Skill Usage

Avalanche
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
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	No Grow!	Grow! Lv 1	Grow! Lv 2	Grow! Lv 3	Grow! Lv 4(Aghanim's)
Level 1	75	90	101	112	124	135
Level 2	150	180	203	225	248	270
Level 3	225	270	304	338	371	405
Level 4	300	360	405	450	495	555

*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!


Craggy Exterior
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!
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

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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.

Wand is really a no-brainer: spell detection, cheap stats and burst heal. Perfect to keep your rhytm and surprise people.

Dagger can surprise people even more by making dance moves and jumping into them with your music, it should NEVER be skipped, since this is your main core for Tiny.

Power Treads increase your handspeed and allows you to mind-trick oponents with the switch between STR or INT. On the other hand, Arcane Boots increase your consistency with the mana pool increase. Go for PT in case your team is too dumb to carry, or Arcane in case your team is too dumb to have mana.

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.

Talismans are every musician's preferred accessory, and it also increases your stamina(mana pool).

Ring of Basillius makes your body stiffer and stronger, while also giving you energy for more beating. Really good item, and can even be used to smash towers, seeing how you can manipulate it to your creeps have it or not. Also, rings are cool accessories.

Soul Ring is a really awesome accessory due to its shininess. It also gives you energy for a last beat, although it makes you take the energy from your inner inside. It is a dangerous accessory, but you can use it if you know how to beat it well.


Luxury



After your basic stuff, anything you get is things for riches.

Scythe are always a great accessory for a rocker, and this one is no exception: it is so strong that actually turn people into real chicks. I mean, chickens. It also has the ability to make you keep beating for ever, so it is really useful. Remember: you are never wasting money when you build it.

Force Staff can also help you in your career, seeing how it increases your mana pool, and also can be really awesome, since it also makes people fly around. And you don't even need to be close to them, so you can use it to close your range to the peps that don't like you, or to run away when a massive crowd of haters comes to you. Very versatile.

Shiva's Guard is great since it has several uses, including making you even stiffer and also making you beat forever. Cheap and useful item, it can even be disassembled into Hex + AC.

Aghanim was a cool guy who had a nice rhytm. His Scepter is a really good think, with it you can use a FRIGGIN TREE as your drumstick. And it is a reaaaally big tree, so you will beat more than one guy at once, and even towers will feel three times the power of your beating. It is fragile though, breaking every three attacks. Point booster is a component of it and greatly increases both your hp and mana pool, so it is awesome.

Dagon is a nice item for fast rhythms, where you beat people in an instant, with a ZZHWAP. It also solves your mana problems, but is very expensive.

Blademail is an awesome item when people try to bash you when they don't like your music. It fixes the fact you don't have armor, and also make people regret focusing you. With 24 + 3.0 STR/Level, and your initiating nature, you are a perfect user for this. Spikes are also awesome for the visual. Make sure to use it against magic-based enemies, as Craggy Exterior can be used when dealing with hand-based fags.

AC gives you the ability to slap and rhythm faster, and also makes you very strong against physical bitches, as well as making you able to actually become one yourself. It is expensive, but worth it. Also greatly increases your pushing power.

Boots of Travel enables you to play and beat everywhere a creep is in the map, enough said.

Ancient Janggo of Endurance, the drums created by Janggo the drum god, makes you and everyone around you feel like you just take some sort of drug - except its legal - as well as giving you an increase in stamina - aka mana. If no one with you has it, you can get it.

Situational/Extensions




Eul was a great old-school rocker, who used a Scepter as his accessory of choice. His scepter fixes your problems with mana, and also make people fly for a long time in the air. Also, with a dagger, you can fly by yourself and then jump away from the enemies without a mistake on it. It also makes you walk faster.

Ghost Sceptre is a cool item for more goth rocking. Sometimes, people will try to bash you in your head physically, and your Craggy Exterior isn't enough, so you become a ghost and they can't do shit.

Ethereal Blade is an obvious upgrade for GS, which also amplifies your beating with 7.1 digital surround systems. Too bad it works only on one target, but they WILL feel it. Believe me.

BKB works well against those fags who will try to stop your rhytm from distance, although with a Blademail you will make them feel their own pain. Take it if you need to slap people more than beating them with rocks.

Heart makes you a kinder golem, and also greatly increases your HP. Good after taking another luxury, like AC.

Mjolnir and Satanic can't be used together, and are taken in case you need to slap people in the face - remember your hand is friggin' big. Be sure to take an AC before, for maximum power in your slaps.

Orchid Malevolence is a good color, and the staff is awsom for you. It gives you godlike manaregen, and also makes your hands faster - don't ask me why. Sometimes, people will try to scream when you are beating, and these peps are FRIGGIN' ANNOYING YO. So you just make them STFU and laugh at them. For maximum effectiveness, shut their mouth and then beat them.

Sange&Yasha, the twin blades, not only give some gore metal feeling for you with all the blood, but also makes you swifter and stronger in every sense. Useful when your team fails to have a carry, useful when you've been playing for a full hour and noone gave up yet, not useful when you just go straight for it. Can be used with Mjolnir, so it's a really good choice in case you can't live only out of pure rocks.

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.

Sniper is a really annoying solo versus a melee hero, especially when you are low-armored, so I harass him from distance


Even when not together, avalanche + toss nearly kills him.

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.

Luna has a DD!


Who cares.


Me and Viper gank Sven, but ES separates me from them.


Guess the outcome.

The carry farms, you protect him.
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.

Initiate, die, buyback.
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.

After spotting one of the enemies inside the jungle, I blink to initiate the fight, knowing my allies are nearby.


