Player J said:
You heal based on the damage your hero does to an enemy.
It doesn't work when the enemy hits you.
A few other things to take into consider:
You don't heal a lot if the hero wearing the life steal gear isn't a damage dealer.
Ideally, you want the hero wearing the Life steal gear to do enough damage so that the heal can fully top you up.
Thanks, PJ, for yours and other comments made. You answered my question, but it seems just a matter of degree as to how much healing you get. I generally shy away from too many 4 item sets cuz you miss out on multiple 15% bonuses that the 2 item sets give. But these Lifesteal items seem easy to acquire and offer decent stats for my purposes.
One thing seems certain, that whatever champ you apply the Lifesteal on, the healing will increase as you make the champ more powerful. I am using a 2* champ Head Taker for illustrative purposes.
As long as I can see my green bar moving to the right after making a hit, that is good enough for me lol. Living to fight another round.