This work stems from the worldwide increasing need to precisely consider, in the design phase of an HVDC project, the availability of the HVDC system. In this paper, an overview of the availability assessment methods for HVDC-VSC transmission systems is presented. In particular, the state of the art of the procedures to estimate the availability of both the HVDC link reparable components and the conversion system on the basis of the converter configuration is given. The theoretical fundamentals of each method, together with their practical applications, have been described, in order to highlight the limits and the potentialities of each approach. The authors aim at giving a guide to choosing the best computation approach on the basis of the specific needs of the users and at summarizing all the key aspects which can be taken into account during the availability assessment of HVDC-VSC links.