Anniversary Celebration

“

The party is on for the anniversary of Guild Wars! Starting April 15th at Noon Pacific (-7 GMT), we open Shing Jea Boardwalk, Dragon Arena, and the Rollerbeetle Races. In addition, Birthday Cupcakes and many other special items will drop all throughout this event. For more information, visit http://www.guildwars.com/.

— Login screen announcements

“

Guild Wars is another year older and the party just won't stop! Strap on your party hats, unpack your fireworks, and get ready to celebrate!

— Official website

The Anniversary Celebration is a special event that occurs annually from April 22, 19:00 UTC, (source) to May 6, 19:00 UTC, (source 1, 2) which commemorates the original release of Guild Wars on April 28, 2005. The 20th anniversary celebration started a week early, on April 15, 2025, and ran until May 6 as usual (source).

Festivities

PvE

• The Shing Jea Boardwalk is open.
• Complete cooperative missions to receive Proofs of Legend.
• Ceira, Sworn to Fire offers to unlock the Hound of Balthazar.
• A fifteen-minute fireworks display occurs at the beginning of every hour (UTC) in Great Temple of Balthazar, Lion's Arch, Shing Jea Monastery and Kamadan, Jewel of Istan.
• Kaineng Center and Shing Jea Monastery are decorated.

PvP

• The Dragon Arena, and Rollerbeetle Racing are open.
• The Pilgrimage to the Hall of Heroes quest can be acquired from Anzhaer, Hammer of Balthazar.

Items

PvE

See also: Category:Balthazar's weapons, Decade weapon, Anniversary weapon

Blessing of War	Proof of Legend	Proof of Triumph	Xunlai Anniversary Storage Voucher
File:Blessing of War.png	File:Proof of Legend.png	File:Proof of Triumph.png	File:Scroll of Rampager's Insight.png

Drops

The following items drop randomly from foes:

Alcohol	Hard Apple Cider	Hunter's Ale	Krytan Brandy	Battle Isle Iced Tea1
	File:Hard Apple Cider.png	File:Hunter's Ale.png	File:Krytan Brandy.png	File:Battle Isle Iced Tea.png
Festive item	Bottle Rocket	Champagne Popper	Sparkler	Party Beacon1
	File:Bottle Rocket.png	File:Champagne Popper.png	File:Sparkler.png	File:Party Beacon.png
Sweet	Birthday Cupcake	Honeycomb	Sugary Blue Drink	Delicious Cake1
	File:Birthday Cupcake.png	File:Honeycomb.png	File:Sugary Blue Drink.png	File:Delicious Cake.png
Reward trophy	Victory Token2
	File:Victory Token.png

¹Can only be dropped from bosses.

²Can be exchanged for items from Elite Xunlai Agent Isa Ku, Seiji, Sheng Yi, and Zaishen Supply Masters.

PvP

• In Guild versus Guild during this event, the opposing Guild Lord drops 10 Birthday Cupcakes for each player of the winning team when he dies. To prevent exploitation, no rewards are offered if (a) the match ends after 28 minutes without either side killing a Guild Lord or (b) the battle ends in under 5 minutes (e.g. due to one team resigning or zoning).

Proof of Steel	Decade Zaishen Honor Chest Decade Zaishen Tribute Chest Decade Zaishen War Chest
File:Proof of Steel.png	File:Decade Zaishen Chest.png

NPCs

These Anniversary Celebration NPCs appear with Shing Jea Boardwalk event NPCs:

Name	Location	Collects
Ancient Anniversary Weaponsmith1	Embark Beach	5 Proofs of Legend
Anzhaer, Hammer of Balthazar1	Heroes' Ascent	-
Elite Xunlai Agent Isa Ku1	Great Temple of Balthazar, Lion's Arch, Shing Jea Monastery, and Kamadan, Jewel of Istan	10 Victory Tokens
Sadie Salvitas	Lion's Arch	100
Zaishen Acolyte1	Heroes' Ascent	1 Proof of Steel

1. These NPCs continue to appear for one week after the Anniversary Celebration until May 13, 19:00 UTC.

Anniversary Updates

Annual Updates

• All of the Anniversary Celebrations prior to the Eighth Year Anniversary Celebration (2013‎) introduced a new Birthday Present. The Eighth Year Anniversary Celebration introduced the Birthday Present Voucher.

10th Anniversary

• The April 22, 2015 update introduced several new features to the Anniversary Celebration.

15th Anniversary

• The April 22, 2020 update added 10 new PvE-only elite skills, one for each profession, as well as the Anniversary weapons.

20th Anniversary

• The April 9 and April 15, 2025 update made some limited weapons now permanently available as rare drops, permanently added a new series of suffix mods, "of the (Profession)", and made a new set of Decade weapons acquirable from the Ancient Anniversary Weaponsmith. Additionally, a series of miniatures previously limited to special promotions and contest prizes became permanently available from new hard mode quests obtainable at Embark Beach.

Notes

• This event is unique in that all foes can drop multiple event-related items at the same time, not just bosses.

Trivia

• The Ninth (2014) Year Anniversary Celebration started earlier than expected on April 2, 19:00 UTC (source). From April 2 until the April 17 update, it only featured Elite Xunlai Agent Isa Ku, fireworks displays, Ceira, Sworn to Fire offering to unlock the Hound of Balthazar, and event-related drops. After the April 17 update, all Anniversary Celebration festivities (except Sadie Salvitas) became active. After the April 18 update, Sadie Salvitas began appearing. The event ended as expected on April 29, 19:00 UTC.
• In the Eighth (2013) and Ninth (2014) Year Anniversary Celebrations, the events were scheduled to occur annually from April 22, 19:00, to April 29, 19:00 UTC (source). The April 20, 2015 update increased the duration of the event to two weeks (ending on May 6, 19:00) for the Tenth (2015) Year and future Anniversary Celebrations.

See also

• List of Anniversary skills
• Gallery of Decade weapons
• Gallery of Anniversary weapons

External links

• Anniversary Celebration on the official Guild Wars website