- Tittle: Rocking!
- Author: Zephirdd
Pros:
- Excellent burst damage. Can easely show those stupid ballads fan that rock is way more awsome.
- Good STR and STR gain.
- Excellent anti-carry, especially melee's. Buld in anti perma-bash, to keep the groupies away.
- Good animation and base damage for last-hitting.
- Not much item dependant.
- Can clear creep waves fast.
- Good pushing ability, excellent with aghanim's.
- Best casting animation/backswing in game: 0.001/0, which is instant.
- Makes awsome music, wiht his tree
Cons:
- Worst agility ingame, and consequently, worst attack speed.
- Ultimate makes his weak-ass attack speed even slower.
- 0.3 base armor, making him very weak to harassment.
- Bad base movespeed, which is offset by ultimate.
- Really bad manapool for a caster hero. He's in need of some good muse to inspire him to make lots of music, though some mana does help.
- BKB shuts him down completly.
- Nearly useless alone without dagger.
- Without proper items, can't scale into lategame.
- No talent for singing not even a gazillion singing lessons can help him from that.
Pick Tiny when:
- Enemy heroes consist of squishy and/or melee heroes mostly.
- Your team requires a good ganker and burst damage dealer.
- Your team benefits somehow from Toss.
- Your team has AoE disables or long-lasting disables.
Do NOT pick Tiny when:
- There is N'aix or Silencer on the enemy team.
- Enemy heroes are most likely to rush a BKB.
- Your team can't follow your initiation up.
- Your team doesn't benefit well from avalanche or toss.
- Your team being stupid isn't a reason for not picking Tiny, just be sure their brain isn't as big as a nut. I mean seriously.
Skill Usage
Basic AoE disable, Avalanche is a very strong skill. It has a weird scalling - 100/180/260/300 damage, making it not worth skilling past 3 until Toss is maxed and Grow! is leveled. Costs 120 mana and has a 17 second cooldown at all levels.
- The skill's animation can fool some people. When using the skill, keep in mind it will stun with a little delay from when it was cast(usually 0.75 second, but it can vary) and that, although the animation is misleading, it will only stun on the area you targeted. This means it is possible that someone walks straight in the rocks direction but take no stun/damage, because they weren't on the targeted area.
- Also note that even though the game shows the area to be 200, you can stun people unders a radius of 275 around the target point, so the area is slightly wider than it looks like. This is useful when multi-targeting or chasing.
- All-in-all, you will use this skill for initiating and saving mostly. Remember it is AoE, so taking as much heroes as possible with it is useful.
Clearer image of the AoE and misleading animation
- A small note about it, when you Toss an unit when he is taking damage from Avalanche, Avalanche's damage will be doubled, which means it will deal 200/360/520/600 damage, plus Toss(and Grow!) damage, and that is what makes tiny a really deadly combo-whore.
- Long Story short: Whack the groupies with your rocks using this, but be sure to whack them twice by throwing them up and down.
Toss is probably one of the funniest skills in game, apart from Techies' mines. It has many uses: Free-blink dagger for allies, throwing people into mines, throwing people into cliffs, throwing people into your whole team, and most importantly: extremly high burst damage.
- It is leveled after Avalanche, but maxed first. Deals 75/150/225/300 damage and has a 120 mana cost and 10 second cooldown at all levels. Also, units that are tossed take some damage: 20% for allies or when you haven't leveled Grow!, 35%/50%/65%/80% for enemy units, depending on level of Grow!. See the table below for an accurate damage for each level of the skill and ultimate.
- Units can be thrown at up to 700/900/1100/1300 range, which is really, really long. Also, units that are magic immune can be thrown, as long as you target a non-magic immune unit. They won't take damage, however.
To have an idea, this is how long you can throw an unit
- Remember to combo it with Avalanche, so you double your avalanche damage. Also, since it has a cooldown lower than Avalanche, don't be afraid of using it when Avalanche is on cooldown.
- Small note about Toss, if you toss a unit nearby a tower, the tower will take a third of the AoE damage(25/50/75/100), so you can use it for pushing.
Damage Table
- Non-tossed means AoE damage the skill does when the target lands, 1/3 of value for towers.
- Values are for the total damage an unit will take when landing.
- Allies take only 15/30/45/60 damage regardless of Grow! level.
Long story short: Throw people in the air and that will make great sounds. Throw rocks into them while in the air, and the sounds will sound two times better. The bigger you are, the better the sound!
Anti-carry, defensive skill. It offsets your extremly weak armor, and also adds a (not mini) stun for those who try to kill you at low range.
- Some people prefer to level stats over it, or to at least delay it until a bit later in the game. It really depends on the oponent's lineup. If they have at least one hero who needs to attack at melee range, don't hesitate to level it up, as it will work really well as a counter.
