Dual-class system

Overview

The dual-class system is the central combat mechanic in Honor of Kings: World. Rather than locking players into a single fighting style, the game allows the Flowborn to equip two Flow styles at once and swap freely between them during combat. Each style carries its own health bar, skill cooldowns, and moveset, making the pairing decision a core element of both build-crafting and real-time combat strategy.

WCCFTech described the dual-class system at Gamescom 2025 as sitting between "a lite character action game and Monster Hunter," while VGC compared the moment-to-moment combat to "something between Devil May Cry and modern real-time Final Fantasy games." The dual-class approach is what separates the game's identity from other action RPGs in the genre.

How it works

Before entering combat, the player selects two Flow styles from their unlocked roster. Each style is based on a hero from the Honor of Kings MOBA and comes with three active skills on short cooldowns, an evasive ability, and an ultimate attack. Once equipped, both styles are available at all times. A single button press swaps the active style instantly, with no animation lock or transition delay. The swap can happen mid-combo, mid-dodge, or even mid-air.

Independent health bars

Each equipped Flow style has its own health bar. When one style's HP drops dangerously low, the player can swap to the second style and continue fighting at full health while the first style passively regenerates in the background. This effectively doubles the player's total survivability pool and turns style-switching into a defensive survival tool, not just an offensive option.

Press previews from Gamescom 2025 noted that the dual health bar mechanic was the system's most distinctive feature. During cooperative boss fights, players who timed their swaps well could sustain pressure on a boss far longer than those who tried to rely on a single style, because the fresh health pool removed the need to disengage and heal.

Independent cooldowns

Skill cooldowns are tracked per-style, not globally. This means a player can use all three skills on one style, swap to the second style and use its skills while the first style's cooldowns tick down, then swap back to a fully refreshed set of abilities. Cycling between two styles in this way produces a much higher ability throughput than staying on a single style and waiting for cooldowns.

The cooldown cycling mechanic rewards players who develop a rhythm of alternating between their two styles. Learning when to swap, which abilities to lead with after a swap, and how to chain cross-style combos together is where the system's depth lies.

Switching as a survival mechanic

In difficult encounters such as boss fights and dungeons, the ability to swap to a fresh health pool under pressure is often the difference between surviving and failing. When one style's HP is nearly depleted, a well-timed swap gives the player a second chance without consuming healing items. The depleted style then slowly regenerates while inactive, and swapping back later provides yet another health reset.

This creates a rhythm where aggressive play is rewarded: rather than playing cautiously to preserve one health bar, the dual-class system encourages players to push forward, swap when threatened, and continue the offensive from a position of renewed strength.

Switching as an offensive tool

Beyond survival, swapping styles mid-combo opens up offensive opportunities that a single style cannot achieve alone. For example, a player might open with fast ringblade hits from Primal Flow to build stagger on a boss, then swap to Ethereal Mistveil to detonate a cluster of AoE orbs while the boss is flinching. The transition between a melee burst and a ranged detonation happens seamlessly, with no gap in damage output.

This cross-style combo potential is where the system most closely resembles character action games like Devil May Cry. The more fluidly a player weaves between their two styles, the higher their overall damage and the more creative their approach to each encounter can be.

Strategic pairing considerations

Choosing which two styles to equip is the primary build decision in the game. Different pairings create fundamentally different combat experiences:

Comparisons to other games

The dual-class system draws comparisons to several established mechanics in the action RPG genre. Monster Hunter Wilds introduced weapon switching between two equipped weapons, and Honor of Kings: World's system extends that concept further by tying separate health bars and full ability kits to each equipped option. Genshin Impact allows players to swap between four characters, each with their own elemental abilities, but the Honor of Kings approach keeps the player as a single character (the Flowborn) who adopts different fighting techniques rather than controlling separate characters.

The independent health bars are perhaps the most distinctive element. While many games allow some form of stance or weapon switching, very few give each stance its own survivability pool. This makes swapping a fundamentally different decision than in games where switching weapons changes your damage type but not your remaining health.

Unlocking styles

Flow styles are unlocked through story progression and in-game purchases. The developers stated at GDC 2025 that they plan to eventually offer every Honor of Kings champion as a Flow style, though specific pricing was still being determined. Players start with several styles provided through the story and can expand their roster over time. A larger roster means more pairing options, which increases build diversity. For full details on individual styles, see the Flow styles article.