How Dark Willow and Sand King perform as teammates in Dota 2 7.41e, from ranked matches.
In Dota 2 7.41e, Dark Willow and Sand King win 45.92% of ranked matches when playing on the same team, over 2,772 matches.
Playing against this pair often feels less threatening than it looks on paper. The combo of Burrowstrike into Cursed Crown has a noticeable gap, allowing a quick support to save an ally or for the target to use an item before the second stun lands. Both heroes deal almost exclusively magic damage, so an early Pipe of Insight on the enemy team can shut down their kill potential significantly. Dark Willow also has to be careful with Terrorize, as it can easily push enemies out of Sand King's Epicenter. Their control doesn't layer cleanly, and their shared damage type makes them predictable to itemize against.
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 | 41.62% | 185 |
| Crusader & Archon | 46.92% | 390 |
| Legend & Ancient | 47.06% | 357 |
| Divine & Immortal | 37.50% | 104 |
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 | 45.92% | ▲ +0.1pp | 2,772 |
| 7.41d | 45.83% | ▲ +1.6pp | 30,229 |
| 7.41c | 44.23% | ▼ -1.8pp | 12,778 |
| 7.41b | 46.08% | — | 18,314 |
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Data updated Aug 17, 2026.