Marathon's Ranked mode is not the usual win-or-lose scoreboard. In an extraction shooter the objectives mix looting, surviving, and fighting other players, and Bungie had to decide how all of that should affect your rank. The result is a system with holotags, score targets, overperformance, and specific penalties for failing to exfil.

Why this is harder than it sounds

In most competitive games you either win or you lose. In Marathon you can win by looting enough, or by killing others, or by doing events and getting bonus points. That makes ranking players tricky. Starting gear and the value of what you loot also matter, so the rules need to account for many moving parts.

Bungie's helpful but slightly nerdy solution

To make the system less mysterious, Bungie released a short "ranked calculation worksheet" with a few example questions. It asks players to compute crew score targets, potential Ranked Point losses, and possible gains based on holotag tiers and loot. It looks like a little maths quiz, but it actually shows how the core mechanics work.

Question 1

Johnnie equips a Silver Holotag. Andy equips a Gold Holotag. Chris equips a Silver Holotag. What is their crew's score target?

  • Each holotag contributes a score target value. Gold is 7,000 and Silver is 5,000. Add them up: 7,000 + 5,000 + 5,000 = 17,000 score target for the crew.

Question 2

Paul equips a Gold Holotag. Ross equips a Silver Holotag. Nikki equips a Platinum Holotag. How many Ranked Points will they each lose if they fail to exfil?

  • When you fail to extract you lose Ranked Points based on the combined penalty values of your crew's holotags. In this example Gold = 4,200, Silver = 2,000, Platinum = 8,000. Total loss per player = 4,200 + 2,000 + 8,000 = 14,200 Ranked Points.

Question 3

Brian equips a Diamond Holotag. Eric equips a Platinum Holotag. Nick equips a Platinum Holotag. They loot three Gold Holotags. How many Ranked Points can they potentially gain?

  • Calculate the crew's score target and the overperformance capacity, then add them. In this scenario the combined score target is 55,000. The overperformance capacity from looted holotags and events is 13,250. Together that means the total possible Ranked Points on offer are 55,000 + 13,250 = 68,250.

Question 4

Phil equips a Gold Holotag and exfils after looting 6,000 gear value. How many Ranked Points does he gain?

  • This one is a trick. You only gain Ranked Points if you meet your score target and successfully exfil. A Gold Holotag requires a loot score target of 7,000. Phil only looted 6,000, so he neither gains nor loses rank for this match. The result is no change.

Bonus

Eunice equips a Platinum Holotag. How much additional gear value does she need to be eligible to queue for High Stakes if the requirement is 10,000 starting loadout value?

  • The High Stakes queue needs a starting loadout value of at least 10,000. A Platinum Holotag costs 1,500. So Eunice needs 10,000 minus 1,500 = 8,500 in other gear value to meet the threshold.

So does the worksheet help?

Yes. The quiz looks playful but it clarifies the main pieces: holotag costs, score targets, overperformance, and loss penalties. Once you understand those numbers, the Ranked mode makes more sense. You can see when it is worth fighting other players and when it is better to focus on events and looting.

In short, Marathon's Ranked system formalizes the game's risk and reward loop. The worksheet is a small but useful tool for players who want to approach Ranked with a plan rather than guessing.