Slark vs Tiny

How this matchup plays

Drafting Tiny into Slark is a bet on your ability to delete him before he can react. The main problem for Tiny is that his entire kill threat relies on the Avalanche and Toss combo landing perfectly. A decent Slark player can often time Dark Pact to purge the stun from Avalanche, allowing him to survive the initial burst and immediately turn the fight. Once Tiny has used his spells, he has very little left to offer. Slark can easily stick on him with Pounce and win any extended trade by stealing attributes with Essence Shift.

The matchup often hinges on timings. An early Blink Dagger on Tiny can be a huge problem for Slark, allowing Tiny to find pickoffs before Slark has the health or items to survive. As the game goes on, however, it gets progressively harder for Tiny. Once Slark has Shadow Dance, he can bait out the combo, survive, and then re-engage on a vulnerable target. At that point, Tiny has to rely on his team to provide follow-up lockdown, while Slark is actively looking to find and punish a lone Tiny.