A Note at the Start: For Overseas Players, the Anniversary Event is Harder to Catch Than You Think
To be honest, every year during the anniversary, my social media feed is flooded with two types of screenshots: one from friends in China showing off the new Dunshan skin, and another from overseas group members posting things like "stuck on the login screen until it times out," "460ms ping as soon as I open the shop," or "teleporting back to the fountain mid-teamfight."
The Honor of Kings 11th Anniversary offers quite a lot of rewards—log in on October 24th to get 11 free Lucky Draw points, 25 Rose Hearts, a free exchange for the Dunshan [Tower Through Time] limited-edition legendary skin, limited skin returns, random epic skins, the first epic skin for Chi Can, and limited-time free access to all heroes and select skins. It looks like a benefit for everyone, but for overseas players,the hardest part is never "not knowing there's an event," but "whether you can actually get into the game when the time comes".
I am a classic example of what not to do. On the night of the anniversary last year, I sat in my dorm half an hour early, ready to redeem the Dunshan skin the moment it dropped. Instead, I hit 460ms as soon as I logged in and couldn't even open the shop. By the time the lag subsided on the third night, the exchange event was already over, and I had to watch everyone else on my feed showing off their new skins.
So, for this 11th Anniversary, I started testing various network solutions two weeks in advance. The following is my real-world record after learning the hard way.
What the "Network Hell" for Overseas Players Looks Like During the Anniversary
The anniversary is different from normal days. On a regular day, if you can't get into the game, you might just complain a bit. But during the anniversary, with so many people logging in, the servers themselves are crowded, and when you add in the fluctuations of cross-border links from abroad to the Chinese servers, the problems are magnified several times over.
Level 1: Login Server Congestion
Starting from noon Beijing time on the day of the anniversary, a massive number of players log in simultaneously to claim rewards, causing queues at the login server itself. If overseas players use the default international exit, login requests have to travel halfway around the globe to reach the server. By the time it's your turn, it either times out or displays "Region currently unavailable."
Level 2: Shop Interface Latency
Claiming skins, Rose Hearts, and exchange vouchers involves a chain of API calls. Every API request goes through cross-border links. A 200ms delay is usually acceptable, but during peak anniversary traffic, it might take 3-5 seconds to return a response. Repeated clicking can easily trigger risk control, making things even more troublesome.
Level 3: Teamfight Teleporting and Missing Limited Rewards
The final step of redeeming a skin usually requires "completing one match." This is easy for domestic players, but for overseas players, it can be hell—you pick your hero, the loading screen gets stuck at 100%, or you start teleporting as soon as a teamfight breaks out. You end up with a loss, and the system prompts: "Match not completed, cannot redeem."
Level 4: Missing the Voting Window for Returning Skins
The voting for returning limited skins for this 11th Anniversary started on October 15th, with the returns going live on October 24th. There is a 9-day gap between voting and the return. If an overseas player's connection is unstable, it's easy to miss the chance to vote for your favorite skin due to interface lag, only to find out on the day of the return that "the skin you wanted didn't make the list."
The 460ms You See Likely Has Nothing to Do With Your Router
It takes a moment to accept this fact:The 460ms you see likely has nothing to do with your router, Wi-Fi, or ISP.
The number in the top right corner of Honor of Kings is the total round-trip time from your phone to the Tencent Chinese server and back, consisting roughly of three parts:
Physical Distance—A round trip of over 10,000 kilometers of fiber optics; the speed of light itself consumes about 150ms. This is an unchangeable physical limit.
Cross-border Routing Detours—Your data from North America to Shanghai should theoretically be a straight line, but BGP protocols between ISPs often route traffic through Tokyo, Hong Kong, or Singapore, adding thousands of kilometers for no reason.
Evening Peak Congestion—Between 8 PM and 11 PM Beijing time, bandwidth competition for North American exits is at its fiercest. This segment adds tens to hundreds of milliseconds of jitter, often hitting 460ms during severe congestion.
