What Are League of Legends Emotes?
Now that emotes exist, the days of dying while typing should be behind you. It’s never been easier to let your teammates know that you appreciate them with a simple “thumbs up” emote – or to let your opponents know that they belong in bronze by giving them a “thumbs up” when they die.
Emotes have been around for some time now, and you likely already know how they work – there are still quite a few people who don’t get them though, a surprising amount actually!
There are a couple of reasons why you might not yet realise how useful emotes are, but if you’re already on board with them, then skip ahead!
If you’ve just returned to the game, you’ll probably to busy trying to figure out all the more major changes – after all, emotes seem like nothing more than some tiny images.
You’re boycotting emotes
This one’s a little less common, but a couple of players decided that emotes should cost BE and not RP. Take a look at the League of Legends Emotes Spotlight Video’s like to dislike ratio and you’ll see what we mean! In our opinion, it’s ridiculous to be so angry over something you don’t have to pay for.
Some players have argued that this change is representative of Riot becoming a more capitalist company – the thing people need to remember about that is Riot IS a company. Their sole goal is to make money, and for all intents and purposes, the game is still free.
You just aren’t interested
It’s possible that you’re the kind of person who has no time for seemingly pointless pictures. If so, keep reading to have your mind changed!
League of Legends emotes couldn’t be simpler, all you’ve got to do is equip and use them! To start with, you’ll need to go to “Collection” in the main LoL lobby.
From there, click the ‘Emotes’ tab and choose from your currently owned emotes on the left. Once you’ve dragged the emote into 1 of the 4 wheel slots on the right, you’re ready to play!
When your match has loaded up, hold T to access the emote selection menu – from there, drag your cursor in the direction of the emote you wish to use. This should take no more than a second or two, but pressing T can be awkward.
If you have multiple keys on your mouse, we recommend you bind it to one of those instead – it’s definitely less risky than pressing T and scrambling to get your finger back where it’s supposed to be as your enemies jump on you.
You can even bind it to abilities or emotes. This means that when you’re playing Singed and enemies are relentlessly chasing you, you can laugh and emote in a single click!
There are also 2 special kinds of emotes that we haven’t yet discussed;
When selecting your emotes, you’ll notice a “Start” and “Victory” section. Emotes placed in these circles automatically play whenever you start a game/win.
You can choose to praise your team by giving them a quick image of Fiora making the ‘OK’ hand gesture; Or conversely, you can mock the enemy team by flashing an emote of Jinx pulling a raspberry.
This can become obnoxious though, and we understand if having the enemy bot lane spam emotes everytime you miss a skill shot annoys you, but there’s a way around it!
Hit tab to open up the scoreboard. From there, you can individually mute emotes, or if you’re severely tilted then there’s a more drastic move you can make.
Head into “game settings” and select “mute enemy emotes” if you really can’t stand seeing that annoying dabbing penguin.
Now that you have a firm grasp on how League of Legends emotes work, let’s take a look at some of the most sought after LoL emotes!
This emote was available up until August 10th 2018, and was part of a bundle that contained Dark Star Cho’Gath, an icon, and this emote!
100% of the proceeds from the icon went to charity, and Riot have stated that the icon and emote will never be available again! This makes it one of the rarest icons in League of Legends (although the Dark Star Cho’Gath skin will be returning as a Gemstone skin.)
Surrender At 20 is a classic white flag – and we’re kinda glad it’s no longer in the store! There are enough people asking to surrender as it is, we don’t need to make it easier for them.
Unless you purchased the emote bundle back when emotes were first released, then I’m afraid you’ve got no hope of nabbing this.
Popular memes heavily inspire many emotes; If you’re sharp enough to know where to look! Sometimes the origins can be hard to ascertain from the emotes alone, but the name is a giveaway for many of them.
This emote is a direct reference to the “Raise your dongers” meme, which was coined by Imaqtpie back in 2013 after he nicknamed Heimerdinger “Donger.”
This emote is a reference to Poppy’s old splash art, in which her face was quite creepy. The quote itself is from “The Shining” a wildly popular horror movie!
Again, the name of this emote is a bit of a giveaway. If you’ve been on the internet anytime between 2004 and now, you’ve more than likely seen this meme.
It’s often portrayed as a cartoon dog wearing sunglasses, but since its rise to popularity, we’ve seen frogs, men, and even Graves wearing the “deal with it” sunglasses.
Generally, it’s an expression used as a retort in response to someone's disapproval. Perfect to use against all those toxic opponents!
Emotes are a great way to convey simple messages and emojis in a few small clicks – serving a similar purpose to pings!
If you don’t have any, we recommend you pick some up – or at the very least, start giving your Jungler a “thumbs up” after a successful gank. It’s the least he deserves!
