After participating in several closed beta tests of "Honor of Kings: Infinite Chess," I gradually discovered the unusual aspects of this game. Don't let its unassuming, laid-back appearance fool you; whenever the test server shuts down, you can witness in various vertical communities just how many ways there are to wail in despair.
Normally, when a game test ends and servers shut down, the hype should fade away. However, "Honor of Kings: Infinite Chess" went in the opposite direction—players' enthusiasm had nowhere to go, making various communities even livelier. Some reviewed their matches and showed off weird builds they crafted; others searched forums for the unlucky souls they personally sent packing.
Initially, everyone thought this was just a small-scale圈内 (community) celebration, but events exceeded expectations step by step. With multiple iterations of technical tests, many vertical bloggers and hardcore players from the TCG and CCG circles, and even well-known celebrities, began asking in the comments about the next server opening time.
The good news is that "Honor of Kings: Infinite Chess" officially entered open beta on September 10th, so players no longer need to suffer from qualification issues.
But as a media editor in the gaming industry, a simple question arises: during the closed beta, which was only accessible to a small group, how did "Honor of Kings: Infinite Chess" garner 70 million reservations and top the free game charts, even making hardcore players, bloggers, and celebrities eagerly anticipate the game since the test server phase?
As a veteran of TCG and DBG games, my initial purpose in trying this game was to find a substitute to fill the boredom between seasons. However, once I started playing, I found it distinctly different from most other works I've encountered.
Using pieces as carriers and cards as media, the game follows a hero strategy path. You can broadly summarize it as: cards equal resources, pieces equal combat power. Being good at cards doesn't mean you're good at laning, and being good at laning doesn't mean you understand macro management.
The so-called "Draw, Grow, Explode" is the core mantra around which "Honor of Kings: Infinite Chess" revolves. What players need to win in the game is far more than just cards.
Breadth was my first impression of "Honor of Kings: Infinite Chess" and a major reason for my long-term addiction. Cards and pieces each have their roles here; only players who can skillfully utilize both dimensions can seize control of the match. This manifests in the game as the rarest aspect of strategy genres: anti-meta play.
From learning formulas as a newcomer to freely freestyling lineups, I experienced several emotional ups and downs, even complaining about luck. But with more game time than average players, I gradually appreciated the perfection of the game's strategic mind games and the ingenuity of its card and piece design.
In a game with card elements, "Honor of Kings: Infinite Chess" indeed balances the role of luck, with no rigged card distribution or ELO manipulation. If the game had rigged targeting, I certainly couldn't have maintained a 100% win rate before reaching 1000 Honor points. This means there are indeed many tips in the game to resolve disadvantageous situations. Failing to draw desired cards isn't hopeless here; "Honor of Kings: Infinite Chess" emphasizes adaptability, allowing anyone to make a viable combination.
How to discover these lesser-known combinations, or even craft your own lineup on the fly, is the continuous direction of play and source of positive feedback the game provides to players.
Even if I say this, many players will still question it—if you can't even draw the cards, how can you win the game?
Here I would like to introduce my favorite chessman, Marco. He has the exclusive chessman skill "Treasure Hunt," which allows players to obtain a Gem Mirror under certain conditions, randomly copying a card from hand.
You might still say—copying hand cards is powerful, but hasn't the problem of key cards not appearing been solved? Let me show you another hero card, Meng Qi. When players sell Meng Qi on the board, they receive a voucher.
Keen readers might immediately realize here: should we use Meng Qi's defeat effect to stack tiers and use lucky draws to get key cards?
Of course not. There's actually a simpler principle: if you can't draw the card, keep drawing. Still can't draw it? Keep drawing.
Easier said than done, but actually easier to do. Buying a hero card in "Honor of Kings: Infinite Chess" costs 3 energy, selling loses 2 energy, but Naonao's voucher reduces the loss to 1 energy. The existence of the Gem Mirror turns this loss into profit, actually gaining 1 energy.
