Marathon Ares RG Guide: Master the Volt Railgun

The Ares RG - Railgun is a Volt-damage railgun firing single shots from a 4-round magazine, with a fire rate of 60 RPM and a damage value of 123 per shot. Its effective range tops out at 55 meters — long, not infinite. It runs on Volt Cells, which is the first thing you need to understand before you build around it, because ammo type dictates everything downstream: how you loot, when you back off, and who you want on your squad.

That 123-damage figure is not a typo. Per trigger pull, nothing else in the standard weapon pool touches it cleanly. The tradeoff is that four rounds is a brutally small magazine, 60 RPM means you live and die by accuracy, and Volt Cells are a specific resource you cannot substitute. This weapon rewards patience and punishes panic.

Four shots. That is your combat budget per engagement before you are reloading — in a game where engagements move fast and thirds arrive faster. The first thing new players do with the Ares RG is panic-fire two shots wide, land two, and then get rushed in the reload. Do not do that.

The Ares RG's two mod slots are Chip and Barrel, which gives you a clear priority: the Barrel slot is where you solve the shot discipline problem, and the Chip slot is where you solve the sustain problem.

For the Barrel slot, the Impact Shockwave magazine mod actually fits the Ares RG and increases both range and magazine size — that extra round changes the math on engagements meaningfully. For a pure accuracy play, **◈ Farshot Barrel - Barrel MOD - Deluxe greatly increases ADS accuracy and range, which on a 55-meter weapon turns already-long sightlines into surgical territory. ◈ Pinpoint Barrel - Barrel MOD - Superior** is the stability-and-range option if you want to reduce the penalty of follow-up shots.

For the Chip slot, the Ares RG pairs well with **◈ Ghillie Suit Chip - Chip MOD - Superior — after crouching briefly, you gain stability, range, and accuracy. On a weapon where every shot has to count, the discipline tax of crouching before firing is actually net positive. It trains the right habit. Testament is the alternative: ADS briefly and gain range and aim assist, which fits the weapon's pace naturally. If you are running it into UESC-heavy routes, ◈ Insurrection - Chip MOD - Deluxe** (Superior tier) is a significant damage bonus against UESC forces that makes clearing bots between Runner fights much cleaner.

The Ares RG is a specialist's weapon on every shell it touches. It is not a general-purpose carry. Its volt damage type means it synergizes with shells and builds that exploit energy mechanics — and it punishes shells that need sustained fire to win close-range brawls.

The Destroyer - Combat is the natural home for it. Riot Barricade gives you the cover to pace your shots; Search & Destroy's Immobilize effect means your targets are briefly locked, making that 60 RPM fire rate less punishing. If you are a Destroyer main who has been using mid-range automatics, swapping to the Ares RG at long range while your Barricade absorbs pressure is a real upgrade in the right rooms.

Triage - Support running Ares RG is less obvious but worth considering for squad play: Battery Overcharge boosts ADS and handling while active, and the Ares RG's per-shot damage means every window of Overcharge is a legitimate threat, not just a handling buff on a mediocre weapon.

Avoid it on Assassin - Stealth in most cases. The Active Camo window is short, you are operating at close-to-mid range in smoke, and four Volt Cell shots at 60 RPM does not match that pacing. The Assassin wants tools that work inside the smoke window. The Ares RG wants deliberate, long-range setups.

This is the hidden cost of the Ares RG that kills more runs than enemy fire: Volt Cells are not Light Rounds. You cannot loot them from every crate. Before you lock in the Ares RG as your primary, you need a looting discipline built around actively seeking Volt Cell sources. Cyberacme - Faction's Armory carries ammo stock including Light Rounds — check their faction page at /factions for current offerings, and prioritize CyberAcme contracts if you want a reliable resupply pipeline for energy-type ammunition.

Four rounds per magazine becomes a much calmer number when your backpack always has reserves. It becomes a death sentence when you are halfway through a run with one magazine remaining and two squads rotating your position.

The Ares RG rewards the Endurance track. Heat management matters on any shell carrying it — Destroyer's Thruster and Tactical Sprint both generate heat, and Triage's Battery Overcharge has its own heat cost. The Quick Vent perk (3 Energy) gets heat recovery started sooner after those spikes, and Heat Dissipation (9 Energy) speeds recovery across the run. These are unconfirmed exact values from current sources, but the direction is right: Endurance investment keeps your shell functional between Ares RG shots and shell ability uses.

If you are playing Destroyer with this weapon, also consider a small Recharge track investment. Head Start (4 Energy, values unconfirmed) gives you partial Tactical charge at infil — meaning Riot Barricade can come up faster in your first engagement, which is precisely when the Ares RG needs cover most.

The Cradle planner at /cradle lets you map the full Energy path before you commit, and because respec is always free, there is no penalty for testing an Endurance-first path against a Recharge-first path across a few sessions.

First: the Ares RG's 123 damage per shot is the highest single-hit output in the standard pool, but four Volt Cell rounds means your engagement discipline has to match your damage numbers — pace your shots, do not panic-fire.

Second: run a Barrel mod that tightens your accuracy window (Farshot Barrel for range, Pinpoint Barrel for stability) and a Chip mod that rewards deliberate play (Ghillie Suit Chip or Testament). The Impact Shockwave mag mod is worth evaluating if you need more rounds per engagement.

Third: build your looting route around Volt Cell acquisition before every run. Ammo starvation on a 4-round magazine is the Ares RG's most common cause of death — solve that logistically and the weapon earns its reputation as the strongest heavy option when Volt Cells are available.