How Dark Willow and Phantom Assassin perform as teammates in Dota 2 7.41e, from ranked matches.
In Dota 2 7.41e, Dark Willow and Phantom Assassin win 49.72% of ranked matches when playing on the same team, over 9,553 matches.
Pairing these two often creates a tempo problem rooted in their abilities. Phantom Assassin needs a partner who can provide instant, reliable lockdown for her to burst a target after Phantom Strike. Dark Willow's control is less direct; Cursed Crown has a delay before it stuns, giving enemies a window to react. Bramble Maze is good for zoning or follow-up, but it's not the clean setup PA wants for a quick kill. This small timing mismatch can be the difference between a successful gank and a target getting away, which slows down Phantom Assassin's early game momentum considerably.
Across the game, this lack of clean initiation means the pair struggles to convert ganks into objectives. Phantom Assassin is often forced to farm more passively instead of building an early lead through kills. While a well-placed Terrorize from Dark Willow can split a teamfight, it can also send PA's chosen target running to safety, working against her all-in nature. The combination isn't actively bad, but it lacks the simple, effective kill setup that allows a Phantom Assassin to truly take over the map before the enemy team is grouped and ready.
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 | 48.05% | 795 |
| Crusader & Archon | 47.32% | 1,551 |
| Legend & Ancient | 46.55% | 1,044 |
| Divine & Immortal | 49.82% | 285 |
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 | 49.72% | ▲ +0.7pp | 9,553 |
| 7.41d | 49.06% | ▼ -0.4pp | 102,566 |
| 7.41c | 49.41% | ▲ +1.2pp | 42,944 |
| 7.41b | 48.21% | — | 42,074 |
Move this data into a draft
Both heroes start on Radiant. Fill the remaining slots to test this pairing inside a complete draft and get next-pick recommendations.
Data updated Aug 17, 2026.