Physical Damage Reduction Analogies with pictures

Note: Don't mind where these images come from, they are just used to make describing such things easier.

Spell damage is very linear in its mechanics which I will probably not discuss.
Physical damage, however, has interesting mechanics behind it.
Let's describe physical damage as a projectile where more damage will increases the speed of the projectile.
There are two layers of defense when it comes down to preventing or reducing damage.
These layers are Negation Layer and Reduction Layer.

Let us take the image below as the Negation Layer.

The Negation Layer, as it is named, negates all the hit damage taken.
It consists of 3 sub-layers which act as this layer.
Dodging, Evasion, and Blocking
Dodging is the Keystone.
Evasion is not being hit.
Blocking is being hit, but the hit is blocked.
These sub-layers act independently from themselves, and a hit on any of these layers will completely negate damage.
At the center of this image is the Reduction Layer.

Let us take the image below as the Reduction layer.

The Reduction Layer, as it is named, reduces the hit damage taken.
It consists of 3 sub-layers which act as this layer.
Damage Reduction, Armor, and Life (Energy Shield is included in life)
Damage Reduction is the black outline of the circle.
Armor refers to the density of the darkness on the circle.
Life increases the radius of the circle.
At the center of this layer is Death.
Damage Reduction is the damage buffer that is not taken as life.
Life scales linearly with damage. More life becomes more damage able to be taken.
Armor scales linearly and inversely with damage.
Armor linearly shifts the inverse portion.
The lower damage is reduced more and higher damage is reduced less.
Each of these works cohesively with themselves and is somewhat dependent on each other to reduce damage taken.


These layers independently acts as the primary way to prevent death in Path of Exile.