Tiny is one of the most popular heroes in Dota 2 esports. He is usually played as a safe lane core, although can also be quite effective in the mid lane. He has a very strong early game nuke combo from Avalanche and Toss and scales quite well into the late game through Tree Grab and Grow.

He is unique in that he has no agility or armor gain, which means that he relies on armor and agility items to increase his attack speed and tankiness. Grow provides some armor, although it further reduces his attack speed.

His skill build usually involves maxing his 2 nukes, although if you are in a passive game where you don’t get many chances for kills, you can max Tree Grab first or secondly to allow you to clear creep-waves and jungle camps more quickly.

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What Items to Build on Tiny

Starting Items

• Stout Shield
• Tango
• Healing Salve
• Iron Branch
• Enchanted Mango

Early Game Items

• Power Treads
• Soul Ring
• Magic Wand
• Ring of Aquila
• Drum of Endurance

Mid Game Items

• Shadow Blade
• Blink Dagger
• Echo Sabre
• Sange and Yasha

Late Game Items

• Assault Cuirass
• Monkey King Bar
• Butterfly
• Daedalus
• Moon Shard
• Heart of Tarrasque

Situational Items

• Manta Style
• Black King Bar
• Silver Edge
• Bloodthorn

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Skill Build

1. Tree Grab
2. Avalanche
3. Toss
4. Toss
5. Toss
6. Grow
7. Toss
8. Avalanche
9. Avalanche
10. Talent
11. Avalanche
12. Grow
13. Tree Grab
14. Tree Grab
15. Talent
16. Tree Grab
17. –
18. Grow

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Spell guide

Avalanche

Tiny causes an avalanche in an area around the direction of cast, stunning and damaging all enemies for 1 second and dealing its damage over this duration. If an enemy is affected by Toss, this spell deals double damage per damage tick. This spell is usually maxed after Toss because the two nuking spells grant him a lot of kill potential in the early and mid game. It is also slightly less useful than Toss, which is why it is often prioritized less. It does more damage at level 1 than Toss does however, and is usually stronger against multiple enemies as it also stuns them.

Toss

Tiny grabs the nearest target and throws them at the target. Tiny can grab an ally or enemy and equally throw them to an ally or enemy. This spell deals no damage to allies, and deals an extra 20% damage to enemy heroes. If a building is in the impact AoE attack of Toss, it will take 33% of the original damage. Toss is usually maxed firstly because it deals more damage to a single target. You can use this spell in a number of ways, for instance pushing towers, throwing an ally to an enemy that can initiate or get a kill, throwing enemies underneath your tower, disrupting teleports, etc. You can even Toss your allies to a rune in the rare situation where you are racing enemies to a rune.

Tree Grab

Tiny grabs the selected tree and uses it to attack with for his next 5 attacks or until Tree Throw is used. The tree grants a number of bonus effects including a splash attack, bonus damage to enemies and buildings and increases his attack range. It also grants the ability Tree Throw. This spell is usually maxed lastly because it scales with your damage, and usually the nuke combo is much stronger in the early and mid game. You can prioritize it a bit earlier if you expect to be very passive or if you need to just farm a bit more in the mid game, as the splash damage and bonus damage rapidly increase your farm rate. Dying will cancel Tree Grab.

Tree Grab does not increase the damage from raw damage items such as Divine Rapier, which makes these kinds of items a bit less effective on Tiny, and makes attribute items more desirable. Tree Grab is very effective against buildings and should be used whenever taking a tower.

Tree Throw

Tree Throw is an ability which becomes active during Tree Grab. Tiny uses the last charge of Tree Grab to throw his tree a maximum distance of 1300 units. It deals 100% of Tiny’s damage as well as the bonus damage from Tree Grab in splash damage around the target. Tree Throw can be cast on the ground as well and will travel the full distance, colliding with the first unit it encounters. It provides a small amount of flying vision in the area around the projectile and upon impact. It’s often very effective to use this spell to finish off a fleeing enemy or immediately after you have used the 4th charge of Tree Grab. Doing so effectively removes the delay from the attack animation which he would otherwise incur.

Grow

With each level in Grow, Tiny gains bonus attack damage, status resistance and armor at the cost of attack speed. The bonus damage does not count as raw damage, which means that it is affected by the bonus damage from Tree Grab and is applied to illusions as well. The increased status resistance allows him to chase and escape enemies a lot easier than most other heroes. This means that you can be quite aggressive with Tiny in general, as he is more likely to survive against disables from the enemy team.

