Energy shield
Energy shield acts as an additional hit point pool on top of life. If the character has any energy shield remaining when damage is taken, that damage is inflicted on energy shield first. Damage is only applied to life once all energy shield is depleted. The exception to this is chaos damage, which ignores energy shield.
Energy shield will recharge if the character does not take any damage for a certain period of time. With Blood Magic, spending life instead of mana to use a skill counts as taking damage. By default, the delay period for energy shield to begin to recharge is 6 seconds. This time can be reduced with Increased Energy Shield Cooldown Recovery modifiers from passive skills and equipment. The formula is delay = 600 / (100 + increased recovery%), so having a 100% modifier gives a delay of 3 seconds.
While the character has any energy shield remaining, it grants an additional 50% chance to avoid being stunned.
Skills
The Discipline aura increases energy shield of the character and nearby allies.
Passives
There are passive skill nodes that grant additional energy shield or a combination of bonuses including energy shield. Other passives such as Energy Shield Delay decrease the cooldown delay for energy shield to be restored after taking damage.
Energy shield
These passives increase maximum energy shield by a percentage.
Energy shield on shield
These passives increase the energy shield bonuses of equipped shields by a percentage.
Energy shield delay
These passives decrease the cooldown delay for energy shield to be restored after taking damage.
Miscellany
These passives are related to energy shield, but don't fit into any other category.