Find a beetle for your next match
The 16 beetles below, including Atlas and Bee, are the released set checked for Steam public build 25250887. Diabolical Ironclad was still planned in the November 6, 2026 wiki and in Update #1. On November 7, 2026 the site owner checked that public build and confirmed that each passive below is the passive linked in that build's class configuration. Roles are starting points, not a tier list. A class with no separate passive listed has no separate passive entry in that configuration. [30][26][27][24][31]
Pick one job you want to practise, then read that beetle’s with the ball and without the ball columns together. The role suggestions are editorial starting points based on the listed abilities, not promises that one class is always easier or stronger.
Compare abilities
| Beetle & role | With the ball | Without the ball | Passive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dung Beetle Offense / speed. Consider Dung Beetle when you want a dash-based carrier. [8] | Dungy Dash: burst forward with the ball in your looking direction. [8] | Dash: accelerate without the ball, steering the dash with your view. [8] | Nibble: merging a ball refills Dungy Dash. [8] |
| Firefly Disruption / attack. Consider Firefly for interrupting nearby opponents. [9] | Dung Grenade: ignite the held ball for an explosion; activate again to detonate early. [9] | Bug Kamikaze: fly forward and explode, stunning and igniting nearby enemies; reactivate to explode early. [9] | Experienced Masochist: Firefly stays stunned for 25% less time than other beetles. [28][31] |
| Ladybug Aerial attack. Consider Ladybug when you want flight-based movement. [10] | Flying Dung: fly upward with the ball while using the ability meter. [10] | Flight: fly in the direction you look while using the ability meter. [10] | Ladybug has no separate passive entry in the public-build class configuration. [10][24][31] |
| Click Beetle Vertical attack / disruption. Consider Click Beetle for upward launches. [11] | Sonic Ball: wind up, then launch yourself and the ball upward, pushing nearby targets away. [11] | Sonic Boom: spring upward and push nearby targets away. [11] | Skipjack: jump higher while holding a ball. [11] |
| Fungus Beetle Support / mobility. Consider Fungus Beetle for bounce routes. [12] | Shroom Pogo: put a bouncing mushroom under your ball to gain speed; steering is limited. [12] | Shroom Pad: plant a mushroom launchpad. [12] | Spore Sniffer: using a launchpad temporarily strengthens your headbutt. [12] |
| Rhino Beetle Defense / barriers. Consider Rhino Beetle when you want to interrupt routes with spikes. [13] | Big Ball Spike: create a spike beneath the held ball on a surface, launching it outward while retaining possession. [13] | Earthy Spikes: charge forward and raise a temporary spike wall, stunning nearby opponents. [13] | Big Horn: headbutts apply stronger knockback. [13] |
| Tiger Beetle Repositioning / attack. Consider Tiger Beetle for ball-to-ball movement and rewinds. [14] | Dungball Rewind: return with the ball to a recent position and temporarily strengthen your shot. [14] | Teleport Grab: teleport toward the ball you face; grab an unheld ball, or arrive beside a held one. [14] | Blink: teleport forward just before a headbutt. [14] |
| Cyborg Beetle Ranged disruption / defense. Consider Cyborg Beetle for its laser mode. [15] | Thorax Thruster: attach a rocket to the ball to propel it along your aim while you remain attached. [15] | Bug Zapper: enter an electric mode that changes headbutt into a laser sniper and grab into an electric dash. [15] | Cyborg Beetle has no separate passive entry in the public-build class configuration. Its two active abilities are not an extra passive. [15][24][31] |
| Earth-boring Beetle Barriers / repositioning. Consider Earth-boring Beetle for walls and burrowing. [16] | The Great Wall of Beetle: raise a temporary dirt wall under your ball, using the ability meter. [16] | Dung Dive: burrow underground; reactivate to collapse the burrow and pull nearby targets back toward its entrance. [16] | Earth-boring Beetle has no separate passive entry in the public-build class configuration. [16][24][31] |
| Potato Beetle Ball storage / disruption. Consider Potato Beetle when you want to consume and return dungballs. [17] | Get Stuffed: eat the held dungball and store its dung. [17] | Potato Cannon: spit stored dung as a ball; charge to make a larger ball. With no stored dung, lunge to bite a ball instead. [17] | Glutton: stored dung increases headbutt range and strength. [17] |
| Atlas Beetle Defense / disruption. Consider Atlas Beetle for denying grabs and knocking balls loose. [18] | Horn Injection: turn the held ball into a spiked ball that temporarily cannot be grabbed. [18] | Horn Shot: fire a horn that knocks targets back and makes carriers release their ball. [18] | Recycling: run over a fallen horn to recover a Horn Shot charge. [18] |
