Agenda
'Honor of Kings': Eleven Years of Hero Design Evolution
Renjie Li (Combat Design Lead, Tencent Technology(Chengdu)Co.Ltd)
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Hot Topics:
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Track:
Design
Audience Level:
All
Format:
Lecture
Vault Recording: TBD
Audience Level: All
Honor of Kings is a globally renowned evergreen MOBA mobile game with over a decade of live operation, boasting 139 million DAU in China and 260 million MAU worldwide, and cited in 37 consecutive Tencent financial reports. Heroes are the core of the in-match experience in any MOBA, and Honor of Kings now features a roster of over 130 distinct heroes. This session shares the design philosophies and evolutionary journey behind Honor of Kings' hero roster, covering two central threads: creative design methods for new heroes — producing breakout characters like Sun Quan and Six-Eared within increasingly constrained creative space; and iteration strategies for legacy heroes — data-informed ecosystem maintenance that has steadily improved roster diversity as measured by declining pick-rate Gini coefficients. The speakers also present the full character production pipeline and methodology. Attendees gain actionable design frameworks and pipeline experience from MOBA character and combat design, transferable to character-driven development across all game genres.
Takeaway
Attendees gain design frameworks and production pipeline methods for sustaining hero innovation and roster vitality in complex MOBA environments — including creative design approaches that produced breakout heroes like Sun Quan and Six-Eared, and legacy hero iteration strategies that have steadily improved roster diversity as measured by declining pick-rate Gini coefficients — transferable to character design across all game genres.
Intended Audience
This session targets game designers working in combat design, character design, or MOBA and other character-driven genres, with relevant development experience. Attendees should possess basic understanding of MOBA mechanics — role archetypes, skill systems, and match pacing — and general character/combat design terminology. No prior experience with Honor of Kings is required.