How Ancient Apparition and Pudge perform as teammates in Dota 2 7.41e, from ranked matches.
In Dota 2 7.41e, Ancient Apparition and Pudge win 55.01% of ranked matches when playing on the same team, over 20,764 matches.
Catching a target with Meat Hook sets up a straightforward kill. Pudge can hold an enemy in place with Dismember, which gives Ancient Apparition a free window to land Cold Feet and Ice Vortex. The magic resistance reduction from the vortex amplifies Pudge's damage from Rot, but the real synergy comes from Ice Blast. AA's ultimate completely shuts down any healing or lifesteal the hooked target might have, ensuring that Pudge’s burst damage is lethal. It prevents saves from supports and makes it so that once a hero is caught, they are very likely to die.
This duo’s game plan revolves around finding these pickoffs across the map. They create constant pressure and can force enemies to play cautiously. However, the whole strategy hinges on Pudge landing his hooks, and the key abilities for the combo have long cooldowns. If Ice Blast is down or Meat Hook misses, the threat level drops significantly. Smart opponents will group up to make hooks difficult and will look to force teamfights when they know Pudge and Ancient Apparition have their ultimates unavailable, limiting the overall impact of the pairing.
How this pairing performs across skill brackets — the duo's team win rate 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 | Team win rate | Matches |
|---|---|---|
| Herald & Guardian | 55.59% | 993 |
| Crusader & Archon | 56.23% | 3,224 |
| Legend & Ancient | 56.67% | 2,430 |
| Divine & Immortal | 52.81% | 640 |
This duo's team win rate in each recent balance patch — whether the pairing is trending up or down. Patches without enough matches are omitted.
| Patch | Team win rate | Change | Matches |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7.41e | 55.01% | ▲ +0.8pp | 20,764 |
| 7.41d | 54.22% | ▲ +1.0pp | 218,059 |
| 7.41c | 53.24% | ▲ +1.3pp | 87,258 |
| 7.41b | 51.90% | — | 92,150 |
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Data updated Aug 17, 2026.