Personally I haven’t noticed much of a difference while using those, I always opted for more health instead. The biggest source of damage from high tier planets for me is always fall damage after being struck by a wildstock.
Absolutely!! Most public hunts have overkill firepower. Stick to the edges, and shoot what you can. Make sure to have a loot stick, usually chisels or spanners that have the auto-collect forge effect. It makes gathering the corpses and meteors much easier.
Go and get you a free 20 levels from @HOST!!