Honor of Kings recently got its global release, letting players from all around the world experience this relatively old but still regularly updated MOBA on mobile platforms. Some heroes have been in the older version for some time now, but they are yet to be available in certain regions. Cao Cao is one of them, so in this guide, we’ll briefly show you what he can do so you’ll be ready for when new players can pick him up.
Complete Cao Cao Guide
Cao Cao is a physical fighter who can actually be played in either the jungle or the top lane, depending on your own preference. Because of this, your potential build can be very different from what others use.
Since Cao Cao, who has been in the Chinese version for a long time now, is still not out for a lot of people, we’ll just try to help you prepare for his (re)debut with a few tips and an overview of his kit. First, let’s take a look at his abilities:
Cao Cao’s Skills
Passive Ability – Only the Strong
- Every time Cao Cao uses any of his abilities, he will gain a stack of Only the Strong. You can have up to five stacks.
- Each stack of this passive will grant Cao Cao’s next basic attack some bonus damage and attack speed.
Skill 1 – Overlord’s Charge
- Cao Cao lunges forward and deals damage in a small area in front of him.
- This can be cast a total of three times within a short period, and the last hit will also have a bonus knock up effect.
Skill 2 – Unfettered Will
- Cao Cao will launch a long range slash that briefly slows any enemies hit by the projectile.
- In addition to this, he will also heal a decent chunk of health for each enemy hit by it.
- Bonus Passive Effect: Cao Cao’s basic attacks will also reduce this ability’s cooldown by a single second for each hit.
Skill 3 – Blood-Soaked Legend
- Finally, Cao Cao’s ultimate ability is an active buff that, when activated, will grant him bonus attack and resistance throughout the duration.
- Upon activation, all crowd control effects will also be cleansed, and he will recover some of his health.
- While Blood-Soaked Legend is active, he will also heal a lot of HP with every basic attack or Overlord’s Charge hit.
A Few Tips
Tip #1. Spam Early, Spam Often
Take Overlord’s Charge immediately at the start of the game, especially if you chose to jungle instead of being in the top lane. Weave your basic attacks in between each cast of Overlord’s Charge to maximize your damage output and clear camps as fast as possible.
Since you don’t use any form of energy for your skills, spamming is completely viable even against jungle camps. This will allow you to start ganking really early in the game.
Once you unlock Unfettered Will, consider invading the enemy jungle as well as you will have more than enough sustain to steal some camps and hold off your counterpart on the other team. This will help your team press the advantage and set back the enemy jungler.
Tip #2. Bully Non-Mobile Heroes
Study the enemy team’s composition and see if they have any heroes who do not have mobility skills. These are prime targets for a gank, as you can easily chase them and burst them down with your kit.
Since you have a lot of health regeneration, solo laners will have a very hard time fighting back. If they try to run, Unfettered Will can slow them down, and you can follow up with an Overlord’s Charge to knock them up and keep them in place for longer.
By constantly bullying heroes who can barely run away, you can easily snowball and carry your entire team through sheer brute force.
Equipment
- Rapacious Bite
- Boots of Resistance
- Axe of Torment
- Frostscar’s Embrace
- Eye of the Phoenix
- Pure Sky
For more pressure, and if you don’t need CC resistance, consider using Boots of Dexterity instead. This will grant you even more health recovery and also further increase your attack speed.
You can and should replace Rapacious Bite if you are not jungling, as you won’t really benefit from it while laning. In its place, just pick any physical item of your choice, such as Doomsday or Shadow Ripper.
Another alternative is Siege Breaker to help you finish off low HP enemies. Mortal Punisher is also an option if you require anti heal, as well as a potential “get out of jail free card” with its revive passive.
Arcana
- Eagle Eye 10x
- Hunt 10x
- Mutation 10x
The choices here are pretty self-explanatory, but you may also switch out Hunt for Stealth if you feel that you won’t need the attack speed. Other than that, there really aren’t many alternatives that would make much sense.
In Conclusion
Cao Cao is a very aggressive hero that specializes in being a general nuisance due to his insane damage output and sustain. He is a pretty strong jungler with fast clears, and as a laner, he can be particularly good at poking even against ranged heroes.
If you want to maximize your damage output, don’t forget to alternate between basic attacks and Overlord’s Charge. This is going to be your bread and butter for the majority of any match, so get used to doing that.
That’s pretty much everything you need to know in order to play as and start mastering Cao Cao. If you are looking for a more tanky alternative, specifically for the clash lane, consider checking out our guide on how to play as Xiang Yu in Honor of Kings!
