Night Stalker — Dota 2 7.41 Counters, Synergies & Win Rate
Also known as: NS, Balanar
Night Stalker (NS, Balanar) in Dota 2 7.41: win rate, pick rate, the heroes Night Stalker counters and struggles against, and its best teammates — from recent ranked matches by Batru's AI win-prediction pipeline.
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 (62.0%), Puck (59.9%) and Tinker (59.0%) get run down with no escape. Night Stalker is countered by illusions and scalers that survive his night windows: Meepo (45.5%), Naga Siren (45.5%) and Spectre (45.6%) out-body or out-scale, while Wraith King (45.9%) 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 |
|---|---|---|
 Timbersaw | 61.98% | 14,352 |
 Puck | 59.85% | 18,846 |
 Tinker | 58.98% | 18,818 |
 Nature's Prophet | 58.88% | 29,854 |
 Elder Titan | 57.80% | 6,029 |
 Storm Spirit | 57.31% | 27,478 |
 Mars | 57.01% | 38,891 |
 Tiny | 56.54% | 35,485 |
Struggles against
| Hero | Win Rate | Matches |
|---|---|---|
 Meepo | 45.45% | 14,463 |
 Naga Siren | 45.46% | 10,924 |
 Spectre | 45.60% | 41,219 |
 Wraith King | 45.88% | 65,725 |
 Dawnbreaker | 46.59% | 33,189 |
 Lone Druid | 47.64% | 10,936 |
 Phoenix | 48.08% | 32,374 |
 Phantom Lancer | 48.20% | 33,541 |
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 (57.8%) and Wraith King (56.9%) convert his night ganks into a man-advantage, while Dark Seer (56.8%) 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Spectre | 57.81% | 38,370 |
| Wraith King | 56.86% | 32,146 |
 Dark Seer | 56.75% | 3,970 |
 Lifestealer | 56.17% | 62,967 |
 Necrophos | 55.90% | 41,926 |
| Meepo | 55.61% | 12,594 |
 Lich | 55.36% | 58,785 |
 Chen | 55.16% | 3,394 |