The strongest carry at The International 2026 lost 6% win rate: patch 7.41f results
Following the release of patch 7.41f in Dota 2, the statistics of several heroes changed noticeably, with one of the biggest drops coming from Shadow Fiend, who was one of the strongest carry at the recent The International 2026. After the update, his win rate dropped by more than 6 points.
Before the patch, SF won 48.34% of his matches, but after the update, his win rate fell to 42.33%. At the same time, the hero's popularity also declined noticeably, with his pick rate dropping from 23.29% to 15.98%.
In 7.41f, the developers nerfed several of the hero's abilities. The changes affected Necromastery, the additional damage from Shadowraze, as well as the level 15 talent that increases the armor reduction from Presence of the Dark Lord.
The decline is particularly notable given the hero's results at The International 2026. Shadow Fiend was one of the most contested heroes at the tournament and regularly appeared during the draft stage. He was especially popular among Team Spirit and PARIVISION, who later met in the grand final, where the Dragons claimed victory.
Among the other heroes, Treant Protector recorded one of the most noticeable declines after the update. His win rate dropped from 49.62% to 44.72%, a decrease of 4.90 points. His pick rate also fell by more than half, from 6.93% to 3.44%. In the patch, the developers reduced the hero's base Intelligence from 20 to 17, nerfed Leech Seed and Living Armor, and also reduced the duration of invisibility after leaving Nature's Guise.
Other heroes with negative trends included Visage, whose win rate dropped from 53.33% to 49.88%, Underlord with a decline from 49.98% to 46.85%, and Tidehunter, whose figure fell from 49.90% to 47.64%. At the same time, the "watermelon's" pick rate remained almost unchanged and even increased slightly from 7.20% to 7.35%.
However, some heroes started winning significantly more often after the release of 7.41f. Chen recorded the biggest increase. His win rate rose by 7.07 points, from 44.86% to 51.94%. At the same time, the hero's popularity remained almost unchanged, with his pick rate increasing only from 0.42% to 0.50%.
In the update, the developers buffed his innate ability, Zealot. Previously, the summoned unit always respawned 60 seconds after dying, but now its respawn time is reduced by one second for each level of Chen. Therefore, the higher Chen's level is, the faster Zealot returns after death.
Several other heroes also showed positive trends. Elder Titan's win rate increased from 49.58% to 52.42%, Marci's from 49.59% to 52.34%, Leshrac's from 49.77% to 52.32%, and Storm Spirit's from 46.34% to 48.65%. At the same time, their pick rates remained almost unchanged after the update.
The first major tournament following the release of patch 7.41f will be PGL Wallachia Season 9, which will take place from 19.09.2026 to 27.09.2026 in Bucharest. A total of 16 teams will compete for a $1,000,000 prize pool. The list of participants and the schedule for the first day are available in our coverage.
Earlier, CyberScore reported that Aurora Gaming replaced two players ahead of the first tournament of the new season.
by CyberScore