Avalanche! [6.86f] In-Depth Guide to Tiny

Introduction

Hi everybody!

This is my guide to Tiny. And a very large one at that. Tiny is a melee strength hero that excels at, well, killing things. Which i'm sure all you damn Sadists like. He transitions from one of the best early game nukers to one of the better late game pushers. Although he has a lot of HP from being a Strength Hero, he still has very bad Agility, meaning low Armor (and Attack Speed). He should be placed mid in most scenarios.

I will go over 2 builds today:
-A standard build which most players go for
-My own build ( Arcane Boots/ Shadow Blade)

Even though support Tiny is an option, it's not very good. His disable is too short, and Toss benefits him more than your Carry.

Attributes:

Strength: 26 Base + 3/level
Agility: 9 Base + 0.9/level
Intelligence: 17 Base + 1.6/level

Pros & Cons

Pros

-Powerful and relevant throughout the entire game;
Strong Nukes, Strong Rightclick (with Aghanim's Scepter.

-High Base Damage, really good at lasthitting. Grow gives even more Base Damage, working really well with Manta Style

-One of the best ganking combos in the game;
Avalanche > Toss

-Counters melee carries like Juggernaut and Sven.

-DID I MENTION HE HITS LIKE A TRUCK?
What about Valve just reskin his tree to a truck?

Cons

-Horrible Armor

-Horrible Attack Speed without items, even worse with Grow.

-Dependant on items like most carries/semicarries.

-Gets outcarried late-game.

Skills + The Combo

For the exact numbers just hover over the icons.

Avalanche Tiny throws rocks at an area. These rocks stun for 1 second and deal damage over the same 1 second.

Notes:

- Avalanche starts to stun and damage after 0.5 seconds of the cast. After the 0.5 seconds, it damages over 1 second in instances of 0.25 seconds (4 instances of 25/45/65/75)
-Every instance stuns, but cannot stun a unit that is already stunned. Whatever instance hits, the stun is always 1 second.

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Toss Tiny throws the closest unit to him at a target, friend or foe, dealing damage around the landing area. If the unit is an enemy, that unit/Hero takes 20% more damage from Toss. Damagae in increased by Grow. This spell is great for farming because unlike Avalanche, it damages in one instance instead of 4. And it does bonus damage to the unit that is tossed.

Notes:

- Toss is kind of weird to disjoint. To disjoint it, the unit which is tossed at must be 3000 range from the starting launch area. So you'll have to do more than just Blink away.
-Buildings take 33% damage (25/50/75/100) from a unit that lands in the 275 area.
-The tossed unit takes 20% more damage (before reductions) from Toss. Grow increases this to 35%/50/65% (Can be Improved by Aghanim's Scepter to 50%/65%/80%).
KEEP IN MIND! The wiki doesn't have the exact numbers, those damage numbers were from older patches. Don't follow the wiki, just calculate the damage yourself. I'm too lazy. Yeah sorry man.

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Craggy Exterior Passively increases Tiny's armor by 2/3/4/5. Also, whenever a unit attacks him from a 300 radius, has a chance to stun that enemy and deal a little bit of damage. If an attack misses, it cannot trigger Craggy Exterior.

This is why Tiny counters melee carries so badly. Although a good passive, it's maxed last because you need the burst damage from Avalanche and [[Toss].

Notes:

- Craggy Exterior stuns when the attack lands, not when it begins, unlike in earlier versions.
- Craggy Exterior is not triggered by attacks from Split Shot, Flak Cannon and Moon Glaive.
- Craggy Exterior can be triggered by attacks from Aghanim's Scepter Marksmanship, Geminate Attack and Stifling Dagger.

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Grow Increases Tiny's damage by 50/100/150. Also increases Tiny's movement speed by 40/50/60. Adds bonus damage for Toss: 35/50/65% ( Aghanim's Scepter: 50/65/80%). However, it removes 20/35/50 attack speed. Upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter: - Tiny equips a tree. -Gives more bonus damage for Toss -Adds a 50% cleave (Circular area in front of Tiny, 400 AoE). -Adds bonus damage to buildings.

This skill is so good. Movement speed is nice for if you don't have your Blink Dagger yet. The bonus damage for Toss is great for your combo. And that attack damage tho.
Keep in mind of the lost attack speed. This is why we invest in Attack Speed items after Aghanim's Scepter.

