Reporting back and wanted to say thanks for the advice Shadowmeld/Buuki!
After doing the following my overall damage went up significantly and killspeed sped up a ton.
- Got Utu Grip (yay)
- Changed trust loadout to Shantotto 2/Joachim/Qultada/King of Hearts/Yoran (haven't made the change to Sylvie)
- Opened each fight with Ageha using a m.acc WS set to make sure the effect landed.
The combination of Utu Grip + Ageha's effect made my Fudos (and Shohas) hit a ton harder. None of my other gear changed. The 5 step wasn't killing a bat before, whereas now a 4 step of Ageha > Yukikaze > Shoha > Fudo is killing bats outright. Shantotto bursting in between definitely helps but my damage went up a ton.
Hard to believe the 1 piece of gear and the other small tweaks made that much of a difference but the proof is in the pudding I guess~