All NewsDiablo III
Powered By

LoD Meteor “Bazooka” Wizard Guide

Last Updated: January 15th 2024

Share on Social

Introduction

LoD Star Pact “Bazooka” Trash Killer
View all variants

The Meteor Wizard has been dictating the META using the Star Pact from Season 12 to Season 19, especially from Season 16 to 19 with the infamous LoD “Bazooka” build (see Mechanics for a complete overview). However with Season 20, channeling interactions have been nerfed to bring down that setup, leaving the build in a much weakened state.

However with the Season 27 rework to Tal Rasha's Elements and its supporting Meteor items The Smoldering Core and Mempo of Twilight, the build has caught up to its former glory and beyond!

Since Tal Rasha's Elements comes with severe skills and gear choice restrictions, Legacy of Dreams is a very interesting road to take as it allows for skill and gear choice freedom on top of enabling Reverse Archon and even Shi Mizu's Haori setups.

While the Bazooka concept was initially mostly overlooked, it was eventually proven during Season 27 with Sanctified Items that the build still holds mad potential as showcased here. During Season 29, Star Pact builds were under steroids due to the Paragon Cap with special distribution rules, allowing for +100 Arcane Power and 200% Area Damage!

This build can use different Meteor runes. Star Pact is the strongest one used with Archon to push the highest Greater Rifts while Thunder Crash is used for speedfarming content. Comet is also a powerful choice for pushing. During Season 27, a specific Messerschmidt's Reaver setup was made possible taking advantage of a zMonk using Sanctified Wave of Light.

This is an Area Damage (AD) build, since Meteors can proc it. The whole playstyle revolves around the precise use of Archon cycles in conjunction with Star Pact and various damage multipliers, in order to unleash devastating Meteor rains onto stacked enemies (see Mechanics). All in all, this build is a powerhouse of Greater Rift pushing, especially in groups where a single well-placed Star Pact can destroy entire screens. Fasten your seat belts for the almighty "Bazooka" Wizard!

Flavorful ✔
Unique Playstyle ✔
Insane AoE Damage

Rewards Excellent Gameplay

Complicated Mechanics
❌ High Gear Requirements
High Cooldown Dependency
❌ Vulnerable to Crowd Control

Core Setup

Core Item Build

Items

  • The Grand Vizier provides us a 400% damage multiplier while cutting the Meteor Resource Cost in half.
  • The Smoldering Core boosts Meteor damage by 50% damage per hit up to 10 times and taunts enemies towards Meteor Impacts.
  • Nilfur’s Boast gives us another huge 600% damage multiplier and even up to 900% when you hit 3 targets or less.
  • Mempo of Twilight grants us another 400% damage multiplier on top of providing us with the Meteor Shower rune.
  • Squirt’s Necklace is a default inclusion for most Wizard builds due to their shield strength, boosted by Ashnagarr's Blood Bracer.
  • Halo of Karini is a core Wizard defensive item, providing us with a tremendous 80% damage reduction at the cost of using Storm Armor.
  • Aquila Cuirass grants us 50% damage reduction.
  • The Swami & Fazula's Improbable Chain enables the Reverse Archon playstyle to massively boost our damage nuke.
  • Convention of Elements is another separate damage multiplier, giving you triple damage during your Elemental cycle.
  • Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac is used to reset the Archon cooldown.

Season 30 Soul Shards

Soul Shards are powerful socketable items that initially dropped during Season 25 but they are returning for Season 30! There are 4 available for Weapons based on the Lesser Evils, with another 3 for Helmets based on the Prime Evils. They drop at Rank 0 and be upgraded three times with the brand new Hellforge Embers to unlock additional powers, or be used in the Kanai's Cube as Augments. Here's how they progress:

  • Rank 0: Soul Shards begin with a unique static Legendary Power. Creates a Rank 50 Augment.
  • Rank 1: Gives all powers from the normal gems. Creates a Rank 75 Augment.
  • Rank 2: Grants one additional powerful stat. Creates a Rank 100 Augment.
  • Rank 3: Unlocks 1 of 3 bonus Legendary Powers unique to that Soul Shard. Creates a Rank 125 Augment.

Warning: Leoric's Crown and Broken Crown do not work with Soul Shards!

Read our Soul Shards Guide written by Chewingnom for full details on how they work. What you should prioritize on them for Solo Pushing is the following:

  1. The Correct Soul Shard & Rank 3 Power
    The best shards for Solo Pushing are:
    • Helmets: We want to use Shard of Hatred for the massive 50% damage buff when surrounded by a lot of monsters. For the Rank 3 power, take the additional damage per stack for a tremendous 100% damage buff in density!
    • Weapons: We want to use Essence of Anguish for the Movement Speed and Cooldown Reduction. For the Rank 3 power take the explosion to help us clear out large densities during the Rift. Hint: Make sure to get a Poison Damage Range on your follower's Weapon so it can stack the buff automatically.
  2. The Rank 2 Stat
    The stats that come from the second upgrade are not equal. Here's what we're looking for on them:
    • Helmets: We want either Main Stat for damage or Melee/Ranged Damage Reduction to survive. Avoid Armor and All Resistance as their stat ranges are far too low compared to the other options.
    • Weapons: We want either % Damage or Arcane Damage to boost our character's power the furthest.
  3. The Stat Ranges on the Rank 1 and 2 Powers
    This is just icing on the cake because the ranges will not make or break your build. Still, look for the Soul Shards with the best stat ranges, especially on the offensive stats.

