Tales of Xillia 2 Guide 2 Characters Jude Mathis
Character Abilities
Jude’s Footwork Leaves Enemies in the Dust
With his high Agility and fast movement speed during combat, Jude is able to move freely around the battlefield. His quick-steps can be executed swiftly and traverse long distances that can be extended even farther with the Long Step skill. His back-steps offer a longer window of invulnerability than those of the other characters, keeping Jude invulnerable until the very end of the step. With a wide repertoire of quick artes and attacks as well, Jude’s overall mobility is second to none.
Key Attributes
- Learns a variety of skills related to movement and quick-steps, allowing for high mobility on the battlefield.
- Can learn a variety of artes, from attacks to recovery spells.
- Can use special versions of regular attacks while linked with certain characters.
Jude can avoid most enemy attacks during a free run.
Special Ability—Snap Pivot
Circle Behind an Enemy while Evading its Attack
A Snap Pivot is when Jude performs a back-step right before he would be hit by an enemy attack, and quickly circles behind the attacker. In addition to evading the attack, this puts Jude in position to strike at the enemy from behind, providing an opportunity to retaliate with a significant amount of damage. Note that you can only use a Snap Pivot against the foe you currently have targeted; successfully evading any other enemy’s attack will not trigger the ability. See the diagrams here for the specific details of how a Snap Pivot works.
Snap Pivot-Related Skills
| Skill | Effect when Active |
|---|---|
| Snap Pivot | A successful guard 5 seconds after a back-step will allow you to step around the enemy. |
| Snap Pivot 2 | The duration of the Snap Pivot skill increases by 3 seconds. |
| Snap Pivot 3 | Snap Pivots can be triggered from front-steps as well. |
When Snap Pivoting off a front-step, the ability triggers as soon as you input the command.
Steps of a Snap Pivot
Normal Attacks
Quick Strikes with Brief Windows of Vulnerability
Jude’s regular attacks come out quickly and don’t cause long windows of pre- or post-attack vulnerability, making it easy to chain multiple hits with even his strong attacks. Jude’s repertoire includes many attacks with special properties like hitting twice or propping fallen foes back onto their feet, and have a wider range than they appear to, making them easy to connect with. Jude’s regular attacks are so useful that he barely even needs artes to give his enemies a good fight.
The first stage of Jude’s 
+ 
attack props a fallen foe back up, making it an invaluable move for combo attacks.