How to activate and use Taunts in Dota 2 (Step-By-Step)

A taunt in Dota 2 essentially allows your hero to perform a fun in game actions or dance while you are in a Dota 2 match. The taunt is by no means a pay-to-win cosmetic item, but it just allows players to have a good time in the game. However, players can make use of hero taunts to tilt enemies in different situations and win the mental game. But first, you'll need to know how you can use them in the first place.

How To Use Taunts Manually

To manually activate hero taunts, you will need to equip the taunt and bind the taunt hotkey with a comfortable key. In this section of the article, we'll tell you the complete step-by-step guide on how you can manually use taunts as in game actions!

Equipping the Taunt

To use taunts on certain heroes, you'll first need the taunt cosmetic item inside your Steam inventory. Taunts can be obtained through purchasing them from the Steam Community Market, or can be received from Battle Pass rewards. Once you have the taunt item ready, the next step is to equip it.

To equip your taunt, simply go to your Heroes tab and select the Hero you're looking to equip your taunt on.

Under the Loadout, you'll notice an item slot for the Taunt. Simply click on it and select the taunt you'd like to use.

How to Setup the Taunt Hotkey in Dota 2

Once you've equipped the taunt successfully, the next step to using it manually is to set a key bind to the taunt hotkey. To set the key bind, follow the steps below!

1. Launch Dota 2, then click on the gear icon to open your Settings.
2. By default, the Hotkeys tab will be opened first.
3. Then, click on Advanced Hotkeys to open the advanced hotkey settings.
4. Under Unit Actions, look for the hotkey that says "Taunt Item"
5. Set the hotkey to whatever key you find comfortable.

Once you've set the bind, you will be good to go! All you need to do now is to load into a Dota 2 game as a hero with a taunt equipped, then hit the hotkey.

Keep in mind that taunts will have a cooldown when you're in game. You can only taunt twice every minute, so you won't be able to spam dancing taunts as much as you'd like. However, through different scenarios, the game itself will automatically make your hero taunt without you needed to click the hotkey. Check out when this happens below!

Automatic Taunts

When certain scenarios happen in a game, the taunt will play automatically, assuming that you have the taunt item equipped. Here are the six situations where you can automatically taunt in Dota 2.

TPing Out With Low Health

If you use a Town Portal Scroll when you're at 15% HP or below, then the game will make your hero taunt on its own. Using a Boots of Travel will also count as it does a similar job as the Town Portal Scroll. However, you can still taunt while channeling your Town Portal Scroll without being low health by simply clicking on the TP Scroll hotkey.

Diving a Tower and Killing an Enemy While Surviving Below 15% HP

If you kill an enemy hero under any of their team's tower and survive at 15% HP or below, then your hero will again autoplay taunts. 

Contributing to an Enemy Teamwipe

If you participate in a team fight where you and your team completely kills off all five heroes, then your hero will perform a taunt assuming that you are still alive and that you helped with the enemy teamwipe. However, if an enemy hero dies and buys back as all of their teammates die, then the taunt won't play automatically since it won't count as an enemy teamwipe as there is an enemy hero still alive.

Denying Runes

Denying any rune, including all power runes and bounty runes will make your hero taunt for you. 

Denying an Ally Hero

If your teammate is ticking down to spells such as Venomancer's Venomous Gale, or Queen of Pain's Shadow Strike, you will be able to deny your ally hero if they're below a certain threshold. If you successfully deny your ally hero, preventing the kill from going to an enemy, then your hero will do a taunt.  

Killing Enemy Courier

The last way to autoplay taunts is to kill off an enemy courier. Using spells such as Culling Blade or just attacking an enemy courier to kill it will make your hero taunt automatically.

And that's all you need to know about how to manually and automatically perform a very entertaining animation in a game of Dota 2! Make sure to browse through all the taunts to find some of the funniest ones that you should get. If you excessively taunt, then you might just be able to break the enemy's mental game, so use your taunts well! If you're looking for more How To's in Dota 2, check out our articles on how to disable auto attack and how to disable help from other players!