The Honor of Kings World Cup 2025 will kick off on July 15 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as part of the Esports World Cup 2025, featuring the top HoK teams in the world.
This year’s Honor of Kings World Cup (KWC) will feature the world’s top teams face off for the lion’s share of the massive USD 3 million prize pool. What’s more, this tournament will feature two KPL teams (The KPL Spring Season champion and the ACL champion) for the first time.
As is the case with this year’s HoK tournaments, KWC 2025 will feature Global Ban&Pick. It will begin with the Group Stage on July 15 to 19, featuring four teams with double-elimination, best-of-three matches. The winner of each group will advance to the Group Kings stage while the runners-up will fight in the Last chance matches, both of which are happening on July 20.
Here are the sixteen teams and their group divisions that will be part of the Group Stage:
Group A
- Blacklist International
- BOOM Esports
- G Esports
- Paws Gaming
Group B
- Alpha7 Esports
- Dominator Esports
- Loops
- Team Vitality
Group C
- Black Shrew Esports
- Kagendra
- Nova Esports
- Twisted Minds
Group D
- ACT Esports Club
- Alpha Gaming
- Nongshim Redforce
- OG Esports
In the Group Kings stage, the four winners will face off in two B03 matches, with an A1 vs B1 and C1 vs D1 format. The winners of each match will then be placed in the playoffs pool 1, with the losing teams being put into the playoffs pool 2. As for the Last Chance, the runners-up will play two Bo5 matches in the following format: A2 vs B2 and C2 vs D2.
The playoffs will then happen from July 23 to 26, with the remaining teams facing off in a single-elimination bracket. These teams will be joined by the two directly qualified KPL teams: AG.AL and TT Global.
Finally, the tournament will culminate in the Grand Finals, which will be played in a best-of-seven format on July 26. The stakes will also be higher as the match will feature the “Ultimate Battle” draft mode.
Aside from exciting esports action, the Honor of Kings World Cup 2025 will also feature various in-game events, including the game’s first esports tournament-themed Honor Pass. This pass will be available from June 24 to August 28, and players can unlock rewards by leveling it up. These include the Nuwa–Syzygy Moonlight skin and the Alessio KWC skin.
In related HoK news, the game’s Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War collab recently went live.