The attack damage is mostly used like this:

Level 1: If you plan on farming/lasthitting a lot more, this makes it a lot easier to do so. Also that extra damage is good if you didn't quite kill someone.
Level 2: More damage, even easier to farm, even better for killing.
Level 3: At this stage, you'll have Aghanim's Scepter. You'll have so much pushing power and damage right now, we're going to invest in Attack Speed.

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The Combo:

The Combo which i've mentioned multiple times already, goes as follows:
If you got Shadow Blade like i do, you can neglect the Blink Dagger part.
Order is from left to right.

Why is this combo so good?
Avalanche hits twice if you Toss an enemy and it lands while Avalanche is still going, meaning you deal a lot more magic damage. It bursts down most squishy carries like Morphling and Drow Ranger and supports like Dazzle.

Normal Build

This is the normal build, used by most players. It's a very standard Tiny build, focusing his early game on ganking with Blink Dagger, then transitioning into a Late-Game beast.

Item Build

Starting 1

Not much explanation needed. This build is for if you go up against a hero that can't harass you very well, or you just need Bottle very fast. Tango keeps you in lane if you take any damage at all. Faerie Fire is nice if you get ganked by any chance. And Iron Branches build into a Magic Wand while giving you nice stats. Especially the Intelligence is nice for your combo which i'll go over later.

Starting 2

Go this build when you are going up against a Ranged hero, capable of harassing you and making your midlane like hell, especially if they have high damage. Or if the enemy lane has a second laner (Usually Support except in the trash of the trash), usually Io or some ****. This'll (at least partially) help you go up against that.

Early Game

Bottle is a standard Mid-Lane pickup. It allows for rune control and it keeps up your mana for spells and comboes. Boots of Speed need no explanation. Magic Wand can save your life in situations, and ALWAYS pick it up against spammy heroes in mid, special mention is Zeus. Power Treads complements a Bottle with treadswitching. It also keeps up your mana with Intelligence.

Mid Game Core 1

Blink Dagger is the best initiation item for Tiny. You just blink in, and use your combo. This is a devastating ganking item. Also, Blink Dagger is just good because the mobility and farming speed it gives.

I've gone over Aghanim's Scepter already. It's just so good for rightclicking on this hero. A must for pretty much any game.

Mid Game Core 2

I went over this item 3 seconds ago, dammit.

Why no Moon Shard? Straight for Assault Cuirass? This is also a must in a lot of scenarios. Yes, the attack speed isn't half as good as Moon Shard. But the pushing power and armor it gives are a must on Tiny. Without armor he's a lot more squishy. Also, minus enemy armor means damage :).

Late Game Options/h2]

OOW BOI HERE WE GO

Abyssal Blade is picked up if you need heavy lockdown on heroes like Anti-Mage and Ember Spirit. Not the best of items, but it still gives damage. And that Bash. Ow, delicious.

Went over it before. If you went the Core 2 buid, ignore this as you already went for it.

Strength hero? Butterfly? Yes. Let me explain. Agility means armor and attack speed, something Tiny is desperate for. And it's a lot of armor. Plus, the added damage and attack speed also work very well. 30 AGILITY, 30 ATTACK SPEED AND 30 DAMAGE. WOW. Finally, the 30% evasion is sooo gooood.

If you need more damage and have enough attack speed. Also dem big crits sometimes. Tiny already does a lot of damage, with the crits it goes through the roof. Almost literally.

Manta Style is so good on Tiny for the sole reason of the high base damage (illusions only take the hero's base damage) and the high tower damage making him a beast in pushing.

Damage AND attack speed. For if you can't choose which. This makes you the king of AoE damage. Also it's a great counter to Phantom Lancer.

Attack Speed times 120. I can maths. This solves most of your attack speed issues.

This beefs you up heavily. For if another teammate already picked up Assault Cuirass. Gives you nearly infinite mana and a lot, a LOT of armor. The active slows enemies even more. I said STAND THE **** STILL.

Situationals

Pick it up when there are a lot of disables on the enemy team, or just things you'd like to block with Black King Bar.

Rather obvious. Pick up if you need this against squishy, high damage dealers. It's so fun to see a Phantom Assassin crit herself to death. Also, this item gives Tiny some fantastic stats (Yes, Armor and Intelligence).

If the enemy has a lot of single target **** you want to block.

The number one counter to Evasion. Also, damage. And cancelling Town Portal Scrolls is so much fun.

Skill Build

Most people agree that you should max out Toss first, Avalanche second. This is for the sole reason that Grow gives bonus damage to Toss. Start taking Craggy Exterior last. It's a good passive but you need your nukes badly for ganking.

