How Phantom Lancer and Slark perform as teammates in Dota 2 7.41e, from ranked matches.
In Dota 2 7.41e, Phantom Lancer and Slark win 49.55% of ranked matches when playing on the same team, over 3,251 matches.
Hunting for a single target works well for this pair. Slark’s Pounce is the perfect setup for Phantom Lancer, leashing an enemy hero in place so they can't escape. This gives Phantom Lancer a stationary target to build his Juxtapose illusions on, letting him swarm and overwhelm the isolated hero. Both cores excel at deleting one enemy at a time, and Slark provides the reliable lockdown that Phantom Lancer lacks. The combination turns a solo gank from either hero into a much more certain kill, allowing them to start building a lead.
This duo creates a very specific game plan that can be fragile. Both Phantom Lancer and Slark are agility carries that require significant farm and good timings to be effective. Putting them on the same team can stretch your map’s resources thin. Their shared weakness is also a problem; teams that group up early with heavy area-of-effect damage can shut down both heroes at once. The success of this lane pairing often comes down to whether they can secure pickoffs to snowball ahead before the enemy is ready to fight as a five-man unit.
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 | 51.88% | 372 |
| Crusader & Archon | 42.47% | 558 |
| Legend & Ancient | 46.34% | 328 |
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 | 49.55% | ▼ -1.0pp | 3,251 |
| 7.41d | 50.54% | ▼ -0.8pp | 37,815 |
| 7.41c | 51.34% | 0.0pp | 19,969 |
| 7.41b | 51.34% | — | 22,271 |
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Data updated Aug 17, 2026.