Diablo III- Skills Article CXXXVIII: The Wizard, Defensive Skills- Teleport

Teleport (15 Arcane Power, Cooldown 16 Seconds): You leap into the air and then vanish, reappearing at a targeted location up to 35 yards away regardless of intervening terrain, obstacles, or enemies, and with no consideration for whether or not you are able to move normally.

Teleport is a massively useful skill for Wizards who fight at long range or need repositioning on a regular basis.  While some Wizards will consider going without Teleport, very few will actually do it- the ability to freely relocate, even only once every 16 seconds, is a huge tactical advantage, particularly when you start running into movement-slowing effects, Imprison effects, and terrain that blocks your route.  While it’s possible to be just as effective without Teleport, most players will expect every Wizard to have the skill, so they may think nothing of running ahead of the party Wizard.  Try not to get upset at them if they do that and you don’t have Teleport- it is a truly useful skill that should never go unconsidered.

Safe Passage (15 Arcane Power, Cooldown 16 Seconds): You leap into the air and then vanish, reappearing at a targeted location up to 35 yards away regardless of intervening terrain, obstacles, or enemies, and with no consideration for whether or not you are able to move normally.  For the next 4 seconds you will take 30% less damage.

Safe Passage is good if you’re teleporting into an area you can barely see, or if you’re dropping in on enemies to use a burst skill like Death Blossom or Frost Nova on them.  It can also be used in combat emergencies even if you don’t really want to move, since you can teleport to where you already are.  Mostly, though, you want it if you teleport into enemy formations or areas that might hide ambushes or nearby enemies.

Wormhole (15 Arcane Power, Cooldown 16 Seconds): You leap into the air and then vanish, reappearing at a targeted location up to 35 yards away regardless of intervening terrain, obstacles, or enemies, and with no consideration for whether or not you are able to move normally.  There is a 1-second delay before the cooldown begins.

By delaying the cooldown slightly, Wormhole lets you teleport a second time in succession.  This is most useful if you keep Teleport on hand for either traversing terrain or escaping fights entirely.  The double-teleport can let you ‘scout’ areas by teleporting in and immediately out as well.  Repeatedly using Wormhole doesn’t continue delaying the cooldown, though, so most of the time you’ll only get one additional teleport in.  If you have enough boosts to your attack/cast speed, you may be able to squeeze additional teleports out of it, but you only have 1 second.

Reversal (15 Arcane Power, Cooldown 16 Seconds): You leap into the air and then vanish, reappearing at a targeted location up to 35 yards away regardless of intervening terrain, obstacles, or enemies, and with no consideration for whether or not you are able to move normally.  For the next 8 seconds, you may cast Teleport again, but if you do, it will return you to where you started.

Reversal is actually slightly better than Wormhole for scouting, as it will let you automatically pop back out of wherever you put yourself even after doing a few things in between.  It’s also noteworthy as a kiting method- if you can choose locations with enough obstacles or have enough slowing effects active, this return to where you came from can leave enemies oscillating between two different spots as you lob damage at them.

Fracture (15 Arcane Power, Cooldown 16 Seconds): You leap into the air and then vanish, reappearing at a targeted location up to 35 yards away regardless of intervening terrain, obstacles, or enemies, and with no consideration for whether or not you are able to move normally.  On arrival, you are accompanied by two decoy images (a la Mirror Images without the spellcasting) for 8 seconds that draw enemy attacks away from you.

A purely defensive permutation of Teleport, Fracture is best used for escaping situations of pending death.  Generally speaking, you’re better off running while enemies are occupied with the decoys than trying to stick it out for more damage unless you’re just buying time to use a potion or to let a powerful offense recharge- and even then, you’re probably better off fleeing while the decoys last.

Calamity (15 Arcane Power, Cooldown 16 Seconds): You leap into the air and then vanish, reappearing at a targeted location up to 35 yards away regardless of intervening terrain, obstacles, or enemies, and with no consideration for whether or not you are able to move normally.  When you arrive, you project a Wave of Force that deals 75% weapon damage as Physical damage.

This is an offensive form of Teleport, best used by a close-range Wizard who wants to teleport into the middle of a cluster of enemies and then destroy them from proximity.  It can occasionally be used to blast away enemies and give you a chance to run, but that’s simply not as good a use of the effect as initiating a close combat situation.  Don’t try to use it that way with a long-range Wizard, though.