Honor of Kings (simplified Chinese: 王者荣耀; traditional Chinese: 王者榮耀; pinyin: Wángzhě Róngyào) is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game created by TiMi Studio Group and published by Tencent Games. It is available on iOS, HarmonyOS NEXT, and Android devices.
The game was first released in mainland China on November 26, 2015. In October 2016, a version called Arena of Valor was launched for international audiences. This version used the same game engine but changed the user interface and character designs to suit Western players. By November 2020, Honor of Kings had more than 100 million daily active players, making it one of the most popular games worldwide. It is the highest-grossing mobile game ever and one of the most downloaded apps globally.
In June 2022, Level Infinite, the publisher of Arena of Valor, announced that Honor of Kings would be released globally through a separate version by the end of 2022. In May 2024, the global release was scheduled for June 20, 2024. This followed earlier pre-releases in Brazil, Turkey, and regions in the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, and the Commonwealth of Independent States. In 2024, Honor of Kings became the highest-grossing mobile game in the world, making $2.6 billion in revenue.
Overview
Honor of Kings is a mobile game where players can quickly join matches that last about 15 to 20 minutes. To play, a player needs either a Tencent QQ account or a WeChat account. After an update on September 24, 2020, players can now add friends and invite others from different platforms to join guilds.
In February 2021, Honor of Kings was the second-highest earning mobile game worldwide, making $218.5 million. This was a 57.2% increase in revenue compared to February 2020. Most of the game's revenue, about 95.6%, came from China, with 1.6% coming from Thailand.
Gameplay
Honor of Kings is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game where players control characters with special abilities. The goal is to defeat other players and computer-controlled characters to earn experience points and gold. Experience points help players improve their characters' abilities or make them stronger. The highest level a hero can reach is 15. Each time a character levels up, their abilities and attributes improve, and they gain a skill point to upgrade their skills. A character named "Jiang Ziya" can temporarily remove the level limit for himself and another player. After level 15, Jiang Ziya can only improve his character's attributes. Gold is used to buy items in the shop that change a character's abilities.
To win, players must destroy enemy defensive structures called turrets and then destroy the enemy's base crystal. The rules for winning depend on the game mode chosen. Experience and gold earned in matches are saved in the player's account. Accounts start at level 1, with a maximum level of 30. When players level up, they receive in-game rewards and unlock summoner abilities that work with all heroes. Gold can also be used to buy new heroes.
Physical damage is shown in red and is reduced by armor. Magical damage appears in purple and is reduced by magical resistance. True damage is the strongest type and is shown in white. It cannot be blocked by armor but can be reduced by special effects. Some characters have shields that block true damage, shown as a yellow section on their health bar. Critical damage deals large amounts of damage based on a chance percentage and can be physical, magical, or true.
Honor of Kings has many game modes, with most focused on competitive matches. Players can play alone without an internet connection or join online matches. Online modes include player versus player (PvP) battles (like 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, or 5v5) and player versus environment (PvE) adventures. In PvP modes, players can fight AI opponents on easy, normal, or hard difficulty. They can also invite friends or teammates to battle in special rooms or draft rooms for 5v5 matches.
The most popular mode is Rift of Kings (called Hero's Gorge internationally), used in KPL competitions. In this mode, 10 players are split into two teams of five. Teams start on opposite sides of the map and must destroy enemy turrets to reach and destroy the enemy's base. Minions, sent from each team's base, protect heroes from turrets. Turrets attack enemy minions first but target heroes if they attack allies. Players gain experience and gold by killing minions, enemies, or creatures in the jungle (a wild area between lanes).
Some jungle creatures give temporary boosts called "buffs" that improve a hero's abilities. Buffs include blue (helps mana for mages), red (slows enemies and deals true damage), tyrant, overlord, and tempest dragon (the strongest). Blue and red buffs last for 80 seconds.
Players can join ranked matches once their account reaches level 6 and owns at least five heroes. Ranked matchmaking has seven main tiers: Tough Bronze, Order of Silver, Glory of Gold, Noble Platinum, Eternal Diamond, Master Star, Super King, Peerless King, King of Glory, and Legendary King. Each tier has smaller sub-tiers. For example, Bronze and Silver have three sub-tiers (Bronze III–I and Silver III–I), while Gold and Platinum have four (Gold IV–I and Platinum IV–I). King tiers use a star system. Players reach higher tiers by earning 25, 50, or 100 stars, becoming Peerless King, King of Glory, or Legendary King, respectively.
Players can join ranked matches alone or in groups of 1, 2, 3, or 5. Groups of 5 are only matched with other 5-player groups, and the same applies to 3-player groups. The game matches players based on rank and win rate, but teams must follow rank differences. For example, the highest-ranked player in a group cannot be more than two levels above the lowest-ranked player.
In ranked games, players earn or lose stars based on match outcomes. Winning gives 1 star, and losing removes 1 star. Each tier has a specific number of stars: 3 in Bronze and Silver, 4 in Gold and Platinum, and 5 in Diamond and Master. If a player earns all stars in a tier, they advance to the next tier. Losing all stars in a tier results in greater losses.
