KoG (Arena of Valor) esports

Guide

A Brief Background

King of Glory, or variably known as Honor of Kings through its official translation from Chinese, is a mobile title which has garnered an incredible amount of attention since it’s targeted release back in 2015. Developed by TiMi Studios and published by the mobile-game giant of Tencent, who is related to other mobile titles such as Clash Royale, PUBG Mobile and COD Mobile, the success of the title is no surprise when considering the above line-up of titles.

Exclusively available in the Chinese market, the MOBA, multiplayer online battle arena offered some phenomenal statistics in 2017 as King of Glory included:

• Over 80,000,000 daily active players
• Resultantly, 200,000,000 per month

Back then, the title earned the accomplishment of having the most active player-base in the entire world, involving the highest number of downloads and players. All of this was achieved while remaining exclusive to China. 

Within the same year, Tencent extended the outreach of the game to the entire globe under the synonymous name of Arena of Valor with a few tweaks to appeal to the rest of the world.

Besides the casual appeal, across 5 years, King of Glory has become an industry-leading title in esports, while front-lining the area of mobile esports by setting unprecedented standards in this regard. Wangzhe Rongyao, as it is called in Chinese, also built the franchised King Pro League (KPL) at the start of 2020 and continues to expand as both a casual game and as an esport.

How to Play

At its core, King of Glory plays out like any other MOBA, making use of the essential features of utilizing unique characters to first eliminate non-player characters, or NPCs, to further level up the character during the length of the game. Levelling up involves strengthening abilities and base statistics, while any extra gold may be used to stack up on items which may modify the character’s gameplay. 

Dancing across a map with multiple lanes, depending on the game mode, player’s may work independently or with a team of other players to lock down lanes, take out enemy structures known as Turrets while also defending your own, thwarting advances by the enemy player/s and making wary progress. The ultimate aim of most game modes is to break down the enemies’ defences until their home base is exposed, otherwise called a Core Building here, and to destroy it. Correspondingly, a defeat results in your own Core Building facing the same fate.

By playing a regular number of matches, players may level up their rank in order to qualify for Ranked mode, earn Gold to permanently unlock champions and invest in other cosmetic items. With the number of roles and champions available to players, there is a lot of gameplay to sink one’s teeth into. Before elaborating further on this, let’s take a closer look at the game modes available.

Game modes range from PvP to PvE experiences:

• Valley of Kings – the standard 5v5 player versus player game mode, ten players scattered on either side of a map will do their best to own each of the three lanes, progress forward into enemy territory and eventually claim the Core Building or Nexus of the other team. As highlighted above, eliminating turrets and NPCs can help earn gold and experience to gain the upper hand against enemies as one team will inevitably come out on top.
• Battle of Changping – a variant of Valley of Kings where only three players on each side fight over 1 central lane sided by jungle areas. As each team stands behind two turrets each, under the same victory conditions, this mode promises to be a quicker experience compared to the 5v5 version.
• Mohist Mechatech – an intense 1v1 mode, where each player defends one turret, unable to heal or return to base. Aggression and skill are encouraged together with high-risk gameplay.
• Ranked Matchmaking – after enough experience in casual modes and owning enough champions, Ranked mode opens up. Teams of five will be matched up through SBMM, skill-based matchmaking to allow players a chance to level up in rank. Ranging from Bronze all the way to High King, all seven tiers are subdivided into multiple sections. Unlike other titles, Ranked mode goes beyond simply earning victories as an ‘Honor system’ is also in place – good ratings, retaining connection and other positive sportsmanship may give players additional stars. Shaking things through regular ‘seasons’ makes Ranked a rewarding experience.
• Creation Modes – here, TiMi Studios have some fun innovating through unique modes such as Infinity Skirmish, Chess, Fiery Mountain Battle, Clone Fight and Dreamland Clash.

An essential component of any MOBA is a healthy choice of characters. A total of six classes help distinguish King of Glory from other games in the genre:

• Tank
• Warrior
• Assassin
• Mage
• Marksman 
• Support

Each supporting their own playstyle, there is an expanding total of 137 characters available for players to choose from. Picking the right characters, the correct lane, mastering their abilities and learning to maximize their potential by teaming up with corresponding heroes will allow for the best experience with each one. Of course, mastery takes time though players are rewarded for investing it.

