Specifically, how much of a damage boost does it add? For instance, nightfall this week is Void Burn. Is it better to use a less powerful gun that has void or a fully leveled legendary that uses solar or arc damage. Is the void burn enough to compensate for the less damage?

Also, what about enemy shields? I get that its better to use solar weapons against solar shields, but I have no idea of exactly how much better. Is it a percentage boost? And how does that play into the Burn modifiers, should you will match weapons to shield types, or is it better to just use the weapons that get the modifier?

Anybody got any actual numbers on how this stuff works?

I don't have any actual numbers, but it is significant. My Patience and Time, which is maybe 15% upgraded, was doing over 10,000 damage on critical hits last week.

- Always opt to take advantage of burn modifiers except on mismatched shields.

- In the case of mismatched shields, opt to use the corresponding damage type to remove the shield. If you do not have a corresponding damage type, opt to take advantage of the burn modifier. It will be less effective than a corresponding damage type, but still more effective than kinetic damage.

this week is summoning pits, so there will be mostly solar shields. If you have VoC or Mythoclast, use that, and then carry void snipers and heavy. If you don't have a solar primary, then i would suggest a solar machine gun and a void secondary. Shielded enemies are less common, so you shouldn't need the heavy as often.

Specifically, how much of a damage boost does it add? For instance, nightfall this week is Void Burn. Is it better to use a less powerful gun that has void or a fully leveled legendary that uses solar or arc damage. Is the void burn enough to compensate for the less damage?

The math I've seen on upgrades suggests that a fully-upgraded legendary or exotic does roughly 20% more damage to leveled enemies than an an-upgraded version (that's just damage-per-shot, of course, and probably doesn't account for DPS increases that might come from rate of fire increases, etc.).

Burn modifiers, on the other hand, are supposedly 300%. I'm not certain whether that's 300% of base damage, or 300% added to the base 100%, making it 400% of the original amount, but either way it is MUCH more significant than the attack power. I still have a rare void fusion rifle (because RNGesus hasn't seen fit to gift me with a legendary to fill that role). It's not very good most of the time, but as soon as void burn kicks in, it's The Noisy Cricket.

Burn elements do 300% damage.

It is better to use the particular element for a shielded enemy, but not by much.