Take Grow whenever you can. It increases Toss damage improving your ganking abilities. You should be able to oneshot most squishies at this point already.

My Build

Before i go into this: In short, why is this build so good? (in my eyes atleast)

Shadow Blade is a great item on Tiny. It provides mobility and can make him pop out of nowhere before they even think to counter your invisiblity. And Arcane Boots are great for spamming Toss and Avalanche on waves and in the jungle. Arcane Boots complement use of Shadow Blade for the
I go this build if the time is right, i don't go for this if there's reasons like:

- Bounty Hunter on the enemy team.
- Crystal Maiden on my team.
- Io backing me up; Shadow Blade would be a terrible choice just because my wisp wouldn't be able to go invisible with me.

SO LET'S GO BOIS

Starting

Same starting items as the normal build, explanation is there.

Early Game

Same as the normal build again, but Arcane Boots.
Why Arcane Boots?
-It'll constantly keep up your combo, you'll almost never have mana issues.
-More farming speed, especially in the jungle.
-Complements Shadow Blade

Mid Game

Shadow Blade is an item that isn't really good. I pick it up for the sole reason that you can gank so easily without wards spotting you out. It also boosts your rightclick which gets us to Aghanim's Scepter. I've been talking about this item half of the guide already. Then, disassemble your Arcane Boots, sell the Energy Booster and upgrade the Boots of Speed to Power Treads.

After that, just get other neccesary items.

Gameplay

This section includes a normal game of Tiny

For those unappreciative guys that don't care to read, i have a TL;DR at the bottom of this section. WHY WOULDN'T YOU READ MY HARD WORK !? I love you tho <3

Early Game

Start off with your normal starting items. Go into mid and take 1 level in Avalanche as it does more damage on level 1 than Toss and it's a disable during which your teammates can hit the enemy/enemies if you get into a fight at the level 1 Bounty Rune. Do keep in mind that fighting there is unneccesary. If you end up taking a lot of damage you'll have to bring a Healing Salve with you if you didn't bring it already, and if you DID bring it, you'll start the lane with less regen that normal.

The midlane is so important for Tiny. And most of the time you should go there. He just needs those levels to be able to gank very very eary. Skill sequence is pretty standard. Max out Toss as its damage increases with Grow so you have maximum damage output from level 6 and onward.

At level 7, you'll have about enough damage, if you execute the combo well. After your standard items, pick up either Blink Dagger or Shadow Blade, and start the non-stop ganking. If you have Arcane Boots you will never need to go back to base, ever. And with clever Power Treads switching, you can save up a lot more mana. Pick those runes and fill up your mana. 240 Mana is the magic number for your Avalanche > Toss combo. If you want to kill, never have your mana lower than that.

TL;DR:

-Farm until level 7
-Then start ganking
-Farm up Blink Dagger or Shadow Blade
-Gank some more. It's so important.

Mid Game

At this stage, you've obtained your Blink Dagger or Shadow Blade. Keep roaming and ganking. Take those stacks if the supports made them for you. Then give 'em a nice "Well Played!". Often these hard camp stacks, if you stacked 6 groups, can net you about 500 gold! This is some nice progress towards your next item, which will pretty much always be Aghanim's Scepter.

If you get Aghanim's Scepter, start pushing and taking ancients. You are easily capable of doing so with the cleave ability. And the bonus damage to buildings is devastating for pushing. Start working towards your next items, often Assault Cuirass.

TL;DR

-Farm and gank more until you have Aghanim's Scepter
-Push once you have it
-Start working towards Late Game.

Late Game

Get the items which you (and your team) need. Shiva's Guard if someone else is already working on Assault Cuirass. Often, Blademail is a good alternative for Assault Cuirass. Attack Speed is important. Moon Shard is a great item for this. It also gives night vision so you'll have an advantage at night (except they have a Night Stalker with Aghanim's Scepter).

Keep pushing until there's nothing left to push. Coordinate the pushes with your team, take rax/megacreeps when you need to.

Remember. The game ain't over 'til it's over.

TL;DR

-Push Push Push
-Get more items (preferably good Late Game)
-Adapt those items to your team

When to pick

When can you pick Tiny, and when should you not?

You can pick him if:

-Your team still needs a hero occupying the Mid Lane
-You need a strong pusher against heavy late-game carries; e.g. Spectre.
-You need a strong early-mid game ganker
-You need good burst damage mid-game
-You need a decent disable like Avalanche
-They have strong melee carries like Juggernaut and Sven

If you want to know when NOT to pick, or atleast consider, check the Counters section.

