Answer depth, Short answers and look-ups
Normal, Deep or Thorough#
The Normal · Deep · Thorough control under the chat box sets how much work goes into each answer. Normal is quick, and switches to the stronger model where it matters most: patch questions, General chats, and questions the game's guide has nothing on. Deep uses the stronger model on every question, for fewer mistakes. Thorough is like Deep and checks more sources before it answers, so you wait longer for a fuller answer. Hover a stop to see roughly how much of your allowance it uses and how soon the first words appear. The same choice is in the in-game chat (the bars button) and in Settings → Chat → "Answer depth".
What answer depth doesn't change#
Answer depth applies to the questions you type or speak in the chat. Screenshots, Area Capture, Last Scene, the game widgets (like the Dota 2 widget) and party chat answer the same way on every stop. Short answers and read-aloud work with all three stops: a Thorough answer read aloud is still a short spoken answer, it just checks more before it speaks.
Answer depth and your allowance#
Deeper answers use more of your chat allowance. Deep uses roughly two to three times what a Normal answer does, and a Thorough answer can use up to about 5 to 12 times as much, because it searches more and writes more. Normal makes your allowance last longest. When your chat allowance is past 80 % on Deep or Thorough, the allowance line and the notice show what each answer on that stop uses, so you can switch back to Normal if you want the rest of the day to last.
Short answers#
The Short answers switch, next to the answer depth control, keeps every answer to two or three sentences with the most useful point first, even when you're only reading. Answers that are read aloud (speaker on) are always short, with or without the switch. Ask for "the full version", more detail or the complete list any time, and that answer comes in full. Short answers use a little less of your chat allowance.
When WingHUD offers to look something up#
When an answer needed several web searches on a game question, WingHUD may ask under it: "Want me to look this up properly? Several sources, about half a minute." Click "Go ahead · ~30 s" (or type or say yes) and it reads several sources, shows what it's doing while it works, and answers again with where it found the details. "Answer with what you have" stops the look-up early and answers with what it found so far. "Not now" (or no) leaves it there, and WingHUD doesn't offer again in that chat. On Thorough there's no offer: it checks more sources inside its own answer.
How often look-ups are offered#
You can run up to 10 look-ups a day; after that the offer reads "Research used up for today". Look-ups count toward your chat allowance like other answers. With the speaker on, the offer is also spoken after the answer, but at most once every 5 minutes and three times per chat, not for a while after you've talked past an offer, and never during a live Dota 2 match; the buttons still appear under the answer. Offers never appear in party chat.
What happens to what a look-up finds#
A look-up saves the game facts it found (for example what a patch changed) so the same question can be answered quickly later, for you or for other players. What's saved is only those facts and their sources, written without anything about you; your chat, your question's wording and who asked are never shared. A Thorough answer that searched saves its facts the same way. The question behind a look-up offer is kept with your account for 30 days and then deleted, like other chat text, and it's deleted with your account.