Twitch emotes can be a work of art, a tiny masterpiece of brilliance that conveys an emotion or even whole sentences in just one image. Viewers often subscribe to a broadcaster just for their emotes. But with tens of thousands of emotes on Twitch, it can sometimes be hard to find ones that really stand out.
Emotes are an essential element of the Twitch chat experience, so much so that it can be overwhelming for new viewers who are inundated with these images that convey inside jokes and phrases, especially when everyone else seems to understand what they mean. They’re used to troll streamers or other viewers, show support, or even just say “hi.” With more than 27,000 partnered broadcasters on Twitch, not to mention the hundred or so emotes that the company itself has made, there are a lot of emotes on the platform—more than 900,000, according to Twitch.
Some emotes have even started to spread into our everyday lives. Don’t be surprised if you happen to see someone using them in a real-life situation and maybe even let them know you approve with a “FeelsGoodMan.”
If you want to dive right into the Twitch culture, getting to know about all the emotes and their meanings could take weeks. Here are the 12 most popular emotes so you can kickstart your Twitch chat career and blend in with the rest.
FeelsGoodMan
FeelsGoodMan is one of the proud members of the Pepe the Frog emoticon dynasty. It’s mainly used when something good and fortunate is taking place.
You don’t need that much obvious context to use this emote. If something that makes you feel good is happening on the stream, you can use this emote to let everyone know how you’re feeling.
If something bad is happening, though, don’t hesitate to try out “FeelsBadMan.”
PJSalt
This emote could be the Twitch equivalent of the saying “rubbing salt into the wound.” When a streamer gets mad or “salty,” expect walls made of this emote to appear in the chat.
Excessive spamming of PJSalt may lead to timeouts since some streamers dislike seeing a flood of them after the challenging situations they go through.
PogChamp
The PogChamp emote features Gootecks, a professional Street Fighter player. It’s mostly used to show excitement and hype.
It may also be preemptively used when a streamer is expected to rage. In that context, this emote could be that look that you’d give to your friend before a school fight breaks out.
SMOrc
This is one of those emotes that has multiple meanings. If you’re a Hearthstone player, you probably know of “SMOrcing,” which means going face and ignoring trade options.
The emote itself is used when a person in the chat or the streamer is being rude, obnoxious, or yelling.
Even though this is a much rarer case, the emote can also be used when you don’t agree with someone’s logic or reasoning.
HeyGuys
You don’t simply enter a place without greeting other people, right? “HeyGuys” is the traditional way of greeting both the chat and the streamer.
Other people in the chat are most likely to greet you back with “HeyGuys” and you may even get a shoutout from the streamer if their chat is moving slowly.
There’s also a channel called “HeyGuys,” which belongs to an ex-Twitch employee who submitted this emote with herself in it.
Kreygasm
Kreygasm may be one of the hardest emotes to explain to your parents, but it’s mostly used in a more innocent way.
The emote was submitted by a streamer called Kreyg. The term is an inside joke within its community that’s evolved into an expression of excitement, shock, and just being speechless.
If something makes you just go “holy moly” or “wow,” it may be a “Kreygasm” moment.
Poggers
In the world of Twitch, even emotes have rivals. In 2017, PogChamp’s throne started shaking when there was a new Pogger in town.
Poggers is simply the Pepe the Frog variation of PogChamp. It also gets used in moments of hype and excitement. Its name is easier to keep in mind and Pepe the Frog just took off in popularity in recent years, so it was no surprise that this emote started to take PogChamp’s place.
BabyRage
It’s no secret that adults also have moments in which they throw tantrums for no clear reason. Who else does this? Babies, of course.
If a streamer or a person in the chat is whining and acting like a baby, you can use this emote to mock them. Be careful with this emote, though, since most people on the receiving end find it obnoxious and may time you out.
WutFace
This emote may not require that much explanation since the expression says it all.
WutFace is mostly used to show shock and disbelief, but it may also be used to express disgust.
The disgust usage of it is mostly limited to IRL and Social Eating streams since most streamers try to shock their audiences by doing stuff that no one would dare, like trying out scorpions or snails.
Jebaited
This emoticon featuring a man taken by surprise is mostly used when someone is trying to bait a viewer in the chat or the streamer.
Sometimes, it may be the streamer trying to bait his chat. If the chat realizes this, they’ll surely react with a “Jebaited.”
The emote is also quite popular within the MOBA community and is used when a streamer gets juked or baited in the game.
NotLikeThis
Sometimes things may not go as planned and the look on a streamer’s face might be similar to this emoticon.
NotLikeThis is mostly used when something is going utterly wrong and all efforts to prevent it end up in vain.
The emoticon itself was also captured in a quite similar context. Benjamin Swartz, an ex-Twitch employee, was watching someone experiencing a cruel defeat in a fighting game tournament.
BibleThump
BibleThump shouldn’t be confused with BabyRage. The main difference between them is that BibleThump is used to offer some sympathy while BabyRage is more on the mocking side of things.
The emote is mostly used in moments of sadness and disappointment. It simply offers sympathy and understanding to the ones experiencing an unfortunate event.
Nowadays, it also gets used frequently as a simple crying face emote since the emoticon features quite visible tears.
