before the twins i was using mostly minion related stuff but since it became so hard for me to survive while they were doing damage i had to change to a more defensive approach. so i started equipping the modified versions of some vanilla stuff. Starplate Signet to replace Star Necklace (it gets +2 extra defense on top of the blue star thingy), Bloody Worm Scarf (allthought technically, its better for melee), Frozen Core (too expensive to get a good modifier but armored is enough, it gives 10 base too and well a bit of damage reduction), Soul of Cryogen as wings because you cant keep going on a mount forever, and the Revengeance drop from Cryogen too. i also had a Summoner Emblen that i was saving for making the Artifact related accesory but since the Death Wind sucks most of the time i decided to do the Nora's Mark instead.
Coznix drops an item called Devil's Carapace that gives like +3 defense or something, along with +2 life regen and an avoid death buff that makes yo survive fatal damage with 100 health. its an improvement of my Phylactery that while really good for minion stuff, only revived me with 20 health on a 5 minute wait betwen the buffs. this one waits 2 minutes before allowing you to evade death again, plus replaces the charm of myths that honestly, doesnt do shit anymore.
so now im sitting on those, and also finished the material crafting of the Ankh Shield with warding on top. at least this one has only 2 recipes derived from it, either the Thorium endgame shield or the calamity one that should be the top pick (maybe i could use the Thorium one too, just for extra OP reasons).
in terms of damage. the honey Blade still kicks ass because since the bees home in on enemies, you donthave to rely on landing the beehives, just get the bees to hit and heal you 3 health per hit. the Retinranger bow has quite the speed and it seems the lasers penetrate. Lunic Eye is the alternative when you need to debuff enemies and also home in from afar, i bought the second tier of flame sentries from the Tavernkeeper, i was in dire need of repalcing the double mask sentry, and finally, well, im still using the Beholder Staff because its the highest damage minions i have.
i didnt craft the optic staff, too unreliable, gonna wait until i can get something better.
speaking of bosses, i was able to defeat the Dusking and he dropped the material for the 3rd artifact tier (why bother anyways, but maybe later it can be used forsomething), the Dusking was a long fight but you could dodge most of the stuff and survive.
the Ethereal Umbra on the other hand was really hard with all that bullet hell, not to mention the spirit biome mobs swarming the place (shouldnt have used that demon trophy to improve spawn rates, but oh well). i won and got the sentry staff, didnt get enough crystals to check the spirit crystal armor tho.
and with that, they only boss left before the Brimstone Elemental is Skeletron Prime.
i've already done the hardmode version of the Old One's Army, the last Thorium update added a set of items from the Ogre, and i got 3. so got some stuff like the ogre sandals which do a shockwave attack when you land from jumping (they also give movement speed), the apprentice scarf but 1 slot for such a few bonuses inst worth it, and finally an ogre snotgun which well, uses snotballs as ammunition and slows foes. basically you shoot mucus to the enemies (eugh).
before skeletron im gonna se if i can get all the life fruits. they are already blooming in the jungle, gotta exploit that, i was lucky and found 2. and finally got another moth to spawn while exploring the jungle, i killed both things, the contract and got the gypsy powder to make into the honey dew. so now i got all the materials for the Ambrosial Ampoule.
the next step is to get those 500 health ready and maybe gather the rest of the materials for The Absorbent.