Herald of ice for werewolf build?

I get you’re supposed to use disability however, once I have it equipped and switched to Wolf form, it seems to refund the spirit. How do I know the ability is working? I feel like such a boomer when I play this game. For Harold of ice is requirements. It says it needs a martial weapon but when you switch to wolf form you use your talisman. Am I just missing some very basic understanding about the game?—

For some reason any spirit gem isn't active when you are in "human form" with a talisman equipped. It only happen when you interact with something or someone (like talking to a vendor for example) as it shapeshift you into a human automatically.

Regarding Herald of Ice, if you Freeze an enemies and an explosion happen when they die, it's the Herald effect so it's visually easy to see. I played with it in early campaign so it should work but I heard some peoples had trouble with Herald not activating for some unknown reason.