Arena of Valor, also known as Chuánshuō Duìjué in Chinese, Réal Môf Vélér (AROV) in Thai, and Liên Quân Mobile in Vietnamese, is a version of the game Honor of Kings (Wángzhě Róngyào in Chinese). It was previously called Strike of Kings. The game was created by TiMi Studio Group and made available by Level Infinite for Android, iOS, and Nintendo Switch in regions outside mainland China. As of September 2018, the game earned more than $140 million in markets outside China. Arena of Valor was part of esports competitions at the 2018 Asian Games, 2019 Southeast Asian Games, 2021 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, and 2021 SEA Games. The game was published in other regions by Garena, DeNA, Actoz SG, and TiMi Studio Group.

Gameplay

Arena of Valor is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game made for mobile devices. The way players play Arena of Valor is very similar to League of Legends, a MOBA game on PC created by Riot Games. Riot Games is owned by Tencent and is related to TiMi.

In the game, players control characters called heroes. Each hero has special abilities. Heroes start with low levels and earn gold and experience (XP) by doing tasks like defeating enemy creatures, defeating other players, destroying structures, gaining XP over time, or using special items bought in the shop. Earning XP helps heroes learn and improve their abilities, making them stronger. Items bought in the shop are not kept for future games, so all players begin each match with the same starting conditions.

Players earn rewards like gold from matches, which can be used to buy new heroes or special items called arcana. Players can also play "Ranked" matches, where they are matched with others of similar skill levels and earn or lose stars based on wins or losses.

Arena of Valor has many game modes. The most common is "5v5," also called Grand Battle or Ranked Match, played on the Antaris Battlefield. These matches usually last 12–18 minutes. Players aim to destroy enemy turrets, complete objectives like defeating Abyssal Dragon or Dark Slayer, and destroy the enemy's core to win.

Black City Arena is a 1v1 mode with one lane, two brushes on either side of the map, an HP pot, one tower, and one core for each team. Shadow Duel is a 3v3 mode on the Flatland Battlefield, which uses a smaller map.

Abyssal Clash is a 5v5 mode where heroes are randomly assigned. Players can re-roll once to get a different hero. The map, Abyss Canyon, has one lane with two turrets and a core base at each end. Rules differ from standard 5v5: Items can only be bought before leaving the base or after dying, and healing at the team base is not allowed. Health regeneration runes near turrets help heroes recover health.

Hook Wars is an arcade mode. The map, Treasure Bay, has two connected boats. There are no minions, turrets, or bases in this mode. Each player uses a Hook ability to grab enemies on the opposite boat or from far away. The goal is to capture the central Control Zone and hold it for a set time.

Football Fever is a 3v3 arcade mode. Death Match is a 2v2v2v2v2 arcade mode on the Death Realm map. Gladiator's Summit is a 5v5 arcade mode. Mayhem Mode is a 10v10 arcade mode. Duo-Race is a co-op racing mode.

As of March 11, 2026, there are 126 heroes in Arena of Valor. Heroes are grouped into six categories based on their roles and how they deal damage.

• Marksman: Also called "AD Carry/ADC," these heroes are ranged and deal physical damage mainly through auto attacks. They are good at dealing sustained damage and taking objectives like turrets but are often weak. Examples: Violet, Valhein, Yorn.
• Mage: Also called "AP Carry/APC," these heroes deal quick, powerful magic damage. Some are fragile, while others are tougher. Examples: Raz, Krixi, Zata.
• Assassin: These heroes deal fast, high damage but have little health. They target weak enemies like marksmen or mages. Examples: Wukong, Zill, Sinestrea.
• Tank: These heroes have high health and defend their team. They soak damage and use crowd control abilities to disrupt enemies. Examples: Roxie, Thane, Toro.
• Warrior: These heroes balance damage and defense. They are strong in close combat and survive long fights. Examples: Florentino, Yena, Lu Bu.
• Support: These heroes help teammates by healing, boosting allies, or weakening enemies. They often support marksmen early in the game. Examples: Alice, Lumburr, Krizzix.

Some heroes belong to two categories, making them hybrids. For example, Liliana is a mage and assassin, Volkath is a warrior and assassin, and Omega is a tank and support. These heroes have abilities from both roles.

Players can buy items that change a hero’s stats and playstyle. For example, Zephys, a warrior/assassin, has a passive ability that reduces damage based on health lost. If he buys only offensive items, he deals high damage but has low health and defense. If he buys a mix of offensive and defensive items, he can survive while still dealing damage. If he buys only defensive items, his passive becomes very strong, making him nearly impossible to kill.

History

In 2015, Tencent completely bought Riot Games. Tencent asked Riot Games to create a mobile version of League of Legends, a popular multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game. At that time, few MOBA games existed for mobile devices, and the only well-known one was Vainglory by Super Evil Megacorp, a company formed by former Riot Games employees. Tencent wanted to take advantage of the growing mobile market, as few strong competitors existed. However, Riot Games refused, saying mobile devices were not seen as a place for competitive games and that League of Legends could not be adapted well for smartphones. Despite this, Tencent remained determined to create a mobile MOBA game.

After Riot Games declined, two of Tencent’s internal game studios, Lightspeed & Quantum Studios and TiMi Studios, began developing their own MOBA games. Lightspeed & Quantum Studios created We MOBA, while TiMi Studios made League of Kings (a translated name for Wángzhě Liánméng). Both games launched on August 18, 2015. A month later, We MOBA became the third most downloaded mobile game on Apple’s iOS worldwide, while League of Kings had much lower popularity. League of Kings was later removed from stores for improvements and relaunched in October 2015. TiMi Studios redesigned League of Kings using League of Legends as a model, making the two games look and play similarly. TiMi also changed the game to include 5v5 matches instead of 3v3, which improved its reception. Eventually, League of Kings outperformed We MOBA and won the internal competition. Tencent invested more resources into League of Kings to ensure its success.

