Help me understand Physical Damage Reduction

Hi,
I've read several times that for some bosses, flat PDR is highly recommended. Kabraxis and Zagraal to name the most (in)famous.
I'm a good boy so I do what I'm told, but I'd also like to understand the logic...
Why 135 PDR ? it sounds like those guys do like 150 phys damage and you just deal with 15 once you've equipped the right gear... (just an example). To me it seems more logical to get %PDR : if they do like 1000 damage, I'll get 500, which is better than 865.
That's why I don't get why flat PDR is so important, and why 135.

Could anyone shed some light on this point?
Thanks in advance !

Philby wrote:Hi,
I've read several times that for some bosses, flat PDR is highly recommended. Kabraxis and Zagraal to name the most (in)famous.
I'm a good boy so I do what I'm told, but I'd also like to understand the logic...
Why 135 PDR ? it sounds like those guys do like 150 phys damage and you just deal with 15 once you've equipped the right gear... (just an example). To me it seems more logical to get %PDR : if they do like 1000 damage, I'll get 500, which is better than 865.
That's why I don't get why flat PDR is so important, and why 135.

Could anyone shed some light on this point?
Thanks in advance !

Flat dmg reduction is key bc your %PDR is capped at 50%, what is easily doable with a lot of builds. Mostly those guides are assuming you have 50%PDR already, also some bosses hit lower compared to others but a lot of times so flat reduction counts more.

Philby wrote:Hi,
I've read several times that for some bosses, flat PDR is highly recommended. Kabraxis and Zagraal to name the most (in)famous.
I'm a good boy so I do what I'm told, but I'd also like to understand the logic...
Why 135 PDR ? it sounds like those guys do like 150 phys damage and you just deal with 15 once you've equipped the right gear... (just an example). To me it seems more logical to get %PDR : if they do like 1000 damage, I'll get 500, which is better than 865.
That's why I don't get why flat PDR is so important, and why 135.

Could anyone shed some light on this point?
Thanks in advance !

I've been playing on and off for a good while and I never really focused on getting PDR. I don't feel like it's that valuable or noticable unless you're getting a lot of it from one source, such as Prismatic Cloak or any single item with 50 or more PDR. Not too sure about why someone would recommend 135 PDR specifically.

Thanks guys.
Must be my playskills because I can't survive more than 10 sec in Kab's place, with or without PDR. I'm just too old...

Flat damage reduction applies before % reduction, so it is not that useful. Also Kabraxis doesnt do physical damage, the balefire and the green swirly stuff does magic dmg, the punishers and the green flamestrike do poison dmg. Flat dr is great for tanking stuff that does lots of small hits very fast, like the earth elemental (broadside and atmg) around kabraxis, zagraal (uses noctule?), or soul of wrath in void. QT's beam used to do physical dmg too, which was supposedly removed in this patch, but it doesnt feel like it really was.

Perfect, thanks.
I'm so pathetic at doing Kabraxis that my self esteem is hurt. I'll try again with more poison resist and better gear.

Philby wrote:Perfect, thanks.
I'm so pathetic at doing Kabraxis that my self esteem is hurt. I'll try again with more poison resist and better gear.

Don't worry, mate! The fight is cancer and I hate it aswell. If I can't burst him down I just wait till I get my other charms and do him last. Or just buy the charm.

Ubers are mostly about strategy and knowing how different bosses act or what skills they use, so reaction time is not always that important and only other real challenge age brings with is lack of motivation towards less meaningful things, like video games. Besides, feeling of frustration and hopelessness has happened to many other as well, especially after encountering the thief of hope for the first time, but there is light in the end of the tunnel as Kabraxis is not immortal.

Documentation has some strategy advices for every uber and more detailed information can be found from forums. Pukebeard has also made a great video-series into youtube to help out new players with challenges.

Pukebeards thread
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=45151

Istaryu wrote:Flat dr is great for tanking stuff that does lots of small hits very fast, like the earth elemental (broadside and atmg) around kabraxis

Two seasons ago. Make sure to give proper information

Philby wrote:Perfect, thanks.
I'm so pathetic at doing Kabraxis that my self esteem is hurt. I'll try again with more poison resist and better gear.

After some point increasing defensive stats not worth it, rather to learn the correct stat. My first kill i had only 79poison res that is not important and i did it with melee what is a bit more harder. Depending on your setup if melee just let him tp hit a couple of times and run if ranged just run around. The fight just tedeous if your dmg is low its not hard :mrgreen:

Istaryu wrote:Flat damage reduction applies before % reduction, so it is not that useful. Also Kabraxis doesnt do physical damage, the balefire and the green swirly stuff does magic dmg, the punishers and the green flamestrike do poison dmg. Flat dr is great for tanking stuff that does lots of small hits very fast, like the earth elemental (broadside and atmg) around kabraxis, zagraal (uses noctule?), or soul of wrath in void. QT's beam used to do physical dmg too, which was supposedly removed in this patch, but it doesnt feel like it really was.

QT's beam is not having phisical part anymore trust me on that.