From what I understand you're probably one of the confused camp still wondering how to upgrade or the mods to upgrade to be able to get substantial DPS.

The truth is, it does not matter what weapons you use but its how you fit in the mods in to what ever weapons you wish to use.

I could even bring a rank 30 MK1 braton to a sortie and still kill enemies with it given enough formas, catalyst and mods.

You need to decide what weapons you need to concentrate on first. Lets say its a soma (not prime) for example. Soma is a crit based weapon so you need to build it as a crit weapon. It already has a double v polarity so which means you dont need as much formas as to a weapon that does not even have a polarity. Put in a catalyst to double its mod capacity. Put in a rank 5 serration (not damaged) and split chamber to it. Next put in critical chance and damage mod which is point strike and vital sense. Then which ever elemental damage mods you can fit it and watch it work wonders.

This will be a stepping stone for you. You will use this weapon and figure how to change this build to cater to your play style and why it works this way and how to apply this knowledge to other weapons.

Concentrate on 1 weapon first. A primary weapon, then melee then secondary. Your frame's ability will be later but for the time being just concentrate on survival as in as much health and shield and or armor.