These three segments account for over 80% of the number you see. The portion actually contributed by "your home network" is usually no more than 30ms.
During the anniversary, there is a fourth segment—Server Congestion. On the day of the anniversary, the Chinese login server handles millions of domestic and international players simultaneously. Since overseas requests already have to take a detour, they often time out by the time they reach the front of the line.
Once you accept this fact, you won't spend another night tweaking your router's QoS settings.
Things You Can Do Locally Two Weeks Before the Anniversary
Although local optimization can only save about 30ms, doing these 4 things will make your accelerator much more effective later on.
Use an Ethernet cable instead of Wi-Fi—this provides the biggest gain and can cut steady-state latency in half.
If your router is dual-band, connect your gaming device to the 5GHz band.
Change your DNS to 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8; it can occasionally help you hit a closer login server.
Turn off all downloads 10 minutes before playing—Steam, cloud drives, YouTube 4K, and Zoom consume traffic that can easily dwarf your game client.
After doing this, useSpeedtest by Ookla - The Global Broadband Speed Testto select a mainland China node, test your baseline, and record it for later comparison.
As for "at what ping should I use an accelerator," my experience is: if it's <100ms, you can manage, but if it's >150ms, don't force it, especially during the anniversary—forcing it just leads to missing out on limited skins.
When Choosing an Accelerator for the Anniversary, Only Two Types Actually Work
During the two days I spent choosing an accelerator, I researched almost every product on the market and found that only two types of metrics truly determine the anniversary experience:
Hard Metrics (Decide if you can play)
● Physical distance from the overseas node to your city (Toronto, London, Sydney)—this determines the first-hop latency.
● Whether the connection between the overseas node and the domestic game server uses BGP public network or a self-built dedicated line—this determines the overall latency.
● Whether the line has specific optimizations for high-frequency, small UDP packets—Honor of Kings combat data runs entirely on UDP, which behaves very differently from the TCP traffic used for video streaming; general-purpose lines struggle to handle both.
Soft Metrics (Decide if you're willing to use it long-term)
● Client coverage: Windows, iOS, Android, and router firmware. Students often use PC, phone, tablet, and console simultaneously; missing one is a pain.
● Trial policy: Can you test it for 2-3 nights without paying? Anniversary time is tight; the trial must be long enough to cover the event cycle.
● Customer support: Can you find Chinese-speaking support if things go down, and is the refund process clear?
Screenshots can be faked and time slots can be cherry-picked,only your own real-world test spanning a workday and a weekend counts. This is especially true during the anniversary—many accelerators show "low ping screenshots" before the event, only to revert to their true colors during peak hours.
Why HiCN is the One That Stayed
Now I have to officially mention HiCN—not as an advertisement, but because for the specific scenario of international students, it hits several points that match the real needs of the anniversary.
It covers all four platforms, which is truly worry-free
According toAndroid APK download QR code, HiCN provides clients for Windows, iOS, Android, and router firmware, with one account working across all platforms.
During the anniversary, a student's real-world usage scenario often looks like this:
● Voting and browsing the shop on an iPhone during a commute—use the iOS client.
● Playing ranked matches, grinding tasks, and redeeming skins on PC—use the Windows client.
● For home Android tablets, Switch, PS5, or TV boxes that don't have clients—install it on the router to accelerate all devices at once.
After I installed the router firmware, my living room TV box, the old phone in my bedroom, and the Switch my friend brought over were all accelerated together. I didn't have to pay for each device separately. It's especially beneficial for shared dorms—one router covers the whole room.
Dual-Path Concurrency + Self-Built Gaming Dedicated Line
This is where the biggest gap between HiCN and "general-purpose accelerators" lies. Let me explain:
Dual-Path Concurrency—Uses two different paths back to China simultaneously, switching between primary and backup lines in real-time. This is especially useful during anniversary peak hours; if one line suddenly jitters, the other takes over immediately, preventing you from getting stuck in the redemption window.