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Talents

Level 10: +20% Magic Resistance or +30 Damage

If the enemy team has an excessive amount of magical damage, or if you already have enough damage output on your team and only need to tank up, then the extra magic resistance can be very good. Otherwise, the extra damage is a very strong talent, as it will help you to farm a lot faster and deal more DPS in team-fights, allowing you to climb the Dota 2 ranks quickly.

Level 15: +350 Health or +125 Avalanche Damage

If there are heroes on the enemy team which you need to quickly burst down, then the avalanche damage can be very good, as it deals double damage to enemies under the effects of Toss. Otherwise, the extra Health is almost always preferred. This is because it helps you to stay alive during team-fights or ganks, which is incredibly important for a melee strength carry hero like Tiny. Tiny also suffers from relatively low armor, and having a bit more HP helps to mitigate this.

Level 20: -7s Tree Grab CD or Toss Requires No Target

The reduced Tree Grab cooldown should almost always be taken at level 20. This is because it reduces the cooldown of the spell which makes you deal a massive amount of damage to enemies in team-fights and which makes you a viable late game carry by more than 50%. It helps you to farm a lot faster and the alternative will not help you to carry as much as former option will. Toss requiring no target can potentially be good if you are facing a lineup which is very hard to lockdown and are managing to evade your team consistently in team-fights and if you already can deal enough damage in team-fights. This is because you would hypothetically be able to chase them down a bit more easily, but even then the reduced Tree Grab cooldown arguably scales better anyway.

Level 25: -12s Avalanche Cooldown or 3 Toss Charges

In most situations the 3 Toss charges is a more preferred option since it grants you a lot more utility than the spell otherwise provides. It also makes chasing enemies down and escaping them a lot easier. The reduced avalanche cooldown can be good if you are facing illusion heroes or if you need more disables on your team. The Toss charges also allows you to burst down and control enemies a lot easier as well, as they cannot move while they are in the air. Lastly, it will also help you to take towers a lot quicker, as you can Toss any unit near a tower to deal a lot of damage to it, although in the late game, your auto-attacks may deal more damage than Toss anyway.

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How Items Impact Tiny’s Gameplay

Starting Items

• Stout Shield
• Tango
• Healing Salve
• Iron Branch
• Enchanted Mango

Tiny’s starting items are very straightforward, and there isn’t much space for adjustment. In almost all cases, you will want a Stout Shield. It’s a very cheap item which will go a long way in tanking up a melee strength hero like Tiny. There’s an argue for getting it in every single game because it helps you to farm against jungle creeps and tank up more right-clicks during the laning phase and any ganks.

A Healing Salve and Tango usually provide adequate regeneration for both the mid and safe lane, although you may get a bottle if you are taking a lot of harass in the mid lane. A Mango is very good on Tiny because it helps to assure that he always has mana for at least one of his spells, if not the full combo. This is important because a full combo is key to getting kills in the early and mid game. The Mango can also be built into a Magic Wand if left unused.

Early Game Items

Power Treads

Power Treads are usually the preferred boots on Tiny because they provide strength and attack speed, which are both very important for Tiny. This is because it gives you a bit more damage, HP and will increase your DPS which will help Tiny to deal more damage with his right-clicks. You can also swap them to intelligence before you use your Avalanche + Toss combo to help preserve your mana.

Soul Ring

A Soul Ring can be a good item on Tiny if you find that you are casting a lot of spells and being aggressive in the early game. It can also be used to help you farm jungle camps a lot more quickly as you will be able to use Avalanche or Toss or creep-camps.

Magic Wand

A Magic Wand can be a strong early game item on Tiny, especially if you are in a very active lane, either aggressive or defensive. This is because it will be able to gain several charges quickly, which may occasionally give you enough burst mana to allow you get a combo off, potentially scoring a kill.

Ring of Aquila

A Ring of Aquila is a great item on Tiny, mainly because of the armor and mana regeneration it provides. Tiny doesn’t gain any agility per level, which also means he doesn’t naturally gain armor. In addition to this, his base armor is 0, and it is only increased when leveling Grow. A Ring of Aquila will give you a few more points of armor which will make you a bit less vulnerable to right clicks in the early game. The mana regeneration it provides will also help to keep your mana-pool topped up when passively farming, so that you can contribute to fights when they break out. The extr agility and damage will also increase your DPS a bit as well.

