Meteor
- See The Meteor for details about the flaming meteor that falls on the Tristram Cathedral, opening the story of Diablo III.
Meteor is a Force Wizard skill unlocked at Level 25. This skill is among the Wizard's most damaging, calling down a huge flaming stone that deals massive damage, as well as leaving a burning circle that deals AoE damage to anything in the vicinity.
Contents
[hide]Background
Calling upon the elements, the Wizard unleashes a fiery meteor from the sky which crushes anything unfortunate enough to be in the way when it hits.
Skill Rune Effects
The following is a very quick summary. See the Meteor rune effects page for a more thorough description of rune effects, or any of the individual rune pages for numbers, screenshots, blue quotes, and much more.
Name | Level | Description |
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<skill class="Wizard">Meteor</skill> <skill class="Wizard" rune="Molten Impact">Meteor</skill> <skill class="Wizard" rune="Star Pact">Meteor</skill> <skill class="Wizard" rune="Meteor Shower">Meteor</skill> <skill class="Wizard" rune="Comet">Meteor</skill> <skill class="Wizard" rune="Liquefy">Meteor</skill>
Skill Design
Meteor returns from Diablo II, with its function largely preserved. Once again it's a falling rock from the sky that deals huge fire damage. The skill is mighty, but the delay between the casting and the rock's arrival requires skill and anticipation on the part of the Wizard to hit accurately with it.
Synergies
The following Wizard passives provide a benefit to Meteor, runed or not:
Skill | Unlocked | Description |
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{{{icon}}} | [[{{{name}}}]] | 16 | {{{desc}}} |
Development
Meteor was not in the game during 2008 and 2009, though smaller projectile, wider-area, "death from above" skills like Blizzard and Arcane Torrent were. Presumably the team decided that a larger, single hit, smaller-area death from above skill would be a nice addition to the play balance.
Meteor debuted at BlizzCon 2010, where it was one of the Wizard's skills in the Battle Arena. Flux talked about using it in PvP play:[1]
Meteor packed huge damage; the most of any skill in the Arena demo. It was very hard to hit with, though. There were several seconds between the trigger and the arrival, and no one stood still for that long in the Arena. These were worth firing regularly since the Wizard was never low on Arcane Power, the cast only took an instant, and the reward for one hitting was huge. They seldom did, though. Smart players would have seen the circle showing the drop zone and tried to lead the enemy into it; Mongrels at least. Maybe next time.
Skill tiers were removed for the July 2011 Press Event, allowing skills to unlock steadily from levels 1 to 30. Consequently, all skill levels were adjusted and Meteor became a level 24 skill.
Beta
The Diablo III Beta started in September 2011, and while it ran, all of the skills continued to undergo extensive iteration. Skill changes varied from changing the levels the skills are unlocked, to changes in resource cost, damage, and even function. A few skills were removed altogether, and a few new ones were added. Also, the entire skill system received an overhaul with the Beta Patch 13 update in February 2012, with physical runes replaced by rune effects that automatically unlock at various levels for the different skills.
Meteor was moved to level 27 early in the beta. With the Patch 13 changes, it was classified as an Arcane skill and dropped to level 23. For March's Beta Patch 14, Meteor was moved to level 25 and nerfed quite a bit. Also, the category "Arcane" was renamed "Force".
In Earlier Games
This skill (unruned) is essentially the same as Diablo II's Sorceress skill Meteor, just with improved visuals and sound effects.
Media
Meteor can be seen in action on video here:
You can find pictures in the Diablo III screenshot and picture gallery:
Meteors descending over the Battle Arena.
Blue circle shows where a blue team's Wizard's meteor is about to strike in the Battle Arena.
The burn zone left by Meteor impact, once the AoE flames have burned out.
References
- BlizzCon 2010 PvP Hands-on Report
- Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report — IncGamers 1st Aug 2011
- Silva's Wizard Runestone Effects — IncGamers 5th Sep 2011
- Wizard Active Skills — Blizzard's Official Diablo III Site
Classes of the Diablo games |
Skills - Active skills - Skill runes - Passives - Resource - Movement ability [e] Barbarian Demon Hunter Monk Necromancer Witch Doctor Wizard Followers Other Classes Fan-made |
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Wizard skill categories: Primary Secondary Defensive Force Conjuration Mastery |
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Wave of Force |
Energy Twister |
Hydra |
Meteor |
Blizzard |
[e] |