How Dragon Knight and Shadow Demon perform as teammates in Dota 2 7.41e, from ranked matches.
In Dota 2 7.41e, Dragon Knight and Shadow Demon win 44.03% of ranked matches when playing on the same team, over 134 matches.
Thinking you can set up a big Dragon Knight with Disruption for strong illusions seems logical, but it rarely plays out well. When Shadow Demon uses Disruption on an allied Dragon Knight, it stops DK's damage output completely, which is his primary contribution. The resulting illusions also lack the corrosive breath from his Elder Dragon Form, making them much weaker than they appear. Meanwhile, Soul Catcher deals its damage based on the target's current health, which adds some initial hurt but doesn't amplify the physical damage Dragon Knight needs to finish someone off after a stun. The two heroes just don't have kits that help each other do their jobs better.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Crusader & Archon | 46.20% | 171 |
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 | 44.03% | ▼ -0.4pp | 134 |
| 7.41d | 44.43% | ▲ +0.2pp | 12,475 |
| 7.41c | 44.26% | ▼ -0.2pp | 6,279 |
| 7.41b | 44.41% | — | 8,349 |
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Data updated Aug 11, 2026.