Head-to-head Dota 2 7.41e win rate from ranked matches.
In Dota 2 7.41e, Shadow Shaman wins the Bristleback vs Shadow Shaman matchup: Shadow Shaman beats Bristleback in 52.79% of 1,917 ranked matches.
Locking in a Shadow Shaman often feels like a good answer to a Bristleback, but the plan requires some coordination. His lockdown from Hex and Shackles is great for pinning Bristleback in place, forcing him to face your team and take full damage without his passive reduction. This can be enough to secure a quick kill. The reason it's not a hard counter is that both of Shadow Shaman's disables are single-target with considerable cooldowns. If Bristleback survives that window or his team intervenes, a squishy support who has already used his spells becomes a very easy target. The advantage is there, but it relies on your team bursting Bristleback down during the disable.
How the matchup shifts across skill brackets — Bristleback's win rate against Shadow Shaman 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 | Bristleback win rate | Matches |
|---|---|---|
| Herald & Guardian | 49.90% | 1,517 |
| Crusader & Archon | 43.69% | 2,490 |
| Legend & Ancient | 43.25% | 1,237 |
| Divine & Immortal | 43.22% | 236 |
Bristleback's win rate against Shadow Shaman in each recent balance patch — whether this matchup is trending up or down. Patches without enough matches are omitted.
| Patch | Bristleback win rate | Change | Matches |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7.41e | 47.21% | ▲ +0.6pp | 1,917 |
| 7.41d | 46.61% | ▼ -0.3pp | 192,040 |
| 7.41c | 46.87% | ▼ -1.5pp | 103,969 |
| 7.41b | 48.39% | — | 116,154 |
Move this data into a draft
Bristleback starts on Radiant and Shadow Shaman on Dire. Add the other eight picks to see whether this head-to-head edge survives the full draft.
Data updated Aug 11, 2026.