Disclaimer: This guide was written with Gotham Divided in mind. Artifact builds, skill builds, Stolen Powers, Mods, and Augments may work on other maps, but the focus is on GD.

Hello everybody! My name is tmak. I like to frequent IC livestreams and play both GD and Coast City. Lately my favorite champion to play has been Blue Beetle. I noticed a while ago that there aren't an incredible amount of guides on this site that go into extreme depth. I know I'm not an expert on this champion or this game, but I really just want to spread some general information as well as share my opinions on one of the most fun champions in Infinite Crisis. So without further ado, here is what I have to say about Blue Beetle! Enjoy!

Preface
If you just want to know what items to build and what skills to take, this may not be quite the guide you're looking for! My goal is to provide an informative tool to help players learn about one of the most fun champions to date as well as learn how to make educated decisions regarding playstyle and build order. Think of the above "starter items," "essential items," and "optional items" as guidelines and not fact. There are additional items that work very well, and in some cases the listed items are not the best choice for the situation! Hopefully many of you will read the following sections and try to get a good idea of my thought process when it comes to playing this champion and building him. From that point, you will be able to decide what works best for the way you play and what makes the most sence in your games.

Role
I play BB as a hybrid ranged carry and assassin champion, usually from the mid lane on Gotham Divided. From my experience, he works best when he pokes from range to bring people under about 20-30% and then goes in for the execute. He should not be used exclusively as a ranged marksman or as a melee fighter/assassin; a skilled player will recognize when each of those roles is required and seamlessly transition between them as needed.

Pros and Cons
Pros:
[list]

Good burst at all stages of the game

Players can choose between ranged sustained damage/poke or "in-your-face" assassinations as needed

Decent mobility for both chasing and escaping

TRUE DAMAGE that can't be mitigated by Attack Armor or Power Armor

Snowballs well

Two forms and more skills than other champions allows for more possibilities and potential

Great for duels and small skirmishes
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Cons:
[list]

Squishy; can be easily killed if crowd controlled and focused by multiple enemies

Long cooldowns on several skills necessitates smart play and planning

Lack of clear role or identity can make strategies and item builds confusing

One of the highest "skill cap" champions in the game; difficult to pick up quickly

