How Sand King and Sniper perform as teammates in Dota 2 7.41e, from ranked matches.
In Dota 2 7.41e, Sand King and Sniper win 49.13% of ranked matches when playing on the same team, over 10,835 matches.
Watching a Sand King blink into your team can be a nightmare when you see a Sniper on his. That initial Burrowstrike lockdown creates a perfect kill zone. With targets stunned and slowed inside an Epicenter, Sniper is free to attack from a safe distance without fear of being jumped on. It's a classic setup-and-knockdown combo, where Sand King creates a chaotic mess that only his ally can reliably shoot into. The goal is to win the teamfight before it properly begins.
This plan relies on perfect execution, which is where things get shaky. Sand King's initiation is often a one-way trip; after he's used his spells, he provides very little peel if an enemy bypasses the chaos to go straight for Sniper. If the enemy lineup has good counter-initiation or multiple heroes who can dive the backline, Sniper is left stranded. The success of this pairing often comes down to whether Sand King lands a multi-hero stun and whether the enemy team has an answer for a single, fragile target in the back.
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 | 51.62% | 893 |
| Crusader & Archon | 48.83% | 1,751 |
| Legend & Ancient | 49.11% | 1,012 |
| Divine & Immortal | 43.60% | 172 |
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 | 49.13% | ▲ +0.5pp | 10,835 |
| 7.41d | 48.66% | ▼ -0.1pp | 127,910 |
| 7.41c | 48.74% | ▼ -0.1pp | 61,700 |
| 7.41b | 48.79% | — | 76,554 |
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Data updated Aug 17, 2026.