| Bee Beetle Support / mobility. Consider Bee Beetle for speed effects and protection. [19] | Honey Spray / Dungy Spray: spray speed-boosting honey from a honey ball, or slowing dung from a dungball. [19] | Honey Ball: create a non-merging honey ball; throw it to protect and speed up an ally, or release it to receive the effect yourself. [19] | Double Jump: jump a second time while holding a ball. [19] |
| Bombardier Beetle Disruption / mobility. Consider Bombardier Beetle for slippery routes and knockback. [20] | Goop Trail: coat the ball and leave a slippery trail that speeds up beetles crossing it. [20] | Goop Turret: charge and fire a goo bomb that knocks targets away on impact and leaves a puddle. [20] | Kiss of Goop: headbutts make struck targets temporarily slippery. [20] |
| Goliath Beetle Defense / disruption. Consider Goliath Beetle for repelling attacks; its ground pound replaces gliding. [21] | Dungball Dive: throw the ball forward and vault above it, setting up a follow-up grab. [21] | Brace for Impact: enter a stance that repels targets on contact. [21] | Ground Pound: replace glide with a downward strike that stuns nearby targets on landing; headbutts are also larger and stronger. [21] |
| Long-nosed Weevil Control / support. Consider Long-nosed Weevil for pulling balls and opponents. [22] | Sucky Ball: make the ball a low-gravity magnet that draws nearby dungballs toward it. [22] | Snout Vacuum: wind up and pull beetles and balls in front of you. [22] | Beetle Helicopter: fluttering produces wind that pushes nearby targets. [22] |
| Longhorn Beetle Mobility / repositioning. Consider Longhorn Beetle for swinging and following moving targets. [23] | Dung Swinger: tether a surface with an antenna and swing while holding the ball. [23] | Parasailing: attach to a moving target, pull toward it and glide behind it. [23] | Excited: after stealing a dungball from an enemy, Longhorn slightly increases its on-ball ability charge. [29][31] |
Which beetles suit a new player?
For a first experiment, consider Ladybug if you want flight-based movement, or Firefly if you want to practise interrupting opponents. The community's introductory guide recommends both, and their reviewed class entries label them Easy. It also recommends Goliath for a defensive task, but Goliath's class entry is Hard and its glide is replaced by Ground Pound; that is a specialist option, not an equally simple all-round starter. [25][10][9][21]
Compare Ladybug, Firefly and Goliath before choosing a task.
Make a choice, then test one action
Choose an available class, try its ball-carrying action, and then try its action without the ball. Keep the same simple goal while comparing your results. Use the first-match guide for the menu route and the basic shot exercise.
This comparison deliberately omits cooldown values and competitive rankings. Check the live source attached to each entry when your game behaves differently; the review date is a reference boundary, not a promise that future balance patches will be identical.
Sources and attribution
Ability descriptions are adapted and paraphrased from the Beetleball Wiki contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0. The adapted ability comparison is shared under the same license; editorial choice suggestions and wording changes are ours. Official names are retained. This is an unofficial guide.
- Dung Beetle — Beetleball WikiBeetleball Wiki contributors (Bioloom) · EN · Reviewed
Live community reference reviewed 15 September 2026, with launch-era Atlas/Bee/passive content. No cooldown or competitive tier claim; not a developer-authored specification.
- Firefly — Beetleball WikiBeetleball Wiki contributors (Bioloom) · EN · Reviewed
Live community reference reviewed 15 September 2026, with launch-era Atlas/Bee/passive content. No cooldown or competitive tier claim; not a developer-authored specification.
- Ladybug — Beetleball WikiBeetleball Wiki contributors (Bioloom) · EN · Reviewed
Live community reference reviewed 15 September 2026, with launch-era Atlas/Bee/passive content. No cooldown or competitive tier claim; not a developer-authored specification.
- Click Beetle — Beetleball WikiBeetleball Wiki contributors (Bioloom) · EN · Reviewed
Live community reference reviewed 15 September 2026, with launch-era Atlas/Bee/passive content. No cooldown or competitive tier claim; not a developer-authored specification.
- Fungus Beetle — Beetleball WikiBeetleball Wiki contributors (Bioloom) · EN · Reviewed
Live community reference reviewed 15 September 2026, with launch-era Atlas/Bee/passive content. No cooldown or competitive tier claim; not a developer-authored specification.
- Rhino Beetle — Beetleball WikiBeetleball Wiki contributors (Bioloom) · EN · Reviewed
Live community reference reviewed 15 September 2026, with launch-era Atlas/Bee/passive content. No cooldown or competitive tier claim; not a developer-authored specification.
