[2.3] Shakk's Cyclone Build. A story about a man and his fists.

I've just wanted to make it clear when does different damage reductions and increases to physical damage taken are factored in.

1. First the damage conversions take effect ( things like Lightning Coil, Cloak of Flame and Taste of Hate )
2. Then the armour reduction and the flat % reductions ( endurance charges, chaos golem, soul of steel ) kick in
3. The −X Physical Damage taken from Attacks takes effect ( from things like immortal flesh )
4. Now the reduced damage from Fortify and the increased damage from things like Abyssus, shock and vulnerability curse are factored in
5. The "less" multiplier of Arctic Armour is last


So let me give you an example. Let's say that a monster hits you for 1000 physical damage and you have Taste of Hate, 3 endurance charges, fortify, 50% Abyssus( which is the worse possible roll ) and just for this example 7000 armour which reduces 50% of the damage ( to reduce 50% of the damage you need to have 10 times the armour )

1. First Taste of Hate converts 300 of the physical damage to cold damage ( which then is reduced by your resistances which capped is 75%+10% from taste of hate and that means that you'll take 45 cold damage )
2. The remaining 700 physical damage is reduced by your 7000 armour for 50% combined with the 3 endurance charges ( 12% ) for a total of 62% physical damage reduction and that leaves 266 physical damage
4. Fortify reduces the remaining damage by 20% but the Abyssus increases it by 50% so in the end the remaining 266 physical damage is increased by 30% for a total of 346

In the end you'll take 346 physical damage and 42 cold damage out of the initial 1000 physical damage hit. You could readjust the numbers if you have chaos golem, or better rolled Abyssus or more endurance charges, different armour values, soul of steel etc.

Some general tips when it comes to armour reduction:

To prevent one third of damage, you need armour 5 times the damage (e.g. 500 Armour for 100 damage)
To prevent half of damage, you need armour 10 times the damage (e.g. 1000 Armour for 100 damage)
To prevent two thirds of damage, you need armour 20 times the damage (e.g. 2000 Armour for 100 damage)
To prevent three quarters of damage, you need armour 30 times the damage (e.g. 3000 Armour for 100 damage)
To prevent 90% of damage, you need armour 90 times the damage (e.g. 9000 Armour for 100 damage)

Again please do note that armour is factored in AFTER the damage conversions from taste of hate and lightning coil so for example to prevent half of the damage you'll need armour 10 times the remaining physical damage after the conversion.

I hope this clears out some misconceptions about physical damage mitigation.

P.S.
Hmm .... gotta fit this somewhere in my guide...