Combined with Ji Xiaoman's card effect, which grants temporary refreshes when selling heroes on the board, this forms a basic resource cycling combo—Gem Mirror copies Meng Qi, selling Meng Qi earns energy and refresh counts. Players then have nearly infinite energy and unlimited refreshes, solving the problem of obtaining key cards, unless the card truly doesn't exist in the deck.
As mentioned earlier, cards are resources, and pieces are combat power. Marco is such a chessman with outstanding resource capabilities. But since winning requires combat victory, how do you increase combat power?
This brings us to heroes like Jiang Ziya, Mi Yue, and Zhu Bajie, who can be described as build engines; their growth drives the increase in combat power. For instance, Mi Yue can level up the hero with the most equipment by 1 every time the player plays an effect card. Since Meng Qi provides vouchers which count as effect cards, this boosts board combat power without affecting the main axis of resource cycling, completing hero growth while drawing cards.
Remember the game's mantra—Draw, Grow, Explode. This is the main melody of "Honor of Kings: Infinite Chess" gameplay. Still worried about not getting key cards? A stable resource axis allows Marco players to choose their own main carry, enabling any hero you like to gain the power to explode the board after sufficient growth.
Not just Marco, "Honor of Kings: Infinite Chess" features multiple resource chessmen like Yuhuan and Daji. The Sikong Zhen Sunset Sea lineup developed by players during the internal test was built upon the robust resource capabilities of these chessmen, hence jokingly referred to as an upper-limit gameplay style with an independent manual multiplier.
This not only brings a refreshing visual experience to strategy games but also changes the actual gameplay from thinking-heavy to operation-smooth. The fluid card-drawing process becomes a unique pleasure point, allowing players skilled in mechanics to find their comfort zone even in strategy games.
To further enable anti-meta play, "Honor of Kings: Infinite Chess" introduced talent cards obtained through leveling up, allowing impromptu combinations to be executed more freely and satisfyingly.
For example, talent cards like Dangerous Numbers or Fellow Travelers can grant chessmen without resource capabilities resource strength comparable to those who have them. This allows Qiao Xi's standard Ancient Coin Sikong Zhen lineup to pivot to Jiang Ziya Drawing Sikong Zhen, temporarily cosplaying as Yuhuan to sweep the board.
Alternatively, numerical talent cards like "Thousand Miles Reunion" or "Gathering of Heroes" can grant resource chessmen like Daji, who lack growth mechanisms, the growth capabilities of numerical chessmen. This allows players to replace missing heroes like Mi Yue, Jiang Ziya, or Zhu Bajie with talent cards.
"Honor of Kings: Infinite Chess" provides players with enough means to fill the gaps in the "Draw, Grow, Explode" mantra. You can freely combine talent cards, hero cards, and chessman cards to complete the loop from drawing resources to increasing combat power. This avoids being limited to a single method of boosting power and prevents the awkward situation of having no plan when key cards are missing.
I maintained an unbroken golden record before reaching 1000 points in Honor rank largely thanks to the game's myriad non-formula combinations. Often, in disadvantageous matches where formulaic builds were impossible, flashes of inspiration led me to achieve better results than standard formula gameplay.
But this raises another question—does this mean resource-type chessmen are unstoppable in the game? And what should we casual strategy players do?
Don't be anxious yet. If resource-focused chessmen enter the game with a "money printer" mindset, possessing inexhaustible energy, remember that the ultimate goal of resource cycling is to find an engine and start it up quickly.
And "Honor of Kings: Infinite Chess" indeed prepares numerical chessmen suitable for players who are not skilled in hand speed or prefer casual gameplay. You can simply understand this as entering the game with an engine.
For example, Chang Xiao'e, who was widely favored during the internal test, is a "poor" chessman with no resource amplification capabilities. However, her chessman card can directly increase the level of heroes on the board. If the chessman itself can provide growth functions for heroes, doesn't that skip the complex construction of resource axes, allowing you to choose any carry and start the combat phase directly?
Indeed, this is the origin of the community's frequent jokes about "Bedroom Yuhuan" and "Subway Chang Xiao'e."