- Long story short: If a guy is mad at you and tries to attack you close enough, he just ends up hitting himself.
Grow! is a really fun skill, and also a really hated skill by bad players. Besides making you big, it increases your base damage by a lot, but also greatly reduces your attack speed - which is already very poor due to your lack of agility. That makes your attacks more like nukes rather than attacks, which increases to your burst damage ability.
- Other effects include increasing your MS by 10 per level and the extra damage to tosed units by 15% per level.
- Grow! recently received an aghanim's upgrade. When you have aghanim's, you can now pick a tree so you can have a 50% cleaving damage or deal 3x damage to towers for three attacks, which transforms Tiny into an excellent pusher. Remember that you can clear creep waves with avalanche and toss, so hold the attacks for the tower. Warclub has a 30 second cooldown.
- Aghanim's also increases the damage dealt to tossed units by another 15%, which means toss can deal up to 555 magical damage to a tossed enemy, totalizing 1155 magical damage in a single combo to a unit, plus your normal base damage, which is usually enough to insta-gib most heroes in the game, or at least leave them on very deep low health.
- Long story short: You grow, and you don't need a girl. The bigger you are, the better sounds you make when throwing people, so this adds to your sound. Remember that you will drum stronger but slower.
Skill Build
- Level 1 - Avalanche
- Level 2 - Toss
- Level 3 - Avalanche
- Level 4 - Toss
- Level 5 - Avalanche
- Level 6 - Toss
- Level 7 - Toss
- Level 8 - Avalanche
- Level 9 - Grow!
- Level 10 - Craggy Exterior
- Level 11 - Grow!
- Level 12 - Craggy Exterior
- Level 13 - Craggy Exterior
- Level 14 - Craggy Exterior
- Level 15 - Stats
- Level 16 - Grow!
- Level 17+ - Stats
Tiny has an awesome music build, where you level your rocks ability until level 3. People don't really like the level 4 rocking since there isn't much difference from level 3, so you throw people farther instead of rocking more. In other words, you skill Avalanche until level 3, and then max Toss, to just after max Avalanche. Remember that there is no point in throwing people up if you can't beat them on something to make rhythm, so you still take Avalanche before Toss.
After you got your sound right, you can grow to beat harder. Even if your hands are slower, your music becomes that much more effective. Not only that, but the higher you are, the longer your steps are and the faster you walk. And as a finale, the bigger you are, the higher people go when you throw them. Some faggots complain about slow music, but these guys know SHIT about music: after you have set your rocking/tossing ability, go for the slower and stronger rhythm.
After becoming bigger, people will try to bash yo in yo head, and due to all your rocking, you are fragile. Craggy Exterior make people try to bash you, but they end up bashing themselves, which is incredibly fun. Never skip this, as it will keep the groupies away.
Item build
Early-game Core
The best rhythm comes in form of
Bottle,
Dagger,
Wand and either
Power Treads for a faster beating and volatility(aka. changing between STR and INT) or
Arcane Boots for a longer and consistent section of music, also your mana-dependent allies will like it.
Basically,
Bottle allows you to roam indefinitely, including with bottle-crow, and helps you greatly since you have such a low manapool.
Sometimes, you can take
Urn to keep your beating more constant, since every one who goes down to your music will grant you a charge for keep beating. Since you roam a lot, it can be taken if nobody else took it.
Luxury
After your basic stuff, anything you get is things for riches.
Situational/Extensions
Strategy
Early Game
Starting Items
- I have enough mana for the combo right at level 2
- Start with enough to have at least 4 extra inteligence, wether it's a circlet and two branches, four branches, a mantle and a branch, etc. They will give you enough mana to ava-toss right at level 2. Then add any combination of tangoes, salves or clarities and go to the lane. Buying a ring of protection will also help you sustain some of the harassment, and later you can upgrade it into a RoB. Buy chick when nobody else does it, you will need it. Buying wards isn't a good idea right on the beginning, let someone else do it, because you need those consumables and stat items.
Where should I Lane?
- Any lane goes well with tiny. You can solo mid lane, which is shorter than side lanes, or dual or even trilane on one of the sides. When dual laning or tri laning, be sure to have someone with a good disable, such as Lion, Rhasta, CM, Kunkka, etc...
- During lane, the only thing you will do is to last-hit. Should your ally initiate a fight, throw your avalanche and, if possible, toss your enemy. Try to stay away from harassment and creep agro as much as possible. If you need to harass your oponent, do it and right after a-click a creep that is not denyable, so the creeps stop agroing you.
