Tiny

Tiny the Stone Giant is a melee Strength hero with powerful ganking and killing potential. Although he starts off vulnerable in lane with his pitiful mana pool and almost non-existent armor, with a few levels, he gets considerably stronger. His killing power in the early and midgame comes from comboing his two active abilities. Avalanche engulfs an area in a wave of stones, dealing respectable damage and stunning enemies. Toss allows Tiny to pick up a random unit near himself and launch it at the designated location, dealing damage to all enemies at the location as well as additional damage to the thrown unit if an enemy. It can be used to displace an ally within the enemy team, but is mostly used on enemies themselves to deliver massive damage. If chained immediately with Avalanche, it will also double the damage the target takes from Avalanche, allowing Tiny to easily dispatch fragile enemy heroes in a matter of seconds. Although his nuking potential with his two active abilities is already considerable, his passives, Craggy Exterior and Grow turn Tiny into a formidable physical combatant as well. Craggy Exterior provides Tiny with some much needed armor, and gives him a chance to stun enemies that attack him from too close, making Tiny a potent counter to fast-attacking melee heroes. Grow increases Tiny's size and provides him a massive boost to his attack damage, movespeed, and Toss damage, at the cost of some attack speed. Aghanim's Scepter is an almost essential item on Tiny since it allows him to permanently equip a tree, giving him extra attack range as well as a powerful cleaving attack. Although Tiny initially lives up to his name by starting off small and weak, much like an avalanche, he quickly grows in size and strength until he becomes a hulking behemoth with enormous health and damage output.

Tips

 * Using Avalanche and then tossing an enemy hero into the avalanche allows the avalanche to damage the target twice. This effect also occurs if you reverse the order by using Toss and then Avalanche. However, it is more difficult to time if Toss is used first, as the Avalanche animation may finish before or start after the tossed enemy hits the ground, resulting in less damage being dealt.


 * While Craggy Exterior does alleviate Tiny's lack of armor, waiting until Avalanche and Toss are maxed to put your first point into it greatly increases Tiny's killing potential and farming potential.
 * Early game, tossing an allied initiator such as Slardar, Earthshaker or Tidehunter at foes can set their skills up perfectly.
 * However, tossing team mates can potentially be devastating. When facing enemy heroes such as a Clockwerk with cogs will likely result in serious damage or death to your team mate. As such, a player must use his discretion when utilising Toss
 * Grow gives Tiny the highest natural attack damage in the game, at the cost of degraded attack speed. If Tiny gets a good standing during the middle phase, Tiny can be equipped with attack speed items to increase its already dangerous power (such as Mask of Madness).
 * Tiny teams up particularly well with Io, due to Io's attack speed boost and ultimate both being of great use to Tiny.
 * Toss will throw a unit regardless of it being magic immune or not (excluding Ancient creeps). Sometimes you can use Toss to interrupt channeling spells being performed by magic immune heroes such as Sand King's Epicenter.
 * An alternative build to the Blink Dagger approach is to rush a Shadow Blade. The Shadow Blade grants attack speed and some Damage. The invisible ability allows him to position more effectively, while the attack speed synergizes with Grow and allows it to be purchased earlier. This often combos into the Aghanim's Scepter pickup.

Trivia

 * Tiny's quote "Tiny Smash!" is a reference to Hulk, a well-known superhero from the Marvel universe.
 * Tiny's quote as he spawns "Between a Rock and a dead place." is a reference to Aron Ralston's book, "Between a rock and a hard place".
 * Tiny's death quote "Stone cold..." references a professional WWE Superstar Stone Cold Steve Austin.