PoE Eternal Youth — Path of Exile

Eternal Youth is a keystone passive skill in Path of Exile that introduces a unique mechanic where energy shield recharge applies to life instead, while significantly reducing life regeneration and life leech effectiveness.

PoE Eternal Youth

Mechanics

Energy Shield Recharge instead applies to Life:

• Eternal Youth alters the standard energy shield recharge mechanic so that it applies to life rather than energy shield. This means that, instead of your energy shield recharging after taking damage, your life will recharge over time. The recharge rate is based on your maximum life pool, not your energy shield pool.

50% less Life Regeneration Rate:

• The keystone halves your life regeneration rate, meaning any source of life regeneration you have will be significantly less effective. This includes regeneration from passive skills, gear, flasks, and other sources. It’s important to consider this reduction when relying on life regeneration as a primary method of sustain.

50% less maximum Total Life Recovery per Second from Leech:

• Eternal Youth also reduces the maximum amount of life you can recover per second from life leech by 50%. This reduction can impact builds that rely heavily on life leech for survivability, as it limits the effectiveness of leech as a recovery method.

Interactions and Synergies

Life Recharge and Damage:

• Similar to energy shield recharge, life recharge will be interrupted when you take damage to life. However, damage to energy shield or mana will not interrupt this life recharge, making Eternal Youth particularly useful in builds that can avoid taking life damage, such as those using high evasion or block.

Energy Shield Recharge Modifiers:

• Modifiers that affect energy shield recharge, such as those that increase recharge rate or reduce the delay before recharge begins, will apply to life recharge when Eternal Youth is allocated. This opens up new possibilities for builds that focus on enhancing these modifiers to improve life recovery.

Wicked Ward Interaction:

• If you also have the Wicked Ward keystone, life recharge will not be interrupted by damage if it began recently. This can provide a steady and reliable form of life recovery, especially in situations where avoiding damage is difficult.

Ghost Reaver and Shavronne’s Revelation:

• Modifiers that normally prevent energy shield recharge, such as those from the Ghost Reaver keystone or Shavronne’s Revelation ring, do not prevent life recharge when using Eternal Youth. This allows you to still benefit from life recharge even with these items or skills allocated.

Zealot’s Oath:

• The reduced life regeneration rate does not affect energy shield regeneration when Zealot’s Oath is allocated. If you’re using Zealot’s Oath to convert life regeneration to energy shield regeneration, the reduced rate from Eternal Youth will not apply.

Strategic Considerations

Life-Based Builds:

• Eternal Youth is particularly useful in life-based builds that are designed to avoid taking direct damage to life or can mitigate it effectively. By converting energy shield recharge to life, you can create a build that rapidly recovers life after avoiding a hit, similar to how an energy shield-based build functions.

Mitigating the Downsides:

• The significant reductions to life regeneration and life leech need to be carefully considered. To counterbalance these, you may want to focus on other forms of sustain, such as life gain on hit, or invest in improving energy shield recharge modifiers to maximize your life recovery.

Pairing with Defensive Layers:

• Builds using Eternal Youth should consider stacking defensive layers that help avoid or mitigate hits to life, such as evasion, dodge, or block. This reduces the chances of life recharge being interrupted, allowing for more consistent recovery.

PoE Eternal Youth Build

Classes:

• Inquisitor: 52%
• Ascendant: 11%
• Gladiator: 8%
• Elementalist: 6%
• Slayer: 5%
• Warden: 5%
• Occultist: 3%
• Champion: 2%
• Pathfinder: 1%
• Saboteur: 1%
• Chieftain: 1.0%
• Juggernaut: 0.9%
• Hierophant: 0.8%
• Trickster: 0.8%
• Deadeye: 0.6%
• Necromancer: 0.5%
• Berserker: 0.5%
• Assassin: 0.1%
• Guardian: 0.1%
• Shadow: 0%

Main Skills:

• Hexblast of Contradiction: 43%
• Lightning Strike: 10%
• Vaal Lightning Strike: 9%
• Hexblast: 5%
• Penance Brand of Dissipation: 4%
• Burning Arrow of Vigour: 4%
• Unhinge: 3%
• Righteous Fire: 3%
• Snipe: 3%
• Vaal Righteous Fire: 1%
• Dark Pact: 1%

Masteries:

• 5% increased Attributes: 55%
• +30 to maximum Life: 47%
• 1% increased Damage per 5 of your lowest Attribute: 46%
• 20% increased Life Reservation Efficiency of Skills: 35%
• 15% increased maximum Life if there are no Life Modifiers on Equipped Body Armour: 31%
• Skills Cost Life instead of 15% of Mana Cost: 31%
• You count as on Full Life while at 90% of maximum Life or above: 30%
• You count as on Low Life while at 55% of maximum Life or below: 29%
• 10% more Maximum Life if you have at least 6 Life Masteries allocated: 29%
• Regenerate 2% of Energy Shield per second: 29%
• +25% to Critical Strike Multiplier against Unique Enemies: 28%
• Recover 5% of Energy Shield over 1 second when you take Physical Damage from an Enemy Hit: 25%
• 1% increased Evasion Rating per 5 Intelligence, Dexterity provides no inherent bonus to Evasion Rating: 20%

Conclusion

Eternal Youth offers a powerful and unique mechanic by applying energy shield recharge to life, making it an intriguing option for life-based builds seeking an alternative form of sustain. However, it comes with significant drawbacks in the form of reduced life regeneration and leech effectiveness. To effectively use Eternal Youth, careful planning and a focus on defensive strategies that minimize life damage are essential. This keystone can be particularly potent when combined with modifiers that enhance energy shield recharge or paired with other keystones like Wicked Ward for uninterrupted life recovery.

Enhance your gameplay experience by purchasing PoE currency. Buy PoE Currency at U4GM with a 6% off coupon “z123”. Happy hunting, Exile!