Not sure how well known this is, but the most effective thing I have found to burn is torn sinew. You can burn 2 to turn an area pestilent, quickly clear it with no corruptions, and then 6 to max it out for the boss with only 3 corruptions and full rewards. The sinew gain is also net positive, even if you somehow don’t get any during the clear since the max rewards generally give more than 8 sinews.
Add onto this, I’m not sure how consistent the amount is. Some zones will max out at 6, others are 8. Regardless, burning plague materials is a net positive.
thanks so much for this tip! 
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Am I missing something? I just burn any kind of loot.
You can burn any loot, like gear, consumables, and crafting materials.
By burning items, it increases the end pestilence reward, but also adds corruptions to make the event more difficult.
To maximize rewards, you should nearly finish the event, then burn your items.
You can burn anything, but would recommend burning the pestilence items, like sinew. This will add very little corruptions and a lot of rewards. It is still a net positive for the pestilence items as well.
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I don’t need shortcuts, so the only important thing for me to know is, if there are any drawbacks when I just burn a lot of mushrooms (just an example).
It’s not a shortcut, it is an optimization. The drawback is 10 debuffs rather than 3. The pestilence items create less debuffs.
What I noticed is that if you burn 2 in one fire, and then try to max it out at another fire in another zone, maxing will require 8 rather than 6. I can think of two areas where this happens: the shallows and Marin woods. Both of these have separate zones with a campfire: the brine vault and the temple. Burning in those separate zones after burning in the main zone requires more items.