From time to time, while you’re playing Dota 2, you may hear a hero near you say something funny, this is called a taunt. In this guide, I’m going to enlighten you on Dota 2 taunts, and tell you how to use them.
Dota 2 – What is a Taunt and Why Do Players Use Them?
I figured I should start this guide off by explaining what a taunt is and why someone may use them. To be exact, a taunt is a cosmetic item for heroes. Just as you would imagine, when you use a taunt on your Hero, it will make them perform an animation in the game. Some players use the Taunt to tease or mock the enemy. I have noticed not every single Hero on Dota 2 has a taunt, but that is understandable because the Taunt is an animation that isn’t just tossed together and I get that it takes some time to create one.
Two Types of Taunts
In Dota 2, you’ll find two types of taunts. You have the autoplay Taunts and the manual play taunts. Back before the 2016 International compendium, a player could stand still and use a taunt, as you would do with a channeling process. However, after the 2015 International compendium, they updated the taunt possibilities. Now, it is possible for a player to use a taunt while they’re moving, teleporting, and casting a spell.
Taunts Have an 8-Second Cooldown.
Taunts have an 8-second cooldown. This means that a player cannot continuously spam those taunts (this can be annoying). Some players go for the autoplay taunts. This is a feature that dishes out an insult without any form of input.
There are various situations where an auto taunt can occur:
- Denying an allied Hero
- Denying a Rune before someone on the enemy team gets it.
- After the enemy team has been wiped
- After you made an epic escape with 15 % or less health using Boots of Travel or a Town Portal Scroll.
- After you tried to dive into a tower to eliminate an enemy and managed to escape with 15 percent or less health
Long story short, taunts are a great way to mock your enemy team. Taunts can create psychological advantages, and believe it or not; they do come in handy. There are times where a player will forget to use a taunt, and during these situations, the autoplay taunt can come in handy.
How to Get a Taunt from the Steam Store
If you take a look at the Steam store, you’ll find that every Dota 2 cosmetic can be purchased there. Yes, even taunts. You can get yourself a taunt without having to search for them. If you want to buy taunts, here are some step-by-step instructions for you to follow:
- Open up Dota 2
- If you take a look at the home screen, there will be a heroes option that is sitting next to that nice Dota 2 logo (notice how shiny it is).
- Go ahead and click on the Heroes option.
- Once you have clicked on the heroes option, you should be redirected to the heroes page. You will see every Hero here.
- Now, find your favorite Hero and click on him/her.
- Below your hero spells, you will notice the hero loadout pop up. You have six options available to you: trends, progression, stats, loadouts, about, and guides.
- You will want to click on the loadout option. Once you do this, all of the cosmetics for your chosen Hero will pop up.
- Look for the Taunt cosmetic for your Hero (if they have any taunts) and click on the price amount.
- You will be redirected to the Steam community market. Here, you will find taunt available at various prices.
- I’d select the lowest price for the Taunt. Once you have done this, just put in your payment details.
- After a couple of seconds, you will receive an on-screen notification of the Taunt you chose. When you check your inventory, you will find your Taunt.
Once you have purchase the Taunt for Dota 2, all you have to do is equip it, and you will be able to start using the Taunt while you’re playing that Hero in a game.
Dota 2 Heroes That Have Taunt
To save you some time, let’s see if your favorite Dota 2 hero has a taunt. Here are a list of all of the Dota 2 heroes who are capable of taunting:
- Anti-Mage
- Alchemist
- Axe
- Beastmaster
- Batrider
- Brewmaster
- Chaos Knight
- Centaur Warruner
- Clockwerk
- Clinkz
- Crystal Maiden
- Death Prophet
- Dark Willow
- Enigma
- Earth Spirit
- Faceless Void
- Gyrocopter
- Grimstroke
- Invoker
- Juggernaut
- Jakiro
- Kunkka
- Leshrac
- Legion Commander
- Lich
- Lina
- Lion
- Lifestealer
- Luna
- Mirana
- Magnus
- Monkey King
- Nature’s Prophet
- Omniknight
- Phoenix
- Phantom Assassin
- Pangolier
- Pudge
- Pugna
- Rubick
- Riki
- Shadow Shaman
- Shadow Fiend
- Slardar
- Slark
- Skywrath Mage
- Sniper
- Storm Spirit
- Spirit Breaker
- Tidehunter
- Tiny
- Technies
- Tusk
- Troll Warlord
- Undying
- Ursa
- Venomancer
- Vengeful Spirit
- Windranger
- Weaver
- Wraith King
- Witch Doctor
- Zeus
As you see, from this list, not all of the Dota 2 heroes have the taunt feature, but a good bit of them do.
Using the Dota 2 Battlepass to Obtain Free Taunts
Battle Pass is exciting and a new one pops up every years – this is how you can obtain unusual treasures, items, roulettes, and yes, even taunts. In fact, by increasing your level of Battle Pass, you can get some awesome Dota 2 taunts.
Unfortunately, the battle pass isn’t free (I can’t think of any game that gives a free battle pass, not even Fortnite). Fortunately, the battle pass doesn’t cost much at all – it is only $9.99 and let me tell you, it’s well worth it. You will receive taunts as you increase your level in the Battle Pass.
On the Battle Pass, you can reach level 80 to 105, and that is without spending any additional money to level up. During your journey in the Dota 2 Battle Pass, you can count on receiving a lot of roulettes, items, and taunts.
Here are the taunts you can receive with the Dota 2 Battle Pass:
For example, the taunts are as follow:
- Level 4 – Slardar’s Taunt (Flopper)
- Level 16 – Ancient Apparition’s Taunt (Cold-Hearted)
- Level 54 – Beast Master’s Taunt (Beast Master)
- Level 86 – Earth Spirit’s Taunt ( Dirt Surfer)
From the international Battle Pass, you can receive those taunts, free of charge. However, if you plan on putting some money towards the Battle Pas, there are a lot of unusual taunts you can get and this includes:
- Level 144 – Tiny’s Taunt (Rolling Stone)
- Level 192 – Shaman’s Taunt (Shaman Dance
- Level 210 – Legion Commander’s Taunt (Fearless Cadence)
- Level 277 – Chaos Knight’s Taunt (Orderly Chaos)
- Level 332 -Grim Stroke’s Taunt (Harsh Critique
- Level 367 – Lich’s Taunt (Ice Cold Baller)
- Level 442 – Antimage’s Taunt (Bring it On)
Is it Normal for Professional Dota 2 Players to Use Taunt?
Of course, you will find professional players using taunts and I wouldn’t’ see why they shouldn’t – this is a great way to create humor in some serious situations. Take Dendi as an example, this is a professional player that has a tendency to use taunts in some pretty intense situations. I noticed Dendi will usually use a taunt after he lands a perfect hook – the thing with him, he never misses a hook.
Many times, heroes will de during a taunt. This is because the Taunt has a psychological impact and it causes the player to let their guard down because their focus is entirely on the Taunt.
Conclusion
Go ahead and look for your favorite taunts – having a good amount of cosmetics can help improve the worth of your account. Just remember, you don’t always have to use those Dota 2 taunts to mock your enemies – you can also use them for fun, as a way to make people laugh and sometimes, this is priceless.
