Leap

Jump into the air and knock back nearby enemies when you land.

Leap is a Barbarian Combat Skill (level 6, no prerequisites; it unlocks Leap Attack). It is a movement skill with no attack: the Barbarian jumps to the point you click, over whatever is in the way, and everything near the landing spot is knocked back. The two numbers are the range, which grows fast and then flattens toward a cap of 20 yards, and the knockback radius, which grows by a flat yard a level without a cap. It costs 2 mana.

The numbers

The knockback radius is skills.txt Param3 (4) plus Param4 (1) a level, in sub-tiles; the tooltip multiplies by 2/3 to print yards, so 2.67 yards at level 1, 15.33 at level 20 and 22 at level 30. The line reads lvl, so +skills count.

The range is a diminishing-returns curve (the dm12 term) between Param1 (8) and Param2 (30) sub-tiles: 7.33 yards at level 1, 12.67 at level 5, 17.33 at level 20 and 18.67 at level 30, and it can never pass 30 sub-tiles, which is 20 yards. The Basin prints the same curve for D2R and notes it reaches 20 yards only at level 60.

Two values do not change with level and are not in the table above: the leap moves at 175% speed (Param7, "Leap Speed %") and is airborne for at least 8 frames (Param5). Mana is a flat 2.

How it works

Leap carries you to the targeted point within range and line of sight. The Basin lists what you clear on the way: obstacles, monsters (barricades, barricaded doors and towers included), players, mercenaries and pets. There is no stamina cost. On landing, every eligible target within the knockback radius is knocked back, always, whether or not it was hit by anything; a target in knockback is in hit recovery.

While in the air, the Basin says:

• melee attacks and radial effects (auras, curses, explosions) can still hit you, and hit checks against you are still rolled; Blocking still works fully;
• missiles normally cannot collide with you, static ground fires included, except from a ranged unit directly below you as it fires;
• no Chance to Cast effect of yours fires;
• you cannot switch weapons, open the inventory, drink a potion or use another skill until you land.

Movement speed does not shorten the jump: the Basin's page says the time in the air is always base run speed in the original game, and the table's 175% leap speed is a flat value with no stat behind it, so Faster Run/Walk does nothing to Leap.

The Basin's page also describes a short hop: aim at your own feet and the Barbarian leaps a single sub-tile, which knocks back everything in the radius and keeps it in hit recovery as often as the animation allows.

Synergies and +skills

No synergies: Leap has no dsc3 line and no synergy calc, and nothing feeds it. It feeds Leap Attack, which gains +10% damage per hard point in Leap (that line reads blvl). Both of Leap's own lines read lvl, so +skills from items widen the knockback radius by a yard each and push the range along its curve.

Against players

Leap deals no damage, so the player-versus-player damage rule has nothing to cut; the landing knockback works on a player as on a monster. See Player versus Player.

Build notes

• Range is nearly flat past level 10 (14.67 yards at 10, 17.33 at 20): hard points in Leap past the first few buy little distance. The knockback radius is what keeps growing, a yard a point.
• Leap Attack's synergy is the usual reason to invest: each hard point here is +10% Leap Attack damage.
• 2 mana and no stamina make it the Barbarian's cheapest escape; nothing that needs a hit check can be used while you are in the air.