Playing Wraith against Seven
Everything below is generated for Deadlock patch 09-16-2026 from Seven's current kit, measured match results and a mechanics rule base. Each line carries its own confidence label.
Quick summary
- Threat
- High threat
- Main problem
- Static Charge into Storm Cloud: the 0.9s (1.8s upgraded) stun lands you in the cloud with no window to leave, and 95+ DPS over a 7s channel is lethal to anything squishy
- Your main advantage
- You choose the terms of engagement (Wraith 2/3 against Seven 0/3).
- Primary rule
- Do not commit before Static Charge is gone. Static Charge first. It is his only hard CC, it is his combo enabler for Storm Cloud, and at 42s base it leaves a huge hole. Walk into his 15m cast range on a durable body, take the charge, then separate and wait out the fuse
- Key item
- Counterspell — Seven gives this team real stuns and hard cc. Buy against telegraphed single-target ultimates and hex-style point-and-click abilities you can read and parry.
Data-supported Measured: you win 47.4% of these, which is 2.1 points below your overall win rate (35,400 matches). The kit-based model reads this as low instead — treat the measured number as primary and the gap as a sign this matchup is more about execution than kit. Ranked against this hero's own baseline win rate, not raw win rate. Source: Deadlock Labs (deadlocklabs.gg/heroes/wraith/).
What should I do right now?
Before lane
Do
- Plan for Counterspell — know which tier it sits in so you are not improvising at the shop.
- Know what Static Charge looks like. It is the cooldown this lane revolves around.
Avoid
- Walking to lane on the same path every wave against a hero with Seven's engage range.
During lane
Do
- 730 max health with zero movement abilities until Power Surge's 2 AP move speed — he cannot escape a committed dive
- The 2.35s reload is a hard window; a diver who times it gets a free approach
- The Rake's 52-round magazine and high fire rate win extended weapon trades against burst laners
Avoid
- Lightning Ball clears a full trooper wave and chips the enemy laner in the same cast, giving Seven one of the best last-hit-plus-poke buttons in the game
- Static Charge threat alone pushes an aggressive laner off the wave, since standing near your own troopers or duo partner is punished
Mid game
Do
- Their first real spike is ult unlock — respect it from that point, not before.
- Your spike is Full Auto T1 (-20s cooldown): A 25s Full Auto means she has a damage window every skirmish instead of every other fight
Avoid
- Taking an even fight against Seven on their spike timing when you could take the same fight ten minutes later on yours.
Teamfights
Do
- Watch for Storm Cloud. Break line of sight, not distance — the damage check is per-enemy line of sight, so ducking behind one pillar zeroes it even at 5m
- Fight Seven only in geometry-dense areas — Storm Cloud checks line of sight per enemy, so pillars, doorframes and elevation changes are a hard counter, not a soft one
Avoid
- Spending your own escape before Static Charge is on cooldown.
Abilities to watch
- Storm Cloud Ultimate
This is the ability that actually kills you — No direct CC, but it functions as area denial — the practical effect on enemy positioning is closer to a zone lockout than to damage. Everything else in the kit is set up by it.
- Break line of sight, not distance — the damage check is per-enemy line of sight, so ducking behind one pillar zeroes it even at 5m
- Save a knockdown, stun or silence specifically for this channel; interrupting it burns Seven's 180s cooldown for nothing
- Do not shoot him through the channel before 5 AP if he took the 1 AP bullet resist — spirit damage or CC only
- Static Charge Ability 2
This is the ability that actually kills you — 0.9s stun in a 6m radius after a ~3.5s fuse; +0.9s stun at 5 AP, +7m radius at 2 AP. Everything else in the kit is set up by it.
- The ~3.5s fuse is the entire counterplay window — the moment the charge lands on you, physically separate from your teammates
- If you are the carrier, retreat out of the 6m (13m upgraded) radius of your team rather than fighting; if you are not the carrier, walk away from them
- Cleanse it with a debuff-removal item before detonation; it is a removable debuff, not an instant
- Lightning Ball Ability 1
This is the ability that actually kills you — None at base. The 2 AP upgrade adds a 35% movement slow to enemies it damages. Everything else in the kit is set up by it.
