What Makes a Great Roamer in Honor of Kings?
Roamers essentially become the puppet masters of map control. You’re juggling vision placement, crowd control timing, and protecting allies across both Mid and Farm lanes. The role splits into two distinct paths - Tank heroes who eat damage and start fights, versus Support heroes who heal and amplify your team’s potential. But here’s where it gets interesting: unlike traditional supports who babysit one carry, roamers never stop moving. This constant rotation completely changes how you approach items and positioning.
The numbers from professional play tell a fascinating story. Dyadia’s sitting at a 47.6% ban rate - and that’s purely because of her gold-stealing mechanics disrupting enemy economy. Meanwhile, Dolia’s 39.2% ban rate reflects just how game-changing ultimate resets can be when teams coordinate properly. Da Qiao doesn’t even show up in damage charts, but her transportation ultimate forces enemies to completely rethink their positioning. Sometimes the most impactful abilities are the ones that don’t show up in post-game stats.
S-Tier Roamers: The Meta Dominators
Tank Roamers That Control Games
Zhang Fei is honestly a masterclass in resource design. While everyone else manages mana, he runs on Fury - which means aggressive early rotations without worrying about running dry. His Skill 2 gives you that crucial gap-closer leap while dropping massive shields on teammates. The ultimate? Pure chaos. Invincibility frames, team-wide shielding, and AoE crowd control all rolled into one ability. I’ve seen Zhang Fei players single-handedly turn lost team fights just by timing that ultimate correctly.
Lian Po brings something unique to the table - crowd control immunity through his passive. When he’s casting abilities, good luck trying to lock him down. His three-part ultimate is what I call ‘guaranteed engagement’ - if you land the first part, the rest follows naturally. Just watch that attack range though. Against kiting compositions, positioning becomes absolutely critical.
The High-Risk, High-Reward Assassin Route
Donghuang is… well, he’s not for everyone. Suppression is the nastiest crowd control in the game - can’t cleanse it, can’t purify it, can’t do anything except pray your team saves you. His whole gameplan revolves around invading enemy jungle and making their life miserable. Fair warning though: this hero demands extensive game knowledge and mechanical skill. I wouldn’t recommend him for anyone still learning basic roaming patterns.
Hybrid Options That Do Everything
Dyadia is probably the most versatile hero in the game right now. Healing? Check. Damage? Check. Crowd control? Check. Oh, and she steals gold from enemies. The beauty of Dyadia lies in her build flexibility - you can go full burst damage or stack utility items, and she still functions. Sure, she’s squishier than pure tanks, but proper itemization handles that weakness.
Dolia brings something I’ve never seen in any other MOBA - ultimate resets for teammates. Think about that for a second. Your marksman just used their game-changing ultimate? Dolia can give it right back. Her water-based abilities create these healing zones, and the passive makes river fights heavily favor your team. Success with Dolia requires understanding every teammate’s cooldowns and recognizing optimal reset timing.
A-Tier: Reliable Picks That Get the Job Done
Cai Yan keeps things simple, which honestly makes her perfect for players still learning roaming fundamentals. Her passive provides steady health restoration and movement speed when taking damage. The ultimate continuously heals your lowest-health ally while providing defensive bonuses. Watch that mana consumption though - Holy Grail becomes essential for sustained teamfighting.
Sun Bin offers one of the most unique mechanics in the game: Time Flux. Your entire team gets movement speed buffs, and when it expires, they recover 25% of damage taken during the buff duration. Proper timing against enemy burst combinations can completely negate their kill pressure. It’s like giving your team a second health bar.
Liu Shan breaks roamer conventions by bringing split-pushing potential. His passive lets abilities damage structures - unusual for the role, but incredibly effective in the right situations. Combine that with displacement and stunning effects, and you’ve got a roamer who can threaten multiple win conditions.
Itemization: Building for Impact
The Foundation Every Roamer Needs
Based on my testing across different team compositions, here’s the priority system that works:
Guardian’s Glory comes first - no exceptions. This item defines roaming functionality. Boots of Fortitude follow for movement speed and early defense. Glacial Buckler provides that crucial cooldown reduction letting you use abilities more frequently. Succubus Cloak handles magic resistance, while Ominous Premonition counters physical damage with anti-attack speed. Overlord’s Platemail rounds out builds with health and regeneration.
Here’s something most guides won’t tell you: buy components throughout early game instead of saving for complete items. Those incremental stat boosts often determine skirmish outcomes. Against magic-heavy teams, rush resistance items earlier. Physical compositions demand armor stacking.
Heroes like Sakeer create interesting synergy opportunities since firefly damage and healing scale with maximum health. Building defensive items actually increases your offensive capability - something you don’t see often in this game.
