How Dark Willow and Shadow Fiend perform as teammates in Dota 2 7.41e, from ranked matches.
In Dota 2 7.41e, Dark Willow and Shadow Fiend win 45.97% of ranked matches when playing on the same team, over 11,211 matches.
Using Terrorize to control a fight often forces every enemy to run away from Shadow Fiend's Requiem of Souls. This is the core problem: their biggest spells are fundamentally at odds. Dark Willow wants to scatter enemies and create chaos with her ultimate, while Shadow Fiend needs opponents pinned in one spot to land his Shadowrazes. Even Cursed Crown's stun has a delay, which can be awkward for setting up SF's precise damage. The timing for their abilities rarely lines up, leading to missed kill opportunities and clumsy engagements.
In practice, this duo struggles to execute clean teamfight combinations. The fight that looks perfect for a multi-hero Requiem can be instantly ruined by a defensive Terrorize, forcing the SF to cancel or completely miss. A Shadow Fiend has to hesitate before committing, and the Dark Willow has to think twice before using her most impactful teamfight spell. Both heroes are fragile and need setup to be effective, but neither offers the kind of reliable, instant lockdown that the other truly needs to feel secure. They simply don't enable each other's game plan.
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 | 46.58% | 629 |
| Crusader & Archon | 46.17% | 1,592 |
| Legend & Ancient | 46.03% | 1,473 |
| Divine & Immortal | 47.28% | 679 |
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 | 45.97% | ▼ -0.4pp | 11,211 |
| 7.41d | 46.33% | ▼ -0.8pp | 108,290 |
| 7.41c | 47.10% | ▲ +1.9pp | 35,779 |
| 7.41b | 45.19% | — | 35,013 |
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Data updated Aug 17, 2026.