Gaming Dedicated Line—Optimized specifically for high-frequency, small UDP packets, so it doesn't compete for the same line as TCP traffic from watching videos or browsing Bilibili.
Combined, these two features significantly reduce the probability of the "critical moment red ping" that overseas players fear most.
3 to 7 Days Free Trial for New Users
According toAndroid APK download QR codeon the event page, new users can get a 3 to 7-day free trial, with the specific number of days subject to the official website's current event.
This is much more generous than competitors who "give you a 1-day trial but require a deposit." You can fully test it over a workday and a weekend before deciding whether to subscribe long-term, and it won't auto-charge you if you don't renew.
More importantly during the anniversary: a 3 to 7-day trial is enough to cover a complete event cycle, from voting to redeeming to confirming matches.
Not just Honor of Kings, you can also listen to music and watch shows
Another high-frequency need for students abroad is streaming music and shows: NetEase Cloud, QQ Music, Migu, Bilibili, Tencent Video, and iQIYI—the music and video libraries on these domestic platforms often lag when accessed from abroad. During the anniversary, the official site will release theme song MVs and character trailers; watching this content on Bilibili and iQIYI is also covered by HiCN's intelligent routing.
My daily usage is: playing Honor of Kings at night, watching domestic dramas on weekends, and listening to NetEase Cloud on the subway. One account covers it all; I don't need to buy different services for different scenarios.
A Few Things to Pay Special Attention to During the Anniversary
Here are a few pitfalls I or my friends have fallen into:
Choosing the wrong speed test tool—The ping command uses ICMP, while games use UDP; a difference of tens of milliseconds is normal. UseSpeedtest by Ookla - The Global Broadband Speed Testto test a mainland node, or just look at the ping in the top right corner of the game.
Don't judge the accelerator's quality in the early morning—Testing 80ms in the early morning and 180ms during peak hours is normal. You must test during peak hours for at least one night to judge if it's worth it. Anniversary peak hours are from noon to 11 PM Beijing time; I recommend testing at least one full event day.
Don't use an old router—International exit acceleration has requirements for NAT tables and concurrent connections; routers from three years ago should probably be replaced.
Don't just look at "speed test screenshots"—Screenshots posted by others can be cherry-picked for time and nodes; your own real-world test is the only truth. During the anniversary, especially avoid those "early morning screenshot" comparisons.
Router firmware solutions are more useful than you think—Once installed on a home router, devices without clients like Switch, PS5, and TV boxes can also be accelerated, which is especially beneficial for shared housing. Whether it can be installed depends on the router model and firmware support; the HiCN Help Center has tutorials for mainstream models.
How to Start
The process is just two steps:
Open theAndroid APK download QR code, register an account, and download the client for your platform (Windows/iOS/Android/Router firmware).
New users automatically get a 3 to 7-day free trial. First, run two ranked matches over a workday and a weekend, record the actual latency for your region, ISP, and peak hours; if it feels smooth, then subscribe long-term.
As for exactly how many ms it can be pushed down to, I really can't guarantee that—my real-world peak hour test is usually between 110 and 150ms, and sometimes it can reach around 90ms during the day, but that's just my network environment. Changing cities, ISPs, or routers will change the numbers.Rely on your own trial period tests; don't believe any "absolute low ping" promises.
One last word: The anniversary limited skins, random epic skins, and Lucky Draw points are essentially "first come, first served"—logging in one minute late might mean missing a batch of vouchers; lagging once in the shop might mean getting kicked to the back of the queue.
What overseas players need to do is not compete for speed with friends in China, but ensure their network can steadily handle this wave. When choosing an accelerator, remember to use the trial period to test for two or three nights during your own peak gaming hours, in your own city, and on your own network. Your own test is the final basis for your decision—plus, new users canenter the exclusive code1124to receive free membership acceleration time. Combine the basic trial with this extra time, and it will be enough for you to run through the entire 11th Anniversary event before deciding whether to pay.