Overview
Yuange (元歌, Yuángē) is a puppet-master character from the base Honor of Kings franchise whose only HoKW presence is through the Yuange Puppet boss encounter in Chapter 4 "古丘城试炼" (Guqiu City Trial). Yuange himself does NOT appear in person as an NPC in the April 10, 2026 S0 launch build, and he is not listed in the 11-Resonance launch roster. His absence is framed as an explicit plot mystery in Tencent's official developer diary.
HoKW Launch Status
Yuange is NOT a playable Resonance at launch. The confirmed S0 roster is Heroes. Yuange is also not confirmed as an upcoming post-launch Resonance by any developer statement in the launch-day TapTap Q&A or in the world.qq.com news feed. His entire on-screen presence in HoKW is limited to the Guqiu City Puppet boss and the single developer diary entry on world.qq.com.
The Puppet as a Gift
Per Tencent's official developer diary "【开发者日志】特殊的造物——元歌傀儡" on world.qq.com, Yuange built the Yuange Puppet before disappearing and left it behind in Jixia as a gift. The diary's direct quote: "元歌傀儡不仅是本次偶戏的导演设计了这场表演，同时也是元歌留给稷下的礼物。那我们的元歌到底去哪里了？具体情节就等玩家自己去挖掘啦" ("The Yuange Puppet is not only the director who designed this performance, it is also Yuange's gift to Jixia. As for where our Yuange has actually gone, the specific plot is for players to dig up themselves").
The diary describes Yuange's creative lineage as "一直在追求极致的机关美学" ("always pursuing the ultimate aesthetic of mechanism arts"), situating him as a peer of Master Lu Ban and Mozi within the Mohist mechanism tradition, though his artistic focus is on puppet theater rather than pure mechanical engineering.
Puppet Design Terminology
主舞 (main dancer) — the large central Yuange Puppet that serves as the boss; a living autonomous puppet that directs the boss fight as a staged puppet-theater performance
副舞 (supporting dancers) — smaller puppets that fill out the boss fight as companions
半成品 (half-finished works) — the small puppets are described as unfinished research artifacts, with three functional types: near-combat (近战傀儡), ranged (远攻傀儡), and self-destruct (自爆傀儡)
傀儡狂潮 (puppet tide) — the small-puppet add-wave assault phase used during the Chapter 4 fight
纸雏鸾 (paper crane / paper phoenix) and 丝线 (silk threads) — two of Yuange's signature puppetry elements that the main puppet uses in combat
Transformation Abilities
The developer diary confirms that Yuange's Puppet can 幻化 (transform / disguise) into the forms of other heroes, specifically Dongfang Yao and Xi Shi. While transformed, the Puppet borrows the target hero's HoKW 淬炼 (Cuilian) combat abilities, which is why Phase 2 of the Chapter 4 boss fight uses Xi Shi's orb pull and lotus-explosion AoE. This transformation mechanic is a purpose-built HoKW feature rather than a port of any base-MOBA kit.
What Is Not Known
Where Yuange has gone in the HoKW fiction (the developer diary explicitly leaves this as a plot mystery)
When or whether Yuange will appear in person in a future season
Any future plans to add Yuange as a playable HoKW Resonance
Whether the Guqiu City Puppet encounter has a hidden ending or continuation in the Chapter 4 aftermath
Sources
Tencent official developer diary (primary source): https://world.qq.com/gicp/news/1045/18347687.html
Ali213 chapter index (Chapter 4 context): https://m.ali213.net/news/gl2604/1762151.html
Tencent world.qq.com S0 portal (roster confirms Yuange is not in launch): https://world.qq.com/