The Top Match mode is for highly skilled players and requires a rank above Super King. Players in this mode are called "Top Player" 1 to 10 instead of using their names. The Honor-point system helps prevent star loss by rewarding players who stay connected during matches. Players can also become "Eagle-Eye Players" by earning maximum Honor points and completing tasks.
Ranked matchmaking resets every 3–4 months, called a "season." Players receive awards based on their highest tier during the season. Each season includes two special skins for VIP players. Season points in the season portal grant players rewards.
Development
In 2015, Tencent fully owned 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 on mobile devices, with Vainglory by Super Evil Megacorp (formed by former Riot Games employees) being the only major example. Tencent wanted to take advantage of the growing mobile gaming market.
Riot Games refused, saying mobile devices were not ideal for competitive games and that League of Legends could not be adapted well for smartphones. Despite this, Tencent’s studios, Lightspeed & Quantum Studios and TiMi Studios, developed their own MOBA games. This led to a competition between the two studios.
On August 18, 2015, both studios released their games: We MOBA by Lightspeed & Quantum and League of Kings (a translated name for 王者联盟) by TiMi Studios. A month later, We MOBA became the third most-downloaded mobile game on Apple’s iOS worldwide, according to App Annie. League of Kings performed poorly at first and was later redesigned. After improvements, League of Kings overtook We MOBA and won the competition. Tencent invested more resources into League of Kings to ensure its success.
Riot Games later claimed that League of Kings copied elements from League of Legends, calling it a "clear copy of intellectual property." Tencent responded that it would change the game enough to make it a standalone product unrelated to League of Legends. However, League of Kings had already become very popular in China due to marketing that linked it to League of Legends.
Tencent decided not to make major changes to the game. It was renamed Honor of Kings (王者荣耀) on November 26, 2015, and its international release was canceled. Instead, the game was rebranded for markets outside China, leading to the creation of Arena of Valor, a game designed to address concerns about intellectual property.
Tensions grew between Tencent and Riot Games when Tencent used League of Legends players to promote Arena of Valor and its esports events. Riot Games temporarily stopped marketing Arena of Valor in Europe and North America in 2019 to allow Riot Games to announce its own mobile game, League of Legends: Wild Rift, on October 16, 2019, the 10th anniversary of League of Legends.
By May 2017, 54% of Honor of Kings players were female, a significant difference from typical esports trends. The game’s success inspired the creation of Pokémon Unite, a Pokémon spin-off developed by TiMi Studio and The Pokémon Company.
In 2016, Honor of Kings had over 50 million daily active users and more than 200 million registered users. It earned ¥10.4 billion ($1.61 billion) in the last quarter of 2016. By November 2016, it topped a list of top games in China. In May 2017, it became the highest-grossing mobile game worldwide, with 160 million monthly active users. Entertainer Lu Han became its ambassador in February 2019, and the game earned $1 billion that month. In 2020, it grossed over $2.45 billion, making it the highest-earning game of the year.
In 2017, Honor of Kings contributed about 50% of Tencent’s mobile gaming revenue and earned ¥3 billion ($435 million) in April. It was the top-grossing mobile game worldwide in the first quarter of 2017, with revenue reaching $1.76 billion. A cosmetic skin for the character Zhao Yun sold $22 million in one day. The game had 200 million registered users and 50 million daily active users at the time. It earned $911 million in the second quarter of 2017 and $4.281 billion between the last quarter of 2016 and the second quarter of 2017.
In April 2020, Tencent paused all its games, including Honor of Kings, for 24 hours to honor those who died from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The game’s original soundtrack was composed by Hans Zimmer, Jeff Broadbent, Lorne Balfe, and Duncan Watt. It was performed by The Chamber Orchestra of London at Abbey Road Studios. A soundtrack album was released on October 28, 2015. An extended version released in 2016 included music from special events. Composers such as Howard Shore, Thomas Parisch, and Marcin Przybylowicz contributed to the album.
For Years 3 and 4, music was composed by Neal Acree, with additional contributions from Matthew Carl Earl, Obadiah Brown-Beach, and Angela Little.
On January 25, 2020, Unisonar released the game’s score digitally for the first time internationally. The album, Honor of Kings Original Game Soundtrack, Vol. 1, includes 16 tracks and was produced by TiMi Audio.
On August 9, 2024, Honor of Kings Original Game Soundtrack Collection 2024 was released on streaming platforms, featuring music by Laurent Courbier, Dmitrii Miachin, Ting Si Hao, and Jing Zhang.
Esports
Honor of Kings is a very popular esports game in China. The Champion Cup was created in 2016, shortly after the game was released, and became an annual event. It was later renamed the World Champion Cup. This event is similar to the League of Legends World Championship. A professional league for Honor of Kings, called the King Pro League (KPL), was started in China the same year. The World Champion Cup included teams from other countries, but most were from China. Some teams from South Korea also participated, as they had their own competition called the Korea King Pro League (KRKPL). This happened mainly because Arena of Valor had its own esports scene in Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
In August 2021, Honor of Kings and Arena of Valor announced an "esports convergence," meaning teams from both games would compete in a unified world championship. This event became the Honor of Kings International Championship (KIC), which took place in 2022 and 2023. During these tournaments, teams from China’s KPL dominated the competition. In the 2023 championship, only one team outside the KPL reached the playoffs, while seven KPL teams participated instead of eight. Brazil later created the first professional league for Honor of Kings outside of China, called the Campeonato de Honor of Kings Brasil (CHOKBR).
