Here's how to emote in Borderlands 3

how to emote in borderlands 3
(Image credit: Gearbox Software)

Wondering how to emote in Borderlands 3? If you're playing Gearbox's looter-shooter in co-op you're going to want to express yourself to your friends. If your mate has just scored a cracking headshot, you'll want to applaud.

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(Image credit: Gearbox Software)

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A member of your squad might fall to an embarrassing, highly avoidable death, so you'll be reaching for the applaud emote again, but sarcastically this time. Unless you're playing solo with FL4K, but you can always emote to your pet buddies, if you're that way inclined.

That said, it's not abundantly clear how to emote in Borderlands 3. It's easier on PC, but we don't want to see our console friends struggling to expressing themselves So, to prevent you from just standing awkward and motionless when you really want to celebrate, commiserate, or mock your mates, I'm going to show you how it's done.

How to emote in Borderlands 3

To emote you press the Z key on PC. From here you can select the emote you desire. If you're playing on console, you need to hold down the pause button on your pad. If you just press that button instead of holding it down, you'll get the, well, pause menu. Also, if you're feel like showing off your new legendary gun the hurty way, you can initiate duels with other players.

You can only have four Borderlands 3 emotes equipped at one time, however. If you feel like freshening them up a bit, you can swap them in and out at a Quick-Change machine, just like the one you ran into straight away in the tutorial with Claptrap. The one you'll come across most is on your Sanctuary III base ship, opposite the lost loot machine.

Harry Shepherd

UK — After collecting and devouring piles of print gaming guides in his younger days, Harry has been creating 21st century versions for the past five years as Guides Writer at PCGamesN and Guides Editor at PC Gamer. He has also produced features, reviews, and even more guides for Trusted Reviews, TechRadar and Top Ten Reviews. He's been playing and picking apart PC games for over two decades, from hazy memories of what was probably a Snake knock-off on his first rig when he was seven to producing informative guides on football simulators, open-world role-playing games, and shooters today. So many by now he steadfastly refuses to convey information unless it’s in clickable online form.