Head-to-head Dota 2 7.41e win rate from ranked matches.
In Dota 2 7.41e, Axe wins the Axe vs Sand King matchup: Axe beats Sand King in 52.12% of 11,167 ranked matches.
Picking Sand King when Axe is still in the pool is a major risk. The entire matchup revolves around Berserker's Call, which provides a clean, instant answer to Sand King's channeled Epicenter. Even if the ultimate goes off, Axe can simply jump in and force Sand King to stand still inside his own Sand Storm, unable to escape or juke while taking damage and proccing Counter Helix spins. This turns one of Sand King’s primary survival tools into a liability. Axe thrives on forcing extended trades, and Sand King has no way to disengage from him once caught.
This dynamic dictates how teamfights play out. An Axe with a Blink Dagger effectively neutralizes Sand King's initiation potential. Sand King can’t lead the charge with his Burrowstrike combo because he knows Axe is waiting to cancel it. This forces the Sand King player into a passive, reactive role, waiting for Axe to use his Call on a different target before committing. This hesitation is often fatal, allowing Axe's team to take control of fights and dictate the terms of engagement from the mid-game onward.
How the matchup shifts across skill brackets — Axe's win rate against Sand King in recent ranked matches, split by average match rank. Ranks with too few recent matches are omitted. These rows use the last 30 days of quality-filtered ranked matches, all patches in that span combined — a wider window than the patch-scoped count above, so the per-rank match totals can exceed it.
| Rank | Axe win rate | Matches |
|---|---|---|
| Herald & Guardian | 53.30% | 696 |
| Crusader & Archon | 54.30% | 1,698 |
| Legend & Ancient | 57.05% | 1,220 |
| Divine & Immortal | 57.06% | 340 |
Axe's win rate against Sand King in each recent balance patch — whether this matchup is trending up or down. Patches without enough matches are omitted.
| Patch | Axe win rate | Change | Matches |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7.41e | 52.12% | ▼ -1.4pp | 11,167 |
| 7.41d | 53.55% | ▼ -2.1pp | 129,907 |
| 7.41c | 55.61% | ▲ +2.8pp | 63,057 |
| 7.41b | 52.82% | — | 76,687 |
Move this data into a draft
Axe starts on Radiant and Sand King on Dire. Add the other eight picks to see whether this head-to-head edge survives the full draft.
Data updated Aug 17, 2026.