All Honor of Kings 15 May Patch hero adjustments and their potential impact

Honor of Kings Patch 15 May, 2025 brought adjustments to Jing and Xiang Yu while also nerfing popular heroes and buffing some weak ones.

Patch 15 May, 2025 brought long-awaited quality-of-life improvements for Jing to the Global Server, and also gave Xiang Yu a mini revamp for his passives and No Retreat. Besides them, the patch also brought some necessary buffs to Ying and Pei.

Here is the complete list of hero adjustments included in Honor of Kings' 15 May, 2025 Patch:

Buffs:

1. Shouyue

• Skill 2: Wild Wind
  • Base Damage:
    Before: 600 (+120 per skill level) (+250% extra Physical Attack)
    Now: 700 (+140 per skill level) (+250% extra Physical Attack)

The buff to Shouyue's Wild Win should make him deadlier in the early stage. This buff also eased his transition to mid-game, making him more reliable in the lane to help with gank. This would also enable him to play a sniper kind of gameplay rather than the classic Attack Speed-based carry. 

2. Ying

• 1 Stack of Spear Will: Stalwart - Peacemaker
  • Base Damage:
    Before: 50 to 106 (+40% Physical Attack)
    Now: 60 to 120 (+45% Physical Attack)
  • Shield:
    Before: 100 to 184 (+50% Physical Attack)
    Now: 100 to 200 (+60% Physical Attack)
• 2 Stacks of Spear Will: Zealous - Devastation
  • First Two Phases of Damage:
    Before: 30 to 170 (+35% Physical Attack)
    Now: 100 to 200 (+45% Physical Attack)
  • Phase 3 Damage:
    Before: 170 to 380 (+70% Physical Attack)
    Now: 200 to 400 (+80% Physical Attack)

Usually, Ying's combo relied on her stacking her skills to stack Spear Will before unleashing her enhanced basic attack. These buffs would help her to be more flexible with her combo and make her less reliant on three stacks.

3. Pei

• Skill 2: Guarding Stance
  • Shield:
    Before: 400 (+80 per skill level) (+150% extra Physical Attack)
    Now: 450 (+90 per skill level) (+170% extra Physical Attack)

The buff to Pei will increase his survivability during ganking. The shield provided from Guarding Stance can now make a difference during team fight, especially with the buff to the amount of extra Physical Attack calculated.

4. Zhuangzi

• Ultimate: Butterfly Effect
  • Shield:
    Before: 500 (+250 per skill level) (+12% extra Health)
    Now: 700 (+350 per skill level) (+13% extra Health)

The only buff Zhuangzi got was to his ultimate. It gave more him shield with no drawbacks. However, this might not help his popularity too much, especially with how inflexible his playstyle is.

Nerfs:

1. Hou Yi

• Passive: Chastising Shot
  • Increased Attack Speed per Stack:
    Before: 4%
    Now: 2 to 4% depending on Hou Yi's level

Hou Yi's passive has gotten weaker in the early game, but there are no changes for his late game. While it was a nerf overall, it shouldn't disrupt too much of his late-game monster archetype. 

2. Yixing

• Ultimate: The World is My Board
  • Cooldown:
    Before: 50 seconds (-2.5s per skill level)
    Now: 60 seconds (-2.5s per skill level)

Yixing's The World is My Board got a massive nerf to its cooldown. It will affect how active he would be in the late game, where team fights were plentiful. This nerf might affect his popularity, but not his usefulness in the meta. 

Mechanics Upgrade:

1. Xiang Yu

• Passive: Resolute Will
  • Before: Xiang Yu's Basic Attack dealt additional physical damage to enemy units, triggering every five seconds for each target.
    Now: Store a guaranteed critical hit with an enhanced vertical strike after using Skill 1. Store an enhanced horizontal strike with healing effects after using Skill 2. Store up to two in total.
• Skill 1: Righteous Fervor
  • Launch Duration of Upward Strike after Collision:
    Before: One Second
    Now: 0.75 Seconds
  • Base Damage:
    Before: 130 (+30 per level ) (+0.6 Attack Damage)
    Now: 225 (+45 per level) (+5% extra Health)
  • Enhanced Basic Attack's Extra Damage:
    Before: 50 (+70 per level) (+0.6 Attack Damage)
    Now: 225 (+45 per level) (+5% extra Health)
  • Cooldown:
    Before: 11 Seconds(-1 seconds per level)
    Now: 10 Seconds(-0.4 per level)
• Skill 2: No Retreat
  • New Effect:
    Gain a 25% increase (+5% per level) in Movement Speed bonus for two Seconds upon use.
  • Removed Effect:
    Physical Defense no longer grants additional Health.
  • Damage Reduction:
    Before: 25% (+4% per level)
    Now: 30%
  • Base Damage:
    Before: 140 (+30 per level) (+0.8 Attack Damage)
    Now: 275 (+55 per level) (+0.9 extra Attack Damage)
  • Health Recovery:
    Before: 200 (+8% lost Health)
    Now: 330 (+66 per level) (+7% extra Health). The lower the Health, the greater the recovery, for up to a 50% increase.
  • Cooldown:
    Before: Seven Seconds
    Now: Eight Seconds (-0.3 per level)
  • Changed Slow Percentage:
    Before: 30%
    Now: 15% (+3% per level)
• Skill 3: Hegemon's Slash
  • New Effect:
    20% of the damage dealt is converted into health, and immunity is granted for the duration of the skill.
  • Effect Adjustments:
    Extra damage dealt to enemies hit by the blade is reduced from 66% to 50%.
  • Skill Damage:
    Before: 500 (+250 per level) (+1.0 Attack Damage). The lower the Health, the greater the damage, for up to a 100% increase.
    Now: 800 (+400 per level) (+2.5 extra Attack Damage). The lower the Health, the greater the damage, for up to a 50% increase.

Xiang Yu got a massive buff with his mini-revamp. The mechanic upgrade that he got instantly put him into one of the most dangerous Roamer and Clash Lane in the game right now, especially since he can now control which Basic Attack enhancement he gets. Expect a lot of Xiang Yu in the ranked or normal modes for a while.

2. Jing

• Skill 3: Shift
  • Effect Adjustments: 
    While Jing's mirror image is in play, she can use her Ultimate to swap places with it (including mirror images created by Skill 1, 2, or 3). Jing can store between one and four location swap opportunities simultaneously (increases with Ultimate level), with a 10 Seconds charge duration. During her Ultimate, if Jing damages the enemy, she gains one opportunity for a location swap.
• Skill4/Ultimate: Mirror Domain
  • Originally Skill 3, this Ultimate has also become a location swap skill for the duration and shares a location swap limit with Skill 3.

Jing also got a massive buff with his mechanics upgrade. She can now swap places with her Mirror Image more frequently, making her more slippery and tricky to counter. She also has increased damage while using her Mirror Domain, which makes her even more dangerous if she isn't kept under control.

These are all the balance changes to heroes in Honor of Kings from 15 May, 2025's patch. Expect a lot of shifts in the meta particularly because of Jing and Xiang Yu's buff. While it isn't too big, Yixing's nerf will also affect his popularity in the meta.