Counters

For those that don't like going up agains Tiny, here's some good counters which'll make you reconsider picking him.

Anti Magic Damage

These heroes can easily screw up your Avalanche > Toss combo


Ember Spirit has an ability, Flame Guard, similar to Pipe of Insight so he can soak up a lot of damage you deal resulting in him living and getting the **** out of there with Fire Remnant

Medusa, Visage and Anti-Mage all have high magic/damage resistance, countering your combo. Anti-Mage can also melt your mana which you desperately need, and can quickly burst you down with Mana Break and Mana Void.

Ranged Carries

These heroes can easily chop away at you from a distance with your low armor, killing you with ease. They also ignore Craggy Exterior. A few examples go:

Outworld Devourer

Drow Ranger and Windranger both have high DPS and range, they often also have a disable ( Drow Ranger with Gust and Windranger with Shackleshot, leaving you unable to do **** without BKB.

Outworld Devourer deals pure damage which really hurst you, he also oblitterates you with Sanity's Eclipse because of your low Intelligence.

Weaver removes your already rubbish armor with Desolator and The Swarm. He's also very slippery which Tiny doesn't really like.

Other Counters (Items and Heroes)

These heroes can easily screw up your Avalanche > Toss combo


Necrophos can quickly pick you off with Reaper's Scythe, leaving you out of the teamfights which is devastating. He also is good at harassing in the Mid Lane with Death Pulse and Heartstopper Aura

Black King Bar is also pretty devastating. You won't be able to stun/damage an enemy with your abilities, leaving you to rightclick. The earlier they get it, the more devastating for poor Tiny.

Hexes like Lion, Shadow Shaman and Scythe of Vyse makes you extremely easy to kill.

Although Pipe of Insight is kind of a Late Game item, it counters your combo really hard with the Barrier ability and the extra magic resis.

Buddies of the Stone

These are some good friends of Tiny.

Wisp

Io the Wisp is so nice to have in the game. Global Ganking? Healing in mid lane so you don't have to invest in Bottle? Overcharge which helps him farm and fight? Sure man.

Other Supports

Dazzle is a Jack of all trades for you. Poison Touch slows damges and even stuns enemies for you so you can chop away at the poor souls with ease. Shallow Grave helps Tiny do a YOLO stunt with whatever. Shadow Wave keeps you alive, and Weave destroys enemy armor, making rightclicking EZ-PZ and increasing your terrible armor. I LOVE YOU Dazzle PICKERS.

Vengeful Spirit is also really good. Magic Missile stuns to get more damage in. Wave of Terror makes the enemy lose some armor so you can rightclick them down. And Vengeance Aura greatly increases your damage.

Crystal Maiden is mostly about Arcane Aura, completely solving any mana issues Tiny might have. Also, Frostbite is a long disable. I've already explained why that's nice.

Shadow Shaman, again, has lots of disables: Hex and Shackles. His Mass Serpent Wards, together with Tiny's Aghanim's Scepter make for a devastating pushing combo.

Blink Initiatiors

These heroes often require a Blink Dagger to do most of their initiation. If you get a Tiny with them, he can toss them so they can use their abilities. This is really fun if Earthshaker gets his Echo Slam early. Slardar also works with Tiny with his Amplify Damage. And Centaur Warrunner can Haste him for easy combos.

Attack Speed

These heroes give you attack speed so you can get those towers killed more quickly. Ogre Magi's Bloodlust also gives some nice movespeed. And on top of that, Beastmaster is in the meta right now. I didn't include Invoker for the sole reason of that he's also a mid hero. You can't have 2 mid laners man. You just can't.

Special Mentions

Magnus and Tiny go together really well. Empower gives you a lot more damage and an even bigger cleave, meaning you will chop everyone to pieces. And Reverse Polarity is also insane. Disables mean free time to beat everyone up!

Tips & Tricks

1) Harass the enemy with your high melee damage, this becomes even higher with Grow.
2) Remember the importance of farm, even as a ganker!
3) Practice your combo in offline lobbies or the Demo Hero tab.
4) Pushing is very important!
5) Look out for enemy wards when ganking. If you get Shadow Blade, this also means Sentry Wards

Conclusion

Well, that was a long *** guide to write

I hoped you like it man ;)

Give Tiny a chance, he's a really good hero to stomp with.
Also try out those fun hero comboes.

Any suggestions, questions or anything? Leave a comment.
I'll try to write more guides later.