Riot Games later claimed that League of Kings copied League of Legends’ characters and abilities, calling it a "clear violation of intellectual property." Tencent responded by saying they would change the game enough to make it a standalone product. However, League of Kings had already become very popular in China, with marketing that described it as the "mobile version of League of Legends." Tencent decided it was too late to make major changes and renamed the game Honor of Kings (translated from Wángzhě Róngyào) on November 26, 2015. Only minor changes were made. The international release of Honor of Kings was canceled, and a separate version, Arena of Valor, was created for markets outside China.

Arena of Valor was developed by TiMi Studio Group and published by Level Infinite, a part of Tencent. The game was originally named Strike of Kings but was renamed to better appeal to Western audiences. It includes characters inspired by European folklore, mythology, and other cultures, such as Lovecraftian horror, steampunk, and high fantasy. Some characters in Arena of Valor were redesigned from Heroes of Newerth, a MOBA game owned by Garena. The game also features characters from other franchises, like DC Universe, KFC, and One-Punch Man.

During early development, TiMi planned to include Marvel characters, but Marvel later revoked the license, forcing TiMi to replace them with DC Comics characters instead. Arena of Valor also includes music composed by different artists each year and special languages created by David J. Peterson, who also designed languages for Game of Thrones.

Arena of Valor was first released in Taiwan on October 12, 2016, by Garena. It became very popular in Vietnam, Thailand, and other regions. In South Korea, the game was published by Netmarble, and in Europe and the Americas, it was released by Level Infinite. In 2018, Level Infinite added an "Asia server" for countries like Australia, Myanmar, and Brunei. In Japan, the game was launched by DeNA in partnership with TiMi.

Esports

Arena of Valor tournaments are held in many regions, with each region having its own local leagues. These include the Garena Challenger Series Pro League (GCS) in Taiwan, the Realm of Valor Pro League (RPL) in Thailand, Arena of Glory – Đấu trường danh vọng (AOG) in Vietnam, Arena of Valor Star League (ASL) in Indonesia, Arena of Valor: Valor Cup (AVC) in Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines, Arena of Valor: Valor Series (AVS) in Europe, North America, and Latin America, and the Arena of Valor Japan League (AJL) in Japan.

Arena of Valor has two annual world championship tournaments: the Arena of Valor International Championship (AIC) and the Arena of Valor World Cup (AWC). In the AIC, teams from around the world compete to earn rewards and recognition for their esports organization. In the AWC, teams compete under their country’s flag to represent their nation.

The first AIC was held in South Korea from November 23 to 26, 2017. It attracted over 36,000,000 online viewers, setting a record for mobile esports. The game later ranked highly in Asia and won Google Play’s Best of 2017 Game award in Europe. The second AIC took place in Thailand from November 23 to December 16, 2018, with 16 teams competing for a prize pool of $600,000. The third AIC was also in Thailand from November 5 to 24, 2019, and included a new 1v1 competition with a prize of $5,000 for the winner.

The first AWC was held in Los Angeles, United States, from July 17 to 28, 2018, with a total prize pool of $500,000. Nine regions participated, including Taiwan – Hong Kong – Macau, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia – Singapore – Philippines, Indonesia, South Korea, North America, Latin America, and Europe. Three Wildcard teams were also selected by the tournament host. The second AWC was held in Da Nang, Vietnam, from June 27 to July 14, 2019, with the same prize pool of $500,000. This event marked Japan’s first participation in an international Arena of Valor tournament since its Japanese server launched on November 30, 2018.

The Arena of Valor World Cup 2020 was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic and replaced by the one-time Arena of Valor Premier League 2020 (APL 2020).

On August 28, 2021, Level Infinite and TiMi eSports announced the merger of the Honor of Kings World Champion Cup (the world championship for Arena of Valor’s Chinese counterpart, Honor of Kings) with the Arena of Valor World Cup. This change increased the AWC prize pool from $500,000 to $10,000,000 starting in 2022. The AIC 2021 prize pool was raised from $500,000 to $1,000,000, and it will increase to $2,000,000 beginning in 2022.

Arena of Valor was part of the esports demonstration event at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia. Eight countries qualified for the event, with Indonesia automatically qualifying as the host. Unlike other esports events, Central and West Asia did not need to qualify.

Arena of Valor was included as a medal event at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games. It was also a medal event at the 2021 Southeast Asian Games, along with two other games: League of Legends and League of Legends: Wild Rift.

Arena of Valor is one of eight esports titles selected as medal events for the 2022 Asian Games. On September 5, 2021, Tencent Esports and TiMi eSports announced the first use of a merged version of Honor of Kings and Arena of Valor.

Accolades

Arena of Valor won the "Best Music in a Casual/Social Game" award at the 15th Annual Game Audio Network Guild Awards. It was also nominated for "Best Original Instrumental." The game was nominated for "Original Score – Video Game" at the 2017 Hollywood Music in Media Awards, for "Original Dramatic Score, New IP" at the NAVGTR Awards, for "Best Competitive Game" at the 2018 Golden Joystick Awards, and for "Fan Favorite Mobile Game" at the Gamers' Choice Awards. Arena of Valor: Flip the World received the "Song/Score – Mobile Video Game" award at the 9th Hollywood Music in Media Awards. Both the game and Honor of Kings 2.0 were nominated for the same category at the 10th Hollywood Music in Media Awards. The game was also nominated for "Best Mobile Sport" at the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards. Honor of Kings 2.0 won the "Best Music in a Casual Game" award at the 18th Annual Game Audio Network Guild Awards and was also nominated for "Best Sound Design in a Casual/Social Game."