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Overview

Zhuangzi (also known as Zhuang Zhou) is a Tank/Protector hero in Honor of Kings: World. He has been completely reworked from his Support classification in the original Honor of Kings MOBA into a survival-focused tank with serious protective capabilities. Zhuangzi is designed to keep entire teams alive through area shields, sustained healing, and crowd control immunity.

Rework from MOBA

In the original Honor of Kings MOBA, Zhuangzi functions as a Support hero who removes crowd control effects from allies. For Honor of Kings: World, TiMi Studio Group rebuilt his kit from the ground up to fit the action RPG format. He now fills a dedicated tank role with enhanced damage resistance, massive area shields, and the ability to protect teammates from lethal burst damage during boss encounters.

Combat Style

Zhuangzi's playstyle centers on protecting his team rather than dealing damage. His abilities create safe zones and cleanse harmful effects, making him invaluable in dungeons and raids where bosses inflict heavy crowd control. Unlike Kai, who absorbs damage personally, Zhuangzi extends his protection to the entire party.

Abilities

Area Shields: Zhuangzi deploys large protective barriers that shield all nearby allies, absorbing a set amount of damage before breaking. These shields scale with his HP, rewarding a tanky equipment build.

Sustained Healing: In addition to shielding, Zhuangzi provides continuous healing to allies within his effective range. This sustained recovery helps the team endure prolonged boss encounters without relying entirely on Support heroes.

Ultimate: Dream Domain: Zhuangzi creates a dream-infused protective field around himself. All allies within the domain receive immediate crowd control removal, immunity to future control effects for the duration, and a powerful shield. This ultimate is a direct counter to bosses that chain crowd control abilities.

Story Role

Beyond combat, Zhuangzi serves as a guide character in the main story. He appears at key narrative moments to point the Flowborn protagonist toward truth and wisdom. His philosophical nature, drawn from the historical Zhuangzi's Daoist teachings, is woven into his dialogue and story interactions. He questions the nature of reality, dreams, and the Flow itself, adding depth to the game's lore.

Lore

Zhuangzi is based on the ancient Chinese philosopher Zhuang Zhou (c. 369-286 BCE), one of the foundational figures of Daoism. He is best known for the "Butterfly Dream" parable, in which he questions whether he is a man who dreamed of being a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming of being a man. This philosophical theme of blurred boundaries between dreams and reality is reflected in his protective dream domain abilities and his narrative role in the game.

Tips

• Save Zhuangzi's Dream Domain ultimate for boss phases with heavy crowd control. Timing it to coincide with a stagger window lets your team deal maximum damage safely.

• Build Zhuangzi with HP-focused gear to maximize shield strength.

• In co-op, communicate with your team about when you plan to activate Dream Domain so damage dealers can commit fully during the immunity window.

• Zhuangzi pairs exceptionally well with Cai Wenji for a double-layer of healing and protection.