How Lion and Witch Doctor perform as teammates in Dota 2 7.41f, from ranked matches.
In Dota 2 7.41f, Lion and Witch Doctor win 51.63% of ranked matches when playing on the same team, over 96,887 matches.
Locking down a single hero often feels like you have more tools than you need. Lion offers Earth Spike and Hex, while Witch Doctor brings Paralyzing Cask. Stacking this much control on one target is rarely necessary, and a clumsy overlap can waste the full duration of a stun. While Maledict can amplify the damage of Finger of Death, it's often overkill for a single target, and using both ultimates to secure one kill can leave you without answers for the rest of the fight. The potential for a big burst is there, but it requires coordination that doesn't always pay off.
The main benefit this lane offers is that Lion's reliable stuns can hold an enemy in place for a full Death Ward channel. This can secure important kills around objectives. The problem is that both heroes are prime targets for the enemy team. They are both fragile, lack mobility, and want to play from the same safe position in the back lines. If the enemy team gets a good initiation on either Witch Doctor or Lion, the entire combo falls apart. Success depends entirely on which team gets the jump, making the outcome feel very dependent on circumstance.
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 | 51.49% | 1,006 |
| Crusader & Archon | 50.76% | 3,690 |
| Legend & Ancient | 49.97% | 3,322 |
| Divine & Immortal | 50.09% | 547 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7.41f | 51.63% | ▲ +0.4pp | 96,887 |
| 7.41e | 51.24% | ▲ +0.4pp | 314,316 |
| 7.41d | 50.85% | ▼ -1.2pp | 348,181 |
| 7.41c | 52.06% | — | 186,384 |
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Data updated Oct 5, 2026.