Honor of Kings Dunshan: New Tank Hero Release & Abilities

Honor of Kings is adding a brand-new hero, Dunshan, arriving on October 21, 2026, right before the game's 2026 Global Anniversary. This GameMarket.gg breakdown covers everything known about Dunshan so far, from his role as a shield-wielding tank and support to his full ability kit and the unusual way he reshapes himself around whoever he is paired with. Developer TiMi is leaning into a defensive, team-protecting fantasy with this one, and Dunshan looks set to be one of the most distinctive guardians in the Gorge. Here is the full rundown of who Dunshan is, what he can do, and when you can play him.

The season at a glance

Here are the key points before the full breakdown:

• Release date: October 21, 2026, just ahead of the 2026 Global Anniversary on October 24.
• Role: a tank and support roamer built around shields and protecting allies.
• Theme: "Endless Shield," a giant machine that helped build the Great Wall and wakes with one command, to repair.
• Signature trait: his playstyle changes depending on whether he partners a marksman, a fighter, or a defensive tower.
• Engage tool: a charge that grabs an enemy hero and throws them back toward his team.
• Ultimate: a massive shield that damages, knocks back, and blocks incoming projectiles.

Who Dunshan is

The headline is that Dunshan is a tank and support hero built entirely around the shield, a guardian whose whole identity is protecting teammates rather than racking up kills. The global preview introduces him as a support, while his original version lists him as both support and tank, which fits a hero designed to soak damage and open fights for his team rather than carry them himself.

His backstory sells that fantasy. Dunshan is a colossal machine that once helped build the Great Wall, awakening from a long sleep with a single command carved into his core: repair. That "Endless Shield" theme runs through everything he does, from the literal shields he hands his allies to his ability to merge with a tower and rebuild it, so his kit feels like a natural extension of who the character is rather than a random grab-bag of skills.

What that means in practice is a roamer who lives in the support slot. Dunshan is meant to start fights, absorb punishment, and keep his carries alive, which makes him a classic frontline pick for players who enjoy enabling a team rather than being the star. For a game that always needs strong, interesting tanks to balance its roster of damage dealers, a guardian this thematically focused is a welcome addition.

Dunshan's abilities

Dunshan's kit is where the shield fantasy really comes alive, since almost every skill is about defense, protection, or control. Note that the ability names and exact numbers below come from his original-version kit, so the global release may adjust the wording and tuning, but the core design is clear. Here is how his skills break down:

• Passive, One Man Guards the Pass: his basic attacks deal bonus physical damage that scales with his extra health, rewarding a tanky build; while his first skill is active, those attacks become a ranged area hit that can be held to extend its range and also slows enemies.
• Skill 1, Shield Armor Protection: Dunshan dashes to an ally and grants them both a shield plus bonus movement speed for a few seconds, with the ally steering the movement; aimed at a tower instead, he becomes an untargetable turret that heals the tower and shields it.
• Skill 2, Ten Thousand Cannot Breach: he charges forward, grabs the first enemy hero he hits and hurls them backward, briefly stunning foes near where they land, which makes it his main tool for snatching a priority target out of position.
• Ultimate, Heaven and Earth Become Shield: Dunshan slams down a giant shield that damages, knocks back, and slows enemies while granting him brief crowd-control immunity, then the shield advances, launching enemies and knocking down incoming projectiles.

Put together, these skills form a genuinely cohesive toolkit. The passive turns his defensive stats into offense, so building him tanky still lets him contribute damage, while Skill 1 is a pure protection button that can shield a fragile carry or carry an ally into the fight. Skill 2 is the aggressive opener that lets him pull an enemy marksman or mage away from safety, and the ultimate is a wall-on-demand that can zone an entire area. Few heroes blend engage, protection, and projectile denial into one kit this cleanly.

A support that reshapes itself around the team

The most interesting thing about Dunshan is that he does not play the same way in every game. His whole design shifts depending on which teammate he is supporting, which gives him a flexibility most guardians lack and makes drafting around him a real consideration.

Those three modes each change his job on the map:

• Paired with a marksman: he acts as a mobile artillery platform, using his ranged, held basic attacks to add pressure while shielding his carry from dive threats.
• Paired with a fighter or tank: he charges into fights alongside them, stacking frontline presence and using his throw to break the enemy line open.
• Paired with a tower: he can merge with it to repair and defend it, becoming an untargetable turret that patches up a structure while attacking nearby enemies.

That adaptability is what sets him apart. Because his effectiveness scales with how well he is paired, Dunshan rewards coordinated teams who build a game plan around his strengths, whether that means babysitting a hyper-carry marksman or turning a crumbling lane into a fortress. The tower-repair ability in particular is a rare trick in the genre, giving a defending team a way to stall a siege that almost no other hero can match.

His control tools tie it all together. Between the throw that yanks an enemy out of position and the ultimate that walls off a chokepoint, Dunshan can lock down tight spaces like the jungle entrances or the pit around major objectives, dictating where fights happen. For a support, that is an enormous amount of map influence, and it is why he looks like more than just a shield bot.

How Dunshan fits a team and a build

Because he is a frontline protector, the smart way to build Dunshan leans into survivability. His original-version kit pairs naturally with defensive items focused on extra health and cooldown reduction, since more health directly powers his passive damage and faster cooldowns mean more shields and more throws in every fight. Resistance boots and health-scaling armor are the obvious backbone, turning him into a wall that still chips in damage through his basic attacks.

A battle spell like Flash fits him well too, since it extends the reach of his grab for surprise engages. A common line is to flash into range, throw a key target back to your team, and then drop the ultimate to trap them, a sequence that can single-handedly start a winning fight. On defense, the opposite approach works: shield your carry with Skill 1, then raise the ultimate to block an assassin's dive. Again, the exact items and numbers may shift for the global release, so treat this as the shape of his playstyle rather than a locked build.

Release date, the anniversary, and what to expect

Dunshan's timing is no accident. He is set to launch on October 21, 2026, just three days before the Honor of Kings 2026 Global Anniversary on October 24, positioning him as a centerpiece of one of the game's biggest celebrations of the year. Anniversary windows usually come loaded with events, rewards, and login bonuses, so arriving right before it means plenty of players will be online and ready to try him the moment he drops.

There is still more to be confirmed. The global version has not published Dunshan's final ability names, numbers, or price, and no signature skin has been announced yet, so expect the official hero page to fill in those details around launch. What is clear is the shape of the character: a shield-first guardian who protects, engages, and controls space better than almost anyone, with a unique tower-repair gimmick on top.

So should you pick him up? If you love playing the protector and enabling your team, Dunshan looks like an excellent fit, since his entire kit is built around keeping carries alive and starting fights on your terms. Even if you usually play damage roles, a strong, flexible tank is always valuable for climbing ranked, where reliable frontline is often what separates a win from a loss. The smart move is to log in around October 21, test how his pairings feel with your usual duo, and lock in some practice before the anniversary crowds arrive.

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