Honor of Kings just dropped its biggest update of the year. The S15 patch — officially branded Honor of Kings Plus — adds four new heroes at once, reworks 90+ existing ones, and overhauls core controls that pro players have been complaining about for months.
This HOK S15 update is a real shake-up of the meta, not just a content patch. Below is everything that changed, every Honor of Kings new hero you can play, who got buffed, and what you should focus on first when you log in this week.
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What's New in the Honor of Kings S15 Update
The Honor of Kings S15 update is a large seasonal patch with new heroes, hero adjustments, gameplay systems, rewards, and performance fixes. It should affect both casual matches and ranked play.
- 4 new heroes launch at the same time, including 1 original hero and 3 Arena of Valor heroes.
- 90+ heroes receive combo, animation, and feel improvements.
- Li Xin and Sima Yi receive full reworks.
- New modes, rewards, and a player trading system arrive in this update.
- Client performance fixes target some of the biggest lag and frame-drop issues.
The biggest headline is the four-hero release. Instead of waiting for staggered hero launches, you can start learning multiple new kits from day one.
The table below gives a quick look at the four S15 heroes before the detailed breakdown.
| Hero | Role | Main Strength | Best Fit |
| Devara | Clash Lane Fighter | High damage, mobility, terrain crossing, and finishing power. | Split push and team fights |
| Annette | Roamer / Wind Mage | Slow, knockback, shielding, and movement support. | Poke and protection |
| Lorion | Mid Lane Mage | Orb control, burst damage, crowd control, and tricky positioning. | Burst and team fight setup |
| Florentino | Clash Lane Duelist | High-skill dueling, chase power, and strong engage tools. | 1v1 and high-skill players |
Each hero fills a different role, so the S15 meta will not shift in only one direction. Clash Lane, Mid Lane, and Roaming players all get something new to test.
4 New Honor of Kings Heroes Released in S15
Tencent is changing the usual release rhythm in S15. Every new Honor of Kings hero goes live at the same time, which means the meta should move faster than usual.
The new lineup also connects Honor of Kings with Arena of Valor. Three AOV heroes join the roster, while Devara arrives as the fully original S15 hero.
Here is the detailed hero breakdown.
HoK Devara — Original Clash Lane Fighter
Devara is the only fully original hero in S15. His story is built around legacy, lightning, and a young successor who suddenly inherits a power passed down for two thousand years.
His role is simple to understand: he is a Clash Lane fighter built to finish fights. He can pressure enemies in lane, reposition during trades, and turn max-energy windows into serious kill threats.
These are the main reasons Devara looks dangerous in lane.
- High damage output in extended fights.
- Dash tools for chasing, escaping, and repositioning.
- Crowd-control immunity for safer engages.
- Terrain traversal that lets him cross walls other heroes cannot cross.
- Strong 1v1 pressure against many Clash Lane matchups.
His strength comes from how much flexibility he has once his passive bar is full. Good Devara players will not just spam skills; they will choose the right extra action for the fight.
When his passive bar fills, the choice usually comes down to the following steps.
- Use Skill 1 again when you need to chase, dodge, or reposition.
- Use Skill 2 when you need stun and knockback to lock down an enemy.
- Transform and use ranged chain lightning to create AoE pressure in team fights.
Devara can split push or group with the team, which makes him one of the most flexible heroes in this update.
HoK Annette — Wind Mage / Roamer
Annette is one of the Arena of Valor heroes joining Honor of Kings long-term. Her model and stats have been adjusted for HOK, so she should not be treated as a direct copy of the AOV version.
Annette works as a Roamer with wind-based control. She slows enemies, pushes them back, supports teammates, and creates space during poke fights.
Her core value is easier to understand when broken into practical match situations.
| Situation | How Annette Helps |
| Laning phase | Uses Skill 1 and Skill 2 to support movement and zone control. |
| Poke fights | Pushes wind zones forward and makes it harder for enemies to step in safely. |
| Tower dives | Her ultimate grants an untargetable effect for 4 seconds, creating strong dive windows. |
| Item build | Frozen Breath, Mask of Agony, and Twilight Stream are strong recommended options. |
Annette should appeal to Roamer players who like control, protection, and setup more than pure engage.
HoK Lorion — Explosive Mid Laner
Lorion is a black magic genius who controls magic orbs across the battlefield. He plays like a burst Mid Lane mage with strong damage, crowd control, and positioning tricks.
His Skill 1 and Skill 2 combo gives him both poke and escape options. His ultimate adds AoE control and damage, making him valuable in coordinated team fights.
The basic Lorion game plan can be understood in three steps.
- Use Skill 1 to set or move the orb into a useful position.
