Any good reason to go for life instead of ES ?

I have totally different opinion. I had many ES builds. Low life with shawnessy included. 15K+ ES. I was unable to survive end game maps with difficult rolls. Maybe it depend on play style.. Now I have life based marauder and have no problem in end game. Always full endurance charges+fortify +bunch of armour+85% max resistances + 6100Hp make my build very hard to kill even in T15 maps. Uber labyrinth I do daily with ease.

This thread makes me question a lot of things.

From a casual-softcore-pleb who doesn't trade much, I always build for life. Left side of the tree, right side, top, doesn't matter. Always go life. The few times I have gone hybrid was a disaster and CI builds are usually way too expensive for me if I want to hit over 7k ES, which feels a lot less tanky than my 4.5-5k life I hit on every other build. Maybe I'll try a CI build for my 2nd char in essence once I have some currency built up.

ES is great against 1 shots and only against one shots. For ppl with great gear, that is the only thing that can really kill you, as you have too much damage/leech/rege/defenses/etc. seemingly giving ES the advantage.

But for low-mid level play, life is just better, as flasks effectively multiply your health. A single instant flask can heal you for over half your life, with 3 sips per flask and 3 life flasks you end up with 5.5 times your total life (if you are at 4-5K life that means between 22-27.5K). And life flasks are dirt cheap. As long as you don't really care about getting one-shot by !(&%"!( (and you always have a chance for that, map mods and crit can get quite bad) then life is the better option. Cheaper, easier, most uniques are geared towards life anyway and you can use blood rage without suiciding (using that with CI is a really bad idea if you don't have ZO)