Head-to-head Dota 2 7.41f win rate from ranked matches.
In Dota 2 7.41f, Phantom Lancer wins the Phantom Lancer vs Shadow Demon matchup: Phantom Lancer beats Shadow Demon in 59.51% of 12,345 ranked matches.
Picking Shadow Demon against a Phantom Lancer is a huge gamble for your draft. The core of the problem is that Phantom Lancer’s illusions make it nearly impossible for Shadow Demon to use his spells effectively. His ultimate, Demonic Purge, is one of the few things that can lock down the real hero, but it’s single-target; casting it on an illusion wastes his biggest cooldown. Meanwhile, Disruption often ends up saving a cornered Phantom Lancer instead of setting him up. Even Shadow Demon's area damage from Shadow Poison gets nullified, since Phantom Lancer can easily dispel the stacks with Doppelganger, removing the threat completely.
How the matchup shifts across skill brackets — Phantom Lancer's win rate against Shadow Demon 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 | Phantom Lancer win rate | Matches |
|---|---|---|
| Herald & Guardian | 66.12% | 121 |
| Crusader & Archon | 61.43% | 363 |
| Legend & Ancient | 60.05% | 433 |
| Divine & Immortal | 61.90% | 168 |
Phantom Lancer's win rate against Shadow Demon in each recent balance patch — whether this matchup is trending up or down. Patches without enough matches are omitted.
| Patch | Phantom Lancer win rate | Change | Matches |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7.41f | 59.51% | ▲ +0.3pp | 12,345 |
| 7.41e | 59.23% | ▲ +0.0pp | 42,596 |
| 7.41d | 59.19% | ▼ -0.6pp | 36,490 |
| 7.41c | 59.76% | — | 16,363 |
Move this data into a draft
Phantom Lancer starts on Radiant and Shadow Demon on Dire. Add the other eight picks to see whether this head-to-head edge survives the full draft.
Data updated Oct 4, 2026.