Dungeons and raids

Overview

Dungeons and raids form the core PvE endgame loop in Honor of Kings: World. The official website lists over 30 dungeons at launch across multiple types and difficulty tiers. Raids represent the most challenging content, supporting up to 8 players in coordinated boss fights with weekly lockouts. All dungeon and raid content is designed to be completable solo with AI companion assistants or cooperatively with other players.

Dungeon types

Story dungeons

Story dungeons are narrative-driven instances tied to the main campaign and side quests. They introduce players to the game's dungeon mechanics through scripted encounters, cutscenes, and environmental storytelling. Story dungeons generally have lower difficulty and serve as the player's first introduction to instanced PvE content.

The GDC 2025 press demo featured a story dungeon with ice grenade mechanics, where players froze movable blocks to create platforms and pathways. This example showed how dungeons mix combat encounters with environmental puzzle-solving, breaking up the pace and adding variety beyond pure combat.

Challenge dungeons (Nightmare mode)

Challenge dungeons, sometimes called Nightmare Dungeons, are harder versions of story dungeons with enhanced enemy stats, additional mechanics, and better rewards. Multiple difficulty tiers are available, and leaderboards track the fastest completion times for competitive-minded players.

Nightmare Dungeons feature enhanced drop rates for high-tier equipment. The difficulty scaling is designed so that each successive tier demands better gear, tighter execution, and more coordinated teamwork, creating a progression treadmill that keeps dungeon content relevant as players grow stronger.

Weekly raids

Raids are 8-player coordinated boss fights that represent the hardest PvE content in the game. They feature weekly lockouts and limited attempts per week, gating the most powerful rewards behind consistent, skilled play. Raid mechanics require teamwork, communication, and understanding of complex multi-phase boss fights.

Raid bosses push every aspect of the combat system to its limits. Effective raids require team compositions with balanced roles (DPS, support, crowd control), coordinated stagger buildup, and timing of hero transformations and ultimate abilities for maximum burst during vulnerability windows.

Cooperative design

Dungeons support 2-4 player co-op through both friend invites and matchmaking. Multiplayer matchmaking pairs players of similar rank. A summoning system lets players call for help during boss fights without disrupting an encounter already in progress. Cross-platform play between PC and mobile is confirmed, so players on different devices can group together.

AI companions

Every piece of dungeon and raid content can be completed solo. AI companion assistants fill the roles of absent human players, providing support abilities, damage, and tanking as needed. Lead Designer Simon confirmed at GDC 2025 that the team wanted solo players to have a complete experience without being locked out of any rewards.

AI companions are drawn from the game's hero roster and behave according to their hero archetype. A support hero companion will prioritize healing, while a warrior companion will engage enemies and draw aggro. Players can customize their AI companion selection to complement their own build.

Loot and reward systems

Dungeon and raid rewards follow a tiered structure. Story dungeons drop common and uncommon materials suitable for early progression. Challenge dungeons offer rare and epic gear with set pieces. Weekly raids drop legendary and mythic-tier equipment, the best gear available in the game.

Dungeon structure

Dungeons include more than just combat encounters. Multiple press previews noted alternate paths, hidden treasure rooms, side passages with bonus loot, and environmental puzzles that break up the combat rhythm. The ice grenade puzzle from the GDC 2025 demo is one confirmed example, but more puzzle types are expected throughout the full dungeon roster.

Each dungeon culminates in a boss fight. For details on boss encounter design, see the boss encounters article. Dungeon bosses use the posture break system, and many feature breakable body parts that yield bonus materials.