The Cutthroat Competition is a priority contract in Marathon that involves finding one of the rarer loot items in the game.
Doing so will help you get rewards for completing the contract, and also improve your standing with the Traxus faction. While the contract isn’t too difficult, it can take a lot of time if you can’t find what you’re looking for.
Marathon Cutthroat Competition contract walkthrough
The Cutthroat Competition contract has just one task.
- Loot Enhanced or rarer rod salvage in Maintenance, and then exfil successfully
Unlike most of the contracts that take place on Perimeter, this one requires a visit to Dire Marsh. To be more precise, you need to go to the Maintenance location. This location isn’t too hard to find, as it’s a named POI after all.
To complete the contract, you’ll need to find two enhanced or rarer rod salvage. Once you’ve headed to the Maintenance area, head inside the main building. There will be plenty of UESC threats at this location, and expect to find rival Runners as well.
What you’re looking for is something called Deimosite Rods (refer to the image above). These rods spawn in open areas, so you can’t find them from either folios or from containers. I have tested this theory, and so far, Deimosite Rods only spawn in the open. However, they do appear occasionally from
However, they don’t have a fixed location. I have tested this across different runs and also discussed it with my friends. The locations of the Deimosite Rods are completely random. I believe you can even find them in other named locations. However, you’ll need to find them only from the Maintenance region if you’re completing the contract.
A piece of advise: Look down on the paths/corridors you walk because I found one in the same fashion. As long as they’re cyan colored (as shown in the images above), you’re good. Find two of them, and exfil successfully to complete the contract. Doing so not only gets you useful rewards, but you’ll also get 150 Rep for the Traxus faction.
