Castellated beams may experience failure modes associated to plastification (plastification of the tee section and Vierendeel mechanism) and buckling (webpost buckling and tee torsional buckling). The term tee is used to refer to the section described by the portion of the web and the flange where there is an opening and web-post is the portion of the section between two adjacent openings. The AISC design Guide 31 addresses each of these modes separately. There, the local forces in the tee section are calculated by an analogy to a Vierendeel beam and the interaction between the failure modes in the tee section is accounted for by an interaction equation. Although this methodology is consistent, it can be excessively conservative because it does not account for other factors, such as, the post-buckling resistance. However, these factors can only be assessed when nonlinear simulations including both material and geometry nonlinearities and initial imperfection are considered. The present work aims to investigate the failure modes of laterally braced Litzca-type castellated beam using the finite element method. In this work, aspects such as mutual influence of the constituent parts to the behavior (i.e., flange and web), interaction of individual modes and post-buckling reserve of strength were evaluated. A semi analytical equation based on geometrical non dimensional parameters and on the ratio of moment and shear load was developed. This way, a given castellated beam could be classified by its geometry and load in relation to the flexure (long beam) or shear behavior (short beam). In addition, together with a non-dimensional slenderness (depending on the plastic and buckling loads) inspired in the Direct Strength Method, a map was created that allowed the organization of the failure modes in pre-defined regions. Finally, a parametric study was carried out varying the geometry of the castellated beam and considering different ratios of moment to shear loads. Based on these results, a Winter-type equation was proposed to assess the load capacity of beams with typical geometries.