- Use Skill 2 to poke, reposition, or escape pressure.
- Cast the ultimate first, then adjust the orb with Skill 1 to hide the wind-up and catch enemies off guard.
Lorion is not just about burst damage. His real value comes from how well you manage orb position before the fight starts.
HoK Florentino — Agile Duelist
Florentino is a noble swordsman and a high-ceiling Clash Lane duelist. He has strong engage and chase potential, but his survivability is lower than safer lane picks.
His kit rewards players who can manage empowered basic attacks, slow timing, and crowd-control immunity. He is not the easiest hero to pick up, but skilled players can make him very threatening.
Before locking Florentino, it helps to understand what kind of player he fits.
| Strength | Limit | Recommended Setup |
| Strong 1v1 chase and dueling pressure. | Lower survivability than other Clash Lane heroes. | Pure Sky and semi-tank damage items. |
| Empowered basic attacks help him stick to targets. | Requires careful timing against crowd control. | Use Intimidate for more room to extend damage windows. |
Florentino is best for players who enjoy high-risk, high-reward dueling and are willing to practice his timing.
Overall, the S15 hero lineup gives Honor of Kings players more variety than a normal patch. Devara brings a new original Clash Lane option, while Annette, Lorion, and Florentino add AOV-inspired playstyles to the global HOK roster.
To close this section, here is a final quick guide to help you decide which new S15 hero may fit your playstyle best.
| Hero | Best For | Why Pick Them |
| Devara | Clash Lane players | Strong finishing power, mobility, terrain crossing, and flexible team fight value. |
| Annette | Roamer players | Good control, shielding, poke support, and tower dive utility. |
| Lorion | Mid Lane mage players | High burst damage, orb control, and strong team fight setup. |
| Florentino | High-skill duelists | Strong 1v1 pressure, chase potential, and high mechanical ceiling. |
| Final takeaway | All S15 players | Try each hero in the role that matches your habits before judging their ranked value. |
90+ HoK Hero Combo and Animation Fixes
For months, we've been complaining that fast combos feel "stuck" — like the game eats your inputs when you press skills too quickly. S15 finally fixes it.
Over 90 heroes got their combo input buffers smoothed out. The most-requested fixes are below.
| Hero | What got fixed |
| Diaochan | Fast "1-2-A" combos no longer swallow Skill 2. |
| Xiao Qiao | Rapid "2-3-A" combos now trigger the Ultimate every time. |
| Dash + ult combos | Casting an ult mid-dash no longer freezes follow-up skills. |
These changes might sound small, but they fix our #1 complaint from high-rank play: your fingers are faster than the game lets you play.
Major Battlefield System Overhauls
Beyond hero-specific fixes, three core systems got rebuilt from the ground up. You'll feel all three the moment you load into your first S15 match.
Wheel dead-zone removed. The center of the movement wheel used to have a dead zone — when your thumb hovered near the middle, your hero could just stop moving.
It caused a glitch that felt almost like a disconnect. The dead zone is now gone, so movement feels smooth all the way through.
Targeting logic recalibrated. If you set Basic Attack Target Priority to "Lowest Absolute Health," your skills used to lock onto far-away low-HP jungle monsters when you were attacking a Golem right in front of you.
After the fix, you'll prioritize epic monsters closer to you first, which feels way more intuitive.
Post-CC basic attack buffer drop. If you tapped Basic Attack and got CC'd immediately, your stored attack command used to fire the moment the stun ended — sending you chasing enemies even after you'd changed your mind.
In S15, after you've been controlled for long enough, the stored command expires automatically. Whether to retreat or fight back is fully up to you now.
Together, these battlefield system changes make S15 feel smoother, cleaner, and less likely to punish you for inputs you did not mean to keep.
Li Xin and Sima Yi Reworks: Two Heroes Get a Second Chance
Two older heroes got full reworks in S15. Both had clear pain points that the dev team finally addressed, and if either was your main, you're in for a treat.
Li Xin Rework: Smoother Controls, Both Forms Viable
The Li Xin rework in S15 expands his playstyles and closes the power gap between his two forms — Revenge (Dark) and Domination (Light) — that used to depend heavily on your item path.
His two forms now feel easier to compare at a glance.
| Form | S15 Change | What It Means |
| Revenge Form | Skill 1 now allows for auto basic attacks while running, and his Ultimate can be cast while moving. | That's a huge boost to mobility and his ability to stick on targets. |
| Domination Form | Skill 2 and his Ultimate now scale with Attack Speed. | Everything feels much smoother to cast. |
The big highlight is the transformation itself. It's not only faster now — Tencent also added a brand-new "Heaven and Hell Energy Bar".
