How Phantom Lancer and Witch Doctor perform as teammates in Dota 2 7.41e, from ranked matches.
In Dota 2 7.41e, Phantom Lancer and Witch Doctor win 53.97% of ranked matches when playing on the same team, over 2,683 matches.
Teamfighting in the mid-game, Phantom Lancer floods the area with illusions, creating a perfect screen for Witch Doctor to channel Death Ward safely from the backline. Anyone trying to dive him has to chew through a wall of disposable bodies first. Maledict is the real core of this pairing; once it lands on a key target, every single illusion hit from Phantom Lancer is amplified, bursting them down incredibly fast. Even a stray Paralyzing Cask can find extra bounces among the illusions, extending the lockdown and letting the Ward get even more shots off while PL closes the distance.
This duo really comes online once Phantom Lancer can create a respectable army and Witch Doctor hits his key timings. Before that, their laning stages are often separate. Once they group up, the enemy team is forced into a difficult choice: focus the real Phantom Lancer through his Doppelganger and endless illusions, or try to reach the Witch Doctor in the back. A smart opponent will try to gank the Witch Doctor before a fight even starts or build AoE magic damage to clear the illusions and expose the channel. The goal is to force fights around objectives where the chaos they create is hardest to solve.
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 | 57.09% | 1,319 |
| Crusader & Archon | 54.17% | 2,937 |
| Legend & Ancient | 52.43% | 1,793 |
| Divine & Immortal | 49.59% | 486 |
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 | 53.97% | ▼ -1.2pp | 2,683 |
| 7.41d | 55.12% | ▼ -0.1pp | 217,039 |
| 7.41c | 55.18% | ▲ +0.2pp | 117,047 |
| 7.41b | 54.96% | — | 113,406 |
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Data updated Aug 11, 2026.