and respawn immediately, keeping you in a constant rhythm of acquisition and firing. For Marathon, this is excellent preparation for the kind of precise, composed flicking you’ll need when you catch an enemy repositioning across a sightline. Getting comfortable picking off targets that aren’t moving in a straight line is exactly the kind of habit that pays off in real engagements.

VT Strafeshot Novice – Six targets occupy a wide play area, each traveling horizontally at varying angles with unpredictable directional changes thrown in to keep you honest. Like Floatshot, a single click is all it takes to destroy a target before it respawns. The unpredictability here is the point… Marathon players are not going to cooperate and move in neat, readable patterns, and this task trains your ability to read and react to targets that change direction without warning. Good first shot discipline is critical in a game with Marathon’s TTK, and this task puts that front and center.

VT Waveswitch Centered Novice – A target switching scenario featuring five targets at various depths across a wide play area, each moving gently but evasively in multiple directions. The depth variance is particularly relevant here, as Marathon’s maps are going to put you in situations where you’re switching between threats that aren’t all sitting on the same plane, and training to handle that naturally is something this task does well. Clean, composed switching without panic is one of those skills that separates players who survive messy multi-target situations from those who don’t.

rA Strafetrack Easy – A reactive tracking scenario built around a pill-shaped target that strafes evasively in the horizontal plane. This is where the Apex side of Marathon’s mechanical demands comes in, when you’re up against a Vandal doing speed bursts or a Thief swinging in on a grapple, you are not going to be flicking to a static target. You need your tracking to hold up on something that is actively trying to not be where your crosshair is. This task builds that reactive foundation in a focused, low-noise environment where you can actually feel yourself improving.

Close Long Strafes Invincible – The final task on the list features a pill-shaped target strafing evasively at short to mid range around the player. The target can’t be destroyed, which removes the temptation to rush your shots and lets you focus purely on the quality of your tracking. Marathon’s close range encounters, especially against the more mobile runners, are going to test whether your aim holds up when a target is right in your face moving unpredictably. This is the task to run when you want to dial in that smooth, sustained control before things get chaotic.

Good luck out there on your raids this weekend!