Image: Tencent Games
The new rules will cover roster imports and a global ban-pick system that are to be implemented in the 2025 esports calendar.
Honor of Kings will be implementing new rules regarding roster import restrictions and a global ban-pick system for the game's 2025 esports calendar.
For the upcoming season, Honor of Kings will restrict the amount of import players a team can have while simultaneously encouraging the use of homegrown players in a team. For 2025, each team must maintain a roster of at least five players, with a maximum of seven members. Each team is allowed up to one player who is not a resident of the team's home region. The imported player must also be contracted with the respective team for at least six months.
To improve each region's homegrown talent, each team must have at least two players who are residents of the team's representing country. Furthermore, each team must have at least four players who are residents of the team's home region, including the two from the team's representing country.
Honor of Kings' esports scene will also be divided into seven regions to differentiate imports.
- Americas: North America, South America, and Brazil
- Europe: West Europe, East Europe, and Türkiye
- MEA: Middle East and Africa
- Pacific: South Asia, South Korea, Japan, and Australia
- Southeast Asia
- Chinese Mainland
- Hong Kong, China; Macau, China; and Chinese Taipei
Aside from the new roster import rules, Honor of Kings will also implement a global ban-pick stage for every professional match starting in the 2025 esports calendar. Each team has four bans per game, and each team can't pick the same lineup for them or their opponents, as each hero can only be picked once in each match.
There is an exception to this rule, which is only activated when a match reaches seven games. This exception is called the Ultimate Battle, first implemented in the King Pro League (KPL) in 2018 and has now been brought into the global scene. The Ultimate Battle mode features a blind draft with no restrictions, allowing the selection of previously banned heroes. As a result, teams may have the same hero lineups in the mode.
The upcoming 2025 Honor of Kings esports calendar will implement the aforementioned new rules. With these new regulations, the difference between the KPL and the rest of the world might be lessened.
