Tencent’s Honor of Kings (HoK), the world’s most-played mobile MOBA, just underwent its biggest evolution ever. On June 24, the game launched a massive version update so significant that HoK is rebranding to “Honor of Kings Plus.” This “Plus” era reflects the sheer scale of new content and features driven by player feedback. 

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Let’s talk about it, shall we?

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The Full Scoop

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For context, HoK boasts over 100 million daily players globally, but until recently was primarily focused in Asia. Now, as the game expands to new regions (including a global release beyond China), Tencent is pulling out all stops to enhance and localize the experience for a broader audience.

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The flagship feature of Honor of Kings Plus is Flowborn; a first-of-its-kind customizable hero that serves as the player’s personal avatar on the battlefield. In a genre (MOBA) known for preset characters, Flowborn breaks the mold: players can design this hero’s appearance (choosing body type, skin tone, outfits, hairstyles, etc.) to truly represent themselves in-game. 

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It’s essentially “be your own hero.” Flowborn’s gameplay is equally groundbreaking with an adaptive combat system. Instead of being locked into one role, you can can wield versatile weapons and skills effectively across multiple lanes and situations. During matches, players can even select different attribute buffs on the fly, tailoring Flowborn’s playstyle in real-time. 

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This makes Flowborn a jack-of-all-trades that can fit any team composition, a feature never before seen in MOBAs. To manage complexity, Flowborn is rolling out in phases: the Marksman class version is available immediately (June 24), with Tank and Mage variants coming in July. This staggered release suggests Tencent’s commitment to refining the experience and ensuring each role is balanced.

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There’s more…

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Another major improvement in HoK Plus is greater recognition of individual player performance, even in lost matches. The update introduces a new post-match evaluation that awards Star progress for “Highlight Moments” and exceptional play, even if your team loses the game. For example, if you single-handedly destroy the enemy’s base towers or carry the game hard (so-called 1v9 scenario), you might retain your ranked star or even gain one despite the defeat. Even non-MVP players on a losing side can potentially earn stars if they earned a gold medal in some category. 

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This is a huge quality-of-life change to the ranked system, addressing the frustration of playing well but still being punished by a loss. The global version of HoK Plus will have a more transparent rating system than the original Chinese version, clearly showing how performance points convert to star rewards. This reflects Tencent’s responsiveness to community pain points; rewarding skill and effort, not just win/loss, to keep players motivated.

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Perhaps the most technically impressive addition is real-time voice transcription and translation built into matches. Starting June 24, Honor of Kings can live-transcribe voice chat to text and translate it across languages in real time. Initially it supports English, Chinese, Indonesian, and Malay – covering key languages for HoK’s current player base – with plans to explore adding more languages down the line. This feature aims to break down language barriers in international team-ups, allowing players who speak different languages to still communicate callouts and strategies via instant translated text. 

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Imagine a Chinese player, an English-speaking player, and an Indonesian player in the same squad: as one speaks, the others see a subtitled transcription in their own language. It’s a game changer for global play. The devs tout it as a way to “communicate even more easily with existing friends & make new friends” across regions. For a game eyeing worldwide expansion, this is a smart inclusion to foster a unified community.

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Why this is relevant

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Honor of Kings Plus underscores Tencent’s commitment to making the game inclusive and globally appealing as it ventures beyond its home markets. African gamers stand to benefit greatly from these innovations. 

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For one, if (or when) HoK Plus adds languages like French, Arabic, Swahili or others, it could allow players across Africa to team up without communication hurdles; a huge plus in a continent with diverse languages. Even now, an English/French translation addition would connect Anglophone and Francophone gamers in pan-African play. The Flowborn feature also resonates: African players often enjoy character customization and having representation in-game. With Flowborn, they can literally create a hero that looks like them and carry their national or cultural identity into battle, which is empowering. 

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Lastly, Honor of Kings is the world’s top MOBA largely because of its refined gameplay; now with this Plus update it’s raising the bar even higher. As it expands, it will bring fierce competition to games like Mobile Legends and Wild Rift in emerging regions. In sum, HoK Plus’s massive update is about uniting players across regions and skill levels. It signals that Africa, too, is invited to this party, as the game optimizes for inclusion through technology and content. For African MOBA fans, the Plus era of Honor of Kings could be a thrilling new chapter, offering a richer, more personalized and connected experience than ever.