For the other game modes, other Soul Shards can be used. Check the Variants below to see what's used there.

What about extra Soul Shards? Either salvage them for gems, or upgrade and use them in Kanai's Cube for Augments.

Global Stat Priorities

You want to stack damage stats wherever possible, especially Critical Hit Chance and Damage, Area Damage as well as Elemental Damage and Meteor Damage. When playing Star Pact, fit Maximum Arcane Power and Resource Cost Reduction everywhere you can to scale Star Pact damage. Cooldown Reduction is however your first priority when playing Archon as you need it on every single piece of gear to perform a proper 32 seconds Reverse Archon cycle. Arcane Power on Critical Hit (APoC) is mandatory to get on Wizard Hat to generate enough Arcane Power sustain.

In regard to toughness, like most Wizard setups, we take advantage of Galvanizing Ward and Magic Weapon Deflection to generate Shields based on our HP pool. This means Vitality and Life % are very important as they double dip into Shields. This is the reason why you want to aim for a decent HP pool in Greater Rift Solo Push.

Crowd Control Reduction is an incredibly valuable secondary Affix to roll on both Rings, Amulet and Helmet as we are very sensitive to Hard Crowd Control effects and mitigating these will ease up our gameplay significantly. Make sure to get the Primary Affixes locked in before attempting to get CCR though.

Assembling the Build

Item Stat Priorities

Gems

Skills

Passives

Paragon Points

Altar of Rites

Follower

Gameplay

Hardcore

Variants

Nephalem Rifts
GR Solo Speeds
GR Solo Push
GR Group Trash Killer
Echoing Nightmare
Thunder Crash T16

Concept
In T16 we don’t need a lot of damage, so we can use a lot more mobility instead. Once you have all the pieces together, the damage is good enough to comfortably oneshot most enemies. It’s useful to stack up Resource Cost Reduction to be able to spam your skills as much as possible.

Gameplay
Very straightforward: Be fast, use your Teleport to move around quickly and throw Meteor everywhere. Make sure to keep up all your buffs while doing so (Magic Weapon, Storm Armor, Familiar.

Setups
If you find yourself running out of resources all the time, drop Familiar for a Signature Spell and combine it with The Shame of Delsere.

In groups, use Nemesis Bracers & Avarice Band and Gloves of Worship instead of Warzechian Armguards, Convention of Elements and Magefist.

Thunder Crash Aether Walker Speeds

Concept
This is the faster, more fluid version suited for low Greater Rifts. With Aether Walker and no need to stack up The Smoldering Core first, we can decimate everything on the screen immediately by simply spamming Meteor Thunder Crash. We use Stone of Jordan to convert our Fire into Lightning damage. This build doesn't require Cooldown Reduction but instead stacks a lot of Resource Cost Reduction.

Gameplay
At the start, activate your buffs Storm Armor and Magic Weapon. Additionally, spam Explosive Blast to profit from Orb of Infinite Depth. Go fast and throw Meteor everywhere. Use your Black Hole to group up enemies and buff yourself.

Setups
If you have too much trouble with Arcane Power, remove the rune from Meteor so you can profit from Cindercoat. Instead of Magefist, you can wear St. Archew's Gage for additional shields when you engage Elite Packs.

It is also possible to play with both The Grand Vizier and The Smoldering Core for slower higher Greater Rift farming. For more toughness, you can drop Elemental Exposure for Dominance or Unstable Anomaly.

Select Build Version

Bazooka Setup
LoD Star Pact "Bazooka" Solo Push

Concept
We play a 32 second Archon rotation, relying on massive amounts of Cooldown Reduction, Gogok of Swiftness and Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac. We stack up all damage buffs imaginable to throw a big Meteor combo with Archon-stack overlap and Convention of Elements active.

Gameplay
The gameplay is described in more detail in the section above. Activate your buffs at the start of a run and once again within 10 minutes (Storm Armor and Magic Weapon).

Stack up Gogok of Swiftness, then enter Archon on the Arcane cycle. As you exit Archon, reset its cooldown by throwing Meteors and stack up Arcane Dynamo exactly 4 times. Then cast Black Hole Spellsteal for the damage buff, get the final Arcane Dynamo stack and throw the final Meteor to land during Arcane. Make sure to enter Archon in that moment and repeat.