This bar grants extra Attack Speed and Pierce depending on which form you're in. Switch forms whenever you want, and the bar adjusts.
You can also stick with one form if that's your style — it'll still be strong. But the real win here is flexibility. Push solo in Revenge Form for close-up fights, then swap instantly to Domination Form for ranged poking and team fight clean-up.
No matter what the situation calls for, Li Xin now has the best answer.
Sima Yi: Mechanical Rebirth
Sima Yi has been broken for a long time, and not in a good way. S15 completely reworks him, leaving behind all the frustrating energy-management headaches you used to put up with.
The main Sima Yi rework points are easier to read as a quick list before the passive changes.
- Energy bar replaced with a Mana Bar. No more holding back skills or standing in your Skill 2 area just to recover Energy. Fight whenever you want, no energy anxiety.
- Ultimate is now safer. Before, getting interrupted mid-ult meant "no return." Now, if your Ultimate is interrupted, a large portion of the cooldown is returned — maximizing your room for error.
- Health recovery from physical damage. Sima Yi can now recover Health even when taking physical damage, making his stats more well-rounded defensively.
His passive also got reworked. When nearby enemies cast skills, he gains vision on them and earns Shadow Force.
Consuming Shadow Force increases the range of his enhanced basic attack and adds true damage, which slightly reduces the effectiveness of high Magic Defense gear on the enemy team.
If you used to main Sima Yi and dropped him because of how clunky he felt, S15 is your reason to come back.
HoK S15 New Game Modes, Rewards, and Trading System
S15 doesn't just rework heroes. You also get three new ways to play and one major economy change to explore.
Super Flow Brawl Upgrade in S15
Super Flow Brawl was already addictive, and S15 makes it wilder. Tencent co-created new content with the community and brought some of the most creative ideas straight into the game.
Here are the new mechanics you can mess with this season:
- Voice damage — Talking into your mic damages nearby enemies. The louder you are, the harder it hits.
- Quick-signal team buffs — Sending Attack grants your team Frenzy, Retreat grants Purify, and Assemble grants Hurry.
- Gold projectiles — Throw your gold at enemies. The more gold you've got in your inventory, the bigger the damage.
- Random battlefield events — Match-wide triggers like river speed boosts and rapid skill cooldowns shake every game up differently.
These additions are built for casual fun more than competitive ranked, but each match feels way more dynamic, more powerful, and twice as exciting.
Spriteling Treasure Hunt: Free Legendary Skins
Tencent also reworked Spriteling in-match skills, which players weren't happy with before. This time around, the new Treasure Hunt skill is genuinely worth your time.
In one sentence: it lets you "open Mystery Boxes" mid-match and earn rewards both inside and outside the game.
Activate the Treasure Hunt skill, and your Spriteling automatically hunts for treasure during the match without disrupting your controls. You can dig up gems, unique treasures from around the world, and ordinary everyday items — each with different values depending on luck.
Everything you dig up converts to event currency. You can spend it on a long list of in-game rewards, including a 1,688-Token Voucher with no minimum spend — letting you redeem any Legend skin from the Shop for free.
The bigger highlight: real-world rewards. Depending on your region, Tencent has also prepared physical grand prizes you can win through the event.
Want even more free rewards on top of what Spriteling drops? Don't sleep on the latest Honor of Kings redeem codes — they refresh with every patch and stack with everything you earn from events.
The Championship Mode: New HoK Risk vs Reward Arena
If luck isn't on your side in Treasure Hunt, skill can carry you instead. That's where the new Championship mode comes in — a high-risk, high-reward hardcore arena split into three tiers.
The three ticket types decide how much risk and reward you are taking into each run.
| Ticket type | How to get it | What you earn |
| Standard Ticket | Free to claim. | Steady treasure rewards on wins, no losses. |
| Advanced Ticket | 1 free per week, more buyable with event currency. | Better treasure rewards per win. |
| Elite Ticket | Premium Vouchers only. | Big Voucher payouts for winning. |
The Elite tier is where the real money flows — you risk premium currency for the chance to win even more back. It's the closest thing HOK has to a competitive cash bracket inside the client.
Consignment Market: HoK's New Trading System (Trial)
The Consignment Market is Tencent's first real attempt at a player-driven economy. The pitch is simple: open chests for loot, list items on the market, and earn Curio Tokens.
Here's how to actually use it:
- Earn chests through seasonal events, or redeem them in Dragon's Hoard.
- Open them for a chance to get tradable skins, new Spriteling costumes, and other rewards.
- Didn't get a skin after many tries? If you meet the conditions, you can redeem three guaranteed skins directly in Dragon's Hoard — or list them for sale on the Consignment Market.
