Tiny

I have talked about several heroes in the past months, but Tiny has always been neglected. Today, I will make a good use of his position in the tiers for a proper explanation.

Strong and versatile laning phase

With 875 HP at level 1 he can withstand a lot of damage. The big health pool works especially well against magic users while physical harasser might have an easier time due to the 0 starting armor.

He possesses a very high 74-80 attack damage with which he can get last hits and denies consistently. Moreover, he can even secure last hits from a distance thanks to Tree Throw.

I saw him played the most in the mid lane, but thanks to the dual lane meta he is a viable hero on literally any position. Being an open pick is crucial in the pro meta, and it is one of the reasons behind his popularity. Usually, pro players select him during the first phase because of his adaptability to any lane; you can pick him and still give almost no info on your game plan to the opponent team.

He also works particularly well versus certain meta heroes, such as Broodmother: she can’t use her spiderlings at all versus Tiny due to his massive AoE damage.

Laning stage nerf in 7.19b

Increased Avalanche cooldown from 20/19/18/17 to 23/21/19/17.

Increased Tree Grab mana cost from 20/30/40/50 to 50 on each level.

Recently, IceFrog tried to reduce Tiny’s effectiveness during the laning stage. Increasing the cooldown of Avalanche isn’t a big deal as this is the first ability you want to max out, but the increased mana cost of Tree Grab can be problematic. Players used to spend only a single point into it and use the skill almost permanently due to the low 20 mana cost.

Tiny has a 279 mana pool at level one, so 50 mana during the laning stage is a huge deal that obstructs the use of his skills. He certainly requires some mana regeneration to sustain his aggressive game play - a few Clarity Potions or Enchanted mangoes are a must in the early and mid game.

One-shot combo and mid game dominance

Tiny can annihilate many popular squishy heroes of the meta (such as Silencer, Drow, and Pugna) with the Avalanche + Toss combo. It is even stronger in a dual lane as you can coordinate with your support for more burst damage.

Since the introduction of the Tree Grab ability, there are extra steps in the combo: a few auto-attacks enhanced by Tree Grab’s damage bonus, and finally Tree Throw once the opponent is outside your attack range.