Portal (spell)

Portals
Portals Mage ability 4% of base mana 1 min cooldown 10 sec cast Creates a portal, teleporting group members that use it to a Major City.
Properties
Class	Mage
School	Arcane
Cooldown	1 min

“The shortest distance between two points is one incantation.”

— Blaize Brightspark

Portals are a line of useful Mage utility spells that allow the caster to transport themself and their party members to one of several fixed locations, most commonly friendly capital cities.

Each Portal spell is trained at a portal trainer, which is usually located near the mage trainers in a major city. In Stormwind and Orgrimmar, they're located in each city's respective portal rooms.

Portal in the Trading Card Game.

Rank table

• Alliance Portals

  City		Level	Cost
  	Ironforge	24	1 65
  	Stormwind	24	1 65
  	Darnassus	24	1 65
  	Exodar	24	1 65
  	Theramore	24	1 65
  	Shrine of Seven Stars	24	42 30
  	Stormshield	24	63 50
  	Boralus	24	75

• Horde Portals

  City		Level	Cost
  	Orgrimmar	24	1 65
  	Undercity	24	1 65
  	Thunder Bluff	24	1 65
  	Silvermoon	24	1 65
  	Stonard	any	2 25
  	Shrine of Two Moons	24	42 30
  	Warspear	24	63 50
  	Dazar'alor	24	75

• Neutral Portals

  City		Level	Cost
  	Shattrath	24	10 50
  	Dalaran - Northrend	24	16 80
  	Tol Barad	24	28 20
  	Dalaran Crater	35	150
  	Dalaran - Broken Isles	24	50
  	Oribos	58	16 80
  	Valdrakken	68	16 80

Non-mage portal spell

Please add any available information to this section.

There are several portal spells not exclusive to mages.

Destination		Requirement
	Karazhan	Requires [Atiesh, Greatstaff of the Guardian]; 1 minute cooldown
	Dalaran - Northrend	Requires  [Jaina's Locket]; 1 hour cooldown
	Major faction city	Portal Shard consumable from "planting" an  [Unstable Portal Shard] at Sunsong Ranch. Can only be used from Sunsong Ranch.

There was also an item that opened a portal to the heart of Maraudon -  [Scepter of Celebras] when used at an altar before the instance. The portal ability was removed in patch 3.0.8 and replaced with weapon stats.

Notes

• After casting, a portal will appear roughly 5 yards in front of the mage. The shimmering portal looks different for each capital city, giving a glimpse of the city in the center of the portal. The portal lasts for 1 minute.
• To use the portal, the mage and their group members must right click the portal.
• The character will appear in the capital city near that city's portal trainer. In Stormwind, for example, the character appears inside the Mage Tower at the center of the Mage Quarter.
• Characters cannot learn the portal spells of the opposing faction.
• Portal cannot be cast in combat. In addition, portals cannot be cast inside PvP battlegrounds.
• There is a second portal trainer in Shattrath in the Scryers Tier, although the portal location remains the same no matter where it is learned.

Tips and tactics

• It is not possible to create a portal in combat, but it is possible to enter one at any time.
• Portals remain for a small while after the mage has used it themself, and are still accessible by party members.
• Prior to patch 6.0.2, it was possible for a mage to stack their portals, such that it was very difficult for the players taking the portals to know where they would end up. This was commonly known as "portal roulette". Portal function has been changed so that summoning portals on top of each other prioritizes the first one cast.

Etiquette

While portal rooms in retail offer most of this spells' convenience, in other versions of WoW like World of Warcraft: Classic it's common to request portals from mages. Some mages will offer portals for partymates at the end of a quest, dungeon run, etc., to ask for one outside of this should be approached tactfully.

• When asking (especially in Trade chat) make sure you say where you are currently (and where you would like to be).
• If a mage is coming from a different city, it's much easier if they can meet you at the teleport point (where they will arrive). Learn where they are and be standing there when you ask.
• You will only be able to use the portal if you're in the same party as the mage. If you're in one, have the leader send the invite, or leave your party.
• Creating a portal incurs a cost - time, and in Classic, a  [Rune of Portals] - as such, some may ask for some gold, or expect you to offer a tip. Announce the amount you're offering when you ask for the teleport.

