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. Mainly used to avoid danger, or used in rapid progression for quicker movement, and can also be used offensively.
Teleport in Diablo III does not provide the instant movement it did in previous games in the series. Teleport 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.
Contents
Background
| Diablo III Skill [e] | |
|---|---|
| |
| Teleport Active, 1 ranks | |
| Used by: | Wizard |
| Teleport to the selected location up to X feet away. Teleport can only be used every Y seconds. | |
| 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 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
This one has been seen in videos, but has not been testable for players in either BlizzCon. The main difference in the D3 version is that the Wizard leaps up into the air when casting it, and appears in the air at the other end, falling 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 huge 9 second cooldown. They appear 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 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, just like Mirror Image
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), but since the D3 Team has mentioned a dislike for sharing skills through items like in D2, it doesn't look like any other class will be able to teleport.
Skill Rank Table
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.
The spell was updated slightly with range and skill tier position in the demo displayed at BlizzCon 2009. It's now a Tier 5 spell, and the mana cost was decreased to 23, from 25.
Previous Versions:
Media
You can find pictures in the Diablo 3 screenshot and picture gallery:
Teleport used with a Striking Rune.
Teleporting Wizard appears in mid-air.