How to Value an EVE Online Killmail (Step by Step)

Every time a ship dies in EVE Online, the game produces a killmail: a permanent record of who died, what they were flying, who shot them, and roughly what it was worth. zKillboard turns those records into a searchable database, but the raw numbers can be misleading if you don’t know how to read them. Here is how to value a killmail properly, step by step.

The three numbers: total, destroyed, dropped

zKillboard shows three ISK figures, and they mean different things:

• Total value — the full worth of the ship plus everything fitted and in the cargo, priced at market value.
• Destroyed value — the part that was blown up and lost forever (the hull is always destroyed, plus a random share of the modules and cargo).
• Dropped value — the part that survived as loot and can be scooped by the victors.

Total = destroyed + dropped. When EVE players brag about a “2 billion ISK kill,” they usually mean total value — but the attacker only actually gains the dropped portion.

Why the dropped ratio matters

Modules drop on roughly a 50/50 coin flip. A high dropped ratio (say 40%+) means the victors walked away with a lot of loot; a low one means most of the value was vaporized. The dropped ratio is the single most useful number for understanding who came out ahead.

Who actually got the kill

• Final blow — the pilot who landed the killing shot. A bragging right, not a measure of contribution; a frigate can steal the final blow on a battleship.
• Top damage — the pilot who dealt the most damage. The better indicator of who carried the fight.

Reading the gang

Count the attackers and check whether they’re players or NPCs. A solo kill against a real player is a very different story from a 40-pilot blob. Dying 1-vs-1 usually means a fit or piloting mistake; dying to a fleet often just means you were caught.

What the value doesn’t tell you

ISK value says nothing about why the ship died. For that, look at the fit — a missing tank or Damage Control is the most common culprit. Our companion guide, Reading a zKillboard Fit, breaks that down slot by slot.

Do it in one paste

Paste a zKillboard link or a character name into the free Loss Analyzer: it pulls the killmail, rebuilds the fit, classifies the gang, and points out what could have saved the ship — no install, no login.