Night Stalker — Dota 2 7.41e Counters, Synergies & Win Rate
Also known as: NS, Balanar
Night Stalker (NS, Balanar) in Dota 2 7.41e: win rate, pick rate, top counters and best teammates, from Batru's ranked-match pipeline.
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Night Stalker by rank bracket
Night Stalker is strongest in Divine & Immortal games, winning 54.53% (#9 of 127 heroes), but drops to 49.21% (#62) in Herald & Guardian.
| Bracket | Tier Rank | Win Rate | Pick Rate | Matches |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herald & Guardian | #62 of 127 | 49.21% | 5.00% | 5,497 |
| Crusader & Archon | #14 of 127 | 52.58% | 6.36% | 17,065 |
| Legend & Ancient | #5 of 127 | 54.02% | 8.53% | 18,411 |
| Divine & Immortal | #9 of 127 | 54.53% | 10.35% | 8,083 |
Recent ranked matches split by average match rank — the same data behind the per-rank tier lists each bracket links to.
Night Stalker win rate by patch
Night Stalker is winning 52.53% of 13,222 ranked matches in patch 7.41e, up 0.2pp from 7.41d.
| Patch | Win Rate | Change | Pick Rate | Matches |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.41e | 52.53% | ▲ +0.2pp | 7.59% | 13,222 |
| 7.41d | 52.36% | ▼ -0.2pp | 6.88% | 1,697,695 |
| 7.41c | 52.52% | ▲ +0.6pp | 7.04% | 965,661 |
| 7.41b | 51.87% | ▼ -1.1pp | 6.99% | 984,635 |
| 7.41a | 52.93% | ▲ +0.2pp | 7.62% | 435,554 |
| 7.41 | 52.75% | — | 7.98% | 72,428 |
Win rate and pick rate per patch window over all quality-filtered ranked matches; the newest patch accumulates matches for days after release — its row shows the current sample size.
Night Stalker counters & matchups
Night Stalker is a nighttime hunter whose Darkness turns day to night — where his vision, speed, and silence make him terrifying. He utterly dominates immobile heroes he hunts in the dark: Timbersaw, Puck and Tinker get run down with no escape. Night Stalker is countered by illusions and scalers that survive his night windows: Meepo, Naga Siren and Spectre out-body or out-scale, while Wraith King out-tanks. Draft tip: Night Stalker is a brutal early-night ganker into squishy, low-mobility drafts; he's weaker into illusion comps and hard-carries that survive to out-scale him.
Strong against
| Hero | Win Rate | Matches |
|---|---|---|
 Faceless Void | 67.28% | 596 |
 Alchemist | 65.20% | 250 |
 Storm Spirit | 63.66% | 421 |
 Puck | 62.96% | 243 |
 Timbersaw | 62.42% | 322 |
 Clockwerk | 61.04% | 231 |
 Shadow Demon | 60.74% | 163 |
 Enchantress | 60.28% | 141 |
Struggles against
| Hero | Win Rate | Matches |
|---|---|---|
 Broodmother | 35.78% | 204 |
 Marci | 41.22% | 296 |
 Dawnbreaker | 43.70% | 778 |
 Wraith King | 43.96% | 878 |
 Spirit Breaker | 44.83% | 928 |
 Phoenix | 45.04% | 393 |
 Naga Siren | 45.19% | 135 |
 Lycan | 45.32% | 139 |
Night Stalker synergies
Night Stalker controls the day-night cycle and provides vision and a silence — he wants to snowball his night-time kills with a team that punishes pickoffs. He pairs best with snowball cores and AoE: Spectre and Wraith King convert his night ganks into a man-advantage, while Dark Seer clumps the enemy for him to hunt. Give Night Stalker a follow-up team and his nighttime dominance snowballs an early lead into a closed game.
Best teammates
| Hero | Win Rate | Matches |
|---|---|---|
| Broodmother | 64.34% | 143 |
 Necrophos | 58.74% | 715 |
 Razor | 58.24% | 182 |
 Sven | 58.24% | 455 |
 Spectre | 57.80% | 827 |
 Bloodseeker | 57.40% | 169 |
| Marci | 57.08% | 226 |
 Warlock | 57.03% | 391 |
Data updated Aug 9, 2026.