Teleport

Teleport is a Tier 7 skill unlocked for the Wizard at level 26, allowing the caster to instantly transport himself/herself a short distance through the Ether. The spell is mainly used to avoid danger or in rapid succession for quicker movement. It can even be used offensively with the addition of skill runes.

Teleport in Diablo III does not provide the instant movement it did in previous games in the series. The skill is now hobbled by a high Instability (now Arcane Power) cost and a several second cool down time between uses. The spell motion itself is slowed as well, since when casting it, the Wizard leaps up into the air before teleporting, and drops down from a height after using the spell. This adds to the time required to move from point A to point B.

Teleport is a movement ability.

Background

Diablo III Skill [e]
Teleport Active, 1 ranks
Used by:	Wizard
Skill Description:
Teleport to the selected location up to X feet away. Teleport can only be used every Y seconds.
Skill Details:
Type:	Movement
Quantity:	40 feet
Effect:	Self
School:	Arcane
Mana cost:	23
Cast time:	Near-instant
Duration:	None
Cooldown:	9 sec
Synergies:	None
Requires:	N/A
Prereq of:	N/A

The Teleport spell is a way for trained magic users to traverse the Ether - and with the speed of thought - materialize in another location a short distance from the entry point. This skill works without the aid of external gateways like the Town Portal spell or Waypoints, but is likely using similar techniques to transport. The Teleport spell is only reliable for short distances, like teleporting up a few stories in your tower apartments, or to escape immediate danger.

It's unknown why the spell is only usable in short distances, but the likely scenario is that it becomes significantly harder to return to the Physical realm, the farther away you try to re-emerge, and is why these beacon-like gateways have been made for Waypoints and Town Portal spells.

Skill Design

Mid-air appearance.

Teleport has been seen in videos, and was testable for the first time in the PvP Arena demo at Blizzcon 2010. The main difference in the Diablo III version (compared to the Diablo II version) is in the character animation. In the new version, the Wizard leaps up into the air when casting it, appears in the air at the location they target the skill, and falls to the ground after they appear. This makes the spell less of an instant escape/movement option. Just in case that wasn't clear enough, the developers have added a fairly lengthy cooldown to the skill. They seem to be serious about not letting Teleport be the queen of all fast moving, item run spells! However, the spell can be used offensively with the addition of skill runes.

In one of the BlizzCon 2008 panels, Teleport was demonstrated with a striking skill rune socketed in it. With the rune, the spell was given an offensive component, dealing damage to all monsters in the area from which the wizard teleported. Socketing in a Hydra Rune (former name: Multi Strike) would instead cause the Wizard to split into images of herself when teleporting, making the skill useful to distract monsters, just like Mirror Image. The names of the skill runes have since been changed and it is unknown whether similiar rune effects for Teleport have been retained.

It's also unknown at this point if other classes will have the ability to use Teleport (or a form of the spell), as they did in Diablo II (when granted by items) and Diablo I (freely available to all classes). However, since the D3 Team has mentioned a dislike for sharing skills through items like in Diablo II, it doesn't look like any other class will be able to use Teleport.

In January 2011, Bashiok commented in response to two questions through Twitter that pertain to this issue:

NocturneGS: "As per the builds working differently, I wanted to ask if certain items would grant unique active, or procable skills/buffs."

Bashiok: "Weapon and item procs are definitely in, but won't be as crazy to grant full class skills."

NocturneGS: "Awesome. But more specifically, are there active skills on weapons? Items a la WoW were activateable. Is that in consideration?"

Bashiok: "Ah, on-use items? No, we want the number of buttons to press kept to a minimum. No Use: trinkets in Diablo III. :)"

Furthermore, each class has been given their own type of movement ability with unique designs/feels.

Skill Rank Table

• Rank 1: 100 feet, 9 sec cooldown.

The above skill information is from a previous Diablo III build and is no longer accurate.

Synergies

• None known.

Skill Rune Effects

Teleport with Striking Rune.

• Striking Rune - Explosion AoE damage where the Wizard lands.
• Hydra Rune - Splitting into images like Mirror Image to distract monsters.

Rune names have changed (as well as some of their skill modifications), so the above information is no longer accurate. However, the general idea behind the skill modifications may have been retained for the new runes.

Development

In Diablo I, all classes with enough intellect could use the Teleport spell, albeit that any class besides the Sorcerer did so with a much longer casting time, as with all spells.

In Diablo II there was only one class capable of using Teleport without the use of the rune word Enigma, the Sorceress. This was due to the more individual skill trees rather than just a spellbook like in the original Diablo.

Teleport for Diablo III was first shown at BlizzCon 2008 when the Wizard was unveiled. The main difference between the new and old teleports is limitations on using it instead of running. The Wizard jumps in the air, teleports and falls, which makes the spell less than instant. It has also been given a cooldown.

The spell was updated slightly with range and skill tier position in the demo displayed at BlizzCon 2009. It was changed to a Tier 5 spell, and the mana cost was decreased to 23, from 25.

More recently, Teleport was seen in the PvP Arena demo at Blizzcon 2010. For the pre-made wizard in that demo, Teleport had a cooldown of 6 seconds.

Previous Versions:

• Teleport (BlizzCon 2008)

Media

You can find pictures in the Diablo 3 screenshot and picture gallery:

• Diablo 3 screenshots and pictures
• Teleport-specific gallery contents

• 

  Teleport used with a Striking Rune.

• 

  Teleporting Wizard appears in mid-air.

Related Articles

• Skill Runes

References

• Full Wizard Skill Trees
• Wizard Gameplay Report
• Diablo II Manual
• Diablo I Manual