Wow API Achievements

Achievements API (Retail — Patch 12.0.0)

Comprehensive reference for achievements, statistics, and criteria APIs.

Source: https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/World_of_Warcraft_API Current as of: Patch 12.0.0 (Build 65655) — January 28, 2026 Scope: Retail only.

Scope

• Achievement Functions — GetAchievementInfo, criteria, categories
• Statistics — GetStatistic, comparison
• Tracking — Tracked achievements
• Guild Achievements — Guild-specific achievements

Achievement Info

Core Functions

Achievement Criteria

Achievement Categories

Achievement Comparison (Inspect)

Statistics

Achievement Tracking

Common Patterns

Check Achievement Completion

local function IsAchievementDone(achievementID)
    local _, _, _, completed = GetAchievementInfo(achievementID)
    return completed
end

Display Achievement Criteria Progress

local function PrintCriteriaProgress(achievementID)
    local _, name = GetAchievementInfo(achievementID)
    print("Achievement:", name)
    local numCriteria = GetAchievementNumCriteria(achievementID)
    for i = 1, numCriteria do
        local criteriaString, _, completed, quantity, reqQuantity = 
            GetAchievementCriteriaInfo(achievementID, i)
        local status = completed and "DONE" or (quantity .. "/" .. reqQuantity)
        print("  ", criteriaString, status)
    end
end

Search Achievements

local function SearchAchievements(text)
    local numResults = SetAchievementSearchString(text)
    local results = {}
    for i = 1, GetAchievementSearchSize() do
        local achievementID = GetFilteredAchievementID(i)
        local _, name, points, completed = GetAchievementInfo(achievementID)
        table.insert(results, {id = achievementID, name = name, points = points, done = completed})
    end
    return results
end

Key Events

Gotchas & Restrictions

1. GetAchievementInfo returns 15 values — Destructure carefully. The completed boolean is the 4th return.
2. Guild vs personal — Pass true as isGuild to GetCategoryNumAchievements() for guild achievements.
3. Statistics are strings — GetStatistic() returns a formatted string, not a number. Parse with tonumber() if needed.
4. Criteria index is 1-based — Criteria indices start at 1, up to GetAchievementNumCriteria().
5. Achievement chains — Some achievements are chained (10/25/50 kills etc.). Use GetPreviousAchievement()/GetNextAchievement().
6. Search is async — SetAchievementSearchString() may not return all results immediately. Wait for ACHIEVEMENT_SEARCH_UPDATED.
7. Tracking limit — There's a maximum number of tracked achievements.
8. Inspect data — Achievement comparison requires SetAchievementComparisonUnit() and waiting for INSPECT_ACHIEVEMENT_READY.