November 13, 2025 | 9:44am
MANILA, Philippines — With the Honor of Kings global esports scene just a year old, a question has been raised: When will global teams, particularly our local teams, play at the same level as their King Pro League (KPL) counterparts in China?
Honor of Kings was first launched in China in 2015 with its esports scene, the KPL, following the year after. With nine years of experience, there is a considerable gap in player and coaching experience between the KPL and the global scene, which only came to be since the game’s global launch in June of 2024.
With the Honor of Kings International Championship set to begin in the country this week, can our four Filipino bets keep up?
“Mga 80% chance na kaya nang Philippines [sumabay]. Nakikipag-scrim din kami sa international teams. Before, medyo talaga malayo, even Malaysia. Pero malaking tulong ginagawa rin ng Tencent [Games] to scrim with Chinese teams. And of course, dahil paulit-ulit na yung mga nangyayari losses sa Philippines, and even sa mga players. Alam naman natin mas lang tayo sa mga mobile games. Medyo mas nakakahabol talaga. Even kami nagugulat kami na bakit parang…we are at par with different teams right now,” Elevate head coach Joshua “JOSH” Alfaro told Philstar.com.
Honor of Kings has the “Coach Initiative and Power-Up” program that is designed “to enhance the competitive performance and sustainability of global teams.” Chinese coaches are encouraged to contribute to overseas teams with different incentives, while the Power-Up program is a training course offered to international players and coaches.
“In terms of coaching level, KPL coaching staff have a lot of experience. We have accumulated years of experience,” Fei Pan, general manager of KPL team JD Gaming (JDG) Esports Club told Philstar.com.
Honor of Kings
Pan hopes that promoting communication between KPL and global teams will significantly help build the competitive performance of global teams, citing how previous global champion, Malaysia Black Shrew Esports, had trained in China, and that KPL has been open to sending talents like analysts and casters abroad to help global teams improve.
As the head of the King Pro League for Honor of Kings Esports, Cheng Huang also believes that the gap between KPL teams and global teams lies in having an open line of communication between the two ecosystems.
“We have increased the level of communication between KPL teams and overseas teams. At the same time, each player has their own communication channels. We also plan to have more overseas club communication and communication at the Challenger Cup at the end of the year. We think that in the near future, the strength of overseas clubs will grow very fast. We also hope that other overseas clubs and KPL clubs will be able to show their own strength and style on the competition stage in the future,” Huang said in a press conference.
For Blacklist International coach Gerald “Tgee” Gelacio, the country’s Honor of Kings bets have had their ups and downs the past year and a half. He, however, thinks Filipinos have finally found their footing.
“Dati kasi sinusundan natin yung meta ng Malaysia or China. Ngayon pa lang tayo talaga natututo at nakaka gawa ng sarili natin. Nakakakuha na kami ng skills sa mga KPL teams. Doon tayo nagsastart. Syempre kasi Malaysia ilang years na nakakalaro ng Honor of Kings. Sa China, 10 years na. Kaunti pa and makakasabay na talaga tayo,” said Gelacio.
The 2025 Honor of Kings International Championship will begin Friday, November 14, with Filipino teams Boom Esports and Elevate up against Indonesia’s Kagendra and Malaysia’s Homebois BSE at 12 p.m. and 3 p.m., respectively.