Lunar New Year 2025 Starts Today!

by The Guild Wars 2 Team on January 28, 2025

Shed the old year and slither into the next—our annual Lunar New Year celebration has finally arrived! Tyria welcomes the Year of the Snake with vibrant festivities in Divinity’s Reach, where you can participate in games, enjoy the fireworks while eating tasty Canthan food, and earn new rewards. The Lunar New Year celebrations start today and will be available until February 18.

This festival is accessible to players of any level. Even if you’re brand new to the game, you can easily take part in our Lunar New Year activities and earn new cosmetic unlocks, utility items, and more! Check your in-game mail for an Invitation to Lunar New Year and double-click the item to teleport instantly to Divinity’s Reach. The Wizard’s Vault also has special objectives directing you toward Lunar New Year activities so you can earn more astral acclaim and collect your rewards!

For the full details of today’s update, check out the release notes on our official forums.

An array of rewards from Guild Wars 2's Lunar New Year Festival. A green snake pet, jade snake-themed weapons, red glowing lantern weapons and snake tail are all shown.

Rewards

The Year of the Snake has many new rewards for you to sink your fangs into! The annual meta-achievement will reward players with their choice of weapon from the new Lantern weapon collection, which radiates festive brilliance, and the Snaketail Breeches—scale-adorned leg armor featuring a sinuous tail design. This new tail is perfect for channeling your inner serpent, especially when paired with last year’s Dragon Descendant’s Helm for a truly slithery transformation. Check the Achievements tab in your Hero panel and navigate to the Daily Lunar New Year and Festivals sections for more information.

If you’re looking to add a touch of flair to all your combat encounters in the Year of the Snake, we have new weapon rewards this year! Open lucky envelopes for a chance to find the brand-new Jade Serpent Spear, Jade Serpent Dagger, and Jade Serpent Rifle! These new weapons are also available for purchase for gold and essences of luck from the kodan vendor Sparking Stone in Divinity’s Reach.

Heroes wielding Jade Serpent Weapons which are green and have snakes on them and Festive Lantern Weapons which are gold with glowing orange orbs on them.

There are also two new snake-themed back items that can be obtained by opening Lucky Envelopes. Take a chance to collect the elegant Lucky Snake Lantern or the striking Lucky Great Snake Lantern.

Speaking of lucky envelopes—don’t forget to open your lucky envelopes! They affect your account’s magic find attribute, allowing you to increase your magic find for chances at better rewards when opening them. Lucky envelopes can contain additional essences of luck, valuable trophies that you can sell to vendors for coin, and a chance at the special rewards listed above. This can help your search for those special snake-themed rewards you have your eye on!

There are also a few new homestead and guild decorations available so you can deck your halls with snake statues and lanterns. Finally, there is a new Mini Snake that can also be acquired from the Lunar New Year vendors.

Heroes wielding the Festive Lantern Weapons. These weapons are golden and have glowing orange and red swirling orbs on them.

Where to Go and What to Do

The Crown Pavilion in Divinity’s Reach is your hub for Lunar New Year festivities. Check your in-game mail for an Invitation to Lunar New Year and double-click the item to teleport instantly to Divinity’s Reach.

Celestial Challenge

Speak to the Celestial Challenge Attendant at the Crown Pavilion in Divinity’s Reach to begin the Celestial Challenge, a series of activities that will require you to take down enemies, race through checkpoints, perform feats of jumping mastery, and more. The more activities you successfully complete during the event, the greater your rewards at the end.

Dragon Ball Arena

Speak to Finola at the Crown Pavilion in Divinity’s Reach to enter the Dragon Ball Arena. This dodgeball-like PvP game mode is a race to the finish, where the first team of five players to reach five hundred points claims ultimate victory. Collect power-ups throughout the arena to gain access to new skills, zip around the arena with zip pads and jump pads, and master the art of the Dragon Sphere.

A hero wearing the Great Snake Lantern back item. It's a golden coiled snake holding a paper lantern in its tail.

Mount Racing

Race around Divinity’s Reach! You don’t need to have any mounts unlocked to take part in this race—a nearby rental service is available to rent a raptor for just 10 silver.

Firecracker Lighting

Speak to the firecracker-lighting NPC at the Crown Pavilion in Divinity’s Reach to start this seasonal adventure. Use your mastery of the world to quickly navigate through the streets of Divinity’s Reach and light all the firecrackers! Gliding, mounts—anything goes! Just don’t use any waypoints, or your progress will be reset.

Happy adventuring!

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