- It travels in a fixed straight line and cannot be steered — strafe laterally rather than backpedalling, which keeps you in it
- Put any pillar or wall between you and Seven; the orb is destroyed on world geometry
- Stand on the far side of your own trooper wave: the orb decelerates while damaging troopers and gives you free seconds to leave the lane
- Power Surge Ability 3
Seven's sustained damage and his second wave-clear tool. In fights it punishes any clumped group because every burst chains off the primary target.
- Do not stand within 10m of a teammate Seven is shooting — the chain needs a neighbour to jump to
- Fight Seven from behind cover that breaks his burst rhythm; the proc is once per burst, so forcing him to re-acquire costs him most of the damage
- It is a 10s window on a long cooldown — trading through it and re-engaging after it drops is a real plan, unlike most enchants
Abilities to bait — in this order
- 1. Static Charge
Static Charge first. It is his only hard CC, it is his combo enabler for Storm Cloud, and at 42s base it leaves a huge hole. Walk into his 15m cast range on a durable body, take the charge, then separate and wait out the fuse
- 2. Lightning Ball
Then Lightning Ball, especially after the 1 AP second charge — burning both charges on a wave means he has no zoning and no slow for the next engage
- 3. Storm Cloud
Do not bait Storm Cloud by fake-committing unless you can guarantee line-of-sight break; a Seven who channels into an empty room still holds the objective for 7 seconds
Matchup overview
- Their structural weakness: No mobility, no escape and no self-sustain — he is the most position-dependent hero in this group Why this is shown: Seven's weaknesses. Strong evidence
- Their structural weakness: Every part of his ultimate is defeated by line of sight Why this is shown: Seven's weaknesses. Strong evidence
- Their structural weakness: Storm Cloud is a 180s cooldown that can be nullified by a single well-timed knockdown Why this is shown: Seven's weaknesses. Strong evidence
What they do against you
- Static Charge into Storm Cloud: the 0.9s (1.8s upgraded) stun lands you in the cloud with no window to leave, and 95+ DPS over a 7s channel is lethal to anything squishy Why this is shown: Authored from Seven's kit. Strong evidence
- Contesting an objective (urn, Patron, mid boss) inside Storm Cloud's expanding 10m-to-30m radius is simply not survivable — he wins the space without needing a kill Why this is shown: Authored from Seven's kit. Strong evidence
- Lightning Ball with the 2 AP slow into any of his follow-up: the 35% slow means the delayed stun is no longer dodgeable by walking Why this is shown: Authored from Seven's kit. Strong evidence
- Power Surge shock chaining 4 jumps within 10m punishes any grouped push or defensive stack, even through your own trooper wave Why this is shown: Authored from Seven's kit. Strong evidence
- A 2 AP Static Charge at 13m radius on your frontliner stuns your whole team if you are stacked in a lane chokepoint Why this is shown: Authored from Seven's kit. Strong evidence
How you counter them
- Fight Seven only in geometry-dense areas — Storm Cloud checks line of sight per enemy, so pillars, doorframes and elevation changes are a hard counter, not a soft one Why this is shown: Authored counterplay against Seven. Strong evidence
- Hold one knockdown, stun or silence in the team specifically for the Storm Cloud channel; before 5 AP he cannot move out of the interruption Why this is shown: Authored counterplay against Seven. Strong evidence
- Spread out permanently. Static Charge's radius and Power Surge's 10m chain both need you within a few metres of an ally to matter Why this is shown: Authored counterplay against Seven. Strong evidence
- Dive him during the 2.35s reload or while Static Charge (42s base) is down — with 730 HP and no escape he dies to any committed gap-closer Why this is shown: Authored counterplay against Seven. Strong evidence
- Cleanse Static Charge with a debuff-removal item rather than trying to outrun the detonation in a fight you cannot leave Why this is shown: Authored counterplay against Seven. Strong evidence
- Strafe laterally across Lightning Ball rather than backing up in its straight-line path, and stand behind troopers so it decelerates Why this is shown: Authored counterplay against Seven. Strong evidence
- You do not have the CC to reliably break Storm Cloud out of your own kit, so buy the cheapest thing that does: Silence Wave is the only area silence in the shop and the standard answer to channelled ultimates. Area matters because you do not have to win the aim duel — you have to cover the spot they cast from. Note the alternative, Counterspell, parries a single ability outright but requires a read; Silence Wave forgives a bad read, which is why it is the buy when interrupting is not your specialty. Why this is shown: Silence Wave (T3 Spirit) is the only area silence; Counterspell negates a single ability but requires prediction. Strong evidence
