Why Lost Ark MVP Titles don’t show the whole raid picture

Raids are the pinnacle of Lost Ark’s PVE content, where players team up with fellow adventurers to rally against formidable demons to gigantic beasts. And after clearing the raid, Lost Ark displays an MVP titles board where certain players are distinguished for their outstanding performance during the encounter.

One player receives the MVP title with their portrait being displayed on a larger scale for everyone to see. The MVP title in Lost Ark can often act as a testament to the countless hours you have put in to leveling up your character. However, while this feature can easily give players an ego boost, it can omit key information, too.

As a result, players who fail to get MVP shouldn’t feel bad. After going through this guide, it will be clear that the MVP may not actually always be the most valuable player during a raid.

Key MVP title chart

There are more factors for MVP titles, such as Party Defense, Solo Defense, and Battle Item Contribution, and each has a score based on the character’s performance in the respective categories. The character with the highest combined score is chosen to be the MVP. Using this information and some math, one can realize how misleading the MVP screen can be. Look at this hypothetical scenario, for instance.

Sorceress (MVP)
Upright Fighter (31%)

Cruel Annihilator (32%)

Scrapper
Fighter

Bard
Annihilator

Gunslinger
Annihilator

At first look, one may think the Gunslinger did not carry their weight. However, upon closer inspection, the truth is quite the opposite. With the Scrapper winning the “Fighter” status, we know that the player likely dealt around 20~30% of the total damage. Bards, meanwhile, rarely deal any more than five percent of the total damage in raids. Deductively, the Gunslinger player likely dealt 39-49% of the team’s damage.

If the Gunslinger player indeed dealt approximately 40% of the team’s damage, then the immediate question is why she wasn’t given the Cruel Fighter title instead of the Annihilator. The reason has to do with the order in which the player characters are listed on the MVP screen.

After the MVP, titles are claimed from the player at the top to the bottom. There is a rule where only one other character can share a title with the MVP. As a result, when Scrapper, who is on the top of the list, takes away the damage dealt category, the rest of the party can no longer be recognized for that category.

If the Gunslinger was on top of the list above the Scrapper, that player would have gotten the “Cruel Fighter” title instead. But due to the order in which the players are presented, the Gunslinger is left to pick from the other categories.

As above, the MVP system recognizes the player who has done the best job overall. However, the categories are not weighted differently. Something like healing, which is inaccessible to most classes, is weighted the same as total damage dealt. So, instead of relying on the MVP system to evaluate your contribution, it’s better to deduce that information yourself. Often times, you will be pleased to realize you have done an excellent job at assisting your team achieve victory.