How Dark Willow and Mars perform as teammates in Dota 2 7.41e, from ranked matches.
In Dota 2 7.41e, Dark Willow and Mars win 39.84% of ranked matches when playing on the same team, over 384 matches.
Facing this pair often feels less threatening than it should. The main issue comes down to Arena of Blood, which is designed to trap enemies for physical punishment. Dark Willow, however, deals almost exclusively magical damage. Her empowered attacks from Shadow Realm are blocked by the Arena wall, preventing her from contributing from a safe distance. For Bedlam to be effective, she has to get inside the Arena, which often traps her with the targets and makes her extremely vulnerable. The abilities fundamentally work against each other.
As the game develops, teamfights become clumsy. Mars will typically initiate and trap key targets, but Dark Willow is left on the outside looking for an angle. Opponents can often turn and burst Mars inside his own ultimate before Willow can have a real impact. To make the combo work, you’re forced to rely on a Cursed Crown or Bramble Maze setup before the Arena, which can be unreliable. Enemies quickly learn to bait the Arena, isolate Mars, and then clean up the fight, knowing his partner struggles to follow up effectively.
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 | 39.37% | 127 |
| Crusader & Archon | 42.72% | 323 |
| Legend & Ancient | 43.30% | 388 |
| Divine & Immortal | 44.05% | 252 |
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 | 39.84% | ▼ -4.8pp | 384 |
| 7.41d | 44.68% | ▲ +1.1pp | 35,023 |
| 7.41c | 43.53% | ▲ +0.4pp | 21,315 |
| 7.41b | 43.15% | — | 23,329 |
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Data updated Aug 11, 2026.