Combat system

Overview

Combat in Honor of Kings: World is a real-time action system built around the dual Flow system. Players equip two different fighting styles, each based on a hero from the Honor of Kings universe, and switch between them freely during combat. WCCFTech's Gamescom 2025 hands-on described the combat as sitting between "a lite character action game and Monster Hunter," while VGC compared it to "something between Devil May Cry and modern real-time Final Fantasy games."

The dual Flow system

Each Flow style provides a distinct moveset with three active skills on short cooldowns, a dodge/evasion ability, and an ultimate attack. The two equipped styles each have their own independent health bar. When one style's health runs low, players can switch to the other and continue fighting at full health while the first recovers. This makes style-switching a survival tool as much as an offensive one.

Confirmed Flow styles

Primal Flow is a melee fighting style with a gap-closing ability. Within Primal Flow, players can swap between four weapon types: ringblades, lance, hammer, and sword. This is the most straightforward combat style, resembling a traditional action game protagonist.

Ethereal Mistveil is a ranged AoE style. It launches magic orbs that can suck in nearby opponents and then be detonated for area damage. Standard attacks use magic blasts. Ungeek's hands-on noted that swapping from Primal Flow to Ethereal Mistveil mid-combo felt smooth and natural.

Chrono Anomaly inflicts slow effects on enemies and allows the player to stack attacks into a concentrated "bomb" that deals massive burst damage on detonation.

Reverse Flow transforms the player's skills to resemble Sun Bin's abilities from the MOBA, including bombs that slow monsters and homing missiles.

Stagger and posture

Boss encounters use a stagger system. Sustained damage fills a posture gauge on the boss; once full, the boss is staggered and left vulnerable for several seconds. This creates a DPS window where players must decide whether to burn their ultimate immediately or hold it for the stagger opening. Multiple press previews noted this as a satisfying risk-reward decision point.

Defensive mechanics

Players can dodge, parry, and block. A well-timed dodge creates a slow-motion window for counterattacks. Parrying deflects strikes and creates openings. The GDC 2025 demo showed that defensive play is rewarded rather than optional, especially against bosses.

Body-part targeting

Attacks can be directed at specific parts of larger enemies. Hitting certain body parts can inflict status conditions like stiffness, which limits the enemy's ability to use specific attacks. This adds a layer of tactical targeting beyond simply dealing damage.

Hero transformation

The Flowborn can transform directly into other heroes during combat. For example, becoming Kai unlocks his exclusive parry skill with full damage immunity during the parry window. This is separate from the dual Flow system and appears to function as an additional layer of combat depth.

Comparisons

Press outlets at Gamescom 2025 compared the combat favorably to Monster Hunter's deliberate, weighty encounters, combined with the flashier combo systems of games like Devil May Cry. The dual health bar mechanic and style-switching mid-combo were called out as the system's most distinctive feature.