Selling tradable items earns you Curio Tokens, the new currency. You can spend Curio Tokens on:
- Items listed on the Consignment Market by other players.
- Any directly purchasable skin in the Shop from before this season's update.
The system is designed to either "play and earn" in-game rewards, or hunt down rare older skins you missed. It's only running as a trial for S15, so try it out before Tencent decides whether to keep it.
HoK Client Performance Fixes in S15
The S15 update also rebuilt the rendering pipeline for both Smooth and Quality graphics settings. You'll notice three of the most annoying lag spikes are now gone.
The main performance improvements are listed below.
| Issue | What got fixed |
| Lobby to room transitions | Smooth loading when entering a room or completing matchmaking. |
| Post-match loading freeze | No more system freeze between the crystal explosion and scoreboard. |
| Menu response speed | Shop, events, and main lobby navigation are now fast. |
Average FPS is up across both presets — especially if you're on a mid-range Android phone, where the engine used to choke during transitions.
What to Play First in Honor of Kings S15
If you only have time for one thing from the patch this week, here's what we'd prioritize for you based on the changes above.
- Try Devara first. He's the only original hero and gets the most dev attention. Best long-term investment.
- Test the Li Xin or Sima Yi rework. If either was your main before, you'll feel the difference in your first match.
- Pick up Annette as Roamer. She's the easiest of the three AOV heroes to learn and fits the support meta.
- Save Florentino for later. His high skill ceiling means you'll feed unless you grind him out.
- Run the Spriteling Treasure Hunt every day. The free Legendary Skin coupon is worth the effort, even if you skip everything else.
The pattern is simple: original > rework > easy AOV hero > hard AOV hero. Don't waste your tokens on Florentino until you've mastered the easier picks. For a full breakdown of which heroes are strong this season, check our Honor of Kings tier list.
HoK End of Month Event Teaser (June 27, 2026)
Tencent ended the patch notes with a mystery tease. On June 27, 2026, a massive world-changing event takes place inside the Canyon.
No details yet on what it actually is, but the framing — "world-changing" — suggests a map update, a new permanent game mode, or a major storyline beat. Mark your calendar.
To close the S15 breakdown, here is the fastest way to understand what each part of the update means for players.
| S15 Update Area | Why It Matters | What to Try First |
| Combo and animation fixes | Fast inputs feel smoother and less likely to get swallowed. | Test your fastest main hero combos in practice or ranked. |
| Battlefield system overhauls | Movement, targeting, and post-CC decisions feel more natural. | Play a few matches to feel the new movement and attack logic. |
| Li Xin and Sima Yi reworks | Both older heroes now have cleaner mechanics and more flexible play patterns. | Return to either hero if you used to main them before S15. |
| Super Flow Brawl upgrade | Casual matches get stranger, faster, and more chaotic. | Try the new voice damage, gold projectiles, and signal buffs. |
| Spriteling Treasure Hunt | Players can earn event currency, in-game rewards, and a free Legendary Skin coupon. | Run the Treasure Hunt daily before chasing anything else. |
| Championship mode | The new arena gives players a clearer risk-vs-reward path. | Start with Standard or Advanced Tickets before touching Elite. |
| Consignment Market | The trial system adds player trading and Curio Token spending. | Open chests, check tradable items, and test the market while it lasts. |
| Performance fixes | Loading, menus, and transitions should feel much faster. | Try both Smooth and Quality presets to compare FPS stability. |
Conclusion
Honor of Kings S15 is the most ambitious update Tencent has shipped in years. Four heroes at once, 90+ combo fixes, two full reworks, a new economy, and real client performance gains — this is a content patch and a system overhaul rolled into one.
Our best plan for your week one is simple: unlock Devara, test the reworks you used to main, and grind the Spriteling Treasure Hunt for the free Legendary Skin coupon. Save the harder AOV heroes for when you've got time to actually learn them.
🎁 If you want a head start in S15, top up Honor of Kings Tokens cheaper on GamsGo to unlock Devara, snag exclusive S15 skins, and grab Spriteling Treasure Hunt premium rewards for less.
FAQ
Which S15 hero should I pick first?
Devara. He's the only fully original hero of the four, gets the most ongoing dev support, and works in every team composition.
Is the Sima Yi rework actually good?
Yes. His new mana bar removes the worst part of his old kit, and the cooldown refund on interrupted ults means you no longer die for free when CC'd mid-cast.
Will the trading system stay after S15?
It's labeled as a "trial run" for S15. If player feedback is positive, it'll likely become permanent, but Tencent hasn't confirmed yet.
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