Lore

See also: Teleportation

Netherwind Portal

According to Thinking with Portals - A Memorandum on Proper Portal Usage, the ley lines are harnessed to make portals possible, but traffic from across the planet will break down the infrastructure and it must be periodically replaced. The standard dimensions for a mage portal are 3 yards, 1 foot, and 3/4 inches tall, 2 yards, 8 feet, 9 and 15/16 inches wide. The spell includes a liquid filter which can be removed, but is present so portals can be safely used underwater. Mixing anything polymorphed with an open portal causes an explosion.

The Kirin Tor creates and enforces the rules of portal usage for all legitimate mages on Azeroth. As sometimes demonstrated by archmages such as Jaina Proudmoore and Khadgar, portals can actually be created to go anywhere, and the spell's vast potential is what makes it so dangerous (for example, the official but outdated drop-off zone for Dalaran and the consequences for Crusader Jorny the Deified, and why unlicensed portal creation outside drop-off zones is punishable by death). There are hundreds of rules that the Kirin Tor has already created for safe and proper portal usage and mages are required to abide by every single one of them, including special licensing to make sure certain actions are only carried out by responsible individuals.

Nevertheless, in practice portals have a history of being a burden on any society in which it is offered to the general public, and of all the major spells developed and maintained by the Kirin Tor, portal technology is the closest to becoming banished from anything but emergency usage.

A variation of the portal spell can be used to enchant mirrors for two-way communication across vast distances.

Portals have been used to help evacuate entire settlements and cities in times of crisis and emergency, such as Darnassus during the War of the Thorns, although it apparently requires tremendous amounts of time and effort to maintain them in the long term, as well to fully evacuate populations using portals alone. It was mentioned that the Alliance could not move armies through portals as one did handful of individuals, and that most travelers could go through portals by twos or three at the most, a very useful way for an individual to quickly get from one place to another, but not ideal for massive evacuations.

Portals are suitable for moving a handful of individuals easily, but not usually stable enough for moving whole armies. Again, powerful mages will usually just teleport to take large groups of people along with them, which is faster, while portals require a bit of 'setup' as the mage may not be going to the destination themselves. Typically, large, stable portals require a person channeling and maintaining it on the other side. People cannot enter portals at the same time when going in opposite directions, but can enter portals in up to twos or threes going in the same direction.

Unsecured items of portal travelers can be lost to the Twisting Nether, and as such, mages are to report lost items to the Council of Six immediately. The Kirin Tor makes a regular habit of combing the local reaches of the nether for misplaced objects. This has turned up all manner of items, from errant magical essences to crackling shards of mystic power, to entire suits of armor and powerful weaponry.

According to Archmage Ansirem Runeweaver, portal and teleport spells are a great privilege and responsibility; however, they are sometimes irresponsibly used by mages-in-training as a means for garbage repository into the Twisting Nether.

Apparently, elven mages typically like to put a little flair, a signature, in their portal magic.

Patch changes

• Patch 7.0.3 (2016-07-19): The WotLK-era Teleport: Dalaran and Portal: Dalaran spells had a suffix added to distinguish them from their Legion counterparts.
  
• Patch 5.3.0 (2013-05-21): Teleport: Vale of Eternal Blossoms and Portal: Vale of Eternal Blossoms now have new icons.
  
• Patch 5.0.4 (2012-08-28): Reagent requirement removed.
  
• Patch 4.0.3a (2010-11-23): Tol Barad portal added.
  
• Patch 2.4.2 (2008-05-13): Stonard and Theramore portals added.
  
• Patch 1.1.0 (2004-11-07): Now requires a reagent.
  
• Patch 0.11 (2004-09-29): You must now right-click on portals to use them.
  
• Patch 0.9 (2004-08-17): Mana costs increased.
  
• Patch 0.8 (2004-07-07): Added.
  

See also

• Thinking with Portals - A Memorandum on Proper Portal Usage
• Portals are NOT Garbage Bins!