Top 5 Twitch Emotes: From Kappa to Lul, everything about streamers' favorite emoticons

Twitch Emoticons have become an essential part of internet users’ everyday life. Recently, emotes such as KEKW have had a larger impact on Twitch chat boards and have become fans’ go-to choices for communicating with their streamers.

However, venturing into a world where every Twitch moment has been defined by reactions such as TRIHARD, KAPPA, LUL and more is certainly new territory for the uninitiated. This list will help readers understand everything they need to know about the top 5 Twitch emotes.

KAPPA

Kappa emote based on Josh DeSeno/Image via KnowYourMeme

To understand Twitch culture, readers must dive into the history behind the famous Kappa emote. Based on Justin.tv's former employee, Josh DeSeno was the face of Twitch's Kappa emote.

KAPPA based on the employee photo ID of engineer who developed Twitch Chat

DeSeno was one of the early engineers who worked on the first live streaming video site on the internet.

After being brought in to rewrite the chat client for what later turned into Twitch, DeSeno was persuaded to upload his face as an emoji Easter egg to the new chat room, as his fellow Justin.tv employees had done the same. To his surprise, the employee photo ID he inserted went on to become the popular Kappa emote.

The Kappa emote is religiously used by Twitch users when expressing a sarcastic tone of emotion on a chat board. It was also used as a way to allow users to roll their eyes to a particular comment by the streamer.

Kappa has dominated the global Twitch space over other emotes such as Pogchamp, Kreygasm, FailFish and more.

LUL

LUL inspired from John "TotalBiscuit" Bain/Image via KnowYourMeme

The LUL emote is usually used on Twitch chats by users to express loud laughter.

LUL is Twitch’s equivalent to LOL, but it was based on the photo of streamer and Youtuber, John "TotalBiscuit" Bain. The LUL emote was brought to life by Bain himself on Twitch, but the image was taken down after the photographer who captured the photo raised a DMCA complaint.

Although Twitch was unable to use the emote due to legal concerns, Bain uploaded the photo to BetterTTV, a third-party browser extension that provides users the ability to use their emotes on chat.

LUL was able to circumvent the rules and exist as an emote thanks to BetterTTV, which led to its continued popularity among users on Twitch.

CMONBRUH

CMONBRUH emote/Image via KnowYourMeme

Unlike LUL, the cmonbruh emote has been a bit controversial in its uses. Moreover, its exact origin hasn't been pinpointed yet. According to KnowYourMeme, the emote's earliest mentions go back to 2016.

The emote is quite commonly used to express confusion, especially over a message put up on a Twitch chatboard or at the streamer during their broadcast. Its been the perfect emoticon for users to state their uncertainty.

POGCHAMP

Gootecks reaction from an interview which inspired Pogchamp/Image via KnowYourMeme

Pogchamp is a veteran of sorts, standing in the oldest league of emotes used on Twitch. The emote was based on the priceless reaction of popular Street Fighter player, Gootecks.

Pogchamps is based on a video where Gootecks was being interviewed. The emote is frequently used to express outright surprise at a response by streamers or their users on chat.

POGGERS

Poggers emote inspired from Pepe the frog/Image via KnowYourMeme

Poggers is a emote based on the Pepe frog, and it has its fair share of similarities with Pogchamp. In 2017, the "surprised"-looking emote began gaining popularity after being uploaded to FrankerFacez, a Twitch enhancement suite custom channel that provides users with emotes and options to customize their chat.

Poggers has been a worthy emote on popular game streams such as Overwatch and League of Legends. Sometimes, fans have been known to compare the Poggers emote to streamers like Quackity.