Marathon players have uncovered some incredibly strong movement techniques on the Thief Shell, a shell that is proving so strong that it might just be damaging to the game's overall balance.

The Thief's grapple device ability is at the core of it. Used normally, it can propel a player a fair distance in a certain direction before going on cooldown. This allows the Thief to navigate the map better than other Shells, something players have been using to get to great loot in short order.

But there's an interesting dynamic between the sprinting slide and this ability. If you perform a slide and quickly jump, then use the grapple device, you can give yourself some frankly stunning forward momentum on par with the Destroyer Shell's thrusters. However, unlike these thrusters which cost a substantial amount of heat to perform, these sliding grapples only cost as much as the slide itself. Plus, the cooldown on the grapple instantly resets, allowing you to do it multiple times back-to-back.

What this means in practice is, in the hands of a competent Thief who has practiced for a while, a player can outmanoeuvre all other Shells in firefights. They can reposition faster than the movement-focused Vandal, and they can chase better than the aggressive Destroyer. For an idea of how powerful this is, look below at a handy video by Nava on X who combines the technique with well-honed FPS expertise to horrific effect.

This, as you can imagine, has proven a touch controversial. One user who goes by Isolated Rook wrote: "This has to be addressed and soon. Just because you call it 'tech' doesn't change the fact that it's an exploit that gives one shell a massive advantage over the others." Their sentiment is echo'd by streamer VesselofTauCetiIV, who posted: "This needs to go. Thief can already do so much already, this is just too much. Marathon isn't Destiny, and Marathon isn't Apex. It's slower with only specific abilities giving you that speed, this is not one of those. This is an oversight and needs to be addressed"

Unlike the nerfs to UESC PvE enemies, something all players had to contend with on equal footing, this technique does arguably provide an advantage to some players it's true. However, there are two sides to the argument. Some, like those mentioned above, will point to the unfair tools this provides Thief. In essence, with this tech they can do everything Vandal can do better, minus the displacing arm cannon. As such, for the health of the game (especially with ranked coming in a matter of days), it should be addressed. You'd hate to die to an unfair technique in the Cryo Archive, where a lot is on the line after all.

The counter argument is, discovering tech like this is cool. It provides some level of skill expression to the game, and nipping such discoveries in the bud before the meta adapts is potentially cutting off interesting possibilities. If you're a fan of fighting games, it would be like nerfing a top tier character before people figure out counter picks.

Or take Marathon itself. At the moment, shotguns across the board seem pretty strong. We've all been blown away by a WISR or Misriah. But, rather than adjust the damage, leaving these guns room to thrive has allowed players to learn the hard way how strong they are, and play around them. You should not, probably, rush into a building where an Assassin is clearly baiting you. Throw a grenade at them!

One wonders how Bungie will respond! A cautious guess would be perhaps a shorter cooldown on the grapple if used after a slide like the tech requires. Nothing too long, perhaps a few seconds, just so other players have time to spin around and shoot back before you're soaring off to another angle. That, or the developers will kill it outright with the full cooldown. It'll still be a useful tool in a pinch, but not nearly as strong.