Vault

Vault is a Hunting Demon Hunter skill unlocked at Level 9. The Demon Hunter vaults forward at high speed, moving as a shadow with a flair for acrobatics.

This is the Demon Hunter's movement ability and one of the most effective movement/escape skills in the game.

Background

Vault in action.

The Demon Hunter melts into the shadows, using them to spin forward with a series of acrobatic somersaults and flips.

Skill Rune Effects

See the Vault 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

<skill subcat="Movement ability" class="DemonHunter">Vault</skill> <skill class="DemonHunter" rune="Action Shot">Vault</skill> <skill class="DemonHunter" rune="Rattling Roll">Vault</skill> <skill class="DemonHunter" rune="Tumble">Vault</skill> <skill class="DemonHunter" rune="Acrobatics">Vault</skill> <skill class="DemonHunter" rune="Trail of Cinders">Vault</skill>

Synergies

The following Demon Hunter passives provide a benefit to Vault, runed or not:

Name	Level	Description

<skill class="DemonHunter">Tactical Advantage</skill> <skill class="DemonHunter">Perfectionist</skill>

Skill Design

I could do that...if I wanted to.

Every character in Diablo III has at least one movement ability. The Demon Hunter has several with Vault the most obvious and fastest.

With a click the Demon Hunter vaults a considerable distance in the blink of an eye, passing right through monsters. Vault can be used repeatedly, with no cool down, Discipline permitting.

Can not pass through Monsters'

• Waller
• Jailer

Evasive Fire can however pass through Waller's walls.

Development

Vault was first shown at BlizzCon 2010 as one of the originals when the Demon Hunter was unveiled. Wyatt Cheng had this to say about it[1]:

This a movement skill. The Barbarian has Leap Attack, the Wizard has Teleport and we wanted to make sure all our classes had a way to get around the battlefield. In this skill we wanted to sell the Shadow theme. Initially we talked about Shadow Vault and stuff like that, but we decided to just call it Vault and let the art peak for itself. There's no need to have to weave these concepts into every single skill. The artistic representation has some acrobatics and has some shadow themes to it. It's basically a way to take a solid mechanic and wrap it up with the aesthetic we are trying to sell and deliver something we think will be fun for the players.

Flux also weighed in on the skill from his time on the BlizzCon 2010 demo[2]:

Vault was the last Demon Hunter skill the pre-made demo characters had, and it was useful to rush through the dungeon or to escape from boss packs. It was a fast moving cartwheel that covered about 1/2 the screen. It’s seen a few times in the DH cinematic. This skill allows the DH to pass through any monsters in the way, though it’s stopped by obstacles such as walls or doors or the huge, chopping cleaver booby traps that filled this year’s demo dungeon.

Beta

Transform and roll out.

Skill tiers were removed shortly before the beta started in September 2011, and Vault became a level 6 skill. The skill system was once again overhauled for the Beta Patch 13, and Vault was classified as a Defensive skill and moved up to level 13. For Beta Patch 14, it was re-classified as a Hunting skill and dropped to level 9. The "Hunting" category replaced "Shadow".

Trivia

The skill animations for Vault were modified slightly during the beta. Initially both genders of Demon Hunter vaulted in a cartwheel animation. Someone must have decided this wasn't macho enough for the male though, since his Vault became a sort of sideways flipping leap, without any hand planted on the ground, pre-release.

Media

Vault can be seen in action on video here:

• Gameplay: Blizzcon 2010

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

• Diablo III screenshots and pictures
• Vault specific gallery contents

• 

  The Demon Hunter mid-Vault.

• 

  Another shot of the multiple shadows.

• 

  Each shadow has its own posture.

• 

  By now, you should be sick of the word 'vault'.

References

• BlizzCon 2010 Gameplay Panel Transcript
• BlizzCon 2010 Demon Hunter First Impressions
• BlizzCon 2010 Demon Hunter PvM Hands-on Report
• Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report — IncGamers 1st Aug 2011
• HardRock's Demon Hunter Skills and Their Rune Effects — IncGamers 6th Sep 2011
• Demon Hunter Active Skills — Blizzard's Official Diablo III Site

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