Surviving Marathon’s latest map, Cryo Archive, is one hell of a challenge. Completing all the puzzles and the pinnacle event, a boss fight against Compiler, well, that’s on a whole other level entirely that we mere mortals can only aspire to reach.
You need to gather six rare keys from the other maps to open the corresponding vaults on Cryo Archive to collect a unique subroutine item, and then challenge the Compiler. Of course, it’s even harder than that in practice, since you could get killed and lose your keys, or even open the vaults but get unlucky and not have the subroutine spawn. Thankfully that last part’s being fixed, and subroutines will have a 100% spawn rate starting this weekend.
WORLDS FIRST SOLO COMPILER LETS GOOOOO!!! I LOVE THIS GAME AND IM GLAD I CAN BRING MY SOLO SKILLS OVER TO HERE!!! MAN I LOVED COOKING THE STRATS FOR THIS. Full raid will be up on YT later when i get a thumbnail and chill. @MarathonTheGame #marathon pic.twitter.com/lzMAvIJ39cMarch 23, 2026
Just when I’d come to terms with the fact I’d never complete it, someone went ahead and beat Cryo Archive solo after less than a week and in just eight attempts. That’s just salt in the wound, really.
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The world’s first solo Compiler kill title goes to the one and only TheSnazzzyRock, who’s known for having taken on Destiny’s hardest challenges solo, too, such as Pantheon, Last Wish, and Deep Stone Crypt. Despite his history of impossible feats, I’m still baffled that someone’s managed to pull this off at all, let alone so soon.
Snazzzy was originally in the running for the world’s first completion of the map, only to have bad RNG prevent his team from getting the required subroutine, meaning they had to find another key before they could continue. This delay let Tyraxe’s team overtake them and go on to claim the prize.
Snazzzy’s team were good sports about this setback, though: “Our theory to open vault 7 was, funnily enough, spot on correct and we helped [Tyraxe’s team] by giving them our idea,” he explains.
After this crushing blow, Snazzzy naturally wanted to step up the challenge even more, aiming to take on the boss by himself this time. You can’t solo queue into Cryo Archive, so teammates Tcibz and P8int sat back and watched.
If you want to attempt this feat too, then Snazzzy’s spilt the beans on his winning loadout:
- Ambush and Ghost Protocol cores for longer smoke and longer invisibility
- Regen V4, Survival Kit, and Distance Runner implants (he notes these aren’t optimised)
- Gold shield with an invisibility mod
- Gold backpack with an ammo mod to reload weapons passively
- The Biotoxic Disinjector for heavy boss damage (yes, the first red-quality weapon which you can only get by killing the Compiler previously, or looting one)
- Gold Bully SMG with the Punishment chip for bonus damage
- Lots of EMP grenades, smokes, healing supplies like Panacea Kits and Self Revives, ammo, and Energy Amps
As for his strategy, it’s largely hanging back to lob damage at the Compiler using the Biotoxic Disinjector and Bully, then throwing smokes to safely interact with the terminals when required. It’s a smart approach when you’ve got to do it all yourself. So, think you’ve got what it takes? Give it a shot. I know I won’t be—never solo, at least.
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