How to Gesture in Elden Ring
Plus a list of all Gestures and how to unlock them!
Want to learn how to Gesture in Elden Ring? Gestures are FromSoftware's version of emotes, and all their Souls-y games have had a storied history of using Gestures to communicate with others or unlock certain secrets. The same is true of Elden Ring, which gives players access to a massive 48 different Gestures (as of the Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree DLC).
If you're struggling to figure out how to make use of this gigantic repertoire of emotes, then fear not. In this quick guide, we'll walk you through how to Gesture in Elden Ring, and the various secrets you can unlock by performing the right Gestures in the right locations at the correct moments.
In this guide:
- What are Gestures in Elden Ring?
- How to Gesture in Elden Ring
- Using Gestures to unlock secrets in Elden Ring
- How to get all Elden Ring Gestures
What are Gestures in Elden Ring?
Gestures in Elden Ring are basically emotes. A Gesture is a character animation that you can make your character play at any time. For example, you can make your character point, wave, clap, bow, sit down, and much more besides.
Most of the time, Gestures are only used for communicating with other players in co-op or competitive multiplayer. You can also add a Gesture to the messages you can leave on the ground for other players in their singleplayer worlds to find. When you add a Gesture to a message, the player reading the message will see a ghostly apparition of your character performing the Gesture.
You begin Elden Ring with a large number of Gestures to select, but you can unlock even more as you explore. Generally, you unlock Gestures by interacting with NPCs in particular poses, which will give you the ability to perform that pose as a Gesture.
How to Gesture in Elden Ring
To Gesture in Elden Ring, open the player menu and use the D-Pad to navigate to the Gestures section on the right-hand side of the screen. Highlight the Gesture you want to perform, and hit X to play it.
You only have six Gesture slots in this section of the player menu, but you can swap out the existing Gestures for other Gestures whenever you like. Simply hover over the Gesture you want to replace, then hit Y to open up the Gestures screen. After that, find the new Gesture you want to replace it with, and select it with A.
Players playing Elden Ring on PS5 with a DualShock controller can use their controller's motion sensor to quickly perform Gestures without entering the player menu. But if you're playing on PC or Xbox, then you'll need to enter the player menu each time you want to perform a Gesture.
Using Gestures to unlock secrets in Elden Ring
There are certain areas in Elden Ring where Gestures are actually necessary to unlock certain secrets or progress certain side-quests. In these cases, you'll need to find the location of the Gesture itself (if you haven't already unlocked it), and then perform the Gesture at the correct location to unlock the secret. Below is a list of Gesture-related secrets in Elden Ring:
- Meeting Blaidd - Found in the ruins in the Mistwood of East Limgrave. Go to the source of the howling and perform the Snap Gesture (obtained from Merchant Kale at the Church Of Elleh) to summon Blaidd and unlock his aid when fighting Bloodhound Knight Darriwil.
- Converted Tower - Found in West Liurnia. Perform the Erudition Gesture (obtained from Sorcerer Thops at the Church Of Irith) in front of the statue in the tower to access the Memory Stone at the top of the tower.
- Converted Fringe Tower - Found in Northeast Liurnia. Perform the Erudition Gesture (obtained from Sorcerer Thops at the Church Of Irith) while wearing any Glintstone Crown in front of the statue in the tower to access the two powerful spells at the top of the tower.
- Extreme Repentance - After fighting Patches and allowing him to live, attack him again and purposefully let him attack you until you reach low health. Then perform his own Grovel For Mercy Gesture at him to make him stop fighting you. Doing this will unlock the Extreme Repentance Gesture.