- Buy boots and bottle as soon as possible. Once you're level 5 or 6, you can harass your oponents with avalanche and toss, just be sure to have enough regen for your mana, such as clarities or bottle.
- If you are solo mid, stay away and deny as much as possible, to keep your lane on your side. It's not uncommon for the enemy solo be really weak, so harass with avalanche from level 5 to give you some advantage over him. Rune-whore as much as possible, and if you get a good rune, such as haste, don't hesitate to gank a side lane - just be sure to do your combo and that allies will follow you.
Can I roam with Tiny?
- Yes, you are perfectly able to roam with Tiny. When roaming, though, remember to have your team buy chicken and wards, so you can get as much stats as possible from the base. Anything that gets you into 5 intelligence works fine, be it a Circlet + 3 branches or a Mantle + 2 branches. I, for myself, prefer to get a Mantle, 3 branches, a set of tangoes and fill up with clarities. You don't need to change the skill build at all.
- Roaming works better when you have a CM in your team.
- "Early Game" ends as soon as all heroes start roaming. Try to get a dagger by then, you will need it.
Mid Game
Gank as much as possible!
- Now that you have dagger, the only solely thing you should do is to gank. Gank. And gank. Go to side lanes and blink-combo your enemies to hell. Even if they don't die, they will be left with very little health so they will go back to base - just don't be greedy and don't follow them unless you are 100% sure you can kill them on the next toss. Toss has a 10s cooldown, so don't hesitate to use it once you can. Keep runewhoring and ganking as much as you can, while letting your carry farm.
- Carry a TP scroll ALL THE TIMES. ALL THE FUCKING TIMES. Should a gank come to your carry, teleport and try to save him. don't get creep waves when the carry is farming them. If needed, you can take a wave that may be going to the tower - as long as the carry can't take it. Whatever you do, just be sure to help your carry as much as possible, because you have a poor lategame.
Predict the game.
- Predict what will happen on the game, if you will need to counter-carry, or to be used as a bag of punches so your allies can kill your enemies. Most of the time, you will find that blademail is a really strong item for you, since you WILL be initiating, and that people will tend to focus you will their spells. Work on a hex if your team is lacking disables, or work on aghanim's if your team is lacking pushing power.
Initiate.
- If you initiate the battle, try to get their weakest hero with you using your combo. I mean that Lion, Rhasta or CM that needs to be dead as soon as possible so they can't disable your allies. You are very tanky, so blademail can help a lot on your initiation - wether it is to keep you alive for 4 seconds, or to make your enemies receive their own damage.
Late Game
- Get a higher level item. Hex, AC, Aghanim's, whatever you think your team needs. These will help you to scale into late game, even though you are very weak then.
- Save money for buybacks, because your disables and burst damage are extremly powerful, and your team needs it. Also, initiate and try to kill your enemies, and buyback to keep fighthing after the initiation, should you have died.
Boots of Travels are your friends!
If you have spare money, sell your boots and buy a BoT. They will enable you to have a global mobility power - which is very useful when fighting on their base - and also a better pushing power, should your team win a teamfight. They also free up a slot for your, so it is a really good item.
Scale into lategame!
If you can farm, build AC, Mjolnir, Tarrasque, whatever you can buy so you can semi-carry. You have a really high base damage, so don't hesitate to stack attackspeed. Mjolnir also provides a really good active for you, so it isn't wasted.
Stick together!
Don't stay alone in the map, always stick with an ally, so they can help you, or you can help them, should a gank come.
Finish ASAP!
Late game you have a smaller power than most of the heroes, simply because your combo isn't killing anymore. The sooner you finish the game, the better, so don't "prolong the game" by lurking around and not trying to finish it.
Key Points
Rush your Dagger.
People are half-ear-disabled, so you need to be close to them so they can hear your sound correctly. You can't do shit without the dagger.
Do the rhythm correctly!.
Whether you throw them up and then throw the rocks or viceversa, when you do that they will hear the beating much better.
Finish the game ASAP!
Good songs never last too long, and neither should yours. People become bored from long songs and yours start to become less effective when late game comes, so try to finish the game before people become too bored.
Use runes!
Haste rune for you is even stronger than DD, since it makes you position perfectly against your opponents.
You have a very high base damage, so DD is excellent for you.
Regeneration works very well for a ganker and tower diver like you.
Invisibility works like Haste, except you can only position yourself once.
Illusion is the worst rune for you, though it still is great for baiting and mind gaming. Or simply as a cover.
120 is the magic number, 240 is the super-magic!
Good songs take 2 minutes, excellent songs take 4 minutes. 120 mana is the cost for both your moves, so you keep checking your mana pool for these numbers.
Edited by basicdotaguide.blogspot.com
Edited by basicdotaguide.blogspot.com