Drum of Endurance

A Drum of Endurance can be a strong item on Tiny because it provides more mana regeneration than a Wraith Band, which helps to sustain his mana-pool, and it also provides some decent early game stats. It provides a bit more strength and movement speed and, when activated, provides an attack speed and movement speed increased. This helps him to close the gap on enemies to land a combo more easily, and also helps his allies to win team-fights in the early game and take towers a bit more quickly.

Mid Game Items

Shadow Blade

A Shadow Blade is a great item on Tiny because it turns him into a very strong mid game ganker. With Toss and Avalanche maxed, Tiny is capable of solo-killing most heroes, especially squishy supports. A Shadow Blade allows Tiny to gank side lanes where a carry may be farming and kill them, especially if he has any help from an ally. It also allows him to take control of the enemy jungle, killing any carries that attempt to farm and any supports that are trying to ward. Lastly, you can use it re-position yourself in team-fights very easily after using your combo on a hero, without putting yourself at as big of a risk. The damage and attack speed also helps Tiny a lot, because he relies quite a lot on his right-clicks.

Blink Dagger

A Blink Dagger is an alternative to Shadow Blade. It allows you to close the gap on enemies a bit more easily than a Shadow Blade does. It may be preferred over a Shadow Blade if you don’t expect to be doing as much ganking as you might with the invisibility, which my be the case if you are unable to establish map control or if you are quite behind. It’s also usually better than a Shadow Blade if you are playing against very mobile heroes that may be hard to chase or lockdown. Some of the best Dota 2 players prefer using this item.

Echo Sabre

An Echo Sabre is a very strong item on Tiny because it provides a massive increase to his DPS and a lot of great stats. It grants him a lot of intelligence and mana regeneration which helps to sustain his mana, and also a lot of damage, strength and attack speed to increase his DPS. The passive ability allows him to attack twice in rapid succession and adds even more damage potential to his Toss and Avalanche combo, by following up with 2 very highly damaging right-clicks. Overall, an Echo Sabre is a great mid game item on Tiny and can be very good to get if you don’t need bigger items for the late game.

Sange and Yasha

A Sange and yasha provides Tiny with a lot of mid game stats, all of which benefit him. Yasha grants him movement speed, attack speed and agility which helps him to get in range of enemies to cast his combo. It also increase his DPS and armor, both of which Tiny struggles with a lot. The Sange grants more strength, damage and Maim, allowing him to chase down enemies more easily and further increasing his damage and HP.

Late Game Items

Assault Cuirass

Assault Cuirass is somewhat of a core late game item on Tiny because it grants him a number of great buffs. Firstly, it massively increases Tiny’s armor value, which is very low without many agility items. Secondly, it decreases the armor of all nearby enemies, which makes your splash attacks deal more damage to enemies affected by Tree Grab and Tree Throw. The minus armor aura also allows you to tear through towers and buildings a lot more quickly, and the lastly the increased attack speed increases your DPS by a large amount. The armor buff aura to his team is also quite nice against lineups with lots of physical damage as well.

Monkey King Bar

A Monkey King Bar gives Tiny a massive boost to his attack speed, further increasing his damage output and also granting him a large amount of accuracy. This is very helpful against heroes with evasion and is almost always a great late game item.

Butterfly

Although Tiny is not an agility hero, he greatly benefits from having a Butterfly. It provides a massive increase to his attack speed and a lot of damage, which is very valuable to Tiny. The agility will also increase his armor by several points, and the evasion will tank him up against all physical damage which is very strong against heroes who don’t usually buy, or don’t have an MKB. The active will also help him to position himself for his Avalanche and Toss combo as well as to chase enemies down or escape more eaisly.

Daedalus

A Daedalus can be a strong late game item if you just need more damage output. It’s mainly strong because it allows you to splash your crits when you have activated Tree Grab.

Moon Shard

A Moon Shard is a strong late game item on Tiny because it grants a massive boost to his attack speed. Tiny has no agility gain, and Grow reduces his attack speed, which means that he has very low attack speed, and Moon Shard helps to mitigate this. Tiny is one of the heroes who can often justify having a Moon Shard in his inventory, because of his highly-damaging right-clicks. It should be consumed when you need more inventory space.

