How Night Stalker and Riki perform as teammates in Dota 2 7.41e, from ranked matches.
In Dota 2 7.41e, Night Stalker and Riki win 51.63% of ranked matches when playing on the same team, over 4,160 matches.
Assuming this duo is all about chaining burst damage is a common mistake. The real advantage comes from vision control. Night Stalker’s presence during the night naturally shrinks the enemy’s sight range, making it much harder for them to react to threats. This makes Riki’s permanent invisibility significantly more effective, as he can get much closer before being revealed by sentry wards or dust. A target silenced by Night Stalker's Crippling Fear is also a perfect setup for Riki to drop a Smoke Screen, layering control and preventing any escape.
This pairing aims to dominate the map during the first night cycle. Successful ganks force the enemy team to huddle together for safety, slowing down their farm and conceding map control. The pressure Night Stalker and Riki create allows their own team to secure objectives and build a lead. However, this strategy is very timing-dependent. If the enemy team plays safe, invests heavily in detection, and survives the initial onslaught, the duo's impact can fall off as teamfights become the norm and single pickoffs are less available.
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 | 52.52% | 238 |
| Crusader & Archon | 50.74% | 607 |
| Legend & Ancient | 52.87% | 592 |
| Divine & Immortal | 47.47% | 217 |
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 | 51.63% | ▼ -0.2pp | 4,160 |
| 7.41d | 51.83% | ▼ -0.7pp | 49,032 |
| 7.41c | 52.53% | ▲ +1.4pp | 24,430 |
| 7.41b | 51.16% | — | 23,284 |
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Data updated Aug 17, 2026.