Feels useless once you fall behind

May lack in large teamfights, especially when focused early
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Abilities
Passive: Reach Directive
-This passive allows BB to deal a nice burst to full HP targets (even tanks!) to chunk them down; it can also be used to kill low health targets that might otherwise live to see another day.
-From levels 1-5, you only have access to half of the passive. After you cast a spell, additional damage is added to your next auto attack. As long as you are in ranged mode, the passive deals up to 30/50/70/90 (+40% bonus attack damage) TRUE DAMAGE to a target that you auto attack, depending on current HP. The full amount is dealt if the target is at 100% HP, and the damage decreases in a linear fashion as the target gets lower.
-After you reach level 6 and get access to your ultimate, you can begin to make full use of the passive. While in melee mode, the passive deals up to 30/50/70/90 (+40% bonus attack damage) TRUE DAMAGE that increases the lower the target gets. The maximum damage is dealt when the target has 1% or less HP, and the damage decreases linearly with the more HP the target currently has.
-Both the ranged passive and melee passive share the same 12/10/8/6 second cooldown. To fully utilize the passive, watch the cooldown and recognize when you should be using the ranged version or the melee version.
Ranged Q: Energy Cannon
-Fire a relatively wide skillshot projectile that deals 75/120/165/210 (+100% bonus attack damage) Attack Damage to the first target hit and then explodes to deal 50/80/110/140 (+70% bonus attack damage) Attack Damage to nearby enemies. Costs 40/55/70/85 will. 7 second cooldown
-This is Blue Beetle's main source of AoE damage and wave clear. Its low cooldown allows it to be spammed, but watch your will.
-When combined with the Scanner ability, Energy Cannon can deal bonus TRUE DAMAGE to multiple enemies at once!
-It is important to practice aiming this skill to hit it as often as possible. It is perhaps BB's greatest form of burst damage, and it will be your source for triggering the passive in most cases. Try to always follow it up with a basic attack to consume the passive.
Ranged W: Scarab Scanner
-Launch a non-damaging projectile that lands at a target location and gives vision. The scanner can be used as a ward to watch areas you don't have vision of for up to 30 seconds before exploding. The scanner will also explode if you reactivate the ability at any time. Entering melee form also automatically detonates the scanner.
-When the scanner explodes, all nearby enemies get a debuff placed on them. When a debuffed target takes damage from one of Blue Beetle's skill or basic attacks, it suffers additional TRUE DAMAGE based on the current level of your passive and the target's current HP! Costs 35/40/45/50 will. 20/16/12/8 second cooldown.
-The explosion and debuff itself deals no damage. The debuffed target must be hit with a skill or a basic attack from Blue Beetle. The debuff lasts for 6 seconds.
Ranged E: Stick and Move
-This is Blue Beetle's primary escape maneuver. Using this skill causes BB to fly a fixed distance in the target direction and fire up to 4 projectiles at the closest target(s) he is flying away from. The bullets deal 25/45/65/85 (+30% bonus attack damage) Attack Damage, but each bullet that strikes the same target beyond the first deals only 50% damage. Costs 70/80/90/100 will. 18/16/14/12 second cooldown.
-Flying toward a target will not fire any projectiles at it. You can only deal damage with this spell if you are using it to put distance between the target and yourself.
-Blue Beetle cannot pass through walls or terrain with this skill. If you try to fly through a wall with it, the skill will fail or you will bump into the wall with the skill going on cooldown. You will be sad if this happens to you.
Ultimate: Infiltrator Mode
-This skill is what makes BB unique! Press R to transform into a melee champion with 3 entirely different skills.
-The rank of these 3 new skills does NOT increase by putting points into Q, W, or E. Instead, the rank of all 3 of them is increased every time you put a point into your ultimate. Thus, your melee skills get a great increase in power at levels 6, 10, 14, and 18 when you are able to level up your ultimate.
-Blue Beetle also gains 20 movement speed whenever he is in his melee form. 6 second cooldown.
-I will now be describing the melee skills in great detail since currently you cannot view the tooltips for them in the game client.
Melee Q: Lethal Measures
-Leap to the target enemy and deal 90/120/150/180 (+80% bonus attack damage) Attack Damage and apply on-hit effects. Costs 30/35/40/45 will. 6 second cooldown at all ranks.
-This skill is most commonly used to close the gap once a target gets low on HP after you've been poking it with ranged attacks and abilities. However, it can also be used to finish off a low target since it has the greatest cast range and also applies on hit effects. Since this skill has the lowest cooldown of the melee skills and BB also gets increased move speed in this form, it is not uncommon to use your full melee rotation on a target and then chase it until this spell comes back up before leaping in again for the final blow.
-Yes, your passive does count as an on hit effect! If the passive is not on cooldown, casting this spell will automatically trigger and consume the passive to deal additional TRUE DAMAGE to the target depending on how low it is.
Melee W: Hypersonics
-Scream to fear lane drones and jungle monsters, reduce the damage of champions hit by 10/13/16/19 percent, and apply a debuff to any enemy hit. This skill affects all enemies within a small radius of Blue Beetle. Costs 30/35/40/45 will. 8 second cooldown.
-As with the ranged W, this debuff is consumed when the target suffers damage from one of Blue Beetle's skills or basic attacks. Once again, the debuff deals no damage itself, but lasts for 6 seconds and deals TRUE DAMAGE when consumed by damage from BB's spell or auto attack. Since this is the melee form, the damage will increase as the target's HP decreases.
Melee E: Mandible Taser
-This is a single target close range skill that zaps the target to deal 85/126/165/205 (+90% bonus attack damage) Attack Damage and slow for 65/70/75/80 percent. The slow diminishes over 3 seconds. Costs 40/50/60/70 will. 14 second cooldown.
-This spell not only deals more damage than any other melee skill, but it also lets BB stick to his target if he has not killed it already. Alternatively, you can zap a chasing enemy with this skill to prevent him from catching and killing you.

Skill Order
Note on skill order since September patch: Just as it has always been impossible to allocate more than two points to the same skill before level 5, now it is impossible to put a third point into a skill on level 5 or 6. This prevents players from having a fully maxed out skill until level 9. As a result, a second skill will have an additional point in it early on.

I start with a level in Q for harass, last hitting, and the ability to proc Blue Beetle's passive. I take E at level 2 in case I have to escape a gank or an aggressive enemy. In some cases I do not put a point in anything until I know I can safely lane. If you are helping the jungler or going for an early invade or something, you may want to have E at level 1 just in case. If unsure, it's best to wait and be prepared to level E first if necessary.

