Templar with ice nova

Hi everyone,

I am new to the game, so please bear with me. Recently I started a Templar character. I was trying to follow a build guide for a spark Templar, but ended up using fire totems and then ice nova. Anyway, this character reached level 19. At this point, I noticed that I was using fire totems more than anything else. So I tried to use spark and ice nova, but noticed that they were not doing any damage. I can see the animations for both ice nova and spark as though they are working, but they cause no damage. To test this, I went back to the coast map, which the character is over-leveled for. I tried both spark and ice nova, but neither skill caused any damage, zero. I used the fire totems to kill off the zombies.

So I checked a second Templar character that I started in the Standard League. It turns out, I was also using fire totems for this one, but had frostbolt and ice nova slotted too. Again, I went to the coast map and tested frostbolt and ice nova, but again neither did any damage. I ended up using fire totems like before.

I did make sure that both characters meet the int. requirements and in all cases, I see the animation for the skill as though it is working, but it causes no damage. I actually noticed this in 2.6.2 right before the patch, but I still see the problem in 2.6.3.

Also, I recently, finally unlocked the Scion character. I started one and used spark then added ice nova. This character has no problems with either skill. I have not tested this with other characters, so I only see the problem with the Templar right now. I can post more info if needed.

I apologize if I am missing something obvious. I did do a search for ice nova in the forums, but the number of results were overwhelming. I would appreciate any help with this. Thanks.

Sounds like you're using the Ancestral Bond keystone, which prevents you from dealing damage with your own skills. Don't feel bad, you're far from the first person to miss this!

Check out my character "religious freak" he's life based Ice nova and does 150K

With low life and two void battery you can make 300K DPS ice Nova

So yeah it has DPS.

If you want to play multi totems and still do ice nova DPS youself you need hierophant

I was following a guide to faster leveling with fire totems. I watched it again and obviously did miss the warning about Ancestral Bond. So basically when you take Ancestral Bond, you are committed to using totems. Since I am new to the game, I was slotting in extra skill gems early on to try them out.

So I can save both these builds by sticking to totems. At these low levels, I have only 2 respec points, which I prefer not using for this. It will probably be a while before I try the Labyrinth and Ascendancy classes, but it is good to know about Hierophant.

Thanks for the quick replies!

You can just use a respec point if you want to remove Ancestral Bond again. Maybe get a Soul Mantle so you can switch without having to use a respec point every time.