Portal jump

A portal jump is the crossing of an area boundary (a portal) without triggering a transition (without zoning), usually by "jumping" over the portal with a shadow step skill. When possible, this allows the player to enter otherwise unreachable areas beyond the portal.

Advantages

• Uncovering fog for Cartography titles, as accessing the area beyond a portal can actually allow to clear additional parts of the map fog (providing the current map instance is explorable)
• Allow for a mob-free exploration.
• Access areas that are closed outside of quests.
• Possibility to have an overview of how the map is built (level design). A common feature is the end of the world where the rectangle on which the map is built ends.

Different shadow step skills

Example of a portal jump using Viper's Defense in Linnok Courtyard.

• Away from target (fast, low range, rarely possible)

• • Skills such as Viper's Defense and Heart of Shadow can shadow step the player across certain walls and hills, provided a target (e.g. a hero) is in the opposite direction. The shadow step is very fast but the range is "near" your target, which is often not enough to jump a portal.
• To ally (long, wide range, often possible)

• • For most situations, it is possible to portal jump by using the skill Recall on an animal companion across a portal, a technique known as Strike as One Chain (see below). Although it allows to jump most portals, this last method requires more preparation. In very rare occasions, a friendly NPC is or goes beyond a portal. Using Recall on that NPC makes it possible to follow it beyond the portal.
• To foe (fast, low range, almost never possible)

• • In extremely rare occasions, it might be possible to shadow step to a foe that spawned out of normal reach by using skills like Death's Charge and Dark Prison.

Strike as One chain

See also: SaO chain

One of the main limits to shadow stepping with Recall is the bouncing of heroes when tasked to go through a portal. The only NPCs to go freely through portals are summoned creatures, quest-related NPCs and pets, most of which usually stick close to the player.

The skill Strike as One is the key to the SaO chain method. The skill not only is a shadow step skill for pets, but it also causes pets to freeze and stop moving (as long as there are no foes around). With several pets and SaO users, it is possible to freeze all pets, then proceed to teleport them to each other until the pets are the furthest possible beyond the portal.

It is possible to cover large distances by using this method, but it is time-consuming to execute due to the random nature of shadow steps and recharge on Strike as One, though the later can be reduced using Quickening Zephyr.

Gate Glitch

Certain portals are blocked off by closed gates that shadow steps cannot pass through. To reach them, a player will need to trick the game into thinking the player's character is inside these gates. The game engine will sometimes reposition a character slightly when hit by various melee attacks. This, in combination with facing the direction and attempting to run towards it, can move the character into a gate. Because the server is told the character is standing on a spot occupied by a solid object, it will reposition them to the next possible location to "fix" it. When executed correctly, that will be the other side of the gate.

Examples of benefits

Tyria

• Far Shiverpeaks
• Tarnished Coast

Cantha

• Kaineng City
• The Jade Sea
• Echovald Forest

Elona

• Istan
• Vabbi

Trivia

• Prior to the update that stopped any merchant summoned with a Mercantile Summoning Stone from wandering too far from the summoner, it was possible to jump any portal using Recall.
• The portal from Silverwood to Ettin's Back can be jumped by simply walking. It is the only such portal in the game.

See also

• Exploit
• Notable jump locations
• Video of Viper's Defence portal jump
• Guild Wiki's portal jumping research project (extensive list of jumpable portals)