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Looking at the current pick rate rankings for supports in Honor of Kings, I find that Yao and Duolia are very stable across all segments, both above 20%. The third is Wang Zhaojun, but many also play her in mid lane, so she's not entirely a support. The fourth is Cai Wenji, whose pick rate is far lower than Yao and Duolia, at less than 15%, essentially a gap. So, Cai Wenji is a classic soft support, why is she now much less popular than these two newcomers?

Less attention than newcomers

Cai Wenji was released very early, almost ten years ago, which is ancient for new players. Yao and Duolia were released later, especially Duolia only about three years ago. You can clearly feel that Duolia's character model is very detailed, while Cai Wenji's is relatively rougher, only with new skins does the model improve.

Moreover, the period when Honor of Kings saw the most player growth was around 2019. So both Yao and Duolia received heavy official promotion, as new heroes get plenty of marketing resources before and after release. New players' attention naturally gravitates toward these fresh faces. The only time Cai Wenji got major attention was probably when Lan was released, because Cai Wenji and Lan have a story connection, so the CG animation at that time featured them as core characters. However, Cai Wenji was ultimately not the protagonist.

The mechanics are somewhat primitive

Cai Wenji's biggest feature is healing, commonly known as a mobile fountain. Her healing ability is quite considerable and useful, but relatively speaking, her mechanics are indeed a bit primitive. In the current version, healing seems to be increasingly undervalued.

Newly released heroes almost all have some healing effect, not only self-healing but also healing for teammates, like Duolia mentioned earlier, though relatively slower. Even without skill-based healing, the new season's support item "Wuxiang Artifact" can heal, and the "Star Spring" also provides healing. More and more things can heal, making Cai Wenji's healing specialty seem less advantageous.

In addition, items that counter healing are becoming more widespread. The mage item "Nightmare Fang" and the marksman item "Executioner's Blade" have been buffed, and they no longer feel like situational counter items but can be used as general-purpose items, especially Nightmare Fang, which many mages build as their first item. Also, the tank item "Red Lotus Cloak" now has a grievous wounds effect, allowing frontliners to suppress enemy healing. Not to mention heroes like Miyamoto Musashi and Nezha, who have built-in healing reduction and grievous wounds, which are very effective against Cai Wenji.

So, Cai Wenji's current popularity is lower than that of Yao and Duolia mainly because her core ability has been diluted by items and similar heroes. However, the nostalgia and baseline strength of the classic soft support still exist. What do you think? Is Cai Wenji still worth playing? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

That's all for today. If you liked it, feel free to leave a like to support. If you have anything to say, ask, or want to see, leave a comment and I'll check them all~

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