Put another point in Q at level 3 with intentions of maxing it first. This skill is you bread and butter. It does a lot of damage if you are accurate, and it is your easiest way of proccing your passive for extra TRUE DAMAGE. By level 4 you should have all of your basic skills. Since you can no longer take a third point in Q at level 5, put it in your passive. Reach Directive is Blue Beetle's major form of damage output besides Q. You will notice a huge difference when this gets several points in it, as the damage will skyrocket, and the cooldown will drop significantly. Take the ult whenever possible (6, 10, 14, and 18), finish leveling the Q at 7 and 9, and take the passive whenever possible until that is finished as well. The next priority is E since it does do a small amount of damage and the lower cooldown on your escape is useful. W is a 1-point-wonder until the end of the game. Only the cost and cooldown change. I mostly just use this skill to apply Reach Directive when the passive is on cooldown.

Augments
I am a firm believer that augs and mods are entirely up to personal preference. The "best" choice depends on multiple factors such as what enemy champions you are facing (which you would only know in draft mode) and if you are focusing on early game or late game. I personally like to frontload my augs with flat stats so that I can try to last hit easily and have an advantage over my opponent. I am not yet 100% positive that these are what I will be using for a long time, but here are my current Augs:
[list]

Kord Industries SLASHER: 1.8 Attack Penetration, 2.01 Attack Damage

Queen Industries KAI: 2.41 Attack Damage, 1.5 Attack Penetration

Queen Industries FALCON: 2.41 Attack Damage, 2.81 Attack Speed

Queen Industries COLUMBUS: 0.3 Attack Damage/level (max 5.7), 1.5 Attack Penetration
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Total: 6.83 flat Attack Damage with 12.53 at level 19, 4.8 flat Attack Penetration, and 2.81 Attack Speed
-This amount of AS is fairly useless, but it is worth it to get the gold level AD. 2.41 is the highest flat amount obtainable on a single Augment. I may swap this or another Augment out for Queen Industries HEX (2.41 Attack Damage, 6.25% Critical Damage) in a high crit build. The only other 2.41 damage Augments also have Power Damage or Power Penetration, but those are completely useless for us.

Mods
These are the Mods I am using so far. I may change them in the future if I find something better or more consistent. However, I absolutely love the first two, so I don't see them changing any time soon.
[list]

Enhanced Coda Blade: +10 Attack Damage at Tier 3

Empowered Deathstroke's Claymore: Terminate 2--deal 10% of the target's maximum HP as attack damage and increase further damage you deal to the target by 5% for 5s)

Accelerated Soultaker Katana: Every coin gives 2 stacks that give 0.5 Attack Damage and 0.15% Attack Lifesteal each up to a maximum of 20 damage and 6% lifesteal. Takes 20 coins to stack; lose 50% of stacks on death.
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The Katana mod is not set in stone. I am experimenting with this item. I do actually like it now since it is very easy to stack with the mod and it gives more damage and lifesteal than anything else. Blue Beetle has a lot of high ratios on his skills that necessitate an item that gives more than 50 damage. It's also great because Beetle has to go into melee form to be effective, but he is easily blown up. The lifesteal lets him stay alive longer.

The first two mods are great. 10 more damage on Coda Blade makes this a huge power spike very early on for just 1750 credits. The mod to Terminate increases the initial damage from 5% max HP to 10%, which is fairly significant since a good BB player will activate this item countless times over the course of a game to blow targets up.

Possible other mods:
[list]

Recycle on Nil Weapon: makes last hitting easy to boost the early game and crank out early items faster.

Enhanced Cooldown Reduction on Rip Hunter's Time Pack: this may be a good investment if this item is useful now. CDR isn't the best stat to mod, but if anyone can use CDR, it's Blue Beetle. More skills with cooldowns means more value!

Anything else with +10 damage: these mods used to only give 9 damage. I actually don't know if you can stack more than one plus damage mod, but if you can, I may just take advantage of this slight buff!
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Stolen Powers
I personally like to take Doomsday's Invulnerability and Blue Beetle's X-Ray Vision. Invuln is the best spell for keeping you alive in most circumstances once people start to focus you. BB has no defensive skills of his own, so at least one stolen power should be defensive. The other best defensive option is probably Healing Wave (and I would recommend Poison Ivy's since the bonus damage can allow you to turn the tides of a fight).

I put BB's XR in the other slot so that I can try to pick up additional kills and clear enemy vision. Getting extra money for killing cameras is awesome and practical since a lot of people run Robin's Cams right now. XR is great in general when enemies run into Stealth Pads to try to juke. Just pop this power and you can't ever lose them.

If you aren't feeling X-Ray Vision, the second slot could also be filled with Super Speed (probably Flash's or Atomic Wonder Woman's), Meteor Drop (probably Atrocitus's for the added slow), Super Strength (probably Superman's for the extra damage), or another defensive power. Also keep in mind that Blue Beetle can work as a jungler; if you are jungling I would recommend putting Detonate (probably Joker's for the slow) in one of the slots.