- Tiger Beetle — Beetleball WikiBeetleball Wiki contributors (Bioloom) · EN · Reviewed
Live community reference reviewed 15 September 2026, with launch-era Atlas/Bee/passive content. No cooldown or competitive tier claim; not a developer-authored specification.
- Cyborg Beetle — Beetleball WikiBeetleball Wiki contributors (Bioloom) · EN · Reviewed
Live community reference reviewed 15 September 2026, with launch-era Atlas/Bee/passive content. No cooldown or competitive tier claim; not a developer-authored specification.
- Earth-boring Beetle — Beetleball WikiBeetleball Wiki contributors (Bioloom) · EN · Reviewed
Live community reference reviewed 15 September 2026, with launch-era Atlas/Bee/passive content. No cooldown or competitive tier claim; not a developer-authored specification.
- Potato Beetle — Beetleball WikiBeetleball Wiki contributors (Bioloom) · EN · Reviewed
Live community reference reviewed 15 September 2026, with launch-era Atlas/Bee/passive content. No cooldown or competitive tier claim; not a developer-authored specification.
- Atlas Beetle — Beetleball WikiBeetleball Wiki contributors (Bioloom) · EN · Reviewed
Live community reference reviewed 15 September 2026, with launch-era Atlas/Bee/passive content. No cooldown or competitive tier claim; not a developer-authored specification.
- Bee Beetle — Beetleball WikiBeetleball Wiki contributors (Bioloom) · EN · Reviewed
Live community reference reviewed 15 September 2026, with launch-era Atlas/Bee/passive content. No cooldown or competitive tier claim; not a developer-authored specification.
- Bombardier Beetle — Beetleball WikiBeetleball Wiki contributors (Bioloom) · EN · Reviewed
Live community reference reviewed 15 September 2026, with launch-era Atlas/Bee/passive content. No cooldown or competitive tier claim; not a developer-authored specification.
- Goliath Beetle — Beetleball WikiBeetleball Wiki contributors (Bioloom) · EN · Reviewed
Live community reference reviewed 15 September 2026, with launch-era Atlas/Bee/passive content. No cooldown or competitive tier claim; not a developer-authored specification.
- Long-nosed Weevil — Beetleball WikiBeetleball Wiki contributors (Bioloom) · EN · Reviewed
Live community reference reviewed 15 September 2026, with launch-era Atlas/Bee/passive content. No cooldown or competitive tier claim; not a developer-authored specification.
- Longhorn Beetle — Beetleball WikiBeetleball Wiki contributors (Bioloom) · EN · Reviewed
Live community reference reviewed 15 September 2026, with launch-era Atlas/Bee/passive content. No cooldown or competitive tier claim; not a developer-authored specification.
- Beetles — live released roster and ability modelBeetleball Wiki contributors (Bioloom) · EN · Reviewed
Community documentation of 16 released entries and optional passive model; not per-class first-party verification.
- Getting Started — Your First BeetleBeetleball Wiki contributors (Bioloom) · EN · Reviewed
Older community recommendation, not current universal difficulty ranking. Goliath's beginner recommendation is contextual defense advice, while its individual entry is Hard. Cooldown approximations and old control advice excluded.
- Beetleball — Steam announcement feed checked November 6, 2026Bugfight Studio · EN · Reviewed
This is the public announcement feed, not a depot manifest. Absence of a later post does not by itself prove that no private branch exists.
- Beetleball — SteamDB public branchSteamDB · EN · Reviewed
SteamDB's presentation of Steam depot metadata. The public branch table is not a file-by-file manifest, and the November 3 record timestamp is not an extra public build row. One private branch was listed and not opened.
- Firefly — Beetleball Wiki, November 6, 2026Beetleball Wiki contributors (Bioloom) · EN · Reviewed
Community page. Cooldown figures on that page are not adopted.
- Longhorn Beetle — Beetleball Wiki, November 6, 2026Beetleball Wiki contributors (Bioloom) · EN · Reviewed
Community page. It does not show whether the September 11 public build wires this text to the class.
- Diabolical Ironclad Beetle — Beetleball Wiki, November 6, 2026Beetleball Wiki contributors (Bioloom) · EN · Reviewed
Community classification. It is not a Steam depot census. The page's relative 'updated' label is not used as a publication date.
- Site owner check of passive links in public build 25250887Site owner · ZH · Reviewed
The site owner confirmed on November 7, 2026 that the passive assignments shown on this roster are linked in the class configuration of Steam public build 25250887. This is the owner's check, not a screenshot archived here. It covers named passives and entries with no separate passive. It does not add cooldown numbers or new classes.