I did a simple test, where I removed damage bonus from cunning, gave dummy 1000 armor and I hit it with a 1000 damage sword
Got results suggesting physical resistance is after armor: https://imgur.com/a/wm7FXTQ
However, after restoring the cunning bonus, I am not getting expected result ( probably mistake on my end with damage calculation)
Might toy abit more with a damage that does nto match the armor value 
Edit: this is likely a false positive since I chose a damage matching the armor
Yeah, you got me confused for a while but in that case as you say the order doesn’t matter - you get the same result anyway
Dummy armor = 1000
Dummy phys res = 10%
Player’s damage = 1000
If Phys Res working first:
1000 -> 900
then full 70% of it absorbed (because it’s smaller than Armor) and we end up with 900 x 0.3 = 270
If absorption is working first we have 1000 -> 300 -> 270 too
I tried it a few times but got confused, modded different things with different combinations of dummy’s parameters. Maybe modded wrong values. I will attempt it again some other time.
I figured out the difference why my calculations where slightly off, I get 100% theory match now:
Cadence Weapon damage and Flat damage are blocked separately by Armor
Now the theory and data:
dummy’s armor: 1461
Calculation:
56 is reduced reduced by Phys Res
2740 is reduced reduced by Phys Res
44.8 is absorbed fully in 70% by dummy’s armor because it’s lower
(here the order doesn’t matter)
2192 get reduced by dummy’s armor x 70% absorption
(here this order does matter [that it’s done after Phys Res])
Add the two and we get 13.44 + 1169.3 = 1182.74 ~ 1183
There’s still chance I modded Phys Res (DefensePhysical) wrong / dummy works different etc.
but I don’t expect it / give it small chance (with my limited modding knowledge).
I modded DefensePhysical in various ways and also checked that these DefenseFire etc. are actually resistances.
Just tested it on player’s part: phys res certainly works before armor
Increased phys res on 4500 armor warlord from 39 to 80+25, it resulted in 0 physical damage incoming from Calla (so GI doesnt display physical as incoming damage at all, only pierce and bleed).
Now with 39% phys res and 4500 armor Calla still is doing physical damage (tested in unmodded game). If phys res had worked after armor, then the physical damage would have still be present, just 5 times lower (and ~3 times lower compared to 39% phys res). But it wasnt “reduced” it just didnt pass the 4500 armor check.
My data also suggest physical resistance is first:
Thanks for tests. @grey-maybe your test is a great addition because it shows we’re not failing at modding in this case. I also thought about such a test but I’m not good at preparing and doing those field tests (choosing build / enemies appropriately etc.)
Could you please also test if resist reduction (leading to negative physical resistance) works as damage multiplicator before armor is factored in?
Yes it does
This and Phoenix discovery… makes me question what kind of game I have been playing all this time 
It’s the game that keeps on giving.
I can (anecdotally) confirm two things between your post and the bottom of this thread (because by god am I not rereading everything above from two years ago) :
I think it’s fine (1461 on level 102 seen in a file).
It’s just that 3 things mess up testing
separate sources being blocked separately
most sources being random values
If I redo the calculation I made above on Ultimate and without 20% Phys Res on the dummy:
2740 - 70% * 1.075 * 1461 + 56 * (1 - 70% * 1.075) WolframAlpha
Checks out perfectly with 1655 i get below:
So don’t shoot the messenger…but yes, armor is the last step for physical damage.
Programmers telling me this straight faced like I was not told the opposite last time, but your results and what happens in the code confirm this to be true.
Certainly makes what I said about this 2 years ago seem a bit stubborn, but I will fully admit that my answer to this previously was in fact incorrect. The Game Guide will be corrected.
So player armor (and by extension monster armor) is more impactful given this new order of damage mitigation
The way I think about it is that both Physical Res and Armor combined are stronger together than it was thought before.
Because without Phys Res Armor works the same as thought before, right?
And similarly without Armor Phys Res works the same as thought before.
Or am I not seeing something? (also disregarding possible other order of defense errors)
@Maska322 What’s count is it that we learn together and that the game’s being improved.
Even Zantai doesn’t know how GD works.
The GD engine is its own Eldritch entity that no mortal can truly comprehend.
The way I see it, the value of armor just increased with this knowledge. As an example, let’s assume you’re taking 1000 damage and have 20% phys resist and 500 armor with 100% absorption.
Before: (1000 - 500) * 0.8 = 400 damage taken
Now: (1000 * 0.8) - 500 = 300 damage taken
So relative to how we used to think things were mitigated, armor is now more valuable than previously assumed
I don’t think you can separate Phys Res and Armor connection.
Because I might as well say, that Phys res was reducing 100 damage in 1st case
and now it’s reducing 200 damage so Phys Res works better now.
Does this make the armour reduction on Maul more valuable than it was perceived before then? Of course, in practice times and results are still the final deciding factor on it’s worth but on paper, it would be enticing for high armour targets on a largely Physical (minimal Trauma damage) damage build. Especially now that converted Physical no longer ignores Armour as well.
when we say “last step”, how much last step?
same rank as flat absorb?
or before % and flat absorb but just after resist/“phys res-armor swapped from previous order”? 