Heart of Tarrasque

A Heart of Tarrasque can be a great late game item on Tiny if you need to tank up more. It provides a massive 1300 health increase to his HP pool, partly from an extra 40 strength. This grants him additional damage as well as a slight increase to his status resistance, which stacks nicely with the status resistance from Grow. With level 3 Grow and a Heart of Tarrasque alone, you would have 46% status resistance, before any base stats or other items. You should mainly only ever get this item if you are taking heavy damage, or if you need to be able to heal up during long fights so that you can go back in and keep fighting.

Situational Items

Manta Style

A Manta Style grants tiny a large increase to agility as well as all other stats and his movement speed. This helps him to keep his armor value high as well as increasing his DPS output. The active ability grants 2 illusions which hit very hard, especially to buildings and the self purge also helps you to survive against several debuffs that may make you easier to kite, kill or escape. However, Manta Style illusions do not benefit from any of the stats provided druing Tree Grab if spawned while it is active. Overall, it’s a very strong item on Tiny if you are facing debuffs that may cause problems for you. For example, slows or minus armor spells/items are very effective against Tiny.

Black King Bar

A Black King Bar helps Tiny to not get burst down at any point in team-fights by highly damaging magical damage spells, and is also very strong against lineups with lots of disables. It grants Tiny a fair amount of strength and damage, and is quite often necessary against some of the hardest Dota 2 heroes or lineups.

Silver Edge

A Silver Edge can be a very strong upgrade to Shadow Blade if you are facing one or more heroes with very strong passives that make them hard to deal with. It grants a lot of extra stats, including strength and agility which is helpful for Tiny, especially as he needs more agility to increase his armor. The Break is very strong against heroes like Bristleback or Medusa, although if it’s not particularly needed, it’s usually better to get a different item that will have a bigger impact in the mid game.

Bloodthorn

A Bloodthorn is a relatively situational item on Tiny. It grants him a massive increase to his intelligence and mana regeneration which isn’t important for Tiny, although it does help him to keep casting Avalanche and Toss combos. The active ability grants him True-strike and a guaranteed crit chance which can be very strong against heroes which you need to burst down, or if you don’t have enough damage as it is. The ability to silence enemies is also very strong against enemies who are otherwise hard to lockdown.

Overall, it’s a very situational item, because if you need more damage, then a Daedalus or perhaps a Butterfly are usually better alternatives, and if you need accuracy, then an MKB is usually a better option. However, it can be good if you can utilize all aspects of the item, including the true-strike, silence and DPS increase. It is also less effective against enemies with lots of dispels.

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Match-ups

Spells with short cast ranges

Any ally of Tiny with a spell which has a very short cast range usually relies on either Blink Dagger or a Shadow Blade. Typical examples of this may include heroes like Pudge, Slardar or Legion Commander. However, Toss largely mitigates the need for these items which is particularly strong in the early game and laning phase, before enemies are able to buy defensive items. You can either Toss allies in to enemies or Toss enemies to your ally who has the follow-up spell ready.

Beastmaster

Beastmaster’s Hawk has an interesting interaction with Toss, in that you can Toss enemies to it. This means that you can have your Beastmaster’s Hawk sat perched on top of one of the cliffs, while you get close enough to an enemy to Toss them to it. If you manage to do this before the flying courier spawns, then they will be stuck for several minutes, and if you do it in the mid or late game, it usually guarantees a kill.

Enchantress

Enchantress is quite strong against Tiny after she has maxed Untouchable, at least in the early game. Due to Grow and 0 agility gain, Tiny suffers from incredibly low attack speed in the early and mid game. This makes it almost impossible for him to attack her until he has some attack speed and agility items. Avalanche and Toss can deal a great deal of damage to her, especially given how low her HP pool is. However, if she has additional magic resistance, she may survive long enough to heal up and kite you around.

Minus armor

Tiny has no armor gain and no agility gain, which means he has very low armor for most of the game. This is the reason why armor and agility items are strong on him, although it also means that he is very vulnerable to enemies with strong minus armor spells or items. Consider buying a Manta Style or BKB to purge debuffs and to help keep you alive.

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