Hi i'm mikechimike or IC: Firaworks and i'm a ADC marksmen player you can check out my guide here as Gaslight Batman to see my bigger spiel. I also play a number of assassins. However i'll take this guide in a perspective of a Marksmen player I'm updating as I experiment with Blue Beetle, but here's what i learned so far.

Strengths

- has the ability to poke
- has the ability to chase
- can be a team carry
- has a built-in escape / and can increase his move speed with his ulti (inflitrator mode)
- has the kit for a jungle or strong lane harass
- Entertaining in-game talk.. if you're old enough to remember the Ogre from Warcraft 2 you'll know what i mean.

Weaknesses

- very squishy (or as I say, he's TOFU)
- like all assassins and markmen you are a high priority target in team battles, so you need to stay in the back, and wait for those chances to Infiltrate then finish them off, but not into the thick of things.
- has no strong finisher! I guess you can argue this, but if you think about it this way. Versatility means you also don't hae any defined strength. Thinking inline with GasBat , Cyborg, GasCat, Aquaman (who potentially has 3 finishers, realistically 1 or 2 if you count the trident) he doesn' t have a finisher, but instead can go in the jungle, yada, yada yada. Although if played like a marksman, i guess you could argue the other way that he doesn't need one. (maybe that's why he's rated here with 90% difficulty!)

Weaknesses (that i think he has, yet to be proven)

- i've seen enough people run in FIRST in Infiltrator mode and get stomped on. Remember he's an assassin, which means, hit with everything you got THEN run like hell.
- seems to attack SLOWER than most other marksmen (this might be because of the way his passive works.. still confirming)
- some people have commented he's got a slow movespeed as well. (i think he moves at about the rate of a regular marksmen)

Interesting Facts- that you probably already knew

1) His ulti levels up all his secondary "inflitrator" skills (Assassin mode). So when you use your "Q","W","E" after "R" they are all level 1 until his next time you can level up "R". So level up your ulti every chance you get

2) His passive does TRUE damage, but scales according to how much health they have. His Marksman/Ranged mode (aka "PEW PEW" mode) does the most damage at max health, so after skill use, peg off an enemy champion with the most health to get the most effectiveness. His Assassin mode is works the other way, Less health = More Damage.

Items

I'm still working out the kinks, but items but, i'm applying one of my marksmen build's on him. which includes
Coda Blade (4), Soultaker Katana (3) (for sustainability) and Velocity 9 Implants (4) (for attack speed/move speed oh and crit). you can sub Velocity 9 Implants (4) for [[Deathstroke's Claymore (2)]], if you are confident in your escaping (which i usually do by "E" and then switch to inflitrator mode and run, which may include a super speed). For the other items, you do want to prioritize more damage, but the primary 3 will give you penetration, sustainability and much needed attack/move speed (and crit!). But i'm finding the penetration and attack damage are key.

You can start with either a Coda Blade (4) or Nil Weapon, the key is the last hit to farm up these weapons, just like any other marksman, if you're underfed, you're dead.

The rest of course are situational. If you need penetration, then go for Atomic Axe (2) instead of Coda Blade (4), [[Joe Chill's Revolver (4)]] (for Crit and Dmg). Need to get stomped on less? get some armor. etc

LATE GAME you'll probably want to replace Coda Blade (4) with Atomic Axe (2) if you find you're not cutting into the beefier guys.

Amps/Mods

Exiled98 asked me what i thought about Amps and Mods and these are my thoughts.

Right now with my assassins and marksmen i have a set focused on Crit Damage/Attack Dmg/Attack Speed andanother focused on Attack Penetration/Attack Dmg/Attack Speed. I find both are effective, however it really just depends on when you have the items relative to the rest of the champions on the other team.

Personally both work well for me, but my emphasis early and mid game is staying as marksman and utilizing his passive as much as possible. later in the game crit dmg and penetration either way could be effective, because if you are well farmed, your items will support it. So Penetration probably you see the benefits earlier on, but crit dmg is always that little surprise you never expect.

Skills

Focus on R > Q > Passive > E > W
cryinghowever do Get "E" and "W" early on because of the functional benefits, don't bother upgrading them for now, however when you start hunting with Infiltrator mode you will need these up inorder to use them)



"Q" - Energy Cannon - Your poke and harrass tool, great cause of it's splash, it will be your best friend (BFF). Get used to aiming it cause it is your bread and butter. Target Enemy champs when you can and if not target the closes minon to them to maximize damage.


