Honor of Kings International Championship 2025 preview: format, teams, and more

The Honor of Kings International Championship 2025 is just around the corner, serving as the crowning event of the 2025 season.

The best teams from across the world will compete in an offline LAN tournament in the Philippines, running from November 14th to 30th, 2025.

Esports Insider breaks down everything to know about the championship, including teams, format, prize pool and more.

The competition will be divided into several stages; however, the format of the tournament has not been officially confirmed, but is expected to follow a similar structure to last year’s event.

The Group Stage will run in the first four days of the event, where teams will likely split into groups of four in a single round robin with Bo3 matches.

The top two teams from each group will proceed to the Playoffs. It will begin with the Knockout Stage from November 20th to 29th, 2025, which took the form of a double elimination bracket with Bo5 matches in 2024.

The championship will conclude with the Grand Finals on November 30th, where the top two teams will be expected to fight in a Bo7 matchup to decide the winner.

16 teams will compete in the Honor of Kings International Championship 2025, qualifying through various tournaments held throughout the season.

Four teams have qualified through the Philippines Kings League 2025 Fall, which includes the winners Blacklist International, alongside BOOM Esports, Elevate, and A.C.T Esports Club.

Three teams advanced through the MY Honor of Kings League, including the defending champion HomeBois Black Shrew Esport, alongside Nova Esports and Alpha Gaming.

The Indonesia Kinga Laga 2025 Fall saw three squads make it to the international championships, including winners Bigetron by Vitality, runner-up Kagendra and Vesakha Esports.

Two teams made it to the championships through the Honor of Kings Brazil Championships 2025 Spring, including first-place squad Loops and runner-up Alpha7 Esports.

Various tournament winners have also made it to the event, including Major East league winners Nongshim Redforce, Major West League champion OG Esports, and Twisted Minds from Last Call.

The final spot is up for grabs in the Phoenix Reborn Qualifier taking place on November 11th, where either WETRND Esports or Rex Regum Qeon will proceed to the championship.

Teams will compete for the lion’s share of a $1m (~£764,785) prize pool, with the winner taking home $300,000 (~£225,000) in winnings.

To celebrate the event, Honor of Kings’ in-game assassin-hero, Jing, will receive a commemorative skin. The final MVP of the tournament will also be awarded a dedicated themed skin in the game.

The top three teams will also secure a qualification spot to the Challenger Cup 2025, where the top 32 international teams compete later this year for a share of a ¥3.5m (~$490,770/£369,000) prize pool.

The Honor of Kings International Championship 2025 will be livestreamed on the official YouTube and Twitch channels starting from November 14th, 2025.