Honor of Kings Invitational Season 3: Winners, prize pool distribution, and highlights 

Malaysia’s Nova Esports became the champions of the Honor of Kings Invitational Season 3 after playing exceptionally well throughout this nine-day tournament. Their star player, Xuan, was awarded the FMVP for his outstanding performance against South Korea’s NongShim RedForce in the Grand Finals. The winning club received the first prize of $100,000.

Nongshim RedForce also had an excellent run during the HoK Invitational Season 3. The South Korean club finished second in this tournament and earned a cash prize of $50,000. The club lost the Grand Finals to Nova Esports by a scoreline of 3-4.

The event wrapped up on March 1, 2025. A total of 12 teams from across the world participated for a total prize pool of $300,000. It was played at the SM City North EDSA, Manila, the Philippines. The Group Stage of the event took place from February 21 to 24, while the Knockout Stage occurred from February 26 to March 1, 2025.

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Prize pool distribution of Honor of Kings Invitational Season 3

1. Nova Esports - $100,000
2. Nongshim RedForce - $50,000
3. Blacklist International - $25,000
4. Team Vitality - $25,000
5. Impunity - $15,000
6. Elevate - $15,000
7. Bigetron Sigma - $14,500
8. All Gamers Global - $14,500
9. Gen.G Esports - $10,000
10. Alpha7 Esports - $10,000
11. Kagendra - $10,000
12. Rough World Era - $10,000

During the Group Stage, these 12 teams were seeded into four groups. The top two teams from each group played in the Knockout Stage, while the remaining teams were eliminated from the Honor of Kings Invitational Season 3.

In Group A, Blacklist International and Elevate were the top two teams, while Gen.G Esports was third. In Group B, Team Vitality and All Gamers ranked first and second respectively, with Alpha7 Esports finishing third.

In Group C, Nova Esports and Impunity secured first and second ranks respectively. Kagendra ranked third in this group. In Group D, NongShim RedForce earned first spot, while Bigetron grabbed second place. Rough World Era, who held the third position, faced elimination from this Honor of Kings event.

Knockout Stage results of HoK Invitational S3 (Image via Liquipedia)

During the Knockout Stage, Nova Esports kept up their consistent pace and defeated AG Global in their first encounter. The Malaysian powerhouse then hammered Team Vitality to qualify for the Grand Finals.

On the other side, NS RedForce outplayed Elevate in their first match of the Knockout. The side then beat Blacklist International and made it to the Grand Finals.

Nova Esports and NS RedForce met in the Finals and engaged in an intense showdown. The former managed to win the battle by a score line of 4-3 and lifted the Honor of Kings Invitational S3 trophy.