Best Pre-HM Gear?

[Yawzheek]

Well, pretty much what the title says.

I'm trying to get the proper gear going so I can actually make it to HM legit, but I have no idea what to use/find/craft.

I was going for Starfury, but have yet to find a single floating island, and I'm completely out of gravity potions (and doubt I can make them in significant enough numbers to matter anyway,) and I just got rocked by Skeletron with my 15 damage godly boomerang and platinum armor set with bonus +5 defense shackle.

Shadow armor (or whatever you make with it) doesn't seem viable, and I'm not sure I can kill the boss worm either anyway, and I don't think I have any Crimson biomes either, since I have Corruption.

I really don't know what to go with. My armor now is decent, but losing to Skeletron blows, which I think can be largely attributed to my boomerang, and I don't know if I can - or SHOULD go to hardmode without better.

Also, I have the full 400 health. I was finding life crystals littered everywhere.

[houshourattengod]

Not sure if you caught what everyone else has said, but....here's how I go about things.

Farm Eater of Worlds until you have a full set of Nightmare Equipment. (Armor, Pick, Sword, and Bow) It takes a few kills, but not a lot.
- The easiest method I found is to dig around until you can convince the Dwarf to show up and buy several stacks of Grenades. With a proper arena, you can through the grenades in relative safety and kill him pretty damn fast. Just keep a couple extra summoning devices on you for good Measure.

Kill Eye of Cthulu once, so he doesn't randomly spawn on you while farming, and you end up with over 200 Health.

Kill Skeletron (best with the nightmare Bow you got offa cheesing EoW with Grenades)
- Pray you can find Cobalt Shield fairly quickly. You could keep going for other items, but the Shield is the important one.
--Combine Cobalt Shield with Obsidian Skull = Obsidian Shield

Farm the Jungle till you can make a Vine Whip.
- It's easier to farm for and a lot better than a basic grapple.
-- Unless you can get your hands on a Diamond Grapple, this can be debated, but I find it easier to stay ahead of WoF with 1 Grapple.hook, over 3.

Farm Hellstone in Hell for a Full Set of Molten Gear. (Armor, Sword, Pick, and Bow)
- You NEED the Pick to mine any of the HM Ores, so it is a MUST, and easiest to do so prior HM.

I would build a land bridge to fight the WoF on. Since he spawns on one side of the screen and just slides to the other, I find it best to build a bridge and fight him with the bow. Kiting the entire way.

Oh and let me stress it again...

NO MATTER WHAT! YOU NEED THE MOLTEN PICKAXE TO MINE THE HM ORES! GET IT BEFORE KILLING THE WoF!

[Raf]

The harpoon works fine on Skeletron. To get it, you need to wait for/summon a goblin army event, and it might drop (though not certain).

Aim for the head alone if u can manage, or get rid of hands first and then the head, but watch out for dawn. With harpoon it should be doable with only the shadow gear, with a little experience.

Molten is fine, but you use for a very short time in the game , if you don't choose to play melee.

Or go for magic and jungle armor (craft a staff with gems, or get a lucky waterbolt in the highest depths of the dungeon).

Just stay away from that head when it spins, but hit it hard cause that's the moment it's the most vulnerable.

Good luck

[Keter]

If you're lucky enough to get a handgun from the dungeon chests, you can easily turn it into a Phoenix Blaster with 10 bars of hellstone. That thing will last you a while and works great against the WoF

[Yawzheek]

I actually downed Skeletron with the minishark. Took awhile because of the piss-weak damage it does, but it's fast enough. I've actually been using it often now.

Eye is done and farmed out quite a bit (7 times)

EoW was done twice, and finished shadow armor and the respective pick.

Have about 11 hellstone bars, but... my hellevator... well, let's just say someone was going for obsidian and may have accidentally flooded the shaft with lava, and then they may have decided flooding in with water would be a good solution to... ok, let's just say it may be broken, and it's possible I did it...

I'm not really big on the idea of trying to contain the corruption. Not on this world, anyway. If anything, I'll make a new world after I complete HM and turn it into a paradise for playing. By then I'll have found everything and gotten bored with my world anyway, and I'll have the tools to do it, which will just make it really easy to complete. There's just so much spread out right now, and it would be rather diffficult at this moment.

[houshourattengod]

You can salvage your hellevator. It just means digging through Obsidian, rather than normal stone.

You will need a normal Grappling hook. If you shoot the hook down it will pull you through the water faster to help you reach the bottom faster. First, try to make some sort of breathing spot in a side wall. so you don't drown. then, using the hook technique to pull yourself down, and back up to the pocket of air, You should be able to mine for a bit each time. once you've made a significant progress make another breathing spot, so you're not going so far back up.
Its always a great idea to use torches in a wall. I mean, 1 block behind the wall containing your lethal water trap, to shed light. But while you are at it a Glowstick works just as good. Always Torch your breathing rooms.
Eventually you will hit hell, and all that water will evaporate.

[lubie kotki]

Try to do Obsidian Skin Potions and go to Hell and mine some Hellstone for Molten Set. It is good to have something like obsidian generator too.