Guild Wars 2 Emotes are chat commands that spice up player interactions by initiating a number of unique character animations. This post will provide an overview of Emotes including tips and secrets.

Emotes Overview

• Several Emotes can be targeted towards other characters by placing the “@” symbol at the end of the command (e.g. “/laugh @”). This appears in chat as “[Character] laughs with [Character 2].”
• Custom emotes can be used to display a user defined message by using the commands /emote, /em, /e, or /me followed by the desired message (e.g. “/me cowers in fear”). This appears in chat as “[Character} cowers in fear.” Custom Emotes do not have animations.
• A few Emotes are persistent, meaning that they will perform continuously until interrupted.
• Emotes can be synchronized by adding an asterisk (*) to the end of the command. For example, the Emote command “/dance *” will enter the Emote into a queue that is processed every 5 seconds, allowing multiple players to “dance” in sync with each other.
• The “/dance” emote features race-dependent animations.
  • Asura: “Robot”
  • Charr: “Haka”
  • Humans: “Melbourne Shuffle”
  • Norn: “Carlton’s Dance”
  • Sylvari: “Bhangra”

List of Guild Wars 2 Emotes

Here is a list of all Emotes which indicates if they are persistent and/or targetable:

Emote	Targetable?	Persistent?
/beckon	Yes	No
/bow	Yes	No
/cheer	Yes	No
/cower	No	No
/cry	No	Yes
/dance	No	Yes
/kneel	No	Yes
/laugh	Yes	No
/no	Yes	No
/point	Yes	No
/ponder	No	No
/rank	No	No
/salute	Yes	No
/shrug	Yes	No
/sit	No	Yes
/sleep	No	Yes
/surprised	Yes	No
/threaten	Yes	No
/wave	Yes	No
/yes	Yes	No

Tips

• In The Shiverpeaks region, players can receive a boon by using the Emote “/kneel” in front of Altars and Shrines.
• In Charr areas, using the “/salute” Emote in front of Charr statues will grant players a boon.
• Ornery Crabs can be transformed into Hermit Crabs by using the Emote “/threaten”.

Secrets

There are several places in Tyria where Emotes can be used to access secret content.

Cave near Godlost Swamp

East of Godlost Swamp in Queensdale there is a cave with a sealed gate and a sign out front that reads “Only threatening people may enter.” Using the “/threaten” Emote will grant access to the cave where you will find a rich copper vein guarded by a veteran mob.

Dwayna Statue near Holy Demetra

A mysterious coffin is located in the Ruins of Holy Demetra area of Harathi Hinterlands. The area is populated with ghosts and researchers exploring the tomb. In the back of the tomb area is an concrete coffin that appears to be useless. But around the corner is a Dwayna Statue that can be activated with the “/kneel” Emote. Once activated a ghost priestess will appear and tell you the identity of the person inside the coffin. If you go back to the coffin and examine it again, the owner of the coffin will be summoned, kicking off a short event. Once the event has been completed the other ghosts in the tomb will no longer be hostile and a chest will appear.