Mastering Roaming Strategy
Early Game: Setting the Foundation
I’ve refined this to a five-step process that works consistently:
Start with Mid Lane Assistance - help clear that first minion wave giving your mid laner an early advantage. Farm Lane Rotation comes next, moving bottom to protect your marksman during their vulnerable phase. Jungler Coordination requires synchronizing with jungle completion timing. Vision Establishment uses river routes for safe ward placement. Finally, Flexible Response means constantly monitoring the mini-map for emergency rotations.
Mid Game: Objective Control
This is where roamers truly shine. Coordinate with your jungler for dragon attempts while maintaining vision control around key areas. Position near objectives 30-45 seconds before spawn times to establish territorial control. In my experience, roamer presence often determines objective contest outcomes through crowd control and strategic positioning.
Late Game: Execution Under Pressure
Tank roamers need to identify optimal engagement angles while utility roamers focus on protecting carries through burst damage windows. Maintain vision around Baron and Elder Dragon spawns - these objectives decide games. Coordinate synchronized ability usage, particularly crowd control chains that guarantee eliminations.
Team Synergy: Making It All Work Together
Protective roamers like Yaria excel with hypercarry marksmen who need scaling time. Aggressive roamers such as Donghuang pair beautifully with early-game ADCs who can capitalize on suppression setups. Always synchronize rotations with jungler clear patterns for overwhelming gank pressure.
Stun-chaining represents the pinnacle of roamer execution. You need to time crowd control effects to overlap seamlessly, which demands understanding teammate cooldowns. Communication proves essential for these advanced techniques - practice them in training mode before taking them into ranked.
Advanced Techniques That Separate Good from Great
Vision Control Mastery
Place wards in enemy jungle entrances to track rotations while maintaining river vision for objectives. Use vision denial offensively by clearing enemy wards before objective attempts, creating crucial information advantages. Coordinate with teammates to establish vision networks providing complete map information.
Ganking Patterns That Actually Work
Approach from unexpected angles using jungle paths rather than obvious river routes. Time your arrival with minion wave positions to maximize chase potential. Stun-chaining represents the pinnacle of ganking execution, requiring precise timing and teammate coordination that you absolutely must practice in training mode first.
Objective Timing: The 45-Second Rule
Arrive at dragon spawns 45 seconds early to establish vision and positioning advantages. Calculate enemy respawn timers during team fights to identify optimal objective windows. Understanding these timings allows safe objective attempts without contest risk.
Mistakes That Kill Your Impact
Staying in single lanes instead of maintaining map-wide presence completely neglects what your team needs from you. Never engage with low health - dead roamers provide zero value to anyone. And here’s a big one: don’t roam when your ADC faces aggressive pressure. Their death outweighs potential gains elsewhere.
Generic item builds fail to address specific threats your team faces. Adapt itemization based on enemy compositions rather than following static guides blindly. Delaying component purchases represents a common failure - those incremental stats often determine skirmish outcomes.
Meta Analysis: What’s Working Right Now
Season 9 emphasizes high-utility roamers with strong team fight presence. The professional statistics reveal a clear meta hierarchy: Dyadia’s 47.6% ban rate and Dolia’s combined 33.3% pick rate plus 39.2% ban rate confirm their contested status. Teams prioritize unique, high-impact abilities over traditional approaches.
The professional scene increasingly values game-changing ultimates over conventional wisdom. Heroes with suppression, ultimate resets, and transportation abilities create strategic advantages that go beyond statistical contributions. With the shorter season format (just 2 months), pressure for rapid meta adaptation has intensified significantly.
Your Questions Answered
Who’s the strongest roamer currently? Dyadia holds the strongest position with that 47.6% ban rate, combining healing, damage, crowd control, and gold-stealing in one package. However, her high ban rate makes Dolia and Zhang Fei more practical for ranked climbing.
What items should new roamers prioritize? Guardian’s Glory as your core item, Boots of Fortitude for movement and defense, Glacial Buckler for cooldown reduction. Adapt with Succubus Cloak or Ominous Premonition based on enemy composition. Always buy components early rather than saving up.
When should I leave my ADC to roam? Leave when your ADC can farm safely under tower, has strong wave clear, or other lanes face immediate threats. Never roam during your ADC’s aggressive pressure phases or power spike timings.
Which heroes work best for beginners? Cai Yan offers straightforward healing mechanics that are hard to mess up. Zhang Fei provides high durability that forgives positioning mistakes. Liu Shan combines simple crowd control with unique tower-damaging abilities.
✅ Official direct recharge, 100% secure
✅ No waiting – top-up arrives in 7 seconds
✅ Big discounts, low prices to save more
✅ 7×24-hour customer service, ready to assist anytime