Image: Tencent
With a new season comes new updates for your beloved heroes.
Honor of Kings is kicking off its latest season with a significant update to some of its heroes to further position themselves better in the meta, with incoming heroes headed to the server. Honor of Kings announced at least five heroes would receive significant changes or updates to their mechanics.
The main course of these updates was a rework to the out-of-meta Nuwa, who seemed to stay at the bottom tier of mid-heroes with only a 2% pick rate and an under 50% win rate. She will get a new mechanic on her first skill. Her teleportation also got improved to accommodate her new playstyle.
Nuwa's Incantation - Resplendence also spawns a box in its explosion site. Now, she can combine spawned boxes using her first and second skills. If enemies stand between the two boxes when they combine, they will take damage. However, the box will no longer slow or explode, as seen in her previous iterations. These boxes will still block enemy movement, as they can't get past them.
Nuwa can walk past these boxes however, giving her a speed boost when passing through. With this new passive, her previous passive has also been removed, meaning that her basic attacks no longer mark enemies. She also won't get a shield or movement speed boost if damaged.
The last update she got was a rework of her teleportation. Her Incantation - Emergence now has a significantly longer range and reduced cooldown. She can also reduce its casting time by increasing her Magic Attack. However, the teleport will no longer stun the enemy when they are inside the teleportation area.
Besides Nuwa's rework, some heroes also got mechanical updates. Honor of Kings Indonesia have confirmed the four heroes getting updated are Dian Wei, Luara, Lu Bu, and Luna.
The ferocious Dian Wei's Holding on to Insanity will now dash to their target if they are outside the hero's attack range. His Outburst also grants him a base life recovery per hit, but with a lesser lifesteal percentage. He can also dash attack past terrain without any target if the correct settings are activated.
The globally exclusive hero, Luara, also got a new mechanic update for her passive to prevent her from relying too much on Critical Rate, prompting a more varied build from players. Her Serpent Blades will now scale with Deadly Fang instead of Critical Rate. Her insane attack speed boost when her Critical Rate is over 50% has also been removed. To compensate for this, the Serpent Blade damage ratio is improved from 10% to 20% of her attack damage. Deadly Fangs also got a visual optimisation, so it's clearer if it's already been activated.
The next hero to get an update is Lu Bu. His overreliance on his Enhanced form sometimes make him an all-or-nothing hero. This issue is slightly relieved, as he will get 30% Physical Pierce on all his attacks in his base state. His enhanced state also gives him actual damage and boosts his health recovery when he strikes any enemies. Lu Bu's early game got slight nerfs to compensate for these buffs, with his Souleater cooldown increasing in early levels.
The last confirmed hero who is getting a mechanic update is Luna. Her auto attack becomes a ranged attack if the enemy stands far from her. Players can change their attack mode by holding the button and deciding which target to hit. The ranged attack still provides marks, just like her melee attack.
These updates will hopefully boost the hero's pick rate and viability in the current meta, as their niche playstyle and overreliance on one build sometimes make them viable on only one composition.
