Head-to-head Dota 2 7.41e win rate from ranked matches.
In Dota 2 7.41e, Lion wins the Lion vs Sand King matchup: Lion beats Sand King in 50.10% of 14,847 ranked matches.
Trying to channel Epicenter against a Lion is a high-risk play. Lion has both Earth Spike and Hex available to instantly cancel the spell, potentially nullifying Sand King's entire teamfight contribution from a safe distance. This puts a lot of pressure on Sand King's positioning. However, the matchup isn't one-sided. A Sand King who gets the jump with Burrowstrike, especially with a Blink Dagger, can often kill Lion before he has a chance to use his lockdown. It's a duel of reaction time and initiation.
This cat-and-mouse game defines the matchup. Sand King looks to build items like Black King Bar to bypass Lion's control and initiate freely, while Lion must play defensively, using his team's vision and good positioning to stay out of reach until Sand King commits. Because each hero has the ideal tools to shut down what the other wants to do, they often end up canceling each other out. Neither can reliably execute their game plan if the other is paying attention, making for a very even fight.
How the matchup shifts across skill brackets — Lion'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 | Lion win rate | Matches |
|---|---|---|
| Herald & Guardian | 48.01% | 981 |
| Crusader & Archon | 51.34% | 2,419 |
| Legend & Ancient | 50.48% | 1,755 |
| Divine & Immortal | 53.42% | 453 |
Lion'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 | Lion win rate | Change | Matches |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7.41e | 50.10% | ▲ +0.1pp | 14,847 |
| 7.41d | 50.01% | ▼ -2.0pp | 169,516 |
| 7.41c | 52.05% | ▲ +2.5pp | 87,258 |
| 7.41b | 49.50% | — | 116,122 |
Move this data into a draft
Lion 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.