Night Stalker — Dota 2 7.41f Counters, Synergies & Win Rate
Also known as: NS, Balanar
Night Stalker (NS) in Dota 2 7.41f: win rate, pick rate, top counters and best teammates, from Batru's ranked-match pipeline.
Early vs late game: in ranked games that end before 34 minutes, Night Stalker's team wins 53.7%; in games of 47+ minutes, 50.0% (−3.7 pp, #93 of 127 by late-game edge; 22% of Night Stalker games last 47+ minutes; model estimate). Late & early game heroes →
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Night Stalker by rank bracket
Night Stalker is strongest in Legend & Ancient games, winning 52.66% (#14 of 127 heroes), but drops to 48.83% (#70) in Herald & Guardian.
| Bracket | Tier Rank | Win Rate | Pick Rate | Matches |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herald & Guardian | #70 of 126 | 48.83% | 4.69% | 1,501 |
| Crusader & Archon | #38 of 127 | 51.17% | 6.00% | 8,128 |
| Legend & Ancient | #14 of 127 | 52.66% | 7.80% | 13,654 |
| Divine & Immortal | #29 of 127 | 51.70% | 9.46% | 4,930 |
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 51.75% of 1,893,626 ranked matches in patch 7.41f, up 0.1pp from 7.41e.
| Patch | Win Rate | Change | Pick Rate | Matches |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.41f | 51.75% | ▲ +0.1pp | 7.13% | 1,893,626 |
| 7.41e | 51.67% | ▼ -0.7pp | 7.27% | 2,165,771 |
| 7.41d | 52.36% | ▼ -0.2pp | 6.90% | 2,046,255 |
| 7.41c | 52.52% | ▲ +0.6pp | 7.04% | 965,661 |
| 7.41b | 51.87% | ▼ -1.1pp | 6.99% | 984,635 |
| 7.41a | 52.93% | — | 7.62% | 435,554 |
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
 Puck | 60.27% | 25,479 |
 Shadow Fiend | 58.31% | 101,915 |
 Nature's Prophet | 58.11% | 81,746 |
 Timbersaw | 57.93% | 48,764 |
 Storm Spirit | 57.69% | 47,435 |
 Shadow Demon | 57.13% | 21,079 |
 Tinker | 56.92% | 51,363 |
 Pangolier | 56.69% | 35,366 |
Struggles against
 Wraith King | 44.42% | 129,683 |
 Meepo | 44.86% | 19,070 |
 Troll Warlord | 46.05% | 32,389 |
 Dawnbreaker | 46.22% | 98,963 |
 Spectre | 46.38% | 97,770 |
 Broodmother | 46.43% | 24,060 |
 Spirit Breaker | 47.00% | 142,489 |
 Bloodseeker | 47.27% | 40,098 |
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
| Wraith King | 56.55% | 44,535 |
 Outworld Destroyer | 56.54% | 107,448 |
 Dragon Knight | 56.38% | 55,973 |
 Lich | 55.53% | 105,872 |
 Sven | 55.04% | 92,945 |
| Spectre | 54.86% | 88,450 |
| Spirit Breaker | 54.58% | 132,360 |
 Juggernaut | 54.53% | 166,051 |
Data updated Nov 10, 2026.