Movement Speed

Movement Speed or Run/Walk refers to the speed at which a character can run or walk, measured in yards per second, in Diablo II and Diablo III.

Diablo I
In Diablo I, character movement speed is constant, and is the same for most monsters.

Diablo II
Variable movement speed is introduced in Diablo II, where characters may either run or walk. Running continuously drains Stamina, a new Character attribute introduced to flesh out running. Running drains a character's Stamina, making it impossible to run if depleted. A character must swap to walking or stop moving to begin regenerating stamina after depleting their stamina. Walking does not drain Stamina, and allows recovering it slowly. Standing idle allows regenerating Stamina very quickly. Running makes attacks against the character ignore hit formula, and decreases block chance by 2/3. Thus, it's not always recommended to run, at least for melee builds or characters looking to take advantage of high armor.

Mechanics
Default walking speed is 6 y/s, while running increases a player's speed by 3 y/s. Effects such as chill and Vigor affect walking speed, then the running bonus of 3 y/s is applied. The limit on reduced speed for Run/Walk is 1.5 y/s (25% of walk speed). However, there is no lower limit on Charge, meaning a character can charge in reverse if they are slowed below 0 y/s.

The Paladin Skill, Charge, defaults to 22.5 y/s, but is not influenced by items that change Run/Walk speed. It is influenced by other Run/Walk speed modifiers, such as Vigor and chill.

When running, the Total Blocking percentage is reduced to 1/3rd of its original value, with a cap of 25%.

Faster Run/Walk
Though the speed at which the character runs does not depend on the Character Attributes, it can be modified by many factors. Certain magical items, mostly Boots, have magical attributes that increase Running Speed.

Items that provide a faster Run/Walk bonus come with diminishing returns, meaning that the higher it gets, the less of an increase a character is gaining. The formula for this is (150*FRW)/(150+FRW).

Skills, armor type, chill, and slow modify your base speed (6 y/s) and provide their full listed effects without diminishing returns.

Skills that affect movement speed include:
 * Vigor (Paladin)
 * Increased Speed
 * Burst of Speed (Assassin)
 * Feral Rage (Werewolf Druid)

Armor Types
Body Armor and Shields come in three weight Types: Light, Medium, and Heavy. See individual item pages to see the type; Exceptional and Elite equivalents have same types.


 * Light armor has no negative influence on a character's speed. Generally, this consists of leather and lightweight metal armor and small or non-metal shields, as well as all Paladin Shields.


 * Medium armor will decrease a character's Run/Walk by -0.3 y/s (5% of walk speed) and Charge by -0.7 y/s. This generally consists of mail and light plate armor and large wooden and metal shields. Medium body armor will also increase stamina consumption by 50%, while Medium Shields do not have this effect.


 * Heavy armor will decrease a character's Run/Walk by -0.6 y/s (10% of walk speed) and Charge by -1.5 y/s. This generally consists of heavier mail and plate armor and and its equivalents. Heavy body armor will also increase stamina consumption by 100%, while Heavy Shields do not have this effect.

Running Monsters
Some monsters like the Fallen also run. The Corrupted Rogues also run to close the distance between them and the player characters.

Diablo III
In Diablo III, movement speed is measured as a percentage, with 100% (initial normal speed) being roughly 6 yards per second (much like average real-life running speed), for both heroes and most monsters. Characters no longer have Stamina, cannot walk (always run), and movement speed penalties for gear are gone. Movement speed may not be brought below 20% by negative effects (remember that monsters build up Crowd Control resistance to it while slowed down).

One may gain a permanent speed increase from items, skills and from Paragon levels. Paragon points award 0.5% speed each (up to 25% total), and Boots may roll up to +12% speed. Some Legendary and Set Items may roll movement speed as well, but normally only boots do so. Generally, players prefer to gain speed by investing Paragon points, to avoid wasting affixes (as 50 points in Paragon stats award lesser amounts of attributes than an affix on a legendary or set item, even for classic players at the level cap of 60).

The permanent speed bonus is limited to +25%, which allows putting 50 Paragon points into the Core section and therefore freeing item affixes for more valuable stats. One of the few ways to gain a permanent speed over 25% is the Monk passive skill Fleet Footed.

Temporary speed bonuses have no cap: skills, Shrines, Pylons, special gear affixes etc. may add speed, stacking without diminishing returns.

The easiest way to get a temporary speed bonus is by quickly destroying a bunch of objects like barrels/tables/etc which will impart enhanced running speed for several seconds.