Artifact Choices
I like to start the game by buying a Nil Weapon, 2 Health Vials, and a Will Vial. Feel free to further upgrade the will consumable if you run out often. Just keep in mind that it will probably be the first thing to go once you start running out of room in your inventory and want to buy more real items. Once you go to lane and start last hitting, pay attention to your credits. At your earliest convenience once you accumulate 500 credits, purchase a Tier 1 Coda Blade. Your first major goal in items is to get your Coda Blade to Tier 3. This is a huge power spike if you have the +10 damage mod because at that point the item gives 50 AD as well as some helpful penetration to bust through whatever innate armor your opponents have. I do not recommend upgrading the Coda Blade to Tier 4 immediately since all you get for the cost is Wounding (reduces enemy healing by half) and some additional penetration. However, you may want to consider investing in wounding if you are going against enemies with annoying heals like Harley Quinn or possibly Zatanna.

After Coda Blade, you have some options. I USED TO recommend quickly building Joe Chill's Revolver next for the huge Attack Damage, critical chance, and crit damage boost, but this item is now quite expensive for the amount of AD it gives. Pure damage is what we want in the early and mid game; crit can wait until after our attacks and abilities hit HARD. However, JC's Revolver can still be quite useful as a late game pickup to enhance your damage in a crit build.

The best items to shoot for in a full damage build are most likely Huntress's Crossbow, which now has the Slayer passive that will add % HP damage that works well with your passive; Deathstroke's Claymore, which now has the incredible stats of cooldown reduction and penetration on top of the Terminate active (with no mod required!), and maybe even Soultaker Katana, which now caps at 40 stacks instead of 60 and provides useful lifesteal for sustain. A build order that has been working well for me is Coda into Deathstroke's into Katana into Crossbow.

Rip Hunter's Time Pack now gives as much damage as most top tier items for a fair price, and the Will has been dropped in favor of 15% Cooldown Reduction! I have tried this item a few times since the patch. It's difficult to use, but I can see great potential in the hands of skilled players!

Situational Artifacts
If you can't farm because you're taking a ton of Power Damage from your enemies, a Sword of Beowulf can mitigate a lot of the power damage, especially with the shield from the passive. If you are on the receiving end of a lot of Attack Damage, you may consider a Claw of Horus to tank up with some armor and HP. If for whatever reason you think you need more attack speed and crit, it could be wise to begin Velocity 9 Implants. Zeiss Goggles may be useful, but this item has changed significantly. It now gives damage and attack speed, and it grants a passive that deals additional Power Damage on hit every so often based on your bonus Attack Damage stat.

If you just want to be a little more durable and provide some extra utility, try Lobo's Chain. It gives a fair amount of health, but it also yields less damage than other artifacts I have mentioned. The slow is useful; keep in mind that the slow is greater for melee attacks than ranged ones.

If your enemies are stacking an absurd amount of armor and you just cna't deal damage through it, Atomic Axe is a must. This gives penetration through a large percentage of the target's armor. However, if you have picked up both Coda Blade and Deathstroke's Claymore (which both have flat penetration), and enemies are not stacking 100+ armor against you, I would avoid Atomic Axe and instead pick up items with stronger stats.

Defensive Options
There are lots of games where nobody cares to build or play defensively. More damage means more kills and more money, so why mess with that? Unfortunately, you can't afford to be that greedy in every single Infinite Crisis game. Sometimes your team is just outmatched, and you have to grab some purely defensive items to hang in there. As in items that don't give lots of damage with a tiny bit of survivability stapled on.

Suit of Sorrows can work on any champion if you are just getting BARRAGED with Attack Damage by a team of multiple marksmen or AD assassins or something of that nature. Reflecting their damage back at them while dishing out your own may allow you to turn the tides of a fight. This item is best combined with other items that give health so that you can take more hits to reflect more damage before you croak. Maybe you picked up a Lobo's Chain or Claw of Horus; if so, Suit of Sorrows can work great against heavy AD teams.

If you're looking to counter Power Damage, consider Entropy Aegis. It will block the next incoming spell every 90 seconds. This works amazingly well for Blue Beetle since he has to get into the thick of a fight to finish off opponents. Blocking a huge spell can and probably will save your life at least once.