"W" - Scarab Scanner - Your secondary vision (or tertiary, depending if you used a stolen power). If you like vision, you'll love this. Use it on any of those sketchy parts where the 'fog' could be hiding any potential problems. I usually push this by a tower so that if they advance i can "activate" it to get vision and the chance to hit them with the on-hit effects. (another great reason to use it) otherwise no point in leveling it up until later. In a recent game i've discovered that it also has a great psycological effect on other players. Scenario: GD and 4 enemy champs are rushing a tower, i had a Scanner a few steps outside the bounds, and they avoided, it until EMP.. Even with EMP , once it was detonated a few ran, when i switched to Infiltrator mode (while the smart ones charged me). But it is pretty useful.


"E" - Stick and Move - Your escape, in "PEW PEW" mode, this is your Safety net, get used to it cause you will get ganked, also can be used as a short dash.



"R" - Infiltrator Mode/ Ranged Mode - If you don't get it at this point, please read the above. One interesting fact is that it refreshes your skills. After draining out your "PEW PEW" skills to switch to Infiltrator mode, you'll find that it resets the cooldown on Infiltrator mode, leaving for a big combo. (see laning section)



Passive - Reach Directive: Disrupt/Execute - Already explained above (in interesting facts), but because of his kit, would be good to upgrade ASAP, to get the max benefits. Disrupt is in "PEW PEW" mode and is great for whittling down enemy champs (even when they have attack armor cause of true damage), Execute is the same but in reverse, and is highly effective to closing that kill. (my guess is in future patches they will find a way to tune this down for BB).

Infiltrator Mode Skills (remember these level up with "R" not based on your "PEW PEW" skills)

"Q" - Lethal Measures - Your Chase, too far away? use this and you'll close the gap, Great start or finish to a combo in Inflitrator mode.


"W" - Hypersonics - Great for jungling also great if you happen to be getting chased or trading blows. It not only lowers attack dmg but also marks everyone for that great passive, but if you're low on energy, save it for........


"E" - Mandible Taser - Great skill, will slow their move speed greatly, you can use in the chase or being chased scenarioes. Paired up with the true damage passive (immediately after) is a great 1-2 punch.



Laning

I've been successful in top laning solo and laning with a person bot. The key is the harass with the "Q" and aiming it right. Remember while it does splash damage, you'll want to position yourself to hit them as much as you can directly, as it does have good range and can help on a tower push. When in doubt, hit the minion closest to your champ, but ultimately you'll want to hit the champ. in Infiltrator mode, like any other assassin, position yourself then hit them hard and fast. "Q" (Lethal Measures) again is your best friend, but if they're too fast for you to run after "E" (Taser) will stop them in their tracks. If they areally are too fast switch it up back to "PEW PEW" mode and blast them with an auto or "Q" (Energy Cannon).


After some more playing i've found that his passive is very important to his kit than initially thought. Its important to pay attention to the mode you are in Infiltrator or Marksman , your use of skills and the next hit after. As your opponent stacks up attack armor, hitting them with the true damage makes them really feel that sting. Also switching modes is important to close that kill. More often than not you'll find you will need Infiltrator mode to finish the job. The Passive on Infiltrator mode makes the difference in getting a double kill versus a double assist (in Ranged/PEW PEW mode).

Combos

- Ranged Mode - You can have Scarab scanner setup ahead of time but most of the time it'll be
"Q" -> Auto attack, if you have the scanner already planted, detonate and auto-attack. or Detonate and

Infiltrator mode - "Q" -> auto attack -> "E" (stun if they run)/"W" (if they trade with you) -> auto attack -> "W" /"E" (other skill that wasn't used before)

And if you're lucky..Switch back to Ranged mode (if they are too far) then "Q"


Closing

IF you liked the guide or found it helpful, please leave comments or give me a 'thumbs up'. otherwise...

I want to say THANKS to all of you reading this for making this one of the most read guides on Dawnbase.  And thank you to Sacrilege for helping me restore this guide a number of times! (and maintaining this awesome site)

i'm finding the more i play, Your ultimate is actually your passive and Infiltrator/Mode is great for chaining moves for a great kill. Unlike other marksmen at low level you won't be getting any early kills, but Blue Beetle's strength is actually in the mid and late game where he has the proper items to support his passive.

Lately i've been swapping Soul Taker's Katana for Cheetah's Claws, and the same can be done here if needed.

I'll be revising this as skills are tweaked and items too.. but here's your start to making your enemies black and blue, with Blue Beetle

UPDATE : With the planned changes for Blue Beetle in the september patch, changing between modes, will activate Reach Directive.  So it will be more important to time the effect to maximize the damage (if in marksmen mode, use it on a full health champ, and for low health, use it in the chase of assassin mode to close the kill).