How Phantom Lancer and Shadow Demon perform as teammates in Dota 2 7.41e, from ranked matches.
In Dota 2 7.41e, Phantom Lancer and Shadow Demon win 45.48% of ranked matches when playing on the same team, over 376 matches.
Creating two strong illusions of a farmed Phantom Lancer with Disruption seems like a good idea. The problem is that those illusions don't create more of themselves with Juxtapose, so they don't contribute to his main goal of swarming an enemy. They're a temporary boost, not the overwhelming army Phantom Lancer wants to build. This lane also struggles to get started. Shadow Demon often wants to fight and apply pressure from the early levels, but Phantom Lancer needs a lot of quiet farm to get his core items online. This timing conflict can leave the lane vulnerable and slow down the carry's progression into the mid-game.
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 | 39.58% | 144 |
| Crusader & Archon | 44.83% | 377 |
| Legend & Ancient | 42.01% | 288 |
| Divine & Immortal | 46.48% | 142 |
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 | 45.48% | ▼ -1.4pp | 376 |
| 7.41d | 46.92% | ▼ -0.8pp | 31,139 |
| 7.41c | 47.74% | ▲ +0.0pp | 15,280 |
| 7.41b | 47.71% | — | 18,079 |
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Data updated Aug 11, 2026.