- Seven contributes through abilities, which makes a hard silence worth more against them than any amount of resist. Focus Lens is the sharpest version: 4.5 seconds of single-target silence at 20m, plus 30% of all damage dealt during the window applied when it expires, on a 45-second cooldown. Against a caster that is not a defensive purchase — it deletes their entire fight participation and then charges them for it. Why this is shown: Focus Lens: 4.5s silence, 20m cast range, 30% of damage dealt applied on expiry, 45s cooldown. Strong evidence
Trading
- The 2.35s weapon reload — his DPS is zero and he has no escape button to cover it Why this is shown: Seven's vulnerability windows. Strong evidence
- Immediately after Lightning Ball is thrown and before it is recharged: at 26s base with a 6s inter-charge timer, one used charge is a real gap Why this is shown: Seven's vulnerability windows. Strong evidence
- Any time Static Charge is on cooldown (42s base, ~22s at 1 AP) — he has no answer to a gap-closer without it Why this is shown: Seven's vulnerability windows. Strong evidence
- During the Storm Cloud channel before the 5 AP movement upgrade: he is rooted in place and telegraphed for 7 seconds, which is enough time to flank behind cover and take the objective or land a knockdown Why this is shown: Seven's vulnerability windows. Strong evidence
- Level 1-4 in lane before Power Surge's move-speed upgrade — 730 HP, zero mobility, and no stun charge means a coordinated duo-lane dive is close to free Why this is shown: Seven's vulnerability windows. Strong evidence
- Your trades against Seven changed on 09-16-2026: dashes and light melees no longer pause gun cycle time. Your damage output and your repositioning are no longer competing for the same seconds, which is the single biggest gain for a long-cycle weapon in this patch. Practically, that means you can now dodge the opening of their burst and keep your cycle running, so the correct trade against a burst hero is no longer stand-and-shoot — it is move-and-shoot, and it costs you nothing to do it. Why this is shown: 09-16-2026: dashes and light melees no longer pause gun cycle time. Verified
- Being stunned by Seven now pauses your reload rather than restarting it, as of 09-16-2026. That quietly changes when it is safe to reload in this matchup: a reload caught by their stun resumes where it left off instead of costing you the whole cycle, so the old rule of never reloading inside their engagement range is too conservative now. The compensating change is that parrying also pauses your reload, so a defensive parry no longer buys you free reload time. Why this is shown: 09-16-2026: being stunned pauses reload instead of restarting it; parrying also pauses reload. Verified
Laning
- What they want in lane: Lightning Ball clears a full trooper wave and chips the enemy laner in the same cast, giving Seven one of the best last-hit-plus-poke buttons in the game Why this is shown: Seven's laning strengths. Strong evidence
- What they want in lane: Static Charge threat alone pushes an aggressive laner off the wave, since standing near your own troopers or duo partner is punished Why this is shown: Seven's laning strengths. Strong evidence
- What you can take from them in lane: 730 max health with zero movement abilities until Power Surge's 2 AP move speed — he cannot escape a committed dive Why this is shown: Seven's laning weaknesses. Strong evidence
- What you can take from them in lane: The 2.35s reload is a hard window; a diver who times it gets a free approach Why this is shown: Seven's laning weaknesses. Strong evidence
- Your lever: The Rake's 52-round magazine and high fire rate win extended weapon trades against burst laners Why this is shown: Wraith's laning strengths. Strong evidence
- You get value from moving around the map and Seven does not, but the 09-16-2026 patch made that harder to convert early: tunnel breakables now spawn and respawn on 5 minutes rather than 3. The off-lane income that used to make a rotation pay for itself is roughly 40% less frequent, so before 6:00 a rotation has to be justified by pressure on Seven or on the Guardian, not by the breakables you pick up on the way. Why this is shown: 09-16-2026: underground tunnel breakable initial spawn and respawn both raised 3 → 5 minutes. Verified
Mid game
- Their spike — ult unlock: Storm Cloud immediately converts Seven from a farmer into an objective-control hero; any uncontested cast on a grouped team wins the fight Why this is shown: Seven's power spike timeline. Strong evidence
- Their spike — 1 AP into Static Charge: -20s cooldown brings the stun from 42s to roughly 22s, making stun-into-Storm-Cloud available for nearly every fight Why this is shown: Seven's power spike timeline. Strong evidence