Bearing this in mind and the phenomenal number of players, the esports scene for King of Glory has enormous potential.

How to Watch

Offering first-party events at first, King of Glory has grown exponentially since 2015. Following multiple investments, Tencent then franchised the esport into the King Pro League at the start of 2020. With six venues, multiple competitions spread out in a yearly calendar and fantastic prize pools, the esports scene has flourished.

The franchise follows a similar structure to other MOBA’s such as League of Legends, though still has room to grow. As of right now, the central hubs for competition remain within the Eastern areas of South Korea and China. Built on the KPL G-League, where young talent is fostered into the major leagues, teams compete for the ultimate chance to become the King of Glory World Champions at the World Champion Cup where last year, a total of $4.67 million was on the line. 

The future holds plan to expand the number of teams in the KPL and more opportunities for KGL rosters to make a claim higher up in the rankings as 5-men rosters. Also, the Arena of Valor Premier League was announced in 2020 for Western competition to take place. 

With regards to viewership, Tencent has partnered with Bilibili, Tencent Sport, DouYu and Huya amongst others in order to broadcast the tremendous amount of competition, as exemplified by the following links:

• https://sports.qq.com/ – Tencent Sport
• https://www.huya.com/ – Huya
• https://www.douyu.com/ – DouYu

Tips and Tricks

Before proceeding, do note that the title of Arena of Valor may be under a different name depending on your region. Accordingly, an Eastern version called Kings of Glory and a previous title of Honor of Kings are all the same title. Bearing this in mind, these tips apply to all of these titles.

Mechanical Skills

As a mobile title, we’ll have to take a different approach here when it comes to mechanical skill. Unlike a controller or keyboard and mouse, the entire interface is literally in your hands. Here are some tips for this mobile MOBA title:

• Hold the mobile device appropriately – you’ll want to consider two approaches. Either hold the device in your hands and hence limit only your thumbs to the screen. Otherwise, lay the device flat and utilize more than one finger to interact with the screen – the latter is preferred by competitors.
• Master tapping – inexperienced mobile gamers will take way to long too long to translate their thoughts to actions. Especially as a MOBA, a flurry of taps will be required for movement, item use and much more. Practice will develop this skill.
• Ensure that your hands are as comfortable as possible – this may be done by utilizing a larger screen, avoiding sweaty hands and keeping your fingers warm – find what works for you.
• Manoeuvres such as stutter stepping will follow secondary to a strong familiarity with tapping.

In-Game Knowledge and Awareness

For our Arena of Valor Tips and Tricks, some of our pieces of advice are similar to what you’ve read before. Indeed, as a MOBA, certain general tips will still apply as they do to other titles in this genre such as Dota 2 and League of Legends. Regardless, here’s a reminder:

Credits: Arena of Valor

• Ensure that you have a massive pool of knowledge with regards to the champions – knowing weakness and strengths will prove essential
• Constantly look at the mini-map – something new players are reminded to do and for good reason. A tonne of information can be gained from the map.
• Be aware of meta shifts with respect to both champions and in-game items too.
• Don’t waste gold on heroes and instead focus on arcana
• Playing Abyssal Clash – this overlooked game mode is great to hone in some skills. These include team fighting, hero abilities, power spikes and generally puts you in tough situations.
• Adapting to how the game progresses – pre-game, mid-game and late-game all offer their own strategies apart from defence and offence.

Personal and Interpersonal – Arena of Valor Tips and Tricks

Keeping your cool in Arena of Valor is probably more important than in any other competitive title. A tiny amount of stress or rage is enough to cause players to fumble a tap on the screen which could be costly. Here are some more Arena of Valor Tips and Tricks:

Credits: Arena of Valor

• Hold off playing ranked – many casuals have the tendency to play a few normal games and immediately dive into the ranked playlist. This won’t get you anyway. You must develop the understanding that you’ll need time and practice before you’re ready.
• Each time you lose, be sure to identify what caused the loss within yourself – blaming teammates won’t get you very far as a player and a person.
• Discuss and analyze your own gameplay with others in order to progress, being able to take criticism and grow from it
• Whatever happens, don’t lose your cool or play too aggressively – both mentalities can harm your team’s chances of winning.

And there they are, our Arena of Valor Tips and Tricks. Be sure to stay tuned to the site for more guides just like this!