I die, but I still have a lot of money, and take Luna with me thanks to blademail.


The fight went badly, so I buy back myself to try to kill another one.


Revenge!

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.

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.

Hero Synergy

Tiny's skillset screams 'GANKER', therefore the best synergies are with gankers. Tiny also synergies better with some special cases.


Magnataur. This guy has an excellent rhythm to go with tiny, with his eletrized guitars and all. His Empower makes your drums even louder, even hitting more than one people at once, and Reverse Polarity pushes people together to go with Empower. With Aghanim's Sceptre and his Warclub ability, it is even better to smash people with the tree stick. Also, after people come back from the dizzyness of Magnus' eletric guitar, you just finish them with a drum's solo via Avalanche and Toss. Rampage.


Dark Seer is the drug dealer, and everybody loves him. A lot. He has a special excstasy called "Surge" which makes you run like a bitch, making it easier for you to beat the people. Ion Shell is a really smelling medicine, which is greatly effective against people that hate you. Vaccum is the awesome ability to call everyone into one place, and that gives you the perfect momentum for your music via Avalanche.


Not as powerful as the two above, Thrall for itself is an awesome hero.
He creates an energetic cage that traps people inside for them to hear you, and Glimpse bring these guys who didn't like your music back, so they really listen to you.


These guys have last-generation digital 9.1 speakers that will greatly amplify your song, which is very loud. If you thought your song was awesome before, wait until you play with these guys' help.


There is always a girl for every man. Rylai is the girl for every man. Remember when you had problems with continuing your sounds due to a low mana pool? She refreshes your manapool greatly. She can also freeze people in place so they listen to your music. When this girl is in your team, you don't really need to care about laning and can just go around beating people right at level 1.


The new guy in the area, Tuskarr is a really good ally for you as he can help you do what you do before you grab that Dagger.

Countering Tiny

Tiny's beating can be stopped in several ways:
Mana Breakers

You have a really low mana pool, and these heroes can just erase your mana pool in a matter of seconds. For example, magina needs two hits from his level 4 mana break to kill at least one part of your rhythm.
Countering: Soul Ring, Bottle, Wand, Arcane Boots are all your friends. Also, these heroes are mostly squishy and, with exception of Magina, you can try to beat them in one shot. Even if you can't, at least they heard your beating and put your mana into use, rather than having it burned. In the case of necrominion, you can try using Ghost Sceptre, which also works really nicely against Magina.

Silencers

Even if you can't talk, these guys make you STFU, so you cant even rock them! Avoid making your shows when they are around.
Countering: Black King's Bar is the best way to counter them, or Linken's Sphere in the case of Doom. Generally you want to avoid picking Tiny against these guys. You can also build an Orchid Malevolence and silence them before they silence you, seeing how it is a great counter for most of them. Also build a Hood of Defiance to support most of their magical damage.
In the case of Bloodseeker, you can try stacking attack speed, so he actually regrets silencing you. Works better if you build an Armlet of Mordiggan, seeing how the extra STR gets even more amplified.

Special Mention

Nortrom, the Silencer, and also known as the biggest mother-fucker of the game. He is a faggy that doesn't like to listen to music, so he stops your rhythm just AFTER you start it. Which means you can't make good sounds to rock him. Not just that, he also BURNS YOUR MANA, which means you can't make a sound at all. Oh, and he is such a fag and anti-music guy that stops ALL THE SOUNDS IN THE MAP. You want to beat someone and he stops you across the map. Awesome.
Countering: Focus him. When you rock and throw him around, he can't silence you. STAY AWAY FROM HIS LANE. And most importantly, kill the sh*t out of him. Most of the time you want to avoid fighting for the stage with him tho.

Too tanks/Magic Resistance

These guys will hear your music and think it isn't worth a shit, because they are so fat or whatsoever. These are the so called "critics", so you hate them.
Countering: Even though the critics keep annoying you, go for the people that actually hear your music, which is, the thinner people, they won't do much to you then. Spikes on your shoulders - Blademail - can also hurt them, since you by yourself are very big and fat already.

Magic Immunity

Magic Immunity, or Ear-Protectors, makes it impossible for you to play. Well, you play, but they don't listen to you. Usually these guys are as fat as the critic bastards, so they will be a problem for you.
Countering: The blond guy hates purging, so have your team get an Eredar or a Diffusal Blade against him.
Against BKB and N'aix, you will want to become a ghost. N'aix is purely physical based, so using a Ghost Sceptre is awesome against him, as there is only a .75s difference between his Ear Protectors(aka. Rage) and your Ghost Form. Even though you can do that, avoid going to stages when they have ear protectors or are most likely to use them via BKB, because you just won't be heard, and everyone knows how bad it is when you play and nobody listens to you.
Remember that even though they have ear protectors, you can still use them to beat on those who don't have, which means you can Toss them. They just won't listen, but the target surely will.

Anti-armor

Your rocks are of a high quality, and also quite fragile, and these guys will make them even more fragile physically, so you hate them.
Countering: Ghost Sceptre, nuff said. If they want to damage you physically, just become imune to them. Also Blademail will be really nice, seeing how they will be taking their own amplification. For more lulz, build a MoM with BMail to watch them kill themselves before they can say "oh hi!".

Anti-dagger

You are extremly dependant on dagger, and DoTs will fuck you up, simple as that.
Countering: BKB will make their DoTs useless. If you can't afford it, try making a Lothar's rather than a Dagger when facing these guys on the other team. It will be less effective than dagger, but at least will provide a way to get close to them unnoticed - provided they don't have sentries or gem. If the problem is escaping, build an Eul's and watch their DoTs be useless while you blink away with cyclone+dagger.