Locke, the Ashen Exorcist, comes with a set of expressive emotes on the Rift, and the one drawing the most attention is his take on the bottle flip challenge. He doesn’t actually use a bottle. He flips a nail instead, and getting it to land upright is the whole point of the bit.
Quick answer: Press Left Ctrl + 1 at the same time to trigger Locke’s bottle flip emote.
How to perform Locke’s bottle flip emote
The bottle flip is one of four emotes built into Locke’s kit. To play the animation, press Left Ctrl + 1 together while in a match. Locke then tosses a nail in the air and tries to make it land standing upright on the ground.
The catch is that the success rate is low. The nail often fails to land upright, so a single press will frequently end in a miss. The reliable approach is to keep spamming the first emote until the nail finally sticks.
Note: Streamers who land it several times in a row aren’t doing anything special. A clean run of successes comes down to luck, not a hidden input.
How to tell the bottle flip succeeded
When the nail lands perfectly, you’ll see sparks appear next to it on the ground, and Locke reacts with a look of amazement. If you don’t see the sparks or that reaction, the flip failed and you can press the emote again to retry.
All Locke emotes and their key binds
Locke has four emotes in total, each mapped to Left Ctrl plus a number. You can play them in any order and mix between them freely. The emotes are purely cosmetic and don’t grant any gameplay buff.
| Key combo | Emote |
|---|---|
| Left Ctrl + 1 | Bottle flip challenge with a nail |
| Left Ctrl + 2 | Jiggles the nail |
| Left Ctrl + 3 | Holds the nail in his mouth and dances |
| Left Ctrl + 4 | Laughs |
Whichever emote you choose, the bottle flip remains the standout for its randomized outcome. Keep tapping Left Ctrl + 1, watch for the sparks, and you’ll eventually catch Locke nailing the landing.