How to get all Elden Ring Gestures
Below is the full list of all 48 Gestures available in Elden Ring, and how to unlock them:
| Gesture | How to unlock |
|---|---|
| Beckon | Available from start |
| Bow | Available from start |
| Dejection | Available from start |
| Jump For Joy | Available from start |
| Point Downwards | Available from start |
| Point Forwards | Available from start |
| Point Upwards | Available from start |
| Rallying Cry | Available from start |
| Rest | Available from start |
| Wait! | Available from start |
| Warm Welcome | Available from start |
| Wave | Available from start |
| As You Wish | Give Hyetta a Shabriri Grape at the Church Of Irith at the start of Liurnia. |
| Balled Up | Rebirth your character after defeating Rennala. |
| Bravo! | Defeat Godrick, then interact with the message where White Mask Varre once stood at the start of Limgrave. |
| By My Sword | Found in the bedroom of the Fortified Manor in Leyndell. |
| Calm Down! | Return to Patches in Murkwater Cave after springing his chest trap. |
| Casual Greeting | Summon Great Horned Tragoth before fighting Starscourge Radahn or Magma Wyrm Makar. |
| Crossed Legs | Interact with the corpse south of Stormhill Shack in Limgrave. |
| Curtsy | Help Roderika become a Spirit Tuner, then level a spirit to +4 and speak to her. |
| Desperate Prayer | Interact with Gowry at Gowry's Shack, purchase Pest Threads, and exhaust his dialogue. |
| Dozing Cross-Legged | Interact with the corpse on the roof of Stormveil Castle. |
| Erudition | Give Sorcerer Thops at the Church Of Irith (in Liurnia) the spare Academy Glintstone Key. |
| Extreme Repentance | Spare Patches, then attack him and perform the Grovel For Mercy Gesture once you reach low health. |
| Fancy Spin | Summon the Spirit Jellyfish Ashes next to another Spirit Jellyfish in the Stargazer's Ruins, Mountaintops Of The Giants. |
| Finger Snap | Go to the Mistwood, listen to the howling, then speak to Merchant Kale about it at the Church Of Elleh. |
| Fire Spur Me | Found in the Fire Monk encampment in east Liurnia. |
| Golden Order Totality | Tell Goldmask the solution to the riddle. |
| Grovel For Mercy | Show Patches mercy at Murkwater Cave when he surrenders. |
| Heartening Cry | Speak to Witch-Hunter Jerren at Redmane Castle, Caelid. |
| Hoslow's Oath | Invade Juno Hoslow in the Mountaintops Of The Giants. |
| Inner Order | Interact with D's twin brother in the Siofra Aqueduct. |
| My Lord | Progress Boc The Seamster's quest until you give him the Gold Sewing Needle and allow him to call you lord. |
| My Thanks | Found in the hallway of Volcano Manor after killing Rykard. |
| Nod In Thought | Speak to Sorceress Sellen in Limgrave's Waypoint Ruins, and become her apprentice. |
| Outer Order | Talk to Melina at the Minnor Erdtree Church Site Of Grace in Altus Plateau. |
| Patches' Crouch | Interact with Patches after he returns to Murkwater Cave from The Shaded Castle. |
| Polite Bow | Speak to Finger Maiden Therolina in Redmane Castle, Caelid. |
| Prayer | Interact with Brother Corhyn at the Roundtable Hold. |
| Rapture | Interact with the Two Fingers in the Roundtable Hold. |
| Reverential Bow | Jump into the Roundtable Hold's main hall, wait for Mad Tongue Alberich to spawn, and let him complete his spawn-in Gesture. |
| Ring Of Miquella | Pre-order the Shadow Of The Erdtree DLC. |
| Sitting Sideways | Interact with Roderika in Stormhill Shack, Limgrave. |
| Spread Out | Purchase the Boiled Prawn from the Blackguard Big Boggart in the centre of Liurnia. |
| Strength! | Finish the Stranded Graveyard tutorial at the start of the game. |
| The Ring | Pre-order Elden Ring, or kill a boss with a player who pre-ordered Elden Ring. |
| Triumphant Delight | Help Iron Fist Alexander out of the ground in Stormhill, Limgrave. |
| What Do You Want? | Interact with Ensha outside Gideon's room in the Roundtable Hold. |
That concludes this quickfire guide on Gestures in Elden Ring. Of course, you'll need more than a quick emoting hand to make your way through this punishing RPG. If you need some help getting through the Lands Between, check out our guides on the best builds, best weapons, and best armor sets in Elden Ring. You can also check out our Elden Ring walkthrough and our Elden Ring quests guide to make sure you haven't missed out on any more secrets.