Admittedly, the resource-drawing style offers higher operational space and has an independent manual multiplier, but within limited rounds, accident rates and stability are often proportional. Idle styles are not necessarily inferior in upper limits, as Yao Mei-Li Xin and Chang Xiao'e-Su-Hu-Zhen-Yue remain the simplest extreme growth concepts. Moreover, the innate combat power bonus of numerical chessmen allows heroes of the same level to possess higher piece combat power.
Resource-drawing gameplay and numerical power gameplay each have their own merits, depending entirely on the player's gaming scenario.
It's worth noting that both numerical power players and resource-drawing players have considerable flexibility. Since the game's underlying logic is "draw, grow, explode," even if it takes a bit more effort, achieving your goal gives you a fighting chance.
As mentioned earlier, the common builds for Yuhuan, Chang Xiao'e, and Qiao Xi are all centered around Sikong Zhen, because Yuhuan's Sunset Sea, Chang Xiao'e's Pei Qinhu, and Qiao Xi's chessman skill all provide large amounts of temporary levels, which can be enjoyed together by Sikong Zhen's card effect.
So, if the standard formula's associated components are missing, does that make Sikong Zhen difficult to use?
Not necessarily. The Great River faction in the game has the hero card Dong Huang Taiyi, which also provides a large amount of temporary levels. Chang Xiao'e can use chessman cards to upgrade lower-tier totem hero cards that are easier to obtain, then convert them via Dong Huang Taiyi's card effect, forming a Sikong Zhen totem build through indirect means.
Although its absolute strength isn't as high as Su-Hu-Zhen-Yue, it's better than lacking Pei Qinhu, leaving Sikong Zhen as a blank slate, and eventually getting eliminated at level 6. I've seen countless players in the community lose bitterly due to missing key cards for formula combinations. With a bit more imagination, you might achieve better results.
This is where the operational space for resource-drawing chessmen comes into play. If Yuhuan lacks components from the Sunset Sea drawing system, you can substitute them with the Energy Drain talent card. Taking it a step further, you can optimize the drawing components, or even remove Sikong Zhen to form an impromptu lineup.
One match that left a deep impression on me was encountering a Yuhuan player at 3000 Honor points. In a critical round, failing to draw the core output Sikong Zhen, he abandoned all Sunset Sea components providing temporary levels, instead adopting Jiang Ziya and Xiao Qiao as engines. He chose Zhuge Liang, unaffected by Xiao Qiao's faction penalty, as the core carry, and selected Yang Yuhuan as functional support. Using excess energy resources, he forcibly cultivated a Three Kingdoms Zhuge Liang lineup with strength surpassing the traditional Yuhuan-Sikong Zhen system, sweeping away the mockery that the Three Kingdoms faction lacked strong generals and severely punishing those who looked down on Three Kingdoms native output heroes.
It can be said that the multi-faction open-source card effect linkage, supplemented by chessman cards and talent cards, makes the lineup construction freedom in "Honor of Kings: Infinite Chess" stand out prominently among strategy games. The chemical effects produced by different talent card drops combined with chessman cards allow me to always find subtle differences within formula combinations, winning through unique personal understanding.
Since we're talking about mind games, let's discuss some tips in the game. These often-overlooked details highlight the characteristic of strategy games where details are king—many idle-style players complain about being controlled by the system simply because they neglect these details. Failing to draw key cards isn't just bad luck; it can also be due to interference from resource-focused chessmen.
As the name suggests, resource chessmen have plenty of energy. So, when they don't draw the cards they want, they conveniently take the cards that numerical chessmen need. Since hero cards in the deck are limited, this is a common laning technique used by resource chessmen against numerical chessmen.
The solution is quite simple: players focusing on numerical power just need to sacrifice their growth rate and level up faster to find key cards. Since resource-focused chessmen lack combat power in the early to mid-game, accurately judging whether combat power is overflowing and finding the right timing to save money for leveling up becomes key to advancing as a numerical power player.
