With the global release of Honor of Kings, 2024 has been a landmark year for the game. As we head into 2025, the excitement continues with major esports announcements for the upcoming 12 months. A groundbreaking invitational series will make its debut in the Philippines, running from February 21st to March 1st. This event marks the first time Honor of Kings will host an invitational in the country. However, the most significant news is the global adoption of the ban&pick format, set to enhance the competitiveness of the Season Three Invitational and all future tournaments.
So, what exactly is ban&pick? It's simpler than it sounds. Once a hero is selected and used by a player on one team during a match, that hero becomes unavailable for the rest of the tournament for their team, but not for their opponents. This rule adds a strategic layer to the game, as many MOBA enthusiasts tend to specialize in a limited set of characters. For instance, the well-known League of Legends personality Tyler1 is famously associated with his preferred champion, Draven.
The Mother of Invention
It's clear why ban&pick is a favored mechanism in MOBAs. While Honor of Kings isn't the pioneer in this approach, other games like League of Legends and Rainbow Six Siege have implemented similar rules. Traditionally, bans in these games are predetermined by team consensus before the match begins.
In the case of Honor of Kings, the ban&pick system empowers individual players to make critical decisions, emphasizing team coordination. Players must decide whether to select a character suitable for a specific scenario, even if it's a teammate's specialty, or to stick with their main character to secure early victories, reserving them for later stages. This new system is poised to make Honor of Kings' esports even more thrilling and appealing to a broader audience.