As Honor of Kings grew internationally, Arena of Valor teams from Taiwan (Chinese Taipei), Thailand, and Vietnam left the game’s ecosystem in 2024. That year, the game used an "Invitational Series" format outside of China, which also marked its first appearance at the Esports World Cup in Saudi Arabia. Instead of the World Champion Cup, KPL teams formed their own end-of-season tournament called the KPL Grand Finals.
In 2025, Honor of Kings started new professional leagues outside of China, with Tencent investing $15 million. These leagues include: the Philippines Kings League (PKL), MY Honor of Kings League (MKL), Indonesia Kings Laga (IKL), Wildcard Kings Series (WKS, for teams in Southeast Asia outside of the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia), Honor of Kings Major West League (KMW, for teams in Europe, North America, and Latin America), and Honor of Kings Major East League (KME, for teams in MENA, South Asia, Korea, and Japan). These changes were announced during the Honor of Kings Invitational Season 4 (KIS4) grand final. The WKS, KME, and KMW leagues were combined into one league called the Kings Major League (KML). Honor of Kings was also selected as one of the esports titles for the Asian Games 2026 and the Esports Nations Cup (ENC). Each major league had 10 teams, with matches using a best-of-5 (BO5) format in the group stage and a best-of-7 (BO7) format in the knockout stages. Arena of Valor teams from Thailand, Vietnam, and Taiwan also participated in the Honor of Kings World Cup that year, with their league winners qualifying for the event.
Collaborations and events
Honor of Kings has worked with various companies, media, and personalities. As of January 2026, these include Lionel Messi, SNK, Lee Chong Wei, Hello Kitty, Jujutsu Kaisen, Fox Spirit Matchmaker, Disney's Frozen Vegetables Fairy, B.Duck, Sanrio, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, Jurassic World Rebirth, Detective Conan, the Sanxingdui Museum, and Lord of Mysteries. The developer also worked with phone brands for marketing purposes, such as iQOO, Tecno, Infinix, and realme.
During Chinese New Year in 2024, five dragon-themed skins were released to celebrate the 2024 Year of the Dragon.
To celebrate the 2025 Year of the Snake, Honor of Kings released a new serpent-themed game mode.
In November 2025, Honor of Kings released a new series of skins for Donghuang, Milady, and Biron inspired by Latin American, Southeast Asian, and Middle Eastern cultures and folklore.
To celebrate the 2026 Tiger Spirits, five tiger-themed skins were released.
Controversies
In March 2017, the newspaper Guangming Daily criticized the game Honor of Kings for changing Chinese history incorrectly. It said the game’s characters did not match real history or traditional stories and warned that the game might stop teenagers from learning about history correctly. Another newspaper, People’s Daily, shared these criticisms on its WeChat account and Weibo.
Some Chinese media disagreed with the criticism. China Daily noted that ancient poems in the game had become popular. 21st Century Business Review said the game helped preserve national culture by updating traditional stories in a modern way.
In April 2017, Tencent, the company that created Honor of Kings, added information about characters based on real history and mythology. It tried to separate real events from made-up ones in the game.
China Youth Daily called the game “digital opium” and reported cases where teenagers became addicted to it. A teacher in Hangzhou wrote an article saying the game should be banned because it harmed students’ mental health. Later, a 13-year-old in Hangzhou jumped from a building after his father stopped him from playing the game. The Qianjiang Evening News also called for a ban. Southern Metropolis Daily said Honor of Kings had not used a system meant to help teenagers avoid gaming addiction.
On July 3 and 4, 2017, People’s Daily published two articles criticizing the game. On July 4, it was reported that Tencent lost $14 billion, or 4.1%, in value on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange after the articles called the game “poison” for young people and said its content was harmful and addictive. Variety described the articles as showing the power of China’s state-run media. On July 4, Honor of Kings added rules to limit playing time for teenagers. Players under 12 could only play for one hour a day and not after 9 p.m. Those aged 12 to 17 could play for two hours daily. Tencent said these changes were made because of growing concerns about gaming addiction. The game’s producer, Lin Min, said the game followed government rules and argued that games, like other activities, could be part of daily life without causing addiction.
After these changes, public and media discussions about gaming addiction began focusing more on the roles of families, schools, and education. Tencent’s stock value increased after the changes.
On October 31, 2021, Honor of Kings updated its system to prevent juvenile addiction as required by the National Press and Publication Administration. Under the new rules, children could only log in to the game between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. While this system helped reduce addiction, it also lowered the game’s income.
In 2022, For All Time, a game by NetEase, claimed Honor of Kings copied its artwork. In 2024, Onmyoji, another NetEase game, said its law firm warned Honor of Kings that new character designs for Li Bai and Dasiming violated copyright and were unfair competition. Tencent denied both claims.