HP/life dont recover

for me it just makes no sense. sure the describtion might be right and also how it works, but as player it doesnt. for me it should be possible to heal at any checkpoint and in base. i would also go as far to say hp potion should work. if all that isnt inteted to do so, than we should very least have the option to deactivate the energyshield, so hp can be restored.

for me a tradeoff is more like the skill "chaos inoculation"

yes i didnt understand it. but now i do, but have the same problem.
iam open for you explanation to how to use it and how you use it or "heal" your hp, once you actually drop hp.

I don't use that node myself, but other people temporarily equip https://www.poe2wiki.net/wiki/Visage_of_Ayah while in town to force energy shield to 0, and thus not locking life.

To make Eternal Life usuable u need to stack alot of energy shield. U're not supposed to use ur life as a survival mechanic.

It's purpose for players is to figure out how to abuse the "tradeoff" and that's with locking ur life below the 33% threshhold, so ur character is deemed "low life". There's certain notables on the skill tree that make use of that mechanic.

Like another poster said, if u don't understand how to efficiently use that ascendancy node, u might be better off using something different.

sure i stack enery shield as any other sorc/lich player would do.
BUT, soulles form and eternal life are only working well togather.

So in order to use that skill i have to buy an item and equip it every time my hp drops, only to bypass the tradeoff temporärly to recover my hp. other option is to reset the skill.

it sure works as described, but are you telling me that it is actually good how it is?
all iam saying is, that its just a pain in the ass to bypass it. not like you never get low or not use any kind of hp. the skills befor are forcing you to get more hp = more mana reg.
as designed iam either forced to stay low hp or equip and item you have to buy, or reset a skill every now and then.

You could also just go to a lower level area and let enemies chip away at your energy shield until it runs out, then chug a potion and peace out. That's what I always do because I prefer being at full health for some extra stun threshold.

Point is, it's an incredibly powerful passive. Soulless Form makes 10% of damage bypass your energy shield, and there's other ways to have damage bypass your ES as well, such as with Atziri's Disdain. Combine the two, and with a max roll Disdain you're looking at 25% damage bypassing your ES. But since your life total can't change, that simply means you get a straight-up 25% damage reduction as long as you have ES.

And that's DR that applies after everything else. Not with diminishing returns or weird calculations like armour, and it applies to the damage that makes it past your resistances. And on top of that, bleeding and poison deal no damage to you as long as you have any ES.

Ideally, you never want to drop to 0 ES with it, as that'll mean you lose the damage reduction. And resetting it can be a bit of work. But for such a powerful effect that's a fair tradeoff.

exactly @Greyah#7130
but still the tradeoff for me is either not like it should be, or not working how it should be. any player who uses that skill does some kind of wirred way to work around the tradeoff to recover hp.
in the end, it makes the player do something that shoulnd be there in the first place.