Honor of Kings vs LoL: gameplay
Honor of Kings is developed by TiMi and Level Infinite as a direct competitor to League of Legends, meaning that there are plenty of direct similarities between the gameplay mechanics of the two titles. Anyone who’s played League of Legends (or other MOBAs, like DOTA 2) will be instantly familiar with Honor of Kings’ style of play when it eventually lands in non-Asian markets. That being said, while the 5v5 fundamentals of the two games are essentially the same, there are some tangible differences that will no doubt lead to players having a preference for one of the other.
As the game is exclusively designed for mobile devices, Honor of Kings typically consists of shorter matches, with games expected to last between 15-20 minutes in comparison to League of Legends’ longer matches which last up to 40 minutes. This is facilitated by a difference in map design, with Honor of Kings’ maps being smaller and more compact than League of Legends’ maps.
Additionally, there are some differences in roles across the map – for example, supports in HOK are called ‘roamers’, as they roam across the map offering healing, buffs, and other forms of enabling to anyone who needs it, whereas supports in LoL typically stick to the main, bottom lane DPS for most of the match. You can learn more about HOK’s different roles and which characters are best for them in our Honor of Kings tier list.
Honor of Kings vs LoL: characters
Playable characters in both Honor of Kings and League of Legends can be selected by the player from an expansive, diverse roster. Both games feature lots of options for finding which characters suit the player best, and characters are divided into classes in both games. In Honor of Kings, there are six classes. These are:
Assassin
Warrior
Mage
Archer
Tank
Support
Conversely, League of Legends boasts eight classes (and some sub-classes) which arguably provides more complexity and variety. These are:
Controller
Fighter
Warrior
Mage
Marksman
Tank
Slayer
Specialist
Meanwhile, the individual characters from Honor of Kings are based on Chinese mythology and history, while League of Legends characters take broader inspiration from across the fantasy genre with a less specific focus.
Ultimately, the differences between Honor of Kings and League of Legends are minimal, though there are some significant differences that will make a difference to some players’ enjoyment of the games. That’s no real surprise. After all, Honor of Kings was designed specifically to bring a League of Legends-style MOBA to mobile, with the intention being to learn from League of Legends’ success.
For more mobile fun, take a look at our picks for the best mobile games. Or, check out our choices for the Swbest Nintendo itch RPGs if you want some LoL-style fantasy.
James Osborne Pokémon was James’ first obsession, and when he zones out you can be certain he’s playing the Pallet Town theme in his head. Recently, he’s been spending more time in Teyvat than Hyrule and checking out the latest Samsung phones. Star Rail is keeping him busy too, but he’s getting increasingly impatient for Zenless Zone Zero. Before joining Pocket Tactics James was published in PCGamesN, and covered all things film and TV as a staff writer at The Digital Fix, while freelancing for a number of the biggest entertainment sites in the world. Even then, he wrote about Pokémon, Zelda, and Mario whenever he could, but he now disagrees with his own ranking of the Pokémon movies.