[InsainArcaneBirdbrain]

Shift strike being linked is peculiar, since that's you being given access to a unique weapon that youkai do not use. They have their own separate weapons, but youkai skills do not take SWA from a weapon at all. They use solely ELE ATK I believe.

Shift strike does not use elemental attack as far as I can tell. The Wiki suggests that it is STR/FAI scaling, though that text does not appear in game. The other day I tried several different installs myself on a level 60 character that did not have particularly high STR or FAI, and the predicted damage on hit was always 5 or 6.

They were referring to the youkai skills such as hunter wind or drown for elemental attack (which afaik, is 250% ele scaling if the youkai is lv60). Shift strike itself uses a str/fai scaling weapon with a flat crit chance boost based on rank. The fact it uses a completely different weapon with a meh scaling on top of lack of weapon parts/upgrades is the reason literally no one uses the skill in any serious capacity, especially now in GR2.