Teleport

Teleport is a Tier 4 skill from the Wizard's Arcane skill tree, allowing the caster to instantly transport himself/herself a short distance through the Ether. Mainly used to avoid danger, or used in rapid progression for quicker movement, and can also be used offensively.

Background

Diablo III Skill [e]

Teleport Active, 1 ranks
Used by:	Wizard
Skill Description:
Teleport to the selected location up to 40 feet away.
Skill Details:
Type:	Movement
Quantity:	40 feet
Effect:	Self
School:	Arcane
Mana cost:	25
Cast time:	Instant
Duration:	None
Cooldown:	9
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 materializing 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

Teleport functions differently than it did in previous Diablo games. The leap animations coupled with a substantial cooldown make it much slower than it was in previous titles. However, the spell can be used offensively with skill runes.

In one of the BlizzCon 2008 panels, Teleport was demonstrated with a striking skill rune socketed in it, and the spell added damage to all monsters in the area, each time the Wizard teleported. Socketing in a Hydra Rune (form. name: multi strike) will instead cause the Wizard to split into images of herself when teleporting, making the skill useful to distract monsters.

It's unknown at this point if other classes will have the ability to use the (or a form of) Teleport spell, as they did in Diablo II (when granted by items) and Diablo I (freely available to all classes).

Skill Rank Table

Rank 1: 40 feet, 25 mana.

Only Rank 1 is currently known.

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.

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 D1.

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, and it also has a hefty 9 seconds cooldown.

Media

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

Teleport used with a Striking Rune.

References