Shadow Demon — Dota 2 7.41f Counters, Synergies & Win Rate
Also known as: SD
Shadow Demon (SD) 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, Shadow Demon's team wins 40.1%; in games of 47+ minutes, 50.2% (+10.1 pp, #11 of 127 by late-game edge; 25% of Shadow Demon games last 47+ minutes; model estimate). Late & early game heroes →
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Shadow Demon by rank bracket
Shadow Demon is strongest in Divine & Immortal games, winning 44.53% (#125 of 127 heroes), but drops to 33.09% (#126) in Herald & Guardian.
| Bracket | Tier Rank | Win Rate | Pick Rate | Matches |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herald & Guardian | #126 of 126 | 33.09% | 2.12% | 680 |
| Crusader & Archon | #127 of 127 | 42.12% | 1.78% | 2,410 |
| Legend & Ancient | #123 of 127 | 43.98% | 2.01% | 3,513 |
| Divine & Immortal | #125 of 127 | 44.53% | 2.49% | 1,298 |
Recent ranked matches split by average match rank — the same data behind the per-rank tier lists each bracket links to.
Shadow Demon win rate by patch
Shadow Demon is winning 44.13% of 579,947 ranked matches in patch 7.41f, down 0.9pp from 7.41e.
| Patch | Win Rate | Change | Pick Rate | Matches |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.41f | 44.13% | ▼ -0.9pp | 2.18% | 579,947 |
| 7.41e | 45.03% | ▲ +0.3pp | 2.35% | 698,908 |
| 7.41d | 44.70% | ▼ -0.5pp | 2.35% | 698,047 |
| 7.41c | 45.18% | ▼ -0.3pp | 2.30% | 315,402 |
| 7.41b | 45.50% | ▼ -1.0pp | 2.79% | 392,771 |
| 7.41a | 46.50% | — | 2.83% | 162,030 |
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.
Shadow Demon counters & matchups
Shadow Demon is a control support whose Disruption banishes and creates illusions, Soul Catcher amplifies damage, and Demonic Purge slows and dispels. He's strong into immobile, single-target heroes: Elder Titan, Timbersaw and Brewmaster get controlled and amplified down. Shadow Demon is hard-countered by AoE and divers: Tidehunter Ravages through his setup, Riki ambushes him, and Dawnbreaker or Phoenix out-fight him. Draft tip: Shadow Demon is a strong single-target control + save support into squishy drafts; he's weaker into AoE-teamfight and hard-dive line-ups.
Strong against
 Shadow Fiend | 50.30% | 31,810 |
Struggles against
 Wraith King | 39.13% | 33,893 |
 Riki | 39.50% | 18,606 |
 Meepo | 39.52% | 7,016 |
 Phantom Lancer | 39.92% | 35,590 |
 Broodmother | 40.18% | 9,244 |
 Chaos Knight | 40.31% | 14,213 |
 Dragon Knight | 40.73% | 33,660 |
 Dawnbreaker | 40.79% | 25,569 |
Shadow Demon synergies
Shadow Demon's Disruption is both a save and a damage-amp setup (the illusions plus Soul Catcher), and he enables push strategies. He pairs best with summon/push and illusion cores: Chen leverages his early tempo for a creep-push snowball, while Lycan and Dark Seer turn his control into a siege. Give Shadow Demon a push-oriented core and his Disruption setup plus Soul Catcher amp snowballs the early game.
Best teammates
| Wraith King | 50.00% | 32,643 |
Data updated Nov 10, 2026.