How Necrophos and Sand King perform as teammates in Dota 2 7.41e, from ranked matches.
In Dota 2 7.41e, Necrophos and Sand King win 50.47% of ranked matches when playing on the same team, over 858 matches.
A good Burrowstrike into Epicenter creates the perfect situation for Necrophos. He can walk right into the slowed and stunned enemies, applying Heartstopper Aura to everyone while using Death Pulse to damage them and sustain Sand King. The combined area-of-effect damage from Sand Storm and Necrophos's kit wears down multiple heroes very effectively in a static fight. Sand King provides the lockdown Necrophos lacks, and Necrophos offers the healing that helps Sand King survive his own aggressive initiations.
This pairing is strongest during mid-game teamfights after Sand King gets his core initiation items. Their effectiveness depends heavily on Sand King landing a good multi-hero stun to kick things off. If the enemy team plays spread out, or if they have the tools to cancel Epicenter or kite the slow-moving Necrophos, the synergy becomes much less impactful. The entire plan hinges on that initial lockdown, and if it fails, both heroes can be left in poor positions.
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 | 57.24% | 428 |
| Crusader & Archon | 50.34% | 886 |
| Legend & Ancient | 46.96% | 609 |
| Divine & Immortal | 43.08% | 195 |
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 | 50.47% | ▼ -1.5pp | 858 |
| 7.41d | 51.95% | ▲ +1.8pp | 75,026 |
| 7.41c | 50.16% | ▼ -2.2pp | 37,596 |
| 7.41b | 52.34% | — | 43,897 |
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Data updated Aug 12, 2026.