Setups
If you have toughness issues or problems to get full Arcane Power back for your damage rotation, you can use Magic Weapon Conduit and swap Black Hole with Diamond Skin Prism. Audacity can be replaced with a defensive choice like Blur or Unstable Anomaly if needed.

At the very high end (Paragon 5000+), it's possible to drop Aquila Cuirass for Shi Mizu's Haori while replacing all Recovery and Critical Hit Chance stats with more Area Damage and Defensive Stats.

LoD "Bazooka" Trash Killer w/ Fragment of Destiny

Concept
We play a 32 second Archon rotation, relying on a massive amount of Cooldown Reduction and Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac. We stack up all damage buffs imaginable to throw a big Star Pact combo with Archon stack overlap and Convention of Elements active. Note that the build is perfectly playable manually since the Deathwish & Archon interaction is long gone. Be warned this setup puts a crazy amount of pressure on the zBarb and it is pretty much required to have a skilled one to get good results.

Gameplay
Activate Storm Armor and Magic Weapon as soon as you start a Greater Rift.

Enter Archon on the Arcane cycle. As you exit Archon, you have 12 seconds to get your Archon Cooldown back for your Arcane cycle. This requires you to spam Wave of Force Arcane Attunement for Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac procs. During your Lightning cycle, get 5 stacks of Arcane Dynamo then throw Star Pact a split second before Arcane. Immediatly turn into Archon and Teleport into an Oculus Ring or at the edge of the screen for Zei's Stone of Vengeance if there is none.

LoD "Bazooka" Trash Killer w/ Gesture of Orpheus

Setups
While Fragment of Destiny is a good weapon for its Generator Attack Speed Multiplier, allowing you to have a smoother Archon reset and miss slightly more Cooldown Reduction on your gear, it is not an absolute requirement since this Attack Speed Multiplier translates into ~2% Cooldown Reduction. The best option beside Fragment of Destiny is Gesture of Orpheus due to its special Arcane Damage affix but any Wand will do.

It is also possible to play with The Smoldering Core which is in theory way more damage but this setup has proven to be incredibly tedious in practice due to The Smoldering Core mechanics. Stacking it makes your Aquila Cuirass damage reduction useless and unfortunately kills all the small monsters required to deal a massive burst with Area Damage. Spamming Meteors also causes lags if it wasn't enough. On top of that, Cooldown Reduction requirements and the rotation to pull off to reset Archon in time are no joke.

Echoing Nightmare Setup

Concept
For more information, check out our full Echoing Nightmare Guide and take a look at our Echoing Nightmare Build Tier List and our META post for the best builds and strategies! This build is good for this game mode. Typically we utilize a Greater Rift speed build with a few tweaks.

Changes

  • Discard The Smoldering Core for Aether Walker and Tal Rasha's Unwavering Glare.
  • Go for Thunder Crash since these meteors have no landing delay, which blends perfectly with this game mode.
  • Equip Bane of the Powerful since we are fighting hordes of enemies.
  • Drop Convention of Elements for Stone of Jordan.
  • Reroll Area Damage to Average Damage as we do not need to make huge pulls.

Gameplay

  1. Click Speed Pylon instantly to boost your mobility and dodge Green Meteors.
  2. Around Wave 90, click Channeling Pylon and Power Pylon.
  3. After Wave 100, use Conduit Pylon.
  4. At Wave 122, stop attacking and run to the corner to let the timer run out.

Cast Storm Armor as soon as you enter. Dominance and Galvanizing Ward will make sure you get permanent full benefit from Squirt's Necklace. Storm Armor Power of the Storm is making sure your Meteor has almost no Arcane Power cost... Spam Thunder Crash everywhere... Profit!

Video Guide

S27 LoD "Bazooka" GR150 World #3 - EU #1 4man Action

Mechanics

Wizard Shields

Archon

Wave of Force Arcane Attunement

Meteor Star Pact

The Smoldering Core

The Shame of Delsere

Elemental Exposure

In-Depth Season 16-19 Reverse Archon Star Pact “Bazooka” Build Overview

In-Depth Season 27 LoD “Bazooka” w/ Messerschmidt's Reaver Build Overview

Summary

  • Put together the core items and level up the Legacy of Dreams gem.
  • Use Meteor Thunder Crash for farming and Star Pact for pushing.
  • Keep up your Storm Armor/Halo of Karini and Magic Weapon buffs at all times.
  • Stack up tons of Cooldown Reduction and execute the combo right for massive nukes with Archon.
  • Several non-Archon variants are playable an easier to build but weaker.
  • Play around the Convention of Elements cycle to maximize your DPS.

I hope you enjoyed this guide! Meteor is one of the coolest and visually appealing skills in the Wizard's arsenal. The Star Pact Archon playstyle offers a challenge allows you to create some of the most impactful nuke combos in the game.

Good luck!

Credits

Thanks to Northwar for help & wudijo for initial write-up!
Overhauled & Updated by Chewingnom.

© 2024 Maxroll Media Group, All Rights Reserved