Blocking opponents' cards is also the most common mind game strategy in mid-to-high-end matches. Some chessmen's chessman cards can have targeted derivative applications. For example, in this match, Bai Ge wasn't suitable for the Sunset Sea Sikong Zhen system, and his chessman card offered almost no help to my current lineup. However, after selecting the Dangerous Numbers talent card, my resource management capability was barely sufficient.
But choosing which lineup to play wasn't critical in this match. The key was Bai Ge's chessman card, Inspiration Burst, which could cut out a copy version of three non-awakened cards in hand, occupying deck space.
My opponent was using the upper-limit build of Ancient Coin Hua Mulan, which can trigger preparations via Luna's card effect and stack Hua Mulan's resurrection count through ancient coin cycling, boasting up to 10 lives, making her extremely difficult to deal with. My approach was to use the resource capability granted by the Dangerous Numbers talent to quickly secure 3 key Luna cards, ensuring only three Lunas remained in the deck at all times.
In the final match, my opponent was forced to sell and search again due to insufficient Luna reserves. I seized the moment when he sold Luna intending to buy her back, quickly played Inspiration Burst to cut out 6 copy cards, making it impossible for him to find Luna again. I easily won with just 4 resurrections remaining.
By not using Bai Ge's more versatile Zhulu system, I also avoided the predicament of competing with similar builds. You can see another Bai Ge and Jiang Dao player collided in lineup, struggling to operate smoothly and eventually losing at 3-6. Although my lineup wasn't perfectly suited, it had no direct competitors. In the final inner war among resource-drawing chessmen, the chessman card meant to expand my own advantage was used for mind game confrontation, and this unexpected move sealed my opponent's defeat.
Does the opponent have no way to counter, forced to watch me blatantly grab all the Lunas? Of course not. Hua Mulan can utilize the game's underlying mechanisms to achieve some special tricks.
In "Honor of Kings: Infinite Chess," awakened heroes returning to hand is a universal mechanic. Most players only see it as a bonus for summon-based builds, without exploring derivative uses. Remember, awakened heroes returning to hand retain field information, meaning not only their level is preserved, but so is Hua Mulan's resurrection count.
In the final circle, where resource chessmen generally have low health, if the opponent can leverage Hua Mulan's auto-growth high combat power trait, using higher health advantage to recycle a round of Hua Mulan by intentionally passing, and then accumulating two rounds of preparation ancient coins' regeneration counts into one turn, the opponent lacking Luna support might still achieve victory.
Similar to the diversity of build construction, these tips become unique insights for advanced players, too numerous to list individually. From last-second summons in the first round to precise positioning mind games, there are endless strategies to learn in the game, providing continuous motivation for replayability.
Clearly, "Honor of Kings: Infinite Chess" possesses the core qualities of a high-quality strategy game, leaving ample room for exploration in both gameplay breadth and strategic depth. It is a typical game that becomes more addictive the more you play: when players break free from the mental shackles of fixed lineup formulas, they can genuinely receive positive feedback from the mechanics, which is the fundamental reason the game retains a large base of core players.
Due to space limitations, I cannot fully elaborate on the extensive match understanding accumulated during the internal test, but the above cases are enough to glimpse the playability of this hero strategy battle game. More importantly, richness does not equal high barrier to entry—relying on user-friendly interactive designs like board markers, lineup references, and Lingbao AI assistance, the game effectively lowers the learning curve, keeping newcomers from being blocked by complex rules.
When the barrier is removed, players can fully immerse themselves in massive strategic choices, achieving surprise victories through layered mechanistic tricks. In anti-meta impromptu builds, they experience a unique mind game in every match.
This also explains why every time the test server shuts down, the community erupts in wails. "Honor of Kings: Infinite Chess" has delivered a new answer for strategy gameplay, not forcing all players to follow a single winning template. "Draw, Grow, Explode" is never a formula that must be copied, but a collection of countless solutions.
For strategy enthusiasts tired of standard guides and craving impromptu play, this is not just a chess match, but a testing ground for creativity. The fun of strategic mind games lies in adapting to the situation and making key choices that break conventions.
Whether it's a divine move or a slight misstep, join the game on September 10th, and the answer will reveal itself.