- Their spike — 2 AP into Static Charge: +7m radius turns the delayed stun from a single-target nuisance into a multi-hero teamfight opener Why this is shown: Seven's power spike timeline. Strong evidence
- Their spike — 5 AP into Storm Cloud (late 35min+): Movement while channelling removes the one reliable counter — walking away from a rooted Seven Why this is shown: Seven's power spike timeline. Strong evidence
- Your spike — Full Auto T1 (-20s cooldown): A 25s Full Auto means she has a damage window every skirmish instead of every other fight Why this is shown: Wraith's power spike timeline. Strong evidence
- Your spike — ult unlock: Telekinesis gives her a 2.25s single-target removal plus a movement lockout that guarantees her damage window lands Why this is shown: Wraith's power spike timeline. Strong evidence
- The first Unstable Rift lands around 11:00 and then every 7 minutes, and Seven beats you in exactly the fight it creates. Use the telegraph: a world-only visual appears on a random side-lane bridge roughly 60 seconds before the global announcement and map marker, which is the single biggest piece of free information in the mid game. Spend those 60 seconds either grouping or deliberately taking something elsewhere — the one thing you cannot afford is arriving at a Rift bridge late and alone. Why this is shown: First Unstable Rift ~11:00 (±1 min) then every 7 minutes; ~60s world-visual warning precedes the global announcement. Strong evidence
Teamfights
- Storm Cloud is a channel, which means the fight is decided by whether you can break it. Hold one interrupt — a stun, a silence, or a displacement — specifically for that cast rather than spending it on the opening trade. If you have no interrupt, the answer is line of sight: leave the area entirely rather than trying to out-heal it. Why this is shown: Channelled ultimates are interruptible by hard CC, silence or displacement. Strong evidence
Positioning
- Seven wins by choosing where the fight happens. Take your position before the zoning goes down, not after — once the area is committed you are fighting on their terms, and walking in to contest it is exactly the mistake the kit is built to farm. Why this is shown: Zone-control kits convert space into damage; positioning must precede the cast. Strategic
Build adjustments
- Counterspell (vitality T3) — Seven gives this team real stuns and hard cc. Buy against telegraphed single-target ultimates and hex-style point-and-click abilities you can read and parry. Why this is shown: Answers: enemy-hard-cc, enemy-channeled-ult, enemy-burst. Verified
- Majestic Leap (vitality T3) — Seven gives this team real zoning and area denial. Buy to escape ground-based lockdown and to rotate across the map quickly. Why this is shown: Answers: enemy-zone-control, enemy-hard-cc. Verified
- Stamina Mastery (vitality T3) — Seven gives this team real stuns and hard cc. Buy when dodging telegraphed abilities and disengaging is how you survive. Why this is shown: Answers: enemy-hard-cc, enemy-zone-control. Strong evidence
Common mistakes
- The reflex buy against a hero who keeps deleting you is Metal Skin, and against Seven it does nothing. Metal Skin is bullet-damage immunity only — spirit damage, abilities and every status effect pass straight through it, and you pay −1.5 m/s move speed and −20% dash distance for the privilege. The three big defensive actives are deliberately orthogonal: Metal Skin stops bullets, Unstoppable stops statuses, Ethereal Shift stops everything but disables you. Seven is a spirit threat, so it is the last two you are choosing between. Why this is shown: Metal Skin blocks bullet damage only; enemy damage profile is spirit with burst 2+. Verified
- The Unstable Rift capture point is a 20m circle on a bridge, capture only progresses when no enemy is inside it, and everyone standing in it is revealed on the minimap. That is a purpose-built trap for Seven. The mistake is treating the circle as the objective: you do not need to stand in it, you need them not to. Contest from outside the radius, deny with a single body at the edge, and let their area damage land on empty bridge. Why this is shown: Unstable Rift: 20m capture radius, progress halts while any enemy is inside, occupants revealed on the minimap. Strategic
Analyse this against your whole enemy team
A single matchup only tells you part of the story — which enemy to actually focus, and what to buy, depends on the other five. Open the tool with this matchup pre-loaded and add the rest.
Open in the matchup toolOther Wraith matchups
The other side
Want to know how Seven is supposed to play this?
Sources and method for this page
Seven's kit and counterplay were compiled from 4 sources, cross-checked for patch 09-16-2026. Threat ratings compare this pairing against Wraith's own baseline win rate rather than a flat 50%, because ranking by raw win rate produces the wrong answer for heroes whose overall win rate is not 50%.