[2.3] Beginner-friendly Easy-Peasy Ice Nova Dual-Totem

Advantages:

• VERY easy to use
• Huge AoE
• Indirect damage
• Freeze, immobilise and slows enemies
• Shattered mobs will not activate most on-death effects

Disadvantages:

• Not as high damage as more direct means
• Not as good against Single-target
• No leech

When placing the totems right, not only will you be able to do damage in a huge area, they'll also shield you as mobs have difficulty passing their AoE due to being frozen. Given that the totems do the damage, you're mostly free to dodge damage manually, and can place the totems far ahead to scout out areas off-screen, and kill mobs before they can reach you.

Particularly useful is the ability to 'shoot around corners'. The totem will fire at what it can see, not what you can see.

The main characteristics for the build is decent regeneration (life and mana both), high cold damage, expanded AoE, and a decent life + energy amount.

Decent regeneration:
The life and mana regeneration is also for ease of use. When I started I found it quite difficult to use flasks effectively, so for this build I chose to basically take those out of the equation until you need them against bleeding/freezing/etc.

High Cold damage:
The freezing effect is dependent on how much cold damage you do. It is thus more important to do high damage than have a fast rate of fire (within reason).

Expanded AoE:
Ice Nova is an AoE effect, so we want as big an area as possible. The bigger the area, the more enemies you hit. Note that I use Concentrated Effect which may seem counter to this, but the damage increase is just too big. Increasing the AoE as much as possible counter the diminished area from Concentrated Effect to a degree.

Life + Energy Shield pool:
At L84 I currently have 3400 Life and 1500 Energy Shield. This is decent, but not enough to get into close in-fight. As a spell caster, you fight from a distance, and is protected by your killing speed and your totems freezing effect.
The freezing effect of the totem will protect you from most damage, but staying away from damage is your first line of defence.

Dexterity:
You will need extra Dexterity as some gems are Dex dependent. The build as is has two +30 and one +10 node, which may be enough, but you probably need some from gear as well.

Play style:
Stay at a distance, and stay moving! This can't be repeated enough!
Place your totems ahead of you, and use them to guard your back. Most mobs will have difficulty passing the frozen zone. Against projectile enemies, have something between you and them, then 'shoot around the corner' by placing the totem so it can reach them.

More descriptive of how I play is: Place totems, watch the shattering from a safe distance :-p

Finished skill tree: 109 Skill Points

The build does not have any Jewel slots as there are better use of the skill points. One jewel that could be used is Izaro's Turmoil, but I don't find it good enough for two skill points.

For the witch chose Elementalist:

• Pendulum of Destruction
• Beacon of Ruin

If using a Templar, use Hierophant:

• Pursuit of Faith
• Sanctuary of Thought

Oak, Skill point (maybe Alira), Skill point

Main skill:
4L:
Having quality on the Ice Nova gem helps as it increase the AoE.

5L: As 4L plus

6L: As 5L plus either of these

Damage enhancer:


Protection

The extra Energy Shield is worth a lot. Given you don't have the highest life pool, extra Energy Shield is the second best thing.

Escape!


Mana supply (if needed):
This is not used very much, but is very useful against elemental reflect mobs that cause your totems to die a lot. This combination provides you with no-cost spells for 15+ seconds.

Golem and meat shields: (add support gems as you want)

I use the Stone Golem as the life regen provides a good measure of protection. You could also go for Flame or Chaos golem depending on your preference.

The Vaal Summon Skeletons is the best possible extra meat shield you can get, and is also very useful against difficult bosses.

Curse(s):
The build as designed only use one curse, Frostbite, and use Freezing Pulse with GMP (don't level this) to quickly apply it. You could go dual-curse if you want and add Elemental Weakness, but this will either require you to have a 5L staff, or lose the GMP effect.
You'll also need +1 curse from an item, for example Doedre's Damning or Windscream.

Important gear stats:
You'll want maxed resists (of course), enough mana regeneration, life, as much spell/elemental damage as you can get, and if possible some extra mana.
There are few items which increase the AoE, but they can be useful. Particularly Carcass Jack is very useful.

The Carcass Jack is not necessary, but is very useful. You can use either Tabula Rasa or any 5-6L INT based chest armour.

Best Gear:
The main item to suit this build would be a 6L +1/+2 staff with plenty of spell/elemental/cold damage as well as possibly other goodies. Add in a L4 Empower Gem, and you'll do some very serious damage (double that of L20 Ice Nova, minus the gem you'll be replacing with Empower) and an extra chaining. This will however be very expensive!

Other uniques of interest:
Doryani's Catalyst may suit this build well, but is not much better than a decent wand.

Rime Gaze is a very decent helmet if you don't have a 5-6L chest. It provides a L15 Concentrated Effect, a good amount of energy shield, and extra damage and mana. I prefer Mindspiral though.

Taryn's Shiver is a decent staff, but a good wand and shield with damage are better.

Blood of Summer gives a lot of extra area, but not many other significant benefits.

Divinarius is an option for dual-wielding. Decent spell damage, and extra area. Given it is crit-centered, you probably need to use something else than Controlled Destruction for the totem to get the full benefits, but the extra damage will be hard to make up for.

The following Map affix should be especially considered before attempting them with this build.

Prefix:

• Hexproof: Curses will not work
• Molten: Cold resistance
• Mirrored: Elemental reflect (totems will need recasting frequently)

Suffix:

• Balance: Elemental Equilibrium
• Smothering: Lower regeneration rates
• Hemomancy: Blood magic (AVOID!)
• Stasis: No regeneration (AVOID!)
• Temporal Chains: Avoid on principle (as it is just too boring)

Progression example:
20 Skill Points
40 Skill Points
60 Skill Points
80 Skill Points
100 Skill Points

Level any way you want until you get Ancestral Bond, then start using the dual Ice Nova Totems.

This build is quite forgiving with regard to the order skill points are allocated, so if another progression than the above suits you better, go for it!

Zana L77 Dry Peninsula
Zana L75 Gorge
L72 Coves Map
L76 Underground River Map