Like and follow so you never miss out on game updates!

Hello everyone, I'm Xiaodi from the gaming community.

In recent days, there have been no new skin news for Honor of Kings, but the international server does have some: the "Cosmic Kitchen" collaboration skin line for Xiahou Dun has been announced. It looks quite good overall, though we don't know if it will ever make it to the domestic server. Seizing this chance, I want to talk about Xiahou Dun's current predicament.

Xiahou Dun, widely recognized as an all-around hero in terms of attributes.

Roughly speaking, Xiahou Dun possesses at least nine basic attribute effects: Regeneration (passive — when his health falls below half, each skill or basic attack hit on an enemy restores a certain amount of HP); Control and Slow (first skill — hitting an enemy slows them, triggering a second cast that knocks them up); Shield, Magic Damage, True Damage, and Cooldown Reduction (all from his second skill — using it grants a shield, deals magic damage to nearby foes, empowers his next three basic attacks with true damage, and hitting those empowered attacks reduces his ultimate's cooldown); Unstoppable and Mobility (third skill — dashes a set distance while being unstoppable).

Logically, such a hero should be popular everywhere, but currently Xiahou Dun's situation in high and low ranks is completely opposite.

Xiahou Dun's Data

Across all ranks, Xiahou Dun's stats look quite impressive: a 52.8% win rate and an 11.5% pick rate, making him a popular hero for climbing. However, in peak matches (1350+), his win rate plummets to just 48.1% with only a 4.9% pick rate.

This is clearly an extreme contrast. So why is Xiahou Dun, with such comprehensive attributes, almost "abandoned" in high-tier matches?

Xiahou Dun's Pain Points

He is extremely vulnerable to kiting. Xiahou Dun is indeed known as a very durable hero, mainly due to his passive healing. This healing is actually substantial, but to trigger it — aside from waiting for the cooldown — he needs to continuously land basic attacks. Since he is a tank with very short range, once he gets kited, he can't hit anyone and thus can't heal. When the passive goes on cooldown, he becomes much less tanky. Peak match players are obviously masters of kiting, so playing Xiahou Dun becomes very frustrating.

Hard to convert advantages. In the laning phase, Xiahou Dun is hardly afraid of any hero; he can go toe-to-toe with any opponent. With a bit of skill, he can secure a decent advantage. But the challenge lies in converting that laning advantage into a teamfight advantage in the mid-to-late game. Once teamfights begin, Xiahou Dun's primary role is to act as a frontliner, absorbing damage and creating opportunities for his teammates. This heavily depends on his teammates' ability to seize those opportunities. If he gets teammates with incompatible mindsets, the outcome is predictable — he simply gets overwhelmed and focused down.

That's all for today. If you found this helpful, feel free to leave a like to support me. If you have anything to say, ask, or want to see, drop a comment below — I'll read them all!

Know everything about games, know nothing else; I'm Xiaodi, let's chat freely!

[This article has been declared original and is protected by copyright. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited.]