Strategy and Playstyle
As for playstyle in the early game, I prefer to play BB in a solo lane. This would most likely mean bottom on Gotham Heights, mid lane on Gotham Divided, or top lane on Coast City. Blue Beetle is most effective when he has one target to focus all of his damage on. He also has a fairly expensive build, and his skill damage (especially for melee skills) is quite level dependent, so solo credits and experience will help him greatly. I won't say that Blue Beetle as a marksman bottom with a support is terrible, but I have not had as much success in that position. BB tends to get poked down by the enemy support, and some other marksmen can outdamage him early on. Blue Beetle trades most favorably with mid lane champions in my experience, and he also earns the most money and experience there. If none of these choices sound good to you, then perhaps you will find Beetle most at home in the jungle. He has a decent clear time thanks to his passive and the AoE damage on Energy Cannon. However, he is difficult to gank with before level 6. Take Marauder Knife and possibly Tier 1 Marauder Shield instead of or in addition to an early Coda Blade if you decide to jungle. In any case, this is not meant to be a jungle guide unfortunately.

Try to spend the early game farming up money and experience. It is difficult to make a presence until level 6; even then, the rank 1 melee skills and rank 1 passive are not that effective. If there is a good opportunity, you can roam bottom or top or even into the enemy jungle to look for a kill. Lots of times your full combo of 3 ranged skills and 3 melee skills can be enough to secure a kill and outdamage your opponent. Try to start the fight in ranged form to use the ranged passive or W while your opponent is at high HP. Once he drops to half or below, transform into melee mode for the execute damage. However, I tend to spend most of my early game in my lane farming or harassing/killing my lane opponent until I get at least one item, which is Coda Blade in most cases.

To become a true killing machine, you will want to purchase Deathstroke's Claymore. Since the Terminate active is based on a percentage of the enemy's health and also increases your damage by a percentage, this item stays relevant throughout the entire game guaranteed! Proper utilization of the passive is often the deciding factor in killing your opponent versus letting him escape.

Blue Beetle has a strong ability to finish off weak foes, but staying alive is more important. Transforming into melee form and diving in headfirst is generally NOT the best idea unless most major damage threats are taken care of and you are cleaning up. Poke from range with Energy Cannon and basic attacks until it is safe to transform, close the gap, and kill off the stragglers.

Tips, Tricks, and Combos
-Shoot a Scanner into a clump of champions/drones/jungle monsters, fire your ranged Q, and detonate the scanner while the projectile is in midair to instantly consume the mark for a quick and potent burst of mixed Attack Damage and TRUE DAMAGE that strikes multiple enemies.
-When entering melee form, use Lethal Measures to apply your passive as an on hit effect and then press W to mark the enemy while the passive is on cooldown. This allows you to deal TRUE DAMAGE more than once every 6 seconds. Remember that not only auto attacks, but also spells like Mandible Taser will pop the mark from W to deal TRUE DAMAGE.
-The ideal full rotation is Terminate --> Scarab Scanner --> Energy Cannon --> auto attack for passive --> transform into melee --> Lethal Measures --> Hypersonics --> Mandible Taser. After this point, the target will be slowed, and if it is not dead yet, use auto attacks or any other spell that has come off cooldown to try to finish the job. I listed Terminate from Deathstroke's Claymore as the first step because using it increases all damage done by 5% for a duration. Ideally it would be done first so that every bit of damage you do is increased, but in most cases you will not have a good chance to use the item active until you enter melee form and jump in since the range on the item is so low.
-Do not forget that Stick and Move also deals damage in the form of 4 projectiles launched as targets you are fleeing from. This can be used to generally increase DPS if you dash parallel to your target instead of directly away. If you mark the target with W first, you may also be able to deal bonus TRUE DAMAGE or even execute the target with style by consuming the mark with these projectiles.
-Remember that Hypersonics also reduces the damage of enemy champions. Using this skill early can mitigate a lot of damage that can make the difference between living and dying.
-When running away from angry enemies that wish to kill you, use Stick and Move and then transform into melee form to gain the extra 20 move speed. The cooldowns for ranged skills are not visible while in melee form (and vice versa), but try to keep a mental note of the Stick and Move cooldown so that you can transform and use it again when it comes up.
-When running to lane or crossing the map to gank or head to an objective, transform to melee mode so that the 20 move speed kicks in and you arrive sooner.

Epilogue
I hope you found this guide informative and helpful! I tried to find as much information as I could that is important but not readily available so that I could educate anyone looking for answers. I hope that it gives aspiring players out there the some of the tools they need to start bopping faces as Blue Beetle! I put a lot of thought into each section of this guide, but I know that it can easily be improved. Please, if you have any additional thoughts or questions, do not hesitate to share or ask them in the comments section! As this is my first guide on Dawnbase, I would also love to hear feedback about what I could do to improve the quality of the guide itself.

If you want to contact me, chat with me, or just play some IC,  send me a message, invite